Robert Fargher

Yes, I'm alive.

Fri, 23 May 2008 22:57:21 GMT

Yawn. :-)

Like a moth to a flame, I just can't stop taking these quizzes. I did have to use an ASCII chart, though.

No threat from Microsoft!

Tue, 15 May 2007 18:41:50 GMT

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131806/article.html

Emanual Lasker was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921. He
has an oft-quoted maxim that is very applicable to Microsoft's current patent
actions. According to Lasker, "The threat is stronger than the execution."
In the past, when Microsoft kept quiet about its patent arsenal, the threat
seemed real. Now that Microsoft is posturing about executing its patent
threat, we can see just how feeble that threat really was!

I feel no sympathy for those bastards but they have really put themselves in
a bind now. Just who are they going to sue? Their customers? Yeah, that's
really working fantastically for SCO. Redhat, Google or IBM? I don't think so;
those companies have deep pockets and would not back down from a fight, one
Microsoft cannot win. At best they can hope backroom politics, by lobbying
governments, might be intimidating.

The FSF has determined that Microsoft is now a distributor of Linux (via its
deal with Novell) and thus subject to the patent licensing clauses of GPL2.
I doubt very much whether MS would have the appetite to challenge that in a
court of law even though such status undermines their strategy against Open
Source. And against Open Office, too.

Monkey-boy can bluster about violating their precious Intellectual Property
(tm) but he's not being taken seriously. There is likely too much patent
infringement vulnerability on Microsoft's side for them to withstand a close
scrutiny by, say IBM. Also, if they actually identify their own patents
being infringed they know from the example of Groklaw that pretty much the
whole open source community will focus on finding prior art to invalidate the
patents.

No, they are not in an enviable position right now. And they themselves have
put them there. They have exposed their own weakness. They are no longer
intimidating. Their actions have provided even more credibility to open
source.

Lasker was right.

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 17:28:45 GMT

One more trip around ol'Sol, and travelangel notches up another one. Happy birthday Wendy!

Phenomorphic pleiotropism

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 06:18:35 GMT

The Intelligent Design movement took a body blow yesterday when a US federal judge ruled on Tuesday that "it was unconstitutional for a Pennsylvania school district to present intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in high school biology courses because it is a religious viewpoint that advances "a particular version of Christianity."" I particularly enjoyed his statement that the school board "made a decision of "breathtaking inanity" and "dragged" their community into "this legal maelstrom with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources."" And this from a federal judge appointed by Bush the Lesser.

I tend to think that "inane" is a useful adjective for scientific creationism/intelligent design camp. But that is not a realistic point of view from which to proceed as these folks have a tremendous grassroots support base. They've even managed to get the Kansas State Board of Education to redefine science to include supernatural explanations! And all along here I was, poor me, thinking that science sought only natural explanations for the workings of the universe.

I have been interested in the evolution/creationist "debate" for a long time. And I see scientfic creationism/intelligent design's (the two terms are equivalent, differing only in how much they wish to mask their God as being behind the curtain) political activities as based upon 4 pillars, three of which are logical fallicies and the fourth being a characteristic methodology.

The first logical fallacy is a deliberate misunderstanding & misrepresentation of what evolution is. The best statement of this fallacy is by the astronomer Chandra Wickramasinghe (not Sir Fred Hoyle) who stated, "The chances that life just occurred on earth are about as unlikely as a typhoon blowing through a junkyard and constructing a Boeing 747." Now this refers to the origin of life (which is not part of evolution; evolution explains the development of life once it arose, not its origin) rather than evolution. Nontheless, the typhoon/747 metaphor is very frequently trotted out by the creationists as their metaphor for the mechanism of evolution, likening the improbability of evolution creating good ol' Homo sap to the randomness of material pushed about by the wind conglomerating into a functional jumbo jet. I am not going to refute or correct their misunderstanding here. Rather I am going to point out that they are deliberately attacking their misrepresentation of evolution, i.e. they are constructing a straw man and arguing against it. This is the logical fallacy of the Straw Man Argument.

