The Accidental Sea: An Apocalypse

Here is a video of a failed city in a barren wasteland. I love this stuff....I always feel like that is how all of north america will look in 100 years if we continue on with our obsession with suburbia and walmarts.

"There but for the grace of God go the rest of us"

In any case, the future is going to require more people to join the "maker" culture and join communes. This guy knows what I'm talking about:

I'd better practice my welding skills.

Why I Don't Live in a Desert

This just happened yesterday. I thought these things only happened in the movies or books like Dune.

The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011 from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

My Favorite Apartment Ever!

If I could find a place like this it would be amazing.
Too bad no one in North America can grasp the concept of being small, efficient, sustainable, clean, simple, modern etc. All of those concepts are hard to find in North American residences.

One of the best parts is that there is no yard to take care of. Also, the view is amazing and the lack of an elevator makes for some seriously good exercise.

Arcade Fire: Scenes from the Suburbs

Check out this sweet trailer from Spike Jonze's "Scenes from the Suburbs" made in collaboration with Arcade Fire.

Yup looks pretty apocalyptic. Right up my alley.

Ottawa's New Mayor

So Ottawa just voted in a new mayor today. Out of a huge group (the largest ever, I think) Jim Watson basically had to defeat the incumbent, Larry O'Brien. It was really a landslide win in the end though.

Personally, none of the candidates really spoke to me. I just want to see them take a serious look at the budget and start cutting extraneous things. We can't fund every little thing by over taxing people and then still end up in the red.

The problem with Jim Watson is that he comes from the provincial liberal party and we all know how well those guys are doing. These are the people who are subsidizing green energy by raising our energy bills 3 times. They are also instituting full day kindergarten and they almost pushed through a motion to teach little kids about sex ed. Yeah, I'd really trust the government to teach the kids about sex.

Anyway, his track record isn't so hot - so why did he get in you ask? Well it's complicated but Larry had several gaffes and really latched onto the wrong issues which Watson used against him. Watson also used the classic obama move by pushing the "change" word around.

The only plus side to these elections was that 10 new councillors were voted in which was the opposite of last time when all the incumbents were re-elected. That was, in my opinion the main reason Larry couldn't get what he wanted to get done. In my ward, Jan Harder got in again (no surprise). She is a fighter for our area which is great in many ways but she never has "cuts" on her mind. She only cares about what she can get for her constituents. I suppose there could be worse things, and people always tell me that, but I just wish these councillors could band together and cut a good bunch of programs city-wide.

So we shall see where this all goes.....

The Best Music Video Ever!!!

I am completely serious. Nothing like this has ever been done.

Go to this website (http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/) and you can view the latest Arcade Fire video for the song "We Used to Wait" off of their latest album 'Suburbs' (which is amazing).

I found it really intense and it becomes very personal. So amazing.

Especially if you grew up in the suburbs.

Oh and I almost forgot. You need the Google Chrome browser to make this work. If you don't have it you are seriously missing out. If you don't have it and you also like The Arcade Fire then there is no question that you simply have to download it now and watch this video.

Look: I'm on Google Streetview!

I knew I was going to be on Google Maps Streetview. I just noticed that they posted North Kanata so I immediately checked and there ya go!


View Larger Map

I remember this happening because I was about to put my helmet on and then I saw this car going by with a huge round thing sticking out the roof. I caught on pretty quick though I am sure it was after this picture was taken.

Here is the first picture:
Here is my reaction in the second picture....

Yeah pretty lame - I wish I struck some sort of crazy pose. This is taken outside my office by the way. Doesn't the Vespa make the office look stellar?

The Hockey Stick is Dead!!!!

In my opinion it took far too long for this to be acknowledged as junk science but finally the main graph that the global warming alarmists have been using to prove their point has been abolished.

Thanks to Fred (you can't rely on mainstream media for this type of news) I found out fairly quickly.

Basically the graph that supposedly correlated CO2 with the "warming temperatures" was taken off of Wikipedia after being posted by some random closet no-name environmentalist from Switzerland.

Just to refresh your memory, this is the graph that Al Gore basically used to prove his point in his money grab movie "An Inconvenient Truth".
You can read a good summary of the history and making of this graph here.

Do you think the tide is finally turning in this Global Warming Farce? And before you jump on me for being all anti-environment etc. I just want to state that I am against the wasteful western society that we live in but trying to prove man-made climate change is the wrong way to go about fixing that. It is wrong on so many levels.

The Front Yard: Why?

