Archive for January, 2007
January 30, 2007 at 9:39 am · Filed under Skepticism
Since 1986, James Randi, through his Educational Foundation, has been offering a one million dollar prize to anyone who can prove their paranormal powers in a simple test. Prior to that he offered lesser amounts. Of course, so far, nobody has won the prize.
There has been no shortage of applicants though, so many that Randi has decided to change the rules a little. Too many of the applicants are either deluded dowsers or just mentally ill, so to weed out the kookiest kooks and just leave the prime kooks the rules now stipulate that the applicants must have a media presence. They don’t have to be world famous, they just have to have been in the media spotlight with their supposed powers.
The other, more interesting, change to the rules is that the JREF are now going to actively pursue some of the more famous flim-flammers. Not only is Randi going after famous kooks to get them to take the challenge, he’s also on the lookout for behaviour which could constitute a criminal offence.
So to help Randi with his new goals (not that he needs my help but the delusions of grandeur are talking to me again) I’ve decided to compile a list of the more infamous tricksters that I think he should be going after:
- Uri Geller - famous for his spoon-bending trick in the 70s and 80s, the last I heard he was offering business advice based on crystal woo. Randi’s been after him before and I doubt he’ll ever take the test, but it’s worth a shot.
- Sylvia Browne - Montel Williams’ favourite “psychic” who is now even more famous for being wrong a lot. She’s a fake and it hurts people. She has agreed to take the Randi Challenge but has since been playing dodge ball.
- Allison Dubois - the psychic whose claims of helping law enforcement agencies solve crimes and missing person cases inspired the TV show Medium, even though the claims have never been verified. She has refused the challenge before because she thinks Randi is “senile” and “unintelligent”.
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The creator of Transcendental Meditation and the whole Yogic Flying phenomenon. If he can really fly, and not just bounce about on springy mats, why not prove it to Randi?
- James Van Praagh - Not only does he claim to be a psychic, he even gives lessons in becoming a medium. Most “mediums” will say it’s not something that can be taught, but not James. Perhaps he can teach Randi?
- Avani Water - There are many purveyors of so-called “oxygenated water”, but I picked this one because it’s Canadian. They claim that ” Tests and actual surveys [yes, actual surveys!] concluded that the added oxygen helps to promote good-health”. They also claim that “No, AVANI does not contain ANY chemicals.” What, not even water?
- Russell Grant - I had to mention at least one astrologer, so why not a brit? A mediocre TV celebrity who used to specialise in astrology but has since expanded into tarot and numerology. It’s about time someone put his “skills” to the test.
- Dr Stefan Schmidt - He claims he has proved that people can tell when they’re being stared at, even over CCTV. That should be easy for Randi to test, right?
- Maureen and Clayton Marolly - A Montreal couple whose living room has become very oily. They claim that people who bring religious icons leave with oily religious icons. That has to be testable.
Some may claim that the new rules makes it even harder to win the one million dollar prize, but that makes no sense. If someone really did have paranormal powers, fame would find them even if they didn’t want it and there would be no excuse for not taking the challenge.
January 29, 2007 at 9:05 am · Filed under Family+Friends
Saturday night, a couple of days late, P, B and J laid on a fabulous Burn’s night supper. I was not the only Englishman there, but I was the only Englishman in a kilt. Jen’s tartan offering was a necklace cunningly crafted from paperclips and tartan printouts. She made one for Kerry too. Paul was in his full Scots regalia, Jen’s ginger hair was considered suitably Scottish and everybody else made do with tartan scarves.
We ate cock a leekie soup, we addressed the (exploded) haggis, we toasted the haggis with fine single malts and we ate the haggis with neeps and tatties and the Canadian addition of green beans.
I can honestly say it was the best haggis I’ve ever tasted, but it’s only the third one I’ve ever tasted. It had arrived by bus from an Ontarionianal Scots enclave, so we knew it was going to be good.
The delicious meal was followed by much whiskey drinking and conversations about cars (the choice between a Lexus or a Cadillac; I tried to be polite), Montreal (it’s cold, too cold), Vancouver (it’s rainy, too rainy), Justin Timberlake (he’s the new Madonna apparently) and the Oscars.
January 25, 2007 at 8:51 am · Filed under Humour
Last night while trying to get to sleep, my brain randomly started thinking about those voice menus that all companies use these days to stop you talking to a human for as long as possible. Here in Montreal they nearly always start with something like:
Press 1 for French or 2 for English
I think to provide more variety, and maybe a bit of a challenge, more options should be added. For example:
- Press 1 for polite, friendly customer service. Prepare to wait.
- Press 2 for Colin, he’s our intern. He’s not paid yet, he’s had no training and he knows nothing. But he’s eager!
- Press 3 for Ranji. She’s from India. She knows everything about our company and is very smart but she speaks English and French with such a strong indian accent that you won’t understand a word.
- Press 4 for Marlene. She thinks she knows everything and will interrupt every sentence to give you the answer she thinks you need. None of her answers will help you.
- Press 5 for Bob. He will argue and disagree with everything you say. For Bob the customer is never right.
