This is pretty funny: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/28/real-time-with-bill-maher-new-rules-look-beyond-the-candidates-skin-color/. Stick with it when it starts to look like it's going to say bad things about single mothers. The real point is about the privileged jerks that have delayed my retirement by several years due to their game playing with mortgages.
If you're watching the video, the political stuff starts at about 2:30.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Camping in Manning Park
We went camping at Lightning Lakes Campground in Manning Provincial Park. The campground is five km off Highway 3 where the Manning Park Resort is. The campground is probably 1,300 m above sea level, so in late August it's getting really cold at night. I would guess that Saturday morning at 5:00 AM when I got up (thanks to the cat throwing up in the tent), it was probably only a few degrees above zero.
Marc did the learn to fish course. He was great at casting. The province runs learn to fish programs now because they're selling fewer fishing and hunting licenses every year. The argument (at least to people like me) is that someone who uses the outdoors will care for the outdoors. (I think there's lots of people in BC who use the outdoors -- they just don't do the same sports as the people who are currently BC Liberal MLAs.)
On the way home we walked through the Othello Tunnels, a sequence of tunnels in the Coquihalla Canyon. This stretch of railway cost three times as much per kilometre as the typical piece of track at the time. Of course it turned out to be too expensive to maintain the section what with rain storms and avalanches.
We had great weather, probably because we were east of the summit of the Coast Mountains range. As soon as we got down to Hope, the heavens opened. Angela commented that we always seem to drive through a deluge on our way back to Vancouver from the interior.
Marc did the learn to fish course. He was great at casting. The province runs learn to fish programs now because they're selling fewer fishing and hunting licenses every year. The argument (at least to people like me) is that someone who uses the outdoors will care for the outdoors. (I think there's lots of people in BC who use the outdoors -- they just don't do the same sports as the people who are currently BC Liberal MLAs.)
On the way home we walked through the Othello Tunnels, a sequence of tunnels in the Coquihalla Canyon. This stretch of railway cost three times as much per kilometre as the typical piece of track at the time. Of course it turned out to be too expensive to maintain the section what with rain storms and avalanches.
We had great weather, probably because we were east of the summit of the Coast Mountains range. As soon as we got down to Hope, the heavens opened. Angela commented that we always seem to drive through a deluge on our way back to Vancouver from the interior.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Science World with Benjamin
Marc and his friend Benjamin went to Science World today. Here are the pictures:
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Camping at Nairn Falls
Marc's been wanting to go camping all winter. We finally negotiated the first weekend in June. We went to Nairn Falls Provincial Park. We went last year for one night. The falls are spectacular, but we didn't go see them this year. We just played around the campground and looked at the river.
On the way up we saw three bears (no Goldilocks, though). Two were just a few metres off the edge of the highway, between Squamish and Whistler. The first was just outside Lions Bay, a suburb of Vancouver, up on the hill in a construction zone (the whole highway is being rebuilt for the 2010 Winter Olympics).
On the way back we stopped in at the BC Mining Museum. It was time well spent. Marc loved the old machines, and he wasn't the only one. We got to ride a train inside the mine: A child's heaven, whether the child is 6 or 49.
Marc took a number of pictures of the old machines. I like his composition.
On the way up we saw three bears (no Goldilocks, though). Two were just a few metres off the edge of the highway, between Squamish and Whistler. The first was just outside Lions Bay, a suburb of Vancouver, up on the hill in a construction zone (the whole highway is being rebuilt for the 2010 Winter Olympics).
On the way back we stopped in at the BC Mining Museum. It was time well spent. Marc loved the old machines, and he wasn't the only one. We got to ride a train inside the mine: A child's heaven, whether the child is 6 or 49.
Marc took a number of pictures of the old machines. I like his composition.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Great Podcast for Math Whiz Wannabes
I just heard a great podcast of Arthur Benjamin doing his mental math tricks. The second half of the podcast is him explaining how he does it, which I think is much more interesting than the tricks themselves to those of who are math-inclined.
Something I found really interesting is that he does math by hearing or words, rather than visually. I'm visual, which is why I can do math in my head about as fast in Spanish (which I learned as an adult) as I can in English (my first language). Benjamin's room full of geeks appears to have been overwhelmingly visual as well, but he says that most rapid mental math calculators (humans) are auditory.
Something I found really interesting is that he does math by hearing or words, rather than visually. I'm visual, which is why I can do math in my head about as fast in Spanish (which I learned as an adult) as I can in English (my first language). Benjamin's room full of geeks appears to have been overwhelmingly visual as well, but he says that most rapid mental math calculators (humans) are auditory.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Guts
Alberto Contador, last year's Tour de France winner, riding with a broken arm, finished second in today's individual time trial at the Giro d'Italia, a 39.4 km ride in 56 m 49 s.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Children's Festival
Marc went to the Children's Festival in Vanier Park with his Mom and Kindergarten. Here are the photos:
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