Posts

Posted on

Wally’s Celebration of Life

Today at my uncle Wally’s celebration of life1, after his daughter, Heidi, gave a wonderful eulogy she asked if anyone else wanted to come up and say a few words. There were a couple of folks that made their move to the microphone, meanwhile our young daughter whispered to me asking if she could go up. I was hesitant because I worried that a seven year old might be anxious for the spotlight but not necessarily know what is appropriate to say so I thought we should just wait and see how many people are eager to get up there and asked her to please wait for me to give her the signal. Well, she didn’t wait. As soon as there was the slightest gap between speakers she rushed the podium and grabbed the microphone. There was a short silence as she gathered her nerve but then went on to say how she was glad to be here today; so glad she could be a Milner; and that even though she wasn’t old enough to meet Wally2, he seemed like a really sweet guy. It was PERFECT.

  1. Previously[↩]
  2. She did meet him two or three times but she was very young and I guess doesn’t remember.[↩]
Posted on

Peanuts in Coke

While doing the crossword this morning, I found this clue to be a bit mystifying: Peanuts in ____.

After solving the puzzle, I hit up Wikipedia and learned that peanuts and coke are a snack that gained traction in the southern United States in the 1920s.

Peanuts and coke, sometimes called a “miner’s Coke” or “farmer’s Coke”, is a snack originating in the coal-mining regions of the United States that later became popular with agricultural and other blue-collar trades. It is made out of peanuts soaked in Coca-Cola.

The most common variation involves pouring salted peanuts into a bottle of Coca-Cola before drinking them. Traditionally, glass bottles of Coca-Cola are used. The snack’s appeal is often attributed to the combination of sweet and salty tastes, as well as the crunchiness of the peanuts. Other variations substitute different nuts or sodas. The combination has been called “the working man’s strawberries in champagne.”

The recipe is simple enough: put some peanuts into your ice-cold Coca-cola. Enjoy!

I was talking to Andrea about how bizarre it is for it to be a thing and simultaneously thinking who would want this when my son exclaims, “Well I absolutely couldn’t take THAT to school!”1

  1. At school they live in a peanut free world.[↩]
Posted on

The Jaws Poster is in the Public Domain

The poster for the iconic 1975 American thriller film, Jaws, it turns out, was never copyrighted.

David Friedman on Ironic Sans:

As we’re all celebrating the 50th anniversary of the movie Jaws, here’s something I bet you didn’t know: Due to a fluke of publishing and copyright law, the Jaws shark is public domain.

It’s not the character of the shark that’s public domain — or someone would surely be making a low-budget horror prequel about how he became the Amity Island Killer. But I’m talking about the famous shark painting from the movie poster:

Movie poster from 1975 movie, "Jaws"

Friedman’s story about the poster is funny and worth reading. As for the movie itself, I tried watching Jaws about a year ago but I found the pacing just too slow and decided it wasn’t worth it so I turned it off. I’ve seen many parts of it before, just never in one sitting, but I still remember seeing the titular “Jaws”1 as a kid on the Universal Studio tour when I was about one or two years old.

Here are a couple of photos from that trip:

Jaws from the safety of our tour tram.
Jaws photo op at Universal Studios circa 1980.
  1. The shark was nicknamed “Bruce” on set, after Stephen Spielberg’s divorce lawyer.[↩]
Posted on

A Quick 5K

My Apple Watch alerted me that if I wanted a fancy sticker for global running day I would need to run five kilometres on June 4th.

It’s been over a decade since my last “run” but yesterday I figured since I didn’t swim that day and I was feeling a bit antsy and out of sorts anyway1 I should go for it.

It took me 37 minutes.

My legs are a bit sore today but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The award on my watch, however, didn’t show up. And here I’ve gone and done exercise merely for the sake of feeling good and making myself healthier. Maybe it’ll arrive in the next day or two, otherwise, well, I guess I’m still happy I did it but I’d like that award.

Update: It showed up without a notification and it turned out it was a two-for-one award. I just had to go looking for them:

Global Run Day award

  1. probably about the job I didn’t get[↩]
Posted on

Job

I had a job interview last week. I am extremely qualified and was quite looking forward to getting it.

The vice principal called me today and said, “they are ‘going a different way’ from the interview”. Which in my mind translates to, we already had someone picked out for the job and it’s not you.

I’m disappointed but if my hunch is correct there isn’t anything more I could have done.