The second logical fallacy is representing their explanation as the only alternative to evolution. In a true dichotomy, it's either A or B: if you disprove B then it must be A. Creationism is based upon presenting evolution/creationism as a dichotomy. If you parse their arguments, you will soon notice that they constantly posit any criticism of evolution as being evidence for creationism. They produce no positive evidence for their position whatsoever, relying entirely on negative evidence against evolution. I see them as thinking that if they manage to tear down evolution, to discredit scientific thinking counter to their Protestant fundamentalist understanding, that creationism is validated by default. If evolution is wrong then creationism must be right, nothing else to be considered, nothing else to be countenanced. And they posit this as evidence?? Well, that is the logical fallacy of a False Dichotomy. You never hear creationists talk about anything else, such as phenomorphic pleiotropism as an alternative to evolution, do you?

Their third fallacy is my personal favourite. A good example of it is their current argument of irreducible complexity, citing bacterial flagella and the human eye as being so complex, so fit for a purpose with said purpose not being achieved by anything less than perfection (i.e. the end position) that they could not possibly have evolved. Any less than perfect intermediary (to the current construction, that is) would be non-functional (in their view) and could not lead to the perfect functioning complexity that we see. I think that this fallacy is the heart and soul of their world view, indeed lies at the foundation of all religion. The fallacy of so-called irreducible complexity supporting teleological design can be easily shown by re-wording their argument thusly: "I cannot conceive how such an irreducibly complex object could have arisen except by being created". This fallacy is the Argument from Personal Incredulity. Such an argument simply shows their personal limits, not the limits of the universe. That they cannot understand how something occurs can have no bearing on the reality of occurance. Their wishful thinking cannot circumscribe the set of reality. (Parenthetically I note that by doing so, they are also attempting to limit the power of their own God. Who knows, maybe God used evolution to produce man?)

The fourth pillar is that of intellectual dishonesty. This is rampant throughout creationism, being most evident from the days of scientfic creationism (the political precursor to intelligent design). The tenets of creationism, as they apply to science and particularly in their misrepresentation of evolution, have been refuted over and over again. Yet, rather than going and doing proper research, they continually trot out their properly refuted and known invalid arguments over and over again to every new audience. Fallacies 1 and 2 above , for example, are fair enough the first time they were presented. Once they were shown to be wrong you would think that an honest person would retire those arguments and develop new ones (if they exist, that is). But that's not the creationist modus operandi. They present themselves as wanting a fair and balanced treatment of the issues. Never do they mention that every argument they present has been shown to be wrong, that their position has been given fair & balanced treatment and been rejected as fallacious over and over again. Scientific creationism/intelligent design presents lies as the Truth.

Yeah, sure.

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:25:30 GMT

Hmm, it would be nice to know what I got wrong so I could validate the results. :-)

Your IQ Is 130

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average

Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius

Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional

Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 04:38:25 GMT

You are a
Social Liberal
(63% permissive)

and an...
Economic Moderate
(41% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:46:00 GMT

Wile E. Coyote!
You scored 85 Aggression, 57 Sophistication, and 71 Optimism!

You are intelligent, sophisticated, and the physical personification of the can-do attitude. No matter how many times something blows up in your face (figuratively or literally) or prized project collapses around you, you will pick yourself up and try, try again. There is a good chance that you are very skilled in problem solving and would probably make a fine engineer. Your main weaknesses (and this is likely obvious to everyone but yourself) are your overconfidence and complete lack of perspective. When you inevitably fail at a task (you can't possibly achieve all of the lofty goals you set for yourself), you tend to take it personally. If you are not careful, you can become thoroughly obsessed with what is not really a very meaty goal. Try taking a step back from time to time and figure out for yourself if it is really worth it, or if your talents could be best put towards a more rewarding goal. Also, your desire for things to work out the way you've planned can make you a bit gullible.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 90% on Aggression
You scored higher than 9% on Sophistication
You scored higher than 63% on Optimism

