Archive for the ‘News Item’ Category


Russia builds huge bombs, switches up the government

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

A few days ago, Russia announced to the world that they had a new, massive, non-nuclear bomb that puts any other bombs out there to shame.

Russia unveils the ‘father of all bombs’

Russia’s military yesterday announced that it had successfully tested a lethal new air-delivered bomb, which it described as the world’s most powerful non-nuclear weapon.

In what appears to be the Kremlin’s latest display of military might, officials said Moscow had developed a new thermobaric bomb to add to its already potent nuclear arsenal.

Russia’s state-run Channel One television said the new ordnance – dubbed the Father of all Bombs – is four times more powerful than the US’s Mother of all Bombs. [guardian]

Then when you see the following headline a few days later, I find it very intriguing.

Putin dissolves Russian government, names new PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the resignation of the country’s prime minister and named the head of a financial market watchdog as his replacement, the Kremlin said. [...]

In his place, Putin nominated Victor Zubkov, an little-known economist who has headed the country’s financial monitoring service since 2001.

The move sets the stage for Putin to set up a favoured successor in the high-profile prime minister’s office before upcoming legislative elections in December, followed by a presidential election in March, the CBC’s Nick Spicer reported Wednesday from Moscow. [cbc]

Makes you think a little.

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Filed under: Amusing, Current Events, News Item

Iowa City ranking in the tops of the midwest

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Living for a number of years in Iowa City[wiki], it’s news like this that I am happy to share.

Prairie Lights Books, Kurt Vonnegut and Sugar Bottom Recreation Area have long been household names for Iowa City residents.

Now, as Outside Magazine’s top town in the Midwest, Iowa City’s treasures will be known by readers from New York to Seattle. [...]

The magazine described Iowa City and the other towns as “smart, progressive burgs with gorgeous wilderness playgrounds — and, yes, realistic housing and job markets.”

Apart from mentioning James Alan McPherson and The Englert Theatre, the magazine highlights the statewide push for alternative fuels. The magazine also said unique recreational opportunities included Sugar Bottom’s bike trails, Lake Macbride and the Iowa River.

If that’s not enough of an endorsement, Outside’s editor Christopher Keyes gives his own shout-out to Iowa City in a “Between the lines” segment: “… move to Iowa City. Some of the happiest people in the world live in Iowa City.” [iowacitypresscitizen]

Out of the entire state, Iowa City is always a place that I would consider at the top of my list to go back and live. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Vancouver lifestyle. I often find myself feeling nostalgic by memories triggered by somewhere around the lower mainland. Of course, it takes a little bit more than a five to ten minute drive away from downtown to reach wide open spaces in Vancouver, but there are elements here that consistently remind me a little bit of Iowa City.

I often wonder what it will be like when I get back there next and how much it will have changed. A tornado struck the heart of downtown the summer after I left, so I expect that amount of change. The next will come with changed businesses and buildings, but the demographic seems to constantly be shifting in a very distributed way. Such is the way of a university town, and the rest of the state can be a vast departure from this.

Even that is reshaping as those who flee to the coasts are coming back home. There is something to be said about midwest hospitality. Of course, you have to be able to stand the wickedly hot summers and sometimes brutal winters, and it’s something you never get used to as much as come to expect.

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Filed under: Iowa, News Item

Jumping off the cliff that is Facebook

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

I find this incredibly ironic that this story came out the other day.

If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too? The answer to this age-old question is, YES! Just ask the millions who’ve succumbed to their peers’ collective urgings and have migrated to the ultra-popular Facebook.

Truth be told, peer pressure is the driving force behind popular social networking websites. And the Net is littered with one-time, gotta-have-a-page-there sites. Remember LiveJournal, the original social network of blogs? Then came the Friendster frenzy. MySpace showed up and stole the show with their bells and whistles. LinkedIn, a business-focused social network, brought cool to the cubicle. And now it’s Facebook, and tempting real-time status updates with Twitter. Net users are busy bopping from hot social network to hot social network, dragging their digital lives along with them.

Despite all the time a user spends adding friends, posting pics, and writing witty blurbs, a website’s relevance is dictated by the user’s peer group. To be popular — or even just stay in touch in today’s digital world — you have to log on to the sites your friends frequent. This requires staying on top of social networking trends. If not, you may be left out of the conversation. [globeandmail]

With that being said, I am now findable on Facebook. I already had a few people find me, and that was just after an initial sign-up. A cousin of mine that is going to grad school in Kansas has found Rebecca based on matching up last names. Now he has discovered that his family tree extends into Canada. How’s that for social networking?

