Steel White Table

Unidentified Bird Terrorizes Chimney

Phillip — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:31:36 +0000

I noticed this bird on my neighbour’s chimney this morning. The photo was taken through binoculars. Can anyone identify the bird?

It has a slightly long thin beak, a thick red strip around the back of its head, what looks like a little black apron at the top of its breast, and black dots everywhere. It’s still there at the moment pecking away at the chimney. The rapid pecking sounds like a snare drum.

Click photo to enlargenate (view close-up on separate page).

UPDATE: It’s been identified as a Northern Flicker (photo). Wikipedia entry. Cool!

I’m Not Going to London

Phillip — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:12:48 +0000

Jenny and I thought about taking a trip to London, England, because Air Canada is offering a round-trip special of $418 per person. I knew there would be a few ~~hidden~~ additional fees, but this is ridiculous. Check out the breakdown:

~~$418 ticket price~~. Advertised ticket price for two: $832. ~~$805 in hidden fees~~. Actual price: $1611. But at least we only have to pay $1.95 in taxes.

Emiliana Torrini’s “Sunny Road” Video

Phillip — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:50:20 +0000

I just noticed this video again under Random Posts, originally posted 3 years ago. The song and the visuals blend well together to tell a good story.

Emiliana Torrini – Sunny Road | Music Videos | SPIKE.com

Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer

Phillip — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:34:21 +0000

Perfect parody. It made me laugh… and cry… but mostly laugh.

Via Pender’s Crappy Blog That You Love To Hate.

How To See Electrons

Jody — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:43:19 +0000

Saw this on Starts With A Bang! – a quote from Dave Barry.

Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking.

Made me laugh.

Lanois Mixing a Song

Phillip — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:36:22 +0000

This is kind of cool. Daniel Lanois mixing a song for his latest project, Black Dub.

@#$%*! :)

Phillip — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:37:14 +0000

I had to use a smiley face emoticon in an email today to someone I did a job for over a month ago but hasn’t paid me yet (I didn’t want to seem pushy). A little piece of my soul withered and died.

Movie Talk

Phillip — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:29:51 +0000

Want to talk about movies? Do it here.

Mini-reviews of 4-star movies may appear once in a while, but for the most part, anything to do with movies (and some TV shows) will show up in the comments of this post.

This Too Shall Pass (Video)

Phillip — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:00:06 +0000

It’s a one-shot music video and it’s not the Danny Schmidt song.

It’s by some group called OK Go. Click the link for an alternate version of the video and some making-of and behind-the-scene videos. They’ve posted other striking music videos too.

Has anyone seen “Up in The Air”?

Phillip — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:14:56 +0000

That’s my question. And what do you think of it? Up in The Air stars George Clooney, directed by Jason Reitman who also directed Juno, and it’s nominated for an Academy Award.

Potato Tower Didn’t Work

Phillip — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:02:17 +0000

The big potato tower experiment was not a success. The original article in the Seattle Times makes it seem easier than it is. I haven’t heard of too many success stories so far.

We planted our potatoes around May 17th. We did our first test harvest 3 months later on August 17th. It looked like this:

All the gory details are continued over at Mud Songs. My adventures in gardening will be posted over there for now on.

Guess what I had for breakfast

Phillip — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:34:47 +0000

Teddy Bear Watercolour

Phillip — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:47:49 +0000

I like this watercolour by Chas Creek over at Doodle a Day.

I also like that he correctly spells the word ‘colour.’

Why Staples Instead of Future Shop

Phillip — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:21:52 +0000

I went to Future Shop / Best Buy the other day to get a specific wireless N router, but when I got there the sales person tried to pressure me into buying a router that was more than twice as expensive. She threw all kinds of computer jargon in my face and started dissing the brand name of the router I was planning to buy. She was trying to confuse me and convince me to spend more money on something I didn’t need. Had she not taken this approach, I would have at least purchased the router I came in to get. But I was so turned off by her attitude I said, “Well, that’s very interesting. I’ll have to think about it. Thanks.” Then I went across the street and bought my router at Staples.

The router cost more at Staples, but when I went to pay for it, I said, “This router is $20 less at Future Shop. Can you match their price?” They said yes, and that was it. Done deal.

I hate going to Future Shop.

Minutia

Phillip — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:33:28 +0000

I’m sitting at my desk, looking at a small wide-screen monitor, watching these words appear on the screen as I type them. I’m wearing a dark blue hoody (though I’ve never gotten used to that term) with a silk-screened drawing of birds flying on the front and back. I’m wearing blue jeans and a pair of old swede slippers. The slippers have fake fur on the inside. It doesn’t look like fur. It looks like the same material teddy bears are made from. I don’t know what that material is called. I’ve had the slippers for about two years. They cost $70 and they’re not worth $70. The fake fur wore out within a couple weeks, and my feet get moist and give off an odour when I wear them for more than 20 minutes so that I have to take them off just to air them out and cut down on the stink. My feet don’t rank and clear out the room. I doubt anyone notices it like I do, but the point (which really isn’t a point at all) is that I do notice the smell. I just took off my slippers as I began writing about them. I could use a new pair of slippers.