Link: The Which Looney Tune Are You Test written by coolguy3000 on OkCupid Free Online Dating

But it's a good pain. :-)

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 07:22:13 GMT

On Friday, I took my dog to the vet to get his rabies, etc., shots. On the way back, I stopped into the computer store (http://www.ncix.com) and bought a Powerball (http://www.powerballs.com/). This is a hand-held gyroscope and is really neat. You can control its speed by working it with your wrist, such that you put energy into the rotor spinning by (I think) countering the force of precession. Moving your hand in circular movements in resonance with the precession, slower & larger movements at lower speeds, rapid & small movements at higher speeds, will really get the thing humming!

Naturally enough, the faster it goes (upto 15,000 RPM), the more work is needed to maintain and/or increase its speed. It's marketed as a exercise aid to strengthen ones wrists and a rehabilitation aid for carpal tunnel problems, RSI and arthritis.

Now my wrist hurt. :-) But it's a lot of fun.

OK, I'm a sucker for quizzes. :-)

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 04:47:36 GMT

You scored as Mufasa. You are Mufasa! Independent, headstrong, courageous and wise, you are a person of principle. Your insight to life and past experiences (even if learned the hard way) have given you a unique ability to relate to others. You are well-respected and well thought of, but you'd never think of taking advantage of others' trust in you. Naturally out-going and personable, you have a knack of talking to people and finding commonality with them. Keep it up, you're the model friend!

</td>

Sarabi

68%

Mufasa

68%

Simba

68%

Timon

64%

Nala

64%

61%

Pumbaa

57%

Zazu

57%

Scar

50%

Rafiki

43%

Which Lion King Character Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

I'm an amazon? Wow!

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 08:03:49 GMT

Which Website are You?

Well, I saw the link on feste's site and my curiosity was piqued. I'm easily piqued. :-)

Another trip around the sun.

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 08:40:44 GMT

Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip
around the sun every year. And travelangel has just completed another one. Happy birthday, Wendy!

I don't believe it

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 04:32:14 GMT

Yeah, right. These things are fun but, geez, all I had to do was know that Mn is the symbol for manganese, that C = 2.9 x10^8 M/sec, run Linux and recognise a picture of Isaac Newton. This is not a nerd (geek is the preferred nomen) test, it is but a common trivial pursuit.

The thing is, gerimaple (otherwise known as my wife. :-) is going to get a very satisfied smirk when she sees my rating, cuz she's gonna believe it! In most things, I respect her opinion but you'd think after knowing each other for over 4 years now, she'd know better. She mistakenly refers to me as an über-geek. Not me, Yer Honour! I'm nowt but a simple country lad.

Fri, 10 Dec 2004 08:02:13 GMT

OK, I found the quiz for affiliation with Canadian Provinces. So much for being a Westerner! :-)

You're New Brunswick. You're a very easygoing
person. You're easy to please and not very
demanding. You're seldom the target of much
mockery or scorn.
When you are, it's never very serious. It's smooth
sailing for you.

What Canadian Province Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Monty Python rawks!

Fri, 10 Dec 2004 07:40:13 GMT

I was reading brightbeak's journal and was drawn to her Quizilla link "Which Canadian province are you?" Now not knowing this really hasn't kept me awake at nights, you know? Besides, I always figured I was Alberta. As if I ever thought about it before. :-) So I clicked on her link. Man, there's a lot of quizzes there. Wouldn't you know it? I couldn't find the one for provincial affiliation.

But I got distracted by an even greater attraction: which character from "Monty Python & The Holy Grail" was I? W00t! So I went for that one instead. :-)

Now I really did take the quiz honestly. Really, I did. And I'm utterly delighted to be identified as my favourite character in The Holy Grail. Sir Bedevere rules! :-)

You are Sir Bedevere! Wise and creative, you are
able to counsel others as well as come up with
some really ingenious plans of attack...sort
of.

Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 20:58:58 GMT

Welcome to the next edition of getting to know your friends. What you're supposed to do is copy (not forward) this entire email and paste it onto a new email that you'll send--

Change all of the answers so that they apply to you.

Then, send this to a whole bunch of people you know "INCLUDING" the person that sent it to you. The theory is that you'll learn a lot of little known facts about your friends. It's fun and easy. You might be surprised with some of the things you learn about people you think you know.

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD IT BE?

Actually, I'd like to build two. A summer home on Brereton Lake, in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park, near the Ontario border. It's one of my favourite corners of the world, on the Canadian Shield, and my family has a large lot with two cottages on it. gerimaple. my wife, and I went there for our honeymoon.

The second one would be a winter home somewhere on the coast between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo (collectively known as Los Cabos) in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. gerimaple and I were there for a two week vacation over Xmas 2002 and really enjoyed ourselves. Of the two towns, I prefer San Jose which is a real Mexican town with a veneer of tourism on top. Cabo San Lucas, locally known as Cabo San Loco is party-central, extremely tourist oriented and not really yielding what I felt was an authentic Mexican experience. Also, I felt more like I was treated as a resource to be exploited than a person in San Lucas; walking on the seawall was like running the gauntlet as we were approached every five feet (and I'm not exaggerating) by someone trying to sell us something, mostly time-shares or native trinkets.

Of the two choices, if I had to choose one, it would be Los Cabos. I really like our current house and its location, the British Columbia summer is great and with the marvellous deck, I feel like I'm living in a summer cottage in the summer. Besides, spending summers in BC means that we're near our friends (excepting travelangel, gossg (husband & wife in Tranna) and brightbeak (gerimaple's "sister"). I love BC and don't really want to live anywhere else. The best part of my exile to Tranna (1997-1999) was coming to that realisation - there are many mornings I wake up and exult, "I'm not living in Toronto any more!"

2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?

In the warm weather, I'm pretty much permanently in shorts. I used to have a pair of shorts from Mountain Equipment Co-op that were made from duck canvas and had enormous pockets - I could put a magazine flat in one of the rear pockets (which I just realised tells you the size of my rear end! :-) Those were great shorts and I wore out several pairs of them. Alas, MEC doesn't carry that style anymore. gerimaple and her best friend, elfmaid, are both dab hands with sewing machines and have volunteered (honestly! no persuasion on my part, believe it or not. :-) to use one of my decrepit pairs as a template and make me some. I'm considering investigating whether they are serious or not and may take them up on it, if MEC doesn't re-stock this style next year.

3. WHAT IS THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?

"Lucky" by Melissa Etheridge. I bought this as a gift for gerimaple. I never really paid attention to Melissa Etheridge's music before I met gerimaple but have grown to really like what she does. Melissa Etheridge is not the only musician that gerimaple has introduced me to; others are Great Big Sea (superb) and Celine Dion (well, two out of three isn't bad. Although Celine Dion is). We have an agreement; she doesn't play Celine Dion when I'm around and I don't play the Rolling Stones in her earshot. :-)

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?

Ah, I'm fortunate enough to enjoy one of the true luxuries in life, sleeping until I wake up naturally. As I've gained more experience in life (others would reword that to say "as I've gotten older" :-) a steady routine has become more important to me. I'm usually in bed by midnight and up around 8:30. I used to be able to go to bed and read for hours. Now, I'll pick up a book or magazine for 5 minutes and then nod off. Ah well, there's only one thing worse than getting old. (That's not getting old! :-) The disadvantage of this routine is that it isn't shared by my beloved, gerimaple. Amongst her other physiological oddities is disordered sleep and she frequently phase-shifts her sleep-wake cycle significantly out of phase with mine.

5. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?

