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Showing posts from November, 2009

SCTV + Youtube

Today, I hit a video store that was going out out of business. I scored a collection of the best of the early years of SCTV. I got to thinking: there must be some of the these on Youtube. Enjoy! Half Wits High IQ Farm Film Celebrity Blow-up Dr. Tongue's 3D House of Stewardesses Hey Geogry Tim Ishimuri Show Oh That Rusty (from that Martin Short was funny once) Ben Hur (watch out for Leopards!)

How Do You Fill A Shopping Mall?

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First things first: to read this blog post, you will need to pay me $1 in advance . How do you fill a shopping mall? Charge admission. This week, Hillside Mall in Victoria announced a "late night before late nights" event. For $5 per person, shoppers could come into the mall on a Sunday night when the mall is otherwise closed. Stores offered 10% or more off of select items and deals. As of November 23rd through to Christmas, the same mall will be open to 9PM every night. This afternoon, the mall was active but far from capacity. This evening, the mall was thick with people. No parking spots to be had. Line-ups in every store. The mall had carolers, live piano and free bottles of water. Did that fill the mall up to capacity? No: it was the feeling to exclusivity. To have one of the 2100+ cars in the parking lot; or be one of the 6,000+ people crowdng the stores. For $5 you could be packed into a mall that was a 2/3 full when it was free to visit. We're still not out of a r

Quick Thoughts on Preiudice

Why is it bigotry if a white man hires only white men, but it's solidarity if a union only works with unions?

H1N1 For Sale in Victoria

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This from UsedVictoria : H1N1 VACCINE Hello. I am a nurse with an extra vial of the H1N1 vaccine. One vial will do 10 shots. I am willing to administer these shots to the highest bidder. A silent auction will start when this ad is posted and continue until midnight on Friday, November 13. I will contact the highest bidder to arrange to come to their house and administer the vaccine. I will also bring my credentials. Good Luck! What some snake oil? If so, click here

So we've demonized shopping bags. Why stop there?

We've all accomplished a great feat. We've made shopping bags as popular as swastikas. Why? Because of our love-hate with oil, we use it all the time and spout vitriol at anyone else who uses it. You've given up bags. Keep the momentum going and give up these other petroleum products: Chewing gum Hair dye Asphalt Crayons (the main ingredient is paraffin wax, a petroleum product also used in most candles) Candles (see above) The wax layer of the packaging your frozen food comes in. (And, of course, the fertilizers that farmers used to grow much of that food.) Ink Panty hose Heart Valves Pillows Aspirin Ammonia Toothpaste Toothbrushes Guitar strings Shoe polish Tape Rubbing Alcohol Vitamin capsules (think you're healthy when you're dosing yourself with a little bit of petroleum every day?) Solvents Caulking Insecticides Deodorant Ask your eco-conscious grocery store when they're going to stop selling the above items.

What Vexes You?

I have been trying to crack the nut of increased web traffic for some time (my labour pains have been documented on my tech blog ). I may have tripped over a solution, but I have to see if this is a two day fluke or not. In broad strokes, my solution is to ask "what vexes you?" What gets you pissed off and animated? I do this trick in restaurants. I take a moment and tune from my table to all of the tables in earshot. I listen to all of the conversations-- not to eavesdrop: I am taking them in an indistinct combination of words. Family, friends, TV, what's on the menu. What I hear a lot of (maybe because it's me): I hear people talking tech. Why did Windows do this? My email won't work! Did you see the LOLcatz site? I can't get my iPod working! This stuff (tech) vexes people. When it gets people's attention, they look for a way to scratch their itch. Being single vexes single people, so they go to OKCupid (like the slogan says, "your date will be OK&q

Why should they worry about taxpayers?

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After some rabble broke up the Torch relay leg in the Cook Street Village area on Friday, one of the spectators who lost her chance to see the torch had the best observations of the weekend: Why are the protestors worried about taxpayer dollars? They're not taxpayers! Awesome! She was very right. This rabble isn't there to get their money spent fairly. They wanted my money-- my tax dollars to pay for them to be able to wander around with piercings and pot smoke on a weekday. But, VanOC wrestled $6 billion from the government-- from MY taxes (and I am totally a taxpayer). I didn't want it: I thought it would be a tremendous blow to our economy. And, I thought it would be an open door to allow in opportunists and corruption. I actually think this is a the raison d'etre of the BC Liberal party. This party of realtors, thugs and criminals don't want to manage a province or bring good government to the people. They want bilk the province, create a massive shift of asset