coffee
Friday, November 13, 2009
random 109
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The end of the decade lists have started already - top 100 films: I've seen 26 of them
times
ttc - the better way?
TTC token hoarding is already becoming a problem and the transit commission has sprung into action with a serious effort to thwart it.via blogtoEffective immediately, TTC staffers have been instructed to sell no more than 5 tokens at fare collection booths. Automatic token dispensers in unattended subway entrances will be programmed to deliver just one token. And the worst part of this all? If a fare collector booth run out of tokens, staff have been instructed to charge riders the full fare of $2.75. Is this fare fair?
The stricter limits on token sales come just a few days after the TTC began limiting token purchases to 10 tokens per person.
mouse
apple has a new 1 button mouse... here's an 18 button mouse
via wiredsurfing
some pretty good surfing by matt meola. Follow the link for the video.
catechism humour
The Semi-Pelagian Narrower Catechism
Labels: random
sesame street is 40
Over the last few days google has been using doodles that marks the 40th birthday of Sesame Street. See some of the logos here.
Here's some great clips:
If you want to play the saxophone, it's best to first put down your rubber ducky. Maybe that's obvious, but this wonderful song says it so well. [follow the link for the list of guest stars]
Then there is the alphabet song - especially good when sung by Kermit the Frog and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
& they also show you that you don't need actual words to create a song.
Labels: music video
The Matrix... shot as a Charlie Chaplin silent film
Monday, November 09, 2009
A Russian actor's group called "Big Difference" (Bolshaya Raznitsa / Большая Разница) remade The Matrix as a Charlie Chaplin silent film.
via boing boing
random 108
Saturday, November 07, 2009
my parents were awesome
transparent gadgets
my life is average
Big Ben strikes Twitter: BONG!
not always right
architectural oddities and loopy landscaping in Toronto
new font
font grown from e-coli
statler & waldorf
belt buckle
for your inner geek
via gizmodomovie titles
via videogum
Labels: random
Flight of The Conchords: The Stage Musical
Labels: video
There's always a day before
Labels: story
TED - Hans Rosling
Hans Rosling, is a professor of global health at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. Currently he is focusing on dispelling common myths about the so-called developing world, which (he points out) is no longer worlds away from the west. In fact, most of the third world is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did.
What sets Rosling apart isn't just his apt observations of broad social and economic trends, but the stunning way he presents them. Guaranteed: You've never seen data presented like this. By any logic, a presentation that tracks global health and poverty trends should be, in a word: boring. But in Rosling's hands, data sings. Trends come to life. And the big picture — usually hazy at best — snaps into sharp focus.ted - bio
Rosling's presentations are grounded in solid statistics (often drawn from United Nations data), illustrated by the visualization software he developed. The animations transform development statistics into moving bubbles and flowing curves that make global trends clear, intuitive and even playful. During his legendary presentations, Rosling takes this one step farther, narrating the animations with a sportscaster's flair.
Rosling developed the breakthrough software behind his visualizations through his nonprofit Gapminder, founded with his son and daughter-in-law. The free software — which can be loaded with any data — was purchased by Google in March 2007. (Rosling met the Google founders at TED.)
Rosling began his wide-ranging career as a physician, spending many years in rural Africa tracking a rare paralytic disease (which he named konzo) and discovering its cause: hunger and badly processed cassava. He co-founded Médecins sans Frontièrs (Doctors without Borders) Sweden, wrote a textbook on global health, and as a professor at the Karolinska Institut in Stockholm initiated key international research collaborations.
Check out his gapminder software.
There is a list of TED talks on googledocs
Labels: TED
contrasts
First: $130 million church
Second: One Day's Wages
Let's see...
- $130 million for a church building [as I read the article, there sounds like a lot of good old time rationalization for the expensive stuff they are putting into the building]...
- ...or... donate one day’s wages (equivalent to about 0.4% of one’s annual salary) to the fight against extreme global poverty
Labels: money
rich mullens
Labels: music video
Lawyer: New insurance regs to ding non-drivers
Monday, November 02, 2009
Toronto lawyer Patrick Brown sent out a mass e-mail this evening warning of troubling developments for non-drivers (people without auto insurance) in new regulations being proposed for the insurance industry by Ontario’s minister of finance, Dwight Duncan. I haven’t had the opportunity to do research on the new regulations beyond reading what’s in today’s newspaper, which brands the regulation as financial relief for motorists. I’m providing the e-mail here for your information and discussion.
This morning I attended a stakeholders meeting with the Ministry of Finance regarding the new changes to auto insurance. It is now on the news.
The present law reform is not fair to cyclists, public transit users or pedestrians.
Today I specially asked whether the reduce benefits being proposed will apply to innocently injured cyclists, pedestrians and transit users. The answer was “yes”.
The system here in Ontario is complex to say the least, but I will try to simplify as best I can the issue below.
When anyone (including cyclist, pedestrian car driver) is injured or killed by a bad driver (even a drunk driver), they will have various benefits available to them. These include various things to help them get better. Medical benefits, rehab benefits, attendant care etc.
With the new changes introduced today, many benefits are being drastically reduced. However, the justification for such a reduction is “consumer choice”.
The new insurance reforms provide an option to the auto insurance policy holders to increase the amount of their benefits if they so chose. They simply up the premium in the policy.
However, if you are a cyclist, pedestrian or transit user, and do not have a car insurance policy, you do not have the ability to buy up on your benefits. You have no policy to do so. You must accept these reductions.