Let's see, I'm kinda fond of the fridge cuz it keeps beer cold. On the other hand, the stove does cook my food. I'm gonna rule out the fridge and stove as they are basic necessities nowadays and ask myself which optional appliance do I really not want to live without. The microwave oven is very convenient but I could easily live with out it. The same applies to the toaster oven and the electric can opener. But I sure don't want to do without the dishwasher!

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Either the trombone or the saxophone. When I was in Grade Seven (Grant Park High School, in Winnipeg), music classes were part of the curriculum. Mr. Takovsky was the teacher & orchestra leader. In one of the first classes he passed out forms upon which we were supposed to indicate our top three choices of musical instruments to learn. Well, I had no trouble with the first one, it was definitely the trombone. At that point, I was stuck as I had no other choices. Hmm, if I couldn't play the trombone, well I guess the trumpet was OK, so I put it down as my second choice. Then I was really stuck. As a kid, I didn't realise that I really didn't have to fill out all three choices, that I could have stopped there. So I just made a throwaway choice and put down violin. Big mistake. As my friend Graham (who I met in Grade 7) put it, "Takovsky was always looking for violin players!" So I got stuck with a violin.

Well, I tried, I really did. I practiced at home, much to the dismay of my long-suffering parents. :-) Scrape, scrape, squeak and whine. It's not that I enjoyed it but that I was trying to be diligent. Then I developed a truly serious illness. I came down with a life-threatening case of pleurisy (better known as whooping cough) and was invalided for over two months. This meant that I had only about one month of violin tutoring/practising under my belt before being too sick to get out of bed, never mind practising the violin or do schoolwork. Once I recovered, I returned to school in mid-December. I don't recall why, but I was stuck in the orchestra which was to give a concert in the near future. Man, what a disaster that was! Takovsky must have been out of his mind to stick a kid so far behind in his musical education, especially one like me with basically no musical aptitude, in a public performance. I think my parents must have squirmed with embarrassment in their seats as I had no idea what I was doing up there. I was up-bowing when everyone was down-bowing and _vice versa_. :-) I think I was permanently excused from violin playing the next day. :-)

On the other hand, with virtually no effort or studying on my part or considerations made by my teachers for my lengthy illness, I scored a 94 in the Xmas science exam. :-)

Nowadays, I play a pretty good stereo.

7. FAVORITE COLOR?

I'm a biologist and gravitate towards earth colours. Hunter green is my general choice. I love the combo of oak, brass and green and try to implement that scheme whenever I can.

8. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV?

Hmm, tough one as I like them both for different purposes. For camping or general outdoors stuff, the SUV would be my preference. For general driving, especially down twisty coastal highways, I'd prefer a sports car.

My overall preference would be a motorcycle, though.

9. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?

No. I try to be a rationalist and truly do believe in an objective universe, one in which mankind is really nothing special, not an anthropomorphist universe. Reality is objective, not subjective, in my world view. Having a Ph.D. in science almost forced that upon me.

On the other hand, I seem to attract women who take their spirituality seriously into my life. Most of my relationships have broken up over spiritual issues; I'm willing to tolerate their beliefs (big of me, isn't it? :-) but they eventually realise they aren't willing to accept my lack of spirituality. So far this hasn't been the slightest problem between me and my wife, gerimaple, who is a Wiccan (which I find rather amusing.)

My good friend, Linda, has a degree in mathematics from M.I.T. and worked as a computer programmer for twenty years before going "woo-woo" (as she puts it). She is very intelligent, not a flake. She has decided to devote her life to spirituality, frequently going on lengthy meditative retreats to monasteries. We have a long-standing, on-going discussion about these differences between our world views. Recently, I remarked to her that perhaps we were both right and that we get the afterlife that we truly believe in. This would mean that I receive oblivion while she misses our conversations in heaven. Her retort was that this is initially true but that after a while, our spiritual essence would wake up and we would both be spiritual beings in the same place. You know, I really hope she's right. :-) But I don't think so.

10. FAVORITE children's book:

I look forward to the next Harry Potter installment. I resisted them for the longest time until Jack, a good friend of mine in his sixties whose opinion I respect, heartily recommended them to me. They are good reads.

I also love the Asterix comix but don't really think of them as children's books.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?

'Tis a toss-up between spring and summer. Spring, because it means the end of winter, the return of good weather and the promise of summer. Summer, because of the weather and outdoors freedom & activities.

I guess spring.

12. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? .

Oh man, this is a no-brainer. Ever since devouring the Superman comix as a kid, I've always wanted to fly. Sure, as the hormones began to rage around puberty, X-ray vision with its capability to look as women beneath their clothes, seemed an attractive power. But the ability to fly would rock! Even now, the best dreams I have are ones in which I can fly.

I've thought that I should take up scuba diving, as that would be the closest to flying that I can get. I'm too "safety conscious" (cluck, cluck!) to consider sky-diving.

13. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?

I don't have one and have never wanted one. I don't understand the desire of some folks to cover every square centimetre of their skin with tattoos. Some tattoos are really graceful and artistic but they're not for me.

14. CAN YOU JUGGLE?

Nope. I've tried to learn but haven't succeeded.

15. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?

That would be the 10 year old me. I've fantasized what I would tell myself at that age, from my adult experience. It's probably a good thing that I can't; I probably wouldn't have listened even to myself at that age! :-)

16. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY?

Easter Sunday. Why? because it means the Kinnikinnik Rambles, of course. For those of you who aren't _au courant_, the Kinnikinnik Rambles are a 5 day camping trip (starting the Thursday before Easter Sunday and returning Easter Monday) that a group of us (gerimaple, fleecyskis2xs and her husband, Ken, pawsitive and his wife (and Ken's sister) wetbird, Anne & Ole (Ken's and wetbird's parents, Sean, prowlerwolf6 and I went on the last one) go each year. We go to the Greenpoint campground in Pacific Rim National Park, on the west coast of Vancouver Island (i.e. to Long Beach). It can be cold and rainy, sure, but it's always a great time and not at all crowed that time of year. Man, just describing it is making me long for the next one.

17. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR?

I don't have a trunk in my vehicle. I drive a Mazda pickup with a cap on its back.

When I bought it new in 1993, I had to decide upon a name for it. At that time, Mazda made its pickups in Hiroshima but I kinda thought that calling it "The Hiroshima Bomber" was somewhat tactless. :-) So I named her "The Tokyo Rose". When I drove to Winnipeg (where I grew up and where my family lives), my mother promptly shortened her name to "Rosie". She's been "Rosie" ever since.

I try to not keep anything in the back of Rosie, except a tie-down rope, a few bungie cords and a kneeling cushion as the bed liner is hard on the knees.

18. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?

If you knew sushi like I knew sushi .... :-) As much as I like burgers, sushi is a real treat.

19. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

I don't know and am interested in finding this out. I'm not going to email it to anyone, I'm simply going to post it on Live Journal and see if anyone stumbles across it.

20. WHO'S LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

Hmm. I'll bet ya it'll be feste or pawsitive

21. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM?

I swiped it from gossg's LJ.

22. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?

Marigolds. I'm fascinated by fractal patterns and the bi-coloured marigolds display beautiful fractals.

23. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?

When I used to teach Anatomy and Physiology to students at the West Coast College of Massage Therapy , I jokingly referred to pasta as man's natural food. I sometimes think that I could eat pasta every meal for the rest of my life.

When I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes earlier this year, I was downtrodden at the thought that I would have to give up pasta (or at least, as much pasta as I wanted) to keep my carbohydrate intake severely reduced. It was tough. Then I found out about Dreamfields Pasta. This stuff is great. The Dreamfields company hooked up with a biochemist who has managed to coat the carbohydrates in semolina with fibre. This results in pasta that's mostly non-digestible carbohydrate, treated by the digestive system as fibre yet tastes and cooks the same as regular pasta. What a lovely product. Low carb means low cal, too. I can have as big a plate as I want (well, within reason) with no effect on my blood sugar! W00t!!