So I just came in from cutting the lawn. I got eaten alive by mosquitos and nearly ran over the cord 3 times.
I still don't understand how I got myself into this predicament of owning a front yard. Is there any other situation where so much work and effort goes into maintaining a space that is so unused and pointless?
The whole concept of front yard seems so narcissistic to me. Are we just doing it to impress other people with front yards?
There must be a few people out there that actually enjoy their front yard. But the majority of people on our street evidently don't seem to care. Maybe all the people who like front yards should get together and live on the same street.
Our front yard is clearly one of the best on the street (thanks to my father-in-law who devotes a lot of time to it) but I can't help asking myself 'why?'. What is the point?

Free Aerial Photography

A couple months ago Microsoft launched another attempt to take back from Google. Personally it is too little too late. At this point it is obvious that Google will be the most cutting edge company on the internet for the forseeable future.

However, one of their attempts is pretty cool. Bing tries to provide all the same services that Google provides but under Microsoft control. So of course they had to copy Google Maps but they did one better and added aerial photography to the mix. Yes, Google has Streetview which is cooler but it's only certain cities and not in Canada yet.

So firstly I had to check out what my house looks like. Hmmmm that's an old picture from before we did the patio and the garden and the cedar hedge. Yup, this is pretty much right after we bought the place.
How about my office. Hey I'm not at work yet. Looks like Simon and Brian are there though.
And Parliament Hill.
How about the ROM addition in Toronto.
And I really wanted to see how it works with a tall building so why not check out the CN Tower.
That was interestingly hard to find because of the size and when you rotate it is totally not in view anymore. Cool stuff.

Start exploring for yourself here.

Please don't shop there people

It may be a little extreme but I think it gets some good points across.....

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Please don't shop at these places people. Going for the cheapest choice can be an ethical issue (in my opinion anyway). The world today is driven by money and if you always buy the cheapest thing then you are just getting sucked into that vortex of greed.

Anyway, I don't want to rant on this too much so Sayonara.

Nothing is Free in this World except....

SNOWI set up this sign at the end of my driveway this morning. I saw it somewhere else on the internet and I thought it would be funny. So far no one except people I know have approached me on it (granted I am rarely at home long enough to be approached and we do live in the suburbs). Irene did see someone drive up, get out and take a picture. I'd bet it is on facebook or flickr by now.

Actually, I am hoping that someone from one of the local ski hills will take my snow.

Living In Ottawa

I am sure everyone has heard about the Ottawa transit strike by now. It has been going on for more than a month now. It has the entire city in complete chaos and everybody (even the non bus-riders) has an opinion on it.

Personally Irene and I (and most of my suburban friends) are not totally messed up. We are in the enviable position of owning a car and Irene is able to get a ride to work with her dad. However I would prefer to take the bus to work, especially on the really snowy days.

The problem is there are many people in this city who totally depend on the buses to get around for everything. A lot of those people are probably in the lower income bracket and they certainly don't have the luxury of buying a car or getting to work late.

Basically what I am saying is that there is not a lot of sympathy for the bus drivers. Personally I think they are a bunch of greedy bumcaps. First of all there is so much economic uncertainty right now and these guys are saying that they want more, more, more. They already have very good job security, high pay, etc. and all this with a high school education. (It reminds me of GM and Ford). Secondly, the main issue they are arguing for is control of the scheduling. But in every other transit system in North America the scheduling is run by the management. The city of Ottawa wants to be able to take control of scheduling in order to save money by hiring less drivers and buying less buses. It would also be safer since currently some of the younger drivers have to work insane shifts because the senior guys take all the good ones. It doesn't make sense to have the inexperienced guys doing the harder shifts - accidents are bound to happen.

From the city's side I have never seen the city council and mayor agree on anything since Larry O'Brien was elected. But on this issue the council is tight. It makes sense to all of them that OC Transpo needs some changes.

Recently the city proposed a new contract (much the same as the first one) that included some serious raises (7% I think!) and a good signing bonus. Who gets a 7% raise?!? That is ridiculous. But it is all a ploy to pay off the drivers so that they accept the scheduling being handled by the city. The union voted to turn down the offer. About 75% voted 'no' according to the union. And now it's back to striking, and insane traffic and people's lives being messed with.

I think a few things should come out of this:
1. Public transit should be designated an essential service - so they can't strike.
2. The city should control scheduling - it just makes sense.
3. The city should set a deadline and if they aren't back to work by that time, fire 'em all.
4. The provincial/federal government should step in and get some legislation through that forces them back to work.

