Freaky Randomness

I don't usually see the faces of anyone (let alone Jesus) in those random foodstuffs.
Who knows what he looked like anyway. But this video looks like some sort of wind god from a movie or something. Pretty random anyway. Starts around 1:25.

So that's what it would look like.....

Of course you have wondered what would happen if you blew up hundreds of thousands of firecrackers at once. Well these guys went and found out.

Apparently this is a dedication to some family member who died.

Water to Steam in -30deg

So we replicated that youtube video that has been going around the internet for the last little while of those people in Yellowknife. Thanks to some insanely cold weather in Ottawa we had the privilege of experiencing it first hand.Thanks for the idea Heidi.

3rd Annual Enjoyment Awards

It is the new year and although it started more than a month ago I figure that I should continue my annual tradition which was started in 2007 and miraculously also happened for 2008. So this is my most enjoyed random stuff of 2009.
Once again, I am not confining my list to music and it is not necessarily only from this year. My list is all about the stuff I got the most enjoyment out of in 2009.
Anyways, here it is:

My most enjoyed artist of 2009 was:
I gotta say Bon Iver. His album came highly recommended to me and I definitely did not regret spending the money on that one.

Some runners up were Sufjan Stevens (of course - after seeing him live), Joel Plaskett and Andrew Bird.

My most enjoyed album of 2009 was:
It is a 3-way tie between 'Noble Beast' by Andrew Bird, 'For Emma, Forever Ago' by Bon Iver and Joel Plaskett's album 'Three'.

Some runners up:
Jenn Grant - 'Echoes'
Great Lake Swimmers - 'Lost Channels'
M. Ward - 'Transistor Radio' and 'Post-War'
The Welcome Wagon - 'Welcome to the Welcome Wagon'

My most enjoyed compilation album of 2009 was:
'Dark Was the Night' which features Sufjan, Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, My Brightest Diamond and Canadians Feist, Arcade Fire and Buck 65 (among many others). It was put together mostly by the guys from The National as an AIDS benefit album. If there is one indie album you should buy this year it is this one because it gives you a great slice of the sounds and bands who are really doing cool stuff right now.

My most enjoyed song of 2009 was:
I always find this one so tough because it bounces around so much. I have to make a list:
'In the Blue Moonlight' - Joel Plaskett
'Tough City' - Oh Susanna!
'You'll Go Far' - Jenn Grant
'White Winter Hymnal' - Fleet Foxes
'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' - Vampire Weekend
and so many more.....

My most enjoyed live performance of 2009 was:
Sooooooo many to choose from! Joel Plaskett, Jenn Grant, Sufjan Stevens. Nope I can't really choose between those three.
The spring was a good time for concerts in Ottawa.

My most enjoyed Local Band (Greater Ottawa Area) of 2009 was:
I guess I haven't got into to many local bands this year but as far as Canadian Indie acts go I'd have to pick Octoberman and Dan Mangan - and both have strong ties to the west coast.

My most enjoyed music venue of 2009 was:
It's a tough choice between the First Baptist Church downtown and the Black Sheep Inn out in Wakefield. I'm going to the Church again in a few weeks to see Basia Bulat so maybe that will make up my mind.

My most enjoyed quote of 2009 was:
"I've downloaded hundreds of records....why would I care someone downloads ours? That is such a petty thing to care about. I mean, how much money does one person need?"- Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes when asked when asked whether he minded if people 'stole' his albums.

My most enjoyed beer of 2009 was:
Well I have enjoyed Beau's Lug Tread several times this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Here is a picture of me enjoying said beer!

My most enjoyed TV show of 2009 was:
Firefly. I know it was made several years ago but I didn't get to watch it until this year. I absolutely love it. Don't think you have to be a sci-fi nerd to watch it either.

Also, I can't remember if I watched Battlstar Galactica this year or last year. It should be a close tie.

My most enjoyed movie of 2009 was:
Maybe the Where the Wild Things Are adaptation. It was pretty cool.

Maybe Serenity, because the finale to that Firefly series sure is better after you watch the series.

My most enjoyed proud uncle moment was:

When my neice, Elyssa, got over her fear of the Vespa (if even for an afternoon) at the Nepean Sailing Club!

My most enjoyed technology of 2009 was:
The continuing world domination by Google which just so happens to be extremely convenient for me since I use almost all their products.

Or maybe the news that foreign owned cellphone companies are coming to Canada. Hopefully I can get the Google Nexus One!!!!

My most enjoyed purchase of 2009:
The new kitchen even though it isn't done yet.

My most enjoyed city of 2009 was:
Kingston, ON Canada - Lots of history, tons of awesome restaurants, small enough to walk around, big enough to spend money on the downtown. Yes I was impressed. Don't judge it by the view you get from the 401.

I have to say that Memphis could have won this. Maybe if I spent more time there and got a better feel for the city.
The other close second had to be Boston. That is definitely a city I could live in (if I could afford it) if not drive in. The roads are insane - almost as bad (read: awesome) as an old European city - but there is lots of beautiful coastal spots and some fantastic architecture. Kingston just won because I really felt like I understood the city after staying there. Boston would take a little longer - must go back!

My most enjoyed architecture of 2009:

It has got to be MIT in Cambridge by Canadian Frank Gehry.

My most enjoyed book of 2009:

It was probably 'Brave New World' by Auldous Huxley which we read for our book club. I have read it before but getting to discuss it was just fantastic.

Other than that I'd have to say 'Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss which is a remarkably well written fantasy story that I picked up on a whim on my way home from Memphis. I say remarkable because usually fantasy books are not all that well written.

Either way this year promises to be great for reading thanks to the Jubilee Book Club I joined.

My most enjoyed Jubilee Church event of 2009:

Probably the Soup'n'Socks initiative that we have going on right now. We run around downtown handing out free soup and socks to anyone who needs it (especially homeless people).

My most enjoyed news item of 2009:

Climategate.

My most enjoyed sport of 2009:
Definitely snowboarding, I don’t have any other regular sports.

Most enjoyed website of 2009:
Definitely xkcd but Neatorama is pretty close. Yup, I'm a geek.

And last but not least my most enjoyed person of 2009 was:
Irene - she wins it again!?! incredible!!!! I'm sensing a trend, is this rigged you think?

More Good News for the Skeptics

Thanks to my connections I am hearing about this. You know you can't rely on the regular media for these kinds of stories.

Apparently some hacker got into the servers of the Hadley Climate Research Centre and copied 62mb of emails and research data of some of the most prominent Global Warming alarmists in the world. It was posted on a Russian server and by now has spread all over the web. I'm not going to get into posting the stuff because I'm not sure how our police-state would respond and I also probably would not be able to understand most of it.

Here is a review of much of the data though.

Basically much of the data and emails have been confirmed by people in the know that they are real. If this ends up getting broadcast in the general media it could be huge. Already it has been posted by BBC and the Guardian albeit with no mention of the contents. It remains to be seen if the mainstream media (especially in North America) picks up on this and how. We all know they are intrinsically tied to the Global Warming propaganda that they have been pumping out for years now because catastrophe sells. But then again so does scandal.

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.

Yes it is very cold today.
This was our thermometer when I woke up this morning.
It's almost too cold for snowboarding.

Rise Up! (with Al Gore)

Al Gore, the planet's best friend, feels that nobody is listening to him. He believes that this calls for drastic action. He is now calling for 'civil disobedience' to protest coal plants and other CO2 emitters.
This is what he said:

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration."

This guy ticks me off almost as much as Micheal Moore.

Read the article here.

The Snow Wall to End All Snow Walls

This guy over on the east end of Ottawa in Orleans (we try not to go over there) has built this insane snow wall. I guess you have to do something with it. It definitely is the most efficient way of piling it but he is going to have snow in his front yard till July.
There are more pics of the wall here.
I wonder if Pink Floyd ever used snow.......

Snowstorm of March 2008

Last weekend we were hit with a monstrous snowstorm. I have seen blogs from people in Southern Ontario describing how much snow they got and showing pictures but c'mon guys. That was nothing. Ottawa really got dumped on. We are now 30cm from the all time record in 1971. Ottawa's record is over 400cm and Toronto's record is about 200cm. So yeah......quitcherwhinen already.
Anyway, I put together a short video of me trying to walk around my house in the snow. It was hilarious and Irene was trying so hard not to laugh while holding the camera.

The song in the video is the same one that I blogged about a week ago.

No Global Schwarming in the Czech Republic!

I was sent this link to a CNN video of an interview with the recently elected Czech president Vaclav Klaus. The host (HLN's Glenn Beck) seems a little biased and seems to be trying to pump up his side of things but I, for one, can definitely understand his frustration.
The most fascinating things about this interview are the points that president Klaus makes. He is trained as an economist so he has several point on how the "climate change" force can kill the economy of developing countries. But, coming from a former communist country, he also has several interesting points that tie together the communist movement and the "climate change" movement. Kind of scary actually and rather believable.
This clip is definitely worth a listen.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

This BBC produced show was sent to me a fellow anti-global warming aficionado.
It really pulls together a lot of the arguments into one concise hour long show.
If you have some time and want to bolster your arguments against those who call you a heretic, give it a quick watch. Pretty interesting stuff.

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/ha4PoKY/The-Great-Global-Warming-Swindle