It's available, in Canada, from The Real Canadian SuperStore, Extra Foods, Loblaws and other stores in the Weston chain.

24. DO YOU YAHOO!?

No, but I yodelady-hoo. :-)

Guess I'm just a male chauvinist pig afterall. :-)

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 19:56:40 GMT

Well, with typical male insensitivity it seems that I've managed to put my foot in it. gerimaple just read my last posting. She's not happy about my going to Drumheller by myself, no, not happy about it at all. Ouch. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is in Drumheller, Alberta. It seems that she was kinda looking forward to the two of us going there together. Oops.

Ah well, I guess this veneer of sensitive, new-age nice guy is wearing thin in spots and my natural brute nature of male chauvinist piggery is showing through.

Rambles in the US

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 19:08:43 GMT

create your own visited states map

Well, gerimaple and feste posted their maps of states visited. So here's mine. I intend to fill in a few more soon - Steinbeck wrote about "Travels with Charley" and I'm going to research "Travels on Rocinante". :-) I particularly want to fill in that gap in the west as Utah has both Bryce and Zion National Parks, both of which I'm eager to visit. I also want to see Dinosaur National Monument which is around there somewhere. :-)

My wife (gerimaple) has her name in for a job that would last through the summer. We were planning on taking a trip across Canada on Rocinante to Newfoundland (we live in BC). However, her getting this job will put the kibosh on those plans. So I'm thinking that if she does get gainful employment, that I'll take off on the motorcycle for a few weeks to visit my family in Winnipeg. But I'll go via Utah on the way there. And on the way back, I'll make the pilgrimage to the Royal Tyrrell Museum then to Calgary for Peter's Drive-In cheeseburgers. :-)

A new motorcycle

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 07:34:50 GMT

I originally started this as an email to Travelangel in response to a comment she made to my wife's recent Live Journal posting. Geri suggested that instead I update my Live Journal page and stop complaining about others not updating theirs. Mea culpa. :-) So the first bit reflects an intended private email.

--

From your posting to Geri's Live Journal entry, it's obvious that Greg told you about the motorcycle that we bought. It's a 1991 Yamaha Venture Royale, a bike I've always lusted after. If this doesn't make sense to you, think of it as Yamaha's answer to the Honda Goldwing. A pix of the base model from the original marketing pamphlet is here

This style of bike is a touring motorcycle. Designed for highway travel, it'll take Geri and I anywhere we want to go, down any road, in comfort. It has AM/FM/cassette stereo, CB, rider/passenger intercom system, adjustable air suspension and cruise control. :-) On the flip side, it's a heavy bugger (732 lbs unladen)! I have a lot of solo practice to do before letting Geri ride as a passenger. My previous motorcyle was a 1981 Yamaha 750 Seca, a great bike and I loved it but it was much lighter - I could muscle that bike around. This one I can't.

I bought it as Geri and I want to take a cross-Canada trip to Newfoundland; we've both been to every other province in Canada. We also want to go down the Oregon/California coast highway, to Bryce & Zion National Parks and to Dinosaur National Monument (all in or near Utah) and to Alaska. Somehow, as much as I might like to do it, I doubt we'll do all that on one trip. :-)

The bike is named Rocinante, after Don Quixote's valiant steed. I hope he serves us as well as the original Rocinante served the noble knight. :-)

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 20:58:38 GMT

From the depth of the crypt at St. Giles,
Came a scream that resounded for miles!
Said the vicar, "Good gracious!"
"Has Father Ignatius",
"Forgotten the bishop has piles?"

Hello

Thu, 26 Jul 2001 19:33:59 GMT

A canner once remarked to his granny,
"A canner can can,
Anything that he can,
But a canner can't can a can, can he"

Just a test. :-)