I checked out this article on the CNN website and have to disagree completely with the premise that the buildings are all “ugly”. The only one that jarred my sensibilities was the Scottish Parliament – it just looks like a tenement with laundry hanging off the balconies.
Admittedly the word “ugly” is a subjective one so it’s all about opinion, but for the most part those buildings seem to me to simply stand out. The term “landmark” could just as easily be used in most cases…
I so far have not been able to find this piece of music anywhere! It’s haunting and sounds like a very cool remake of a classic!
I can’t wait to get a copy for my iPod but so far no venues sell it..
Another surprise here. Ishwar suggested putting the Kill A Watt on my TV to see what the power consumption is like when it’s just sitting there waiting for me to turn it on. From what we’ve both heard I had rather expected the TV to consume a fair bit of power in this mode. At least that’s why we’re supposed to unplug such appliances when not in use (yeah, like that’s going to happen).
As it was the TV consumes so little power that it doesn’t even register on my power meter. In fact, after nearly a day (21 hrs) it still had not consumed enough to register any value at all.
Either my 12 year old rear projection TV set is extraordinarily energy efficient or those energy saver guides are using “common sense” rather than actual empirical evidence when they offer this advice…
Anyway, I’ve hooked up my entire entertainment system to check out what a week or so of consumption is like. Coming up soon.
I ended up leaving the Kill A Watt on my fridge for a *lot* longer than I intended. But at least I got a pretty good representation of its consumption.
These results were a big surprise to me. I’ve always considered that the fridge should be one of the chief energy consumers in the house and was expecting these numbers to be much greater than this.
RESULTS
Elapsed time: 623 hrs (about 26 days)
Measured Consumption (Watts): 173 <– This is what I spotted when the compressor was running
Measured Consumption (Amps): 2.43
Cost –
Actual (for duration of test): $6.04
Daily: $0.23
Weekly: $1.62
Monthly: $6.94
Annual: $84.49
Yeah… I’m not so sure you’d want them singing this song about *you*. But the melody is very good and frankly the lyrics make me laugh so here it is.
Not really safe for work if you can even stream this to your work machine.
So, I’ve *finally* figured out what I’m doing and have culled through my Toronto images from our July trip.
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Please click here to check them out. I’m going to be posting them over a number of days so check out the flickr app on the left side to see if there is anything new there.
This friendly little guy is a tortoise in the Darwin exhibit that was hosted at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Just saw “Iron Man“. Now *that’s* the way a super-hero movie is supposed to be done. A little funny, stretch reality a bit and use top-notch actors and special effects.
When I saw the 2003 version of “Hulk” I thought, “Uh oh… I hope this doesn’t mean all sci fi will flush plot and plausibility down down the toilet like this.”. Unfortunately a lot of movies seemed to follow that path and I found much of the comics to movie genre not that palatable. I’ve never been much of a superhero comic kind of guy so often my first exposure to these are through their Hollywood movies. Dismal examples include “The Fantastic 4”, “Hulk”, “Transformers” – all of which, had I been an afficionado from days gone by, I might have been able to overlook the terrible character development and flimsy plots due to nostalgia. But without that background I found the movies terribly lacking in depth and plausibility (and I’m really not that hard to please that way).
Movies that got it right include “X-Men”, “Batman Begins”, maybe “Superman” and now “Iron Man”.
As a side note I have to say Robert Downey Jr. *really* carries this move. His is an understated presence that just fills ths screen.
Gwyneth Paltrow seems under used, but I am imagining that this is to do with how the character she is portraying is represented in the comic books?
I just got back from my sad, sorry attempt to cast my votes for this election. At the advanced voting station, in this frigid weather (showing 34 degrees by my thermometer), there was a line out a couple of hundred yards and 4-5 strong wide outside of the building.
How incompetent a system are we running that it’s going to take me *how* many hours, business hours, to cast my vote?
I’m originally from Canada. A country which, in many ways, is not as sophisticated as the United States. But in some ways – consumer oriented banking and voting. Was VASTLY ahead of us. I cannot recall EVER having to wait more than 20 minutes to get into the polling station and then be on my way again. Maybe I was lucky, but I was then, as I am now, on the outskirts of one of the larger cities in Canada. If anything, I’m now *farther* away from the urban core. And yet we can’t figure out how to do this efficiently?
Come on! It’s not like this is unusual or a surprise. We have a MAJOR election every 4 years! And zillions of minor ones it seems all the time. Who’s the genius who thinks this is acceptable?
