A collection of digital wonders and some other stuff
Back in February 2006, CBC’s The Hour made a road trip through Alberta. They interviewed me for a short segment about backmasking in which they featured my website.
For your viewing pleasure, here is the clip. (Just bear with me getting through the first 15 seconds).
[The Hour: Backmasking – YouTube]
The producer that arranged the interview gave me a DVD with this clip. She said she didn’t have any problem with me putting it on YouTube so please enjoy!
On the fifth anniversary of the United States invasion into Iraq, PBS and Frontline present the full saga of the war in a two-part definitive series.
Watch part 1 and 2 of the full length documentary, Bush’s War at PBS.
I just finished watching it. No matter which side of the political fence you find yourself on, I highly recommend this captivating review of the lies, blunders, and pride that created the war in Iraq.
Make sure you have some time to kill. The online version is divided into 27 chapters, each about 10 minutes.
Update: It turns out, things are exactly as they appear in this video. See my updated post.
There’s been some exciting breakthroughs in the world of regenerative medicine. About three years ago, Lee Spievack sliced off the tip of his finger in the propeller of a hobby shop airplane.
His brother, Alan, a medical research specialist, sent him a special powder with instructions to sprinkle it on his wound. What happened next is truly a marvel of modern medicine: in only four weeks, his finger grew back.
Lee jokes that while he has a 69 year old body, the tip of his finger is only 2 and a half.
Wyatt Andrews of CBS news has the story:
This powder is a medical product called extracellular matrix. Made from pig bladders, it’s a mix of protein and connective tissue surgeons often use to repair tendons. But it’s the matrix’s unusual power to regenerate tissue that’s help launch a new field called regenerative medicine.
Update: Video Removed
[Growing Miracles – CBS]
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I’ve never considered myself a huge “Mad About You” fan, but I used to enjoy catching episodes on a semi-regular basis. One scene that made me laugh and sticks out in my mind, was when Jaime demonstrates to Paul exactly how easy it is to change an empty roll of toilet paper. The scene:
[Mad About You – Toilet Paper – YouTube]
Many times I’ve thought about reenacting that scene for my roommates who seem to like the class and convenience a freestanding roll brings to the operation.
Not too long ago I finally got through to them.
Shortly after that, my roommate came to me with some bad news. Apparently while changing the toilet paper roll he dropped the little plastic holder, the technical term is “insert”, while simultaneously flushing. In an instant it was goodbye insert; hello flooding toilet.
After some futile attempts at dislodging we decided our best bet would be to call Roto Rooter.
They came; they plunged; they charged $100 and left in less than 5 minutes. I can’t say I was overly thrilled about the apparent ease of running his special tools down the toilet, pushing the insert further down the line to become someone else’s problem, but who cares, the toilet appeared to be working again and what’s more the roommate paid me back.
However, even with the 24 hour guarantee on the work, I had a sinking suspicion this problem wasn’t completely resolved.
The next morning I left for my holiday to Punta Cana and returned Sunday afternoon—long after the 24 hours had expired—to discover the toilet having difficulties flushing and leaking water etc, into the basement bathroom on each flush.
I called Roto Rooter again.
Greeted by a pleasant voice on the phone, I explained the situation. She seemed pretty sure that I would have to pay for the clearing but conceded that if it was the same thing, then maybe they’d make an exception. She explained that they wouldn’t be able to tell what it was if they pushed it through. I asked about the use of a camera to check it out. Well, they had cameras, she patiently explained, but I’d be charged if they used them. So in order for me to find out whether or not I’d have to pay, I’d have to be charged. There it was, a nice little catch 22.
Later that day a new, but equally inspiring, Roto Rooter specialist showed up at my house. After a quick removal of the toilet and a little toilet water accidentally poured down the heating vent (I had to tell myself, just grin and bear it), the guy ran his toilet snake tool down the pipe where it “90s” and though he didn’t actually see that it was the same problem, he trusted my story and thankfully they didn’t charge me again.
Yay for Roto Rooter—though it did take two house calls to get it fixed.
Now I’m not saying this happened, but if you ever drop something in the toilet, don’t flush it. Be brave and pull it out, or failing that, get someone else to do it. Telling the owner of the house that it was dropped mid-flush is highly suspicious but I realize, not impossible.
P.S. Post vacation, where you might have accidentally drank the water, is a terrible time for toilet problems. Just saying.
Over the last few years I’ve been secretly dying to attend the annual new media festival in Austin, TX known as South by Southwest.
My trip to Punta Cana this year took precedence but alas not all is lost because the fine folks at SXSW are releasing podcasts of all the Interactive panel sessions over the coming months. They’ve already got a few of them up.
Subscribe to the SXSW Interactive podcast feed.
My brother Gary is down in Argentina this month taking photos and visiting old friends. Today a couple of hooligans, about 15 or 16 years old, tried to rob him. He punched one of them in the face and then made a run for it when they pulled a knife.
Read his story.
I just watched Dave Eggers TED talk about the 826 Valencia project. It’s inspiring and funny; please enjoy:
Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to open their own volunteer-driven, wildly creative writing labs. But you don’t need to go that far, he reminds us, “it’s as simple as asking a teacher: How can I help?” He asks that we share our own volunteering stories at his new website, Once Upon a School.
Kelli’s parents have a friendly Irish Setter named Riley. A couple months ago, while taking a walk with Kelli’s mom, their family pet was attacked by a vicious pit-bull. Despite attempts to separate the attacker from Riley, by hitting the wild dog, she was unable to get him to release his clamped jaws.
Luckily a woman driving by in a van saw the incident and helped to separate the two dogs, finally getting Riley into the safety of her vehicle.
Suddenly a man appeared in a blue sports car, claimed the dog as his brother’s, and apologized for neglecting to keep him in control.
Long story short, after a vet bill of a few hundred dollars (that Kelli’s folks paid themselves) and some minor cuts to Kelli’s mom’s hand, Riley has healed up and the only lasting damage appeared to be psychological.
Today the Medicine Hat News has reported another attack on the same street by a dog of the same description. This time not only did the dog attack another dog, described as a small Shih Tsu, but in the scuffle the dog bit off a woman’s finger.
See the article after the jump:
Continue reading “Woman Loses Finger in Pit Bull Attack”
I’m leaving for Calgary in about an hour and then tomorrow I’m off to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. There’s not likely to be much action around here in the meantime.
Update: I’ve got some photos from my trip up at Flickr.
Designboom has picked out 50 amazing architectural projects currently being proposed, constructed, or developed in Dubai and its surrounding region in a new article entitled, The future in Dubai, any one of which is truly an amazing endeavor.
There is some amazing stuff there and they didn’t even mention the World Islands, a collection of man made islands made to resemble the world continents or Dubailand, a collection of amusement parks twice the size of the Walt Disney World parks.
Pictured here is a render of the completed Burj Dubai. Construction began in 2005 and is expected to be completed this year. At an estimated height of over 800 meters, it will easily be world’s tallest building when finished. It will be almost 40% taller than the the current tallest building, the Yaipei 101.
Apparently the Al Burj, when completed will take over the title of world’s tallest building at 1200 meters. That would make it more than 30% taller than the Burj Dubai and three times as tall as the Empire State Building.
Some other interesting projects not mentioned in the article: