shayman

shayman, 5 months ago to random

I like to think I know a little bit about how things work but I'm still surprised that this little folding power charger thing actually needs a firmware update (to be supplied by the dingus below it)

shayman, 4 months ago to random

These photos of the late Ed Broadbent with other leaders - Joe Clark, Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, John Turner, etc, makes me sad, and longing for a day when our leaders didn't seem to base everything on disrespecting the other side.

Rest in peace, you were a good Canadian.

shayman, 5 months ago to random

Want!
https://rapidotrains.com/ho-scale/complete-train/ttc-g-class-subway.html

shayman, 6 months ago to random

My thanks to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats organization, all the volunteers, and especially all the fans who have made this Grey Cup Festival a lot of fun. Even wearing Argo gear around town, I haven't heard the traditional statement about the Argos that much; the Sask band was cheered in the Winnipeg party, the fans everywhere are getting along just great, celebrating this game that we all love.

This #CFL video from 15 years ago still chokes me up. This is OUR league.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS1jCfg7Qxc

shayman, 3 months ago to random

I think you'll all be grateful that I did not live blog my particular experience today, but Dave Barry sums it up very well.

Get checked. Be an adult here. Quit being squeamish. It's better to know that everything's fine, or to know that there's an issue so it can be dealt with, than it is not to know.

(Dave's article on his colonoscopy made me laugh dozens of times this week and that really helped me quit worrying.)

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article1928847.html

shayman, 4 months ago to random

15 years ago today, one of my favourite on-campus iOS coding demos at Full Sail University in Orlando.

I showed the app "Cube Cheater", (https://www.ericfaller.com/blog/category/cubecheater/) a clever early iPhone app that solved Rubik's Cubes by letting you photograph the scrambled cube first.

I said "I wish I'd brought a cube with me to show this off properly."

Someone quietly excused themself, went to a store, bought one, and returned and gave it to me before the demo was over.

I still remember that act of kindness!

shayman, 1 month ago to random

Today I learned from a travelling friend that Delta hands out trading cards like this to kids with details of the airplane you were on. What a great idea! (And she tells me the pilots of DL1368 were great to the kids too.)

On behalf of the frequent flyers of the world, I would like to urge all airlines to hand out collector cards like this to all of us!

The front of a trading card showing a Delta A321

shayman, 7 months ago to random

The final tally:
Chocolate bars: 28
Potatoes: 13

That was lots of fun. (Especially for the parents on the sidewalk shouting "Potato!" when they heard me describe the options, and the two teenage girls who said "Oooh, now we can make poutine!" - and it would have been closer if one young lad had not been forced by his mom to put back the two potatoes he chose.)

shayman, 4 months ago to random

Well, Avis supplied me with a car which is not only brand new - so new that the "remove this before delivery" plastic was still on the screen - but also it’s one of them new fangled electric vehicles and now I have the sort of range anxiety that manifests itself as "I have no idea how or where to recharge this thing so perhaps it's easiest to limp back with it at a 2% charge.”

shayman, 5 months ago to random

remind me not to get involved in #CFL expansion debates when articles start tossing around Thunder Bay and Red Deer and Fargo and Missoula as possible locations. I get it, you threw darts at a map.

shayman, 1 year ago to random

Best part of F1 at the Monaco Grand Prix is the live band - the Prince's Band of Carabiniers - on hand to perform the winner's anthem. Come on, Olympics, figure this out.

Close up of the brass section in the Prince's Band of Carbiniers playing at the Monaco Grand Prix

shayman, 1 year ago to random

things I am wondering about today: Was Yogi Bear named after Yogi Berra?

ok fine I'll go look it up

shayman, 10 months ago to random

“Responsible sports wagering is such a deeply personal and meaningful way for fans to connect with the greater story of our league.”

Can I just say: boooo. It’s a way for people who aren’t fans to annoy those that are. https://www.cfl.ca/2023/08/01/neo-bet-joins-forces-w-cfl-to-expand-options-for-bettors-in-ont/

shayman, 7 months ago to random

Found this ranking of all #243 Taylor Swift songs.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/taylor-swift-songs-ranked-rob-sheffield-201800/

I can only name one Taylor Swift song, so I thought I'd look it up - and it's #124 on the list. I think that qualifies me as a hipster.

shayman, 3 months ago to random

It seems like the right place to play this song.

shayman, 1 month ago to random

i'm going out on a limb here and guessing that this user has 247,986 unread email messages

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/mozilla-firefox/firefox-user-loses-7470-opened-tabs-saved-over-two-years-after-they-cant-restore-browsing-session

shayman, 15 days ago to random

Bonjour Montréal. This has been an extremely civilized journey so far at speeds frequently reaching 150 km/hr. High speed train travel by Canadian standards. Also they had lots of coffee. Thanks Via!

shayman, 1 year ago to random

actual airport security conversation today:

guard: "what's this?"

it's a slide rule.

pause.

people did math on it. like, 100 years ago.

guard: "Oh, cool."

shayman, 6 months ago to random

Today I am sad that we have let “Black Friday” become a thing in Canada.

shayman, 20 days ago to random

Had to apologize to everyone at the airport after an obnoxiously loud ringtone turned out to be coming from MY phone.

I suspect ringtones, once a great bastion of creativity, may have outlived their usefulness.

shayman, 7 months ago to random

Saw a complaint from a local parent that they'd put out a bowl of candy last night and "those darn punk teenagers ran off with the whole bowl."

OK, yes, the punks shouldn't have done that, but come on, the whole deal with Trick or Treat is that you are supposed to actually greet the kids and interact with them and make comments about their costume and maybe deliberately guess wrong about what it is. It's not just "leave free candy on the porch night".

also potatoes

shayman, 3 months ago to random

I've been lucky not to see any of the fediverse spam that's apparently out of control - so I'm very grateful to the admins of cosocial.ca for whatever it is they've done.

shayman, 8 months ago to random

The "Y" that begins most Canadian airport codes (e.g. Toronto: YYZ, Montreal: YUL) stands for - I kid you not - "Yes”

shayman, 2 months ago to random

Chatted with some young scholars at the Science Fair today who had built a nifty 3D-printed gadget to attach to your glasses so they wouldn't slip around too much.

So of course I asked them if they'd seen Steve Martin in "The Jerk", a relevant film that came out a mere 45 years ago.

shayman, 9 months ago to random

Hello from what turns out to be not quite the Equator!

Screen shot of iPhone compass; GPS shows we are 4 seconds (or about 120 meters) south.