- Press 6 for Tina. She will patronize you and treat you like a five year old. She will explain everything in extreme detail, asking if you’re still following after every instruction. She will help you but it will take most of the day.
- Press 7 for Marie-Eve. She is Quebecois to the core and will give deliberately wrong answers if you insist she speak English.
- Press 8 for Mark. He’s our technical expert. He will assume you’re a complete idiot unless you mention Linux. He will put you on hold if his World of Warcraft character gets attacked, and may never come back.
- Press 9 for Charles. He’s a go-getter. He will help you, and at the same time persuade you to sign up for every product we offer, buy stock in our company and go on a date with him.
- Press 0 to speak to our receptionist, who will seem very helpful before transferring you to a random extension.
January 23, 2007 at 11:58 am · Filed under Food
What do you do when you have five hungry people to feed and a half-eaten turkey carcass in the fridge? Chili turkey hash of course:
Pick all the turkey off the carcass and chop or shred.
Chop an onion or two.
Peel, chop and parboil some potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Fry the onion in some oil in a big skillet. Add the potatoes.
When everything starts to brown, add the turkey.
Throw in any other leftovers you find in the fridge (we had mash, red cabbage and turnip left over from 2nd xmas dinner).
Add your desired amount of your favourite chili seasoning.
Mix and fry well then squish down to make a hash cake. Let it cook until the underside is well browned.
Impress your friends or family with a daring flip to brown the other side. Be prepared for this to go horribly wrong.
January 22, 2007 at 12:21 pm · Filed under Blogging, Family+Friends
Yes, I’m still here. I took a blog break last week as my family were visiting from the UK and France. They did all the things tourists are expected to do in Montreal, including:
- The Underground City
- Old Montreal
- Notre Dame
- Walking up the mountain
- Skating on the mountain
- Driving over the mountain
- Drinking in the Irish pubs
- Going to Eggspectations for breakfast and The Keg for dinner
- Shopping on St Denis
- Experiencing temperatures below -20
- Snowboarding in St Saveur
The snowboarding was 5 days ago, but I’m still in pain. Who knew balancing on a plank of wood uses so many muscles??
We also had “Second Christmas” complete with a pancake breakfast, full turkey dinner, festive music and stockings and presents. I got a bunch of British stuff including a Union Jack mug, a London tube map jigsaw and lots of Brit edibles (mmmmm Jelly Babies).
January 8, 2007 at 11:37 am · Filed under Geeky
There’s some software that is indispensible to me and there’s some software that’s just cool. Most of it is open source. Here’s a list of what I’ve been using for a while and what I’ve recently discovered, in no particular order:
- Firefox - The only web browser I use these days unless I’m testing compatibility. Available for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and others.
- WordPress - This blog is powered by WordPress, the best blogging solution I’ve found. And if you’re nervous about hosting your own blog software you can always use wordpress.com. I’ve just upgraded to 2.1 (still in beta) and it’s looking good.
- Google Reader - I’ve just switched to using this for my RSS feeds, mostly so that I have the same list of articles at home and at work. I’m very impressed so far, the interface is slick considering it’s browser based.
- Akismet - Over 20,000 spam comments blocked. This blog would not be manageable without the fantastic Akismet service.
- SongBird - This one isn’t quite ready for mainstream use yet but it’s under rapid development and is worth trying out. It’s basically a music player and web browser combined allowing you to browse music sites and add their content to your playlists dynamically. Available for Linux, Mac and Windows.
- RockBox - I would not own an iPod if I hadn’t found out about RockBox. It’s a firmware replacement for digital audio players, including iPods, which has lots of added functionality including the ability to play OGG format. It doesn’t do DRM, so if you’re an iTunes fan, don’t use Rockbox.
- Stellarium - If you’re at all interested in the night sky you must try this. It shows a very pretty representation of the current night sky at your chosen location, letting you move around and zoom in and out. Available for Linux, Mac and Windows.
- Mutt - My preferred email client. You probably won’t like it. Pretty much Linux only.
- Battle For Wesnoth - A geeky game I’ve been addicted to for way too long, and they just released a new version! Available for Linux, Mac and Windows.
January 4, 2007 at 3:05 pm · Filed under Family+Friends
Yesterday’s Xmas loot post was missing one very important piece of loot. Here it is (click for big):
As you can see, the boy got one too, from Mummy. The shirts say “WWTDD?”. Only special people know what that means.
January 3, 2007 at 9:06 am · Filed under Family+Friends
… and a good time was had by all. We had 10 adults and 1 very cute boy around the table for Xmas Eve tourtiere supper (which happened on Xmas Day) and 12 adults and 1 very cute boy around the table for Xmas Dinner (which happened on Boxmas). We’re always a day behind everyone else.
I received much loot:
Most of which will be decorating my cozy cubicle at work. The boy received much, much, much more loot than me, but I’m not bitter.
We also went on a mad and crazy shopping spree in the Boxmas sales. Well actually Jen went, I stayed home and provided technical advice via our new cellphones. As a result we have a new TV, new surround sound, a new digital camera, a new laptop for Jen, and I got this:
Which now has 6000+ songs on it (in OGG format, no DRM for me), as well as Doom.
Happy new year everyone!