The somewhat humourous aspect of this is that the city is saving millions of dollars while the transit system is down while the union is losing huge. That is because OC Transpo, like every other transit system in the world (except Tokyo I think), is a money losing system and it is not like a regular business. But it is essential.

So get back to work you stupid bumcaps.

Edit: Apparently the term asshats (as hilarious as it sounds) is not appropriate. I have reverted to the more subtle term: 'bumcaps'. Please notify me if that is inappropriate too.

Living in Ottawa

So Ottawa has been a happening place lately. We have had all the government shenanigans and parliament being paroqued. This has led to endless debates among normally non-political people. Even people who don't live in Ottawa seem to know what is going on. However on the downside, it has led to many in the media mispronouncing paroqued as pierogies. This has, in turn led to some confusion when reporting on the latest in the economic crisis. There has been no word on how the pierogies feel about the latest reports. The media really has to tap that angle for better ratings.

At the same time the city is in turmoil because everyone's best friends, the good bus drivers of this city, have decided to strike. These idiots are striking despite being offered a 7% raise and better benefits etc. Apparently the main point of contention is the scheduling. The bus drivers want to be able to pick their own schedules based on seniority. The city has countered by saying that they could save millions by hiring less drivers and buying less buses if they could be in charge of scheduling. Of course, the stupid unions are going to ignore this and go for the jugular by bleeding the taxpayers even more. I mean, in these economic times can't you be satisfied that you even have a job let alone a 7% raise. Sheesh, get back to work already! Traffic is brutal, parking is impossible and everybody hates OC Transpo right now. Personally I have come out of this relatively unscathed since I don't work downtown anymore and nobody in Kanata takes the bus so driving isn't even that bad. Shocking, I know, I have resorted to driving. But don't worry, it makes me sick too.

The transit strike seems to be timed perfectly with some horrible weather (for driving or walking). They are currently predicting some sort of snomageddon this weekend. I have my doubts because the media really just seems to be pumping up the weather story for the ratings boost after missing out on the pierogies angle.

But either way, it seems like the perfect time to leave our wonderful city and seek out the nearest beacon of civilization, Montreal. We are heading out to see some family downtown and maybe do some Christmas shopping on Catherine Street. We are staying in a sweet hotel for really cheap and it is quite close to an Apple Store. Should be fun if we can get there.

It's Official

We are going to Spain in November.

I wish I could just move to Europe. No more suburbs, no more SUVs and trucks, no more slow public transit. Only real culture and real history and real transit and chic living and amazing food and lots of Vespas.

Madrid, San Sebastian and Bilbao here we come!

T-Shirt Idea:

I want a T-shirt that has this on the front:

and this on the back:

And maybe something like a Wal-mart symbol or something.

Honking Fail

Recently I have been frequenting a funny (but sometimes crude) blog called failblog.org. It is just a running stream of fails in video, pictures, adverts and randomness. Sometimes it is just too funny. I may share more in the future but this video pretty much captures the the spirit of the blog and is just so funny.

Wal-Mart with AC/DC

This story (about AC/DC selling their latest cd exclusively at Wal-Mart) is amusing on so many levels. First of all, I think it says a lot about AC/DC fans. It doesn't surprise me that same people who feel quantity is more important than quality are the same people who listen to boring, cliche music. The article says a lot about Wal-Mart. But it is really nothing we didn't know already. Wal-Mart = crap.
Secondly, this article captures the sad state of the major music industry quite well. I think it is quite amusing how it describes how the labels are losing not only the indie artists (which, in my opinion, is creating a resurgence in great new music) but also the bigger names. The funny thing about this is where the bigger names are going. They are flocking to companies who in turn leech off them as part of their marketing strategy. It just smells so capitalistic. Everybody leeching off everybody else for the sake of money.
Oh well, these are not things that will ever change. People will always be flocking like sheep to latest fad, whether it is introduced by MGM Studios or the local Wal-Mart.
And it keeps the economy going I guess.

Vespa Ride in My Neighborhood

I put together a video of myself riding around in my neighborhood on my new Vespa S150. During the ride I surpassed 1000 kms. Time for it's first service.

And yes it is quite fun.

Go Ottawa!

According to this list Ottawa may be the best place in Canada to live. And this article explains how they came to this conclusion. I don't think there is much explanation needed.....
Victoria at number 2 is also a pretty decent choice along with my other two favourite Canadian cities Halifax and Vancouver and 9 and 10.