Posted on

List of Random Posts Widget

I wanted to create a home for my new Random Posts Widget — and so I guess this post is it. I created it with the help of AI and I’m pleased with the result. There are some other WordPress plugins that do the same thing but this one uses modern code1.

It’s pretty straightforward, it just picks between one and 10 random posts and displays them on your WordPress site. That’s it.

Download the List of Random Posts plugin, unzip it, upload it to your wp-content/plugins/ directory and then activate it from your WordPress admin -> plugins page. After it’s live, you’ll find it in your collection of widgets which can be added on your site anywhere widgets are supported.

See the sidebar for the plugin in action.

PHP code after the jump: Continue reading “List of Random Posts Widget”

  1. At least according to ChatGPT[↩]
Posted on

Apple Earnings Q2 – 2025

From Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2025 second quarter ended March 29, 2025. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $95.4 billion, up 5 percent year over year, and quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.65, up 8 percent year over year.

Tim Cook was asked about the high profile court case ruling against Apple’s refusal to follow an injunction over anti-steering provisions against developers selling subscriptions or other services outside of the App Store. Cook echoed Apple’s statement about complying and appealing, and he didn’t add much more beyond saying that the outcome is still unclear:

The case yesterday, we strongly disagree with it. We’ve complied with the court’s order, and we’re going to appeal. In the DoJ case you referenced with Google, that case is ongoing, and I don’t really have anything to add beyond that.

We’re monitoring these closely. But as you point out, there’s risk associated with them. And the outcome is unclear.

iPhone $46,841 million up 2%
Mac $7,949 million up 7%
iPad $6,402 million up 15%
Wearables, Home and Accessories $7,522 million down 5%
Services $26,645 million up 12%
Total Net Sales $95,359 million up 5%

Here are the Six Colors charts and commentary.

Posted on

Latrodectus

I found this little gal in my backyard just now:

Black widow spider

This is the second black widow I’ve ever come across. I spotted the first one crawling around on the ground near me when I worked on the base in CFB Suffield digging holes1. I left it alone and it left me alone.

With regard to this one in my backyard, however, I didn’t think it would be prudent to just leave it there next to my strawberry garden so I tried to move it and it got away.

I hope you sleep better than I will tonight.

  1. That’s a story for another day[↩]
Posted on

Liberals Win the Canadian Election

How it started:
338 Simulator projects these results as: CPC 256, LPC 19, NDP 22, BQ 44, GP 2
How it’s going:
LPC 169, CPC 144, BQ 22, NDP 7, GP 1

The loss of >27% lead and failing to win re-election in his own riding has to be a major blow to Pierre Poilievre but in his concession speech last night he declared he’s determined to continue on in his role as leader of the opposition. He even bragged that he prevented the Liberals from achieving a majority government.

Jagmeet Singh, on the other hand, resigned last night after his party’s support imploded in the face of fear over Trump’s sovereignty and tariff threats and the loss of his own seat in parliament. In time Singh will be remembered more for his great contribution to improving Canadian public health care with the NDP’s dental plan than leading his party into non-party status. It should be noted that without Singh’s coalition government support, the Liberals otherwise would have been wiped out in a snap election a long time ago and Poilievre would have been the one negotiating with the US when Trump breached our trade deal.

Which leads me to wonder, if we don’t renegotiate NAFTA1, does that mean we can get rid of the GST?

Back in the 1980’s the Liberal government was pushing for a new trade agreement with the United States. Brian Mulroney opposed it before he was elected:

“Don’t talk to me about free trade…. Free trade is a danger to Canadian sovereignty. You’ll hear no more of it from me…. This country could not survive with a policy of unfettered free trade…. This is a separate country, we’d be swamped. It’s bad enough as it is.”

But after he was elected he turned face and negotiated The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) and with it came the GST.

“Canada’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) came into effect on January 1, 1991. (Mulroney had to stock the Senate with extra Tory appointees to get the tax passed by the Liberal-dominated Upper House.) Set at 7 percent, the GST replaced a federal manufacturer’s tax of 13.5 percent, and in doing so, shifted the burden from private companies to individual consumers. The GST, in turn, was brought in to compensate for import duties and excise taxes that were now being lost under — you guessed it — free trade. Keep that in mind the next time you cough up your share of the national sales tax: Free trade isn’t free.”2

  1. or whatever it’s called these days[↩]
  2. Excerpt From Canadian History for Dummies by Will Ferguson[↩]