*sigh* I’ll try again at 3 pm… and probably again nearer to 6. I’ve invested the time to be aware of the candidates and the issues, I can’t believe I’ll be stymied by bureaucratic incompetence… oh, wait… that’s what bureaucratic incompetence is all about…
** Update 4:00 pm **
Just got back, the line looks a *little* thinner but was longer yet and, at over 2 hundred yards, was still ridiculous. I guess this means that only the retired, the unemployed and convicts are able to vote these days? That could go along way toward understanding the caliber of congress we have…
** Update November 4 **
I have to say that I was impressed. The polling station was open and uncrowded, direction was excellent and it only took me about 15-20 minutes to get in, vote and get out. So I have to take back some of what I said above. I cannot at all understand what the frenzy surrounding advance voting was all about but I’m glad to see the fears were unwarranted.
Kudos. And yes – regardless of who wins the election, this IS THE BEST COUNTRY THIS PLANET HAS EVER SEEN.
I just took advantage of the AJC’s “Georgia Voter Guide” to prep myself for the ballot items I’d be facing for this year’s election. It was great to be able to sit back and review each of the 44 (!) items in the comfort of my home with access to Google to help me look up items with which I was unfamiliar.
I urge anybody who matters to be sure that you a) vote and b) vote for things you understand. If you’re just going to pick the prez without any consideration of the zillions of other more local and, honestly more relevant to you, items then why not just save yourself the time and stay home and watch Nascar or WWE reruns instead…
Back in January of 2007 I posted about a healthier lifestyle that I’d adopted.
In my visit up to Toronto this past July I found I was becoming pretty overwhelmed with being so full all the time. A part of many visits with friends naturally ends up enjoying a meal together. Light foods or not, I was finding myself perpetually and uncomfortably “topped up”.
So when I came back I determined that I would make some additional changes. To that end I stopped eating all sugary snacks, all chocolate and sodas. Otherwise it was business as usual. The same meals, the same restaurant visits with friends but just having water with lemon instead of a coke. Also, when I feel even vaguely full or approaching full, I just stop eating my meal.
The difference has been dramatic. After the first few days I had lost that constant “full” feeling. Then it migrated to that wonderful “ready to go” feeling when I’d wake up. It’s hard to describe but it’s that satisfying feeling you get when you’ve spent your day doing productive work and taken care of yourself on top of that. Like I said, it’s hard to describe.
Anyway after several days I began to lose weight. I like to weigh myself at the same time each day so that circumstances are as similar as possible, so I do so right before getting dressed in the morning.
The weight loss has been fairly consistent about 1 1/2 pounds a week. When I saw that I was starting to lose weight faster than that, I adjusted my diet and just ate a little more.
I do not and I have not had cravings for the sweets although I will admit to craving salt more than usual. And those of you who know me know that *that’s* something…
Here I am 3 months later. When I began losing weight too fast and modified my eating to compensate it resulted in my plateauing a couple of weeks ago but I have since started losing weight again. As of today I’m about 15 pounds down from where I began. I’m anticipating another 9 pounds will put me where I think I should be. So in another 6 or so weeks I’ll be reevaluating whether to move into maintenance mode yet.
My ideal “weight” isn’t predicated so much on the weight but on how I feel overall. Weight vs height can be pretty misleading as it doesn’t take into account your muscle mass if you’re anything but a pasty corporate drone who doesn’t exercise at all. So I take the “ideal weights” with a huge grain of salt (mmm… salt…). But it is the most convenient objective size measure available to me so I have chosen this as my indicator.
Of interest was the fact that, as I lost weight, I noticed changes in my gait both when when walking and running. Even more unexpected was that the amount of “material” on the base of my feet decreased leading to greater impact when running and necessitating a change in my technique to smooth things out.
At first I had thought that my sneakers had suddenly worn out, but I noticed a similar change with all my shoes. It was simply more pronounced when I ran.
Maintenance mode will require some thinking. I really *love* coca cola. I’m thinking of how to relegate it to where it belongs in a meal, as a dessert, and how to do this conveniently when eating out. The quantities provided are so huge that I’ll be forced to leave so much behind it will be galling.
Also, I *really* love my chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. How to reintroduce them so I can enjoy them as a treat without falling back into old patterns? In the past, I could *easily* sit down and eat a couple of rows of my favorite chocolate chip cookies and not blink an eye. Is it possible to enjoy one or two and be satisfied? Or am I like an alcoholic in that I’d be incapable of stopping at a reasonable amount?
Suggestions? Comments? Oh, don’t suggest diet foods. I’m not interested in sorry-ass substitutes. If I’m going to indulge in something enjoyable I’m not interested in a poor cousin and trying to “trick” myself into enjoying it. I’ve sampled the diet offerings out there and, if I never taste one of those again, it’ll be too soon! 🙂