I’m still getting unburied from a real backlog of projects, not to mention the ever present job hunt. (Yes, Vancouver, I’m looking at you.) So you can find me there, but my profile is really lacking. When I have time, I’ll do what I can. (yeah, right)

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Filed under: News Item, Social Networking

The new daylight savings time

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

A recent update to my Mac came down. It was for the change to daylight savings time[wiki], being that it has changed as of 2007.

I’ve got some top secret news which won’t be revealed to the general public until March 11, 2007. Unwary people will be getting a rude awakening. On that day, in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, people in most states of the U.S. will turn their clocks forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. to take advantage of longer daylight hours and reduced energy bills.

Previously, Daylight Savings Time was implemented on the first Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday in October for participating states (Indiana, split between two time zones, didn’t’ participate). The passage of the Energy Act of 2005 now puts the end of daylight saving time to the first Sunday in November. In total, Americans will have about a month of additional daylight to get their chores done. The change is expected to advantage children who celebrate Halloween by ‘trick or treating’, and also to cut down on traffic accidents, many of which occur in the twilight drive-time hours. [associatedcontent]

Now, you know that there are going to be a core of people who have no clue that this has changed, and it’s probably the same group of people who forget to set their clocks one hour ahead when the changes happened before. Still, this is a problem that is going to affect a lot of people. Their schedules will be messed up, and it’s a good bet that a lot of folks will miss church on Sunday.

That little update that came down is the kicker, and some people are screaming the return of Y2K[wiki]. We all know what happened then, but it was kinda hard to miss. This? I’m not so sure that throngs of people are aware that when the change happens, their computers and other electronic gadgets that normally change on their own will have missed the memo[cnet]. Will they still show up to work late on Monday? That remains to be seen.

Still, another thing to worry about with the changing of the clocks. First you lose an hour of sleep, then you have to adjust to the change. When it’s time for you to go to bed, your internal clock says you’re not ready. So with a whole month to change that, how much more can we get screwed up?

By the way, this is your warning. Just doing my part to spread the word because Canada is apart of this as much as the U.S. made the switch.

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Filed under: Geeky, News Item

Banning cellphones and iPods while crossing the street

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

When I first heard this story about banning cellphones and iPods while crossing the street in New York, I thought that it made a little sense. It should be easy to walk and talk, and I think I hover on the intermediate level for this delicate skill. Take a stroll around downtown Vancouver and check out all the rookies tough. It’s mind boggling. Frogger anyone?

Then this happened today.

A 49-year-old Vancouver man is lucky to be alive after being struck by a bus in nearby Burnaby Monday night, while jaywalking and talking on his cellphone.

RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista said the man was lucky to have suffered just minor injuries.

He was talking on his cellphone, and, after noticing a turning bus, decided to keep on walking, jaywalking, and putting the bus driver in an impossible situation, Baptista said.

It’s a familiar story for patrol officers, she said.

“They wear dark clothing, [they are] on their cellphones, [or have] iPods in their ears, and it’s completely dangerous for everyone involved.”

Baptista said police will be refocusing on Burnaby jaywalkers soon, and anyone caught can expect a fine. [cbc]

I know that while driving the long stretches of highway across Iowa, I can get so lost into listening to music or simply thinking that I’ll not have any recollection to the last ten miles that I just drove. When it’s two lane and the middle of the winter, you chalk it up to being in the zone, thankful that you didn’t hit any of those semis that regularly travel the same route, all of that while not talking on a cellphone. Pssh, makes these people look like amateurs.

When I’m on the phone, I can say that I take extra precautions to be aware as to what is going on around me while walking and talking. The same can be said for driving, but I go even further to avoid that situation. Does this make me better than the rest of you out there? Oh hell no. I don’t trust myself as much as I don’t trust other people out there to do what I do.

Still, I’m not for regulations being passed to prohibit me from enjoying some tunes while walking to work or something. I also cringe at the idea of runners being targeted because I have my headphones on as often as the weather permits. Just be smarter, people. Please don’t let your stupidity spoil it for the rest of us.

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Filed under: Lower Mainland, News Item, Vancouver, iPod
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