Essentially your benefits (if you are part of this group) have just been drastically reduced without the choice of getting more coverage.
How significant are these changes to cyclist and pedestrians. The following are the amount of benefits being reduced:
1. Medical Rehabilitation Benefits (non catastrophically injured) are being reduced from $100,000 to $50,000
2. Attendant Care Benefits (for non catastrophically injured) are being reduced from $72,000 to $36,000.00
3. Housekeeping and caregiver benefits eliminated.The insurance companies argue “consumer choice”. Ie if you want more benefits you can pay an increased premium. Unfortunately that does not help those without car insurance policies and who elect to travel by a safer and less environmentally intrusive mode of transportation. Many students, seniors, and lower income households do not have vehicles in the city. They do not have car insurance policies. They do not cause injuries. But they do get doored, hit, and stuck down all the time! I also suspect it will continue for some time.
The Government however did do something right. They restored access to claim compensation when someone is killed by a negligent driver. They announced today the revocation of the 15,000 deductible. Many cyclist advocated push to change this. This is a good thing for many who lose a loved one. For instances to give some context, when Ryan Carriere was killed cycling on Queen by a negligent truck driver (four Halloweens ago), his family had 90,000 in deductibles taken away from them. Despite successfully proving it was the truck drivers fault and being successful in their law suit. This was simply taken away as a deductible.
The Government will be moving forward in the next two month to draft regulations to bring the above laws into force next year. It is uncertain if they will change this unjust result regarding (cyclist and pedestrian who do not have auto insurance) benefit reduction.
I strongly urge you to let your members know this. This issue will be overshadowed by the lawyers, insurance industry and health professionals during the present media attention to this issue.
http://www.news.ontario.ca/mof/en/2009/11/ontario-providing-choice-in-auto-insurance.html
Patrick Brown
McLeish Orlando LLP
1 Queen St. East
Suite 1620, Box 76
Toronto, Ontario
M5C 2W5
http://www.mcleishorlando.com/
Labels: insurance
google wave
Got an interest in Google Wave but have absolutely no idea where to get started? Try out The Complete Guide to Google Wave, a new (free) book.
Hermeneutical Humility T-shirt!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
God said it.
I interpreted it as best I could in light of all the filters imposed by my upbringing and culture, which I try to control for but you can never do a perfect job.
That doesn’t exactly settle it but it does give me enough of a platform to base my values and decisions on.
It’s a t-shirt that actually expresses some hermeneutical humility (a simple acknowledgment that I might not know everything, and that I might be reading more into the text than I realize).
You can get one here
via ben sternke
Labels: t-shirt
united breaks guitars
cbc reports:After famously breaking his guitar, United Airlines has managed to cause further trouble for David Carroll by losing his luggage — just as the Canadian singer-songwriter was en route to deliver a speech about customer service.RightNow Technologies, a company that creates customer service software, had hired Carroll to deliver a keynote speech this week at its conference in Colorado Springs, about 100 kilometres southeast of Denver.
Departing from Regina on Sunday, "the only direct flight to Denver was with United. So I flew United and my bag got lost," the Nova Scotia singer-songwriter told CBC News by phone on Thursday.
Carroll was delayed at Denver International Airport, where some United staffers ordered him to wait for his luggage — which they said was simply delayed — while an airport official urged him to leave the baggage claim area.
The bag eventually turned up on Wednesday.
United Here are the 1st 2 videos he's produced. I can't wait for #3 which is due to be release soon.
united breaks guitars - song 1
united breaks guitars - song 2
Labels: airlines
random 107
pipe organ
OCC has in recent months been offered a couple of small organs... we have said no... however something like this...the world's largest pipe organ console, in Atlantic City [left]: Tokyo pipe organ, built by Marc Garnier from France in 1991 [right].
Check out the link below for more large pipe organs
via dark roasted blend - you knew that oncoffee would have to link to a site with a name like that.
thomas lang
while we are on a musical theme - how's this for a drum solo
worst parking ever
& yes it is a woman driver
the star
font conference
2010 olympic tourch relay interactive map
The 2010 Winter Oylmpics are not that far away. You can track the journey of the Olympic Torch at the official site: link. To tell you the truth while I love the competition of the Oylmpics, there is also so much not to like about the Oylmpics... but that's for another post.
Labels: random
random 106
Friday, October 30, 2009
like you've never heard before. Young euph prodigy Matthew White uses hip-hop rhythms and his vocal technique to bring a fresh sound to this underappreciated horn. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009, Oxford, UK. Duration: 2:21)
this is why you don't show off
religion
hey jude
flowchart
8 top signs you are too old for trick or treating
8. You get winded from knocking on the door.
7. You have to have another kid chew the candy for you.
6. You ask for high fiber candy only.
5. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your balance and fall over.
4. People say, "Great Keith Richards mask!" and you're not wearing a mask.
3. When the door opens you yell, "Trick or..." and can't remember the rest.
2. You have to carefully choose a costume that won't dislodge your hairpiece.
1. You're the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a walker.
via cup of joe with bill
Labels: random
homelessness
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Becky Blanton at one time was homeless and depressed, and now she is a globally recognized writer. Listen to her story from TEDS.
Labels: homeless
how to worship
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
guitar duet
The 2009 Brazilian Music Institute in Gainesville, Florida featuring Cecilia Siqueira and Fernando Lima (Duo Siqueira Lima) performing TICO TICO NO FUBA (Zequinha de Abreu).
Labels: music video
The Bill
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Labels: environment, film, global warming
