Archive for June, 2005

Somehow, somewhere, today I ran across the longest domain name on the internet: wiemenschlichmenschensindzeigtihrumgangmitdermuttersprachefrsch.de And that’s with the “http://www” taken out! Anyone who can pronounce, spell, or even read that: you deserve a medal. Naturally, it’s in German. Everything is longer in German.
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Stop the insanity! Blogs are hotter than heat right now, so apparently every new web venture is a blog. Like this one. Now, I like cars, and I even like some of the articles on that site, but that is not a blog. What is a blog? Mantra:An online Journal Feed for all:Blog is...
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It’s been well-reported that Apple is offering a free iPod Mini with every new Mac purchased by students before September 24th. But only in the States. Ouch, that hurts. I’m a university student in Canada (taking a Masters program in Educational Technology) and qualify for the educational discounts. And, I’m planning to buy an...
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It’s sad but true: Steve Jobs is a valley girl. Jobs, chief executive officer of both Apple Computer and Pixar Entertainment, used the ultimate valleyism “you know” not less than 19 times in his recent podcast with ABC news (transcript). Valley girl-ese is a well-known sub-dialect of teen girls in California’s San Fernando valley...
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Dr. Seuss blogs too … as I just found out as Teresa was reading to our son, Aidan. He just spells it a little differently – but then again, Dr. Seuss does everything a little differently. This is in the book The Shape of Me and Other Stuff.
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It’s not everyone who sees an uncle on a tomato. My uncle Cor – Cornelius Houweling – came from Holland in the 50′s with not much besides a knowledge of flowers and growing. He started a greenhouse operation, it grew, and his sons took over when he, perhaps 20 years ago or so, started...
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OK, this is pretty cool. More people should do stuff just to do stuff. It’s better than zoning on teevee.
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Had the cool experience a couple of days ago of meeting Alexandra Samuel on a flight back from Minneapolis to Vancouver. She’s a freelance writer/academic/and more, and a fellow Mac user. I saw her pecking diligently away at her 12″ iBook on an early trip back to the lower-class WCs in the back of...
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As I was wandering around downtown Columbus, Ohio last week, I ran across this life-size replica of the Christopher’s ship, the Santa Maria. Notice how bluff the bow is … this ship would have had a lot of fun (NOT) sailing dead-on into seas of any significant size at all. I wonder if it...
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sparkplug9.com and Sparkplug 9 would like to congratulate Gabrielle Renee Koetsier, age 8, on winning the prestigious Scholastic Canada Lucky’s Magic Treehouse Be An Author Contest! One of only 10 recipients in Canada, Gabrielle (who recently turned 9) received a Magic Tree House Bookshelf Collection—complete with 28 books from this favourite series and a...
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BBC is usually very clueful, which makes it even more annoying to see unmitigated drivel like this. A brief quote, from the sub-lead: Deafblind people find technology difficult and frustrating to use, a survey has found. Who woulda guessed! Note: The other reason I’m blogging this is because this is the first time I’ve...
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Q: What makes a slow car on a single-lane road go faster? A. Two lanes.
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Don’t let anyone tell you unicorns are mythical creatures. I’ve seen the evidence, in Columbus, Ohio. And the culprit herself (note the shape of the hoof, near the bottom of the shot):
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I ran acros a weigh scale for buses – I kid you not – near the Columbus, Ohio, science center. (I suppose their bridges are so bad, they need to weigh the buses to know where to go!) It was enormous … filling up half the road. The driver, presumably, can glance at the...
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While I’m here in Columbus, Ohio, to attend the national PTA convention (we’re exhibiting a new product here), I’ve been exploring the city a bit. Can’t say I see a ton of these in downtown Vancouver: Is it just me or do Ohioans not count too well? The Ohio Supreme Court is a great...
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