Amazing Race

If Kent were my partner I would have to kill him. Don't know how Vixen can put up with the whiny demanding prat.

Vixen ... get me this.

Vixen ... we need to hurry.

And the creepiest ... Vixen get me some children.

Interesting couple but my interest usually ends when he opens his mouth. Reminds me of being back in Korea.

Gas Price Scam

Maybe someone can explain things to me so gas pricing doesn't sound like a scam.

Oil is purchased months and months in advance. Then it gets shipped to a refinery to be turned into gasoline and other petroleum products. Which of course means the gas you are using today was purchased maybe a year ago and the cost to get it, before refining, doesn't reflect the cost of oil today. That I understand. Here is where I believe the bullshit and scamming begin.

Let's say gas is $1.17 CDN a litre today. There is a crisis in some middle eastern country. The price of oil shoots up. At the same time the price of gas shoots up 1-3 cents a litre. The gas companies say it is because the cost of oil went up.

A month later the price of oil is down as much as it shot up. The price of gas either doesn't change or only drops 1 cent or less a litre. The gas companies say it is because the price of oil today doesn't reflect the price it was when they purchased it to make the gas selling today. What the hell?

It really sounds like they are pulling a scam. They always seem to raise the price when oil goes up but never drop it when oil goes down. They use the current price of oil as a reason to raise it but never to lower it.

Yeah, it definitely sounds like they are scamming us, and the government lets it happen.

Survivor:| R&R

Watched the 1st episode of the latest Survivor last nigh. I found the highlights of the show not to be Russell and Rob. (Go Russell.) Rather it was Mr. G-Man himself, Phillip.

The minute Phillip "opened up" about "who and what" he was I couldn't help but start laughing. Sure Phillip, you were a Federal Agent who worked for 3 different Agencies. Then he went on about his skills at detecting lies. That is something, if true, that you would want to keep to yourself and only share with an alliance. All in all his ramblings and awkward way of dealing with people, or rodering them around, just made him look ... psycho.

A federal agent eh? Hmmm ... well that could be true. Working at any official government office does make someone an agent of the government. More believable is that he worked intimately with 3 government agencies. Department of Health (for his time at the funny farm and being treated) and I find it entirely believable that he had dealing with several law enforcement agencies, when the crazy was too strong.

That had to be one of the funniest tribal councils ever. All due to Phillip.

Speaking of crazy, Kristina is a perfect partner for Phillip. She could easily have been voted off and never used the idol even though (thanks Philip) everyone knows she has it. That just makes her a target for the next vote.

All in all it was a good 1st episode.

Bench Clearing Brawls

To hear the media, after the Penguins-Islanders game Friday night, you would think bench clearing brawls are a common event in the NHL.

Imagine how surprised people would be to hear that the last bench clearing brawl in the NHL was February 26th, 1987. Not February 11, 2011. A difference of 24 years. The latest date I could find for Major League Baseball in the US was ... last September, 2010.

When baseball players fight, and bench clearing brawls occur, the players are called "chippy". When 2 people, or more but not the entire bench, fight in hockey they are called hooligans by the media. Hooligans. Goons. They are ruining the sport.

Last Friday the Islanders DID act like a bunch of goons. They were destroying the Pittsburgh Penguins and kept starting stupid fights. Some of it was "retaliation" for a previous game. Hell, they brought a "goon" up from the minors just to attack people. His claim to fame was having 4 NHL games and a shit load of penalty minutes.

To hear the pundits and media drone on you would think that it was a bench clearing brawl. One CBC talking head DID call it a bench clearing brawl, but it wasn't. ONE player, from the Pengiuns, left the bench when his goalie was being attacked by a "goon". He got an automatic 10 game suspension for leaving the bench.

A lot of the blame for what happened lies with the officials. They lost control of the game and never really regained it. When the Islanders were obviously just gooning it up the refs didn't respond strongly enough.

The Islanders were winning an humiliating the Pens 6-0 when they started the stupidity. They did it just to be goons.

Colin Campbell when talking about Godard's (Penguins) automatic 10 game suspension said;

With respect to the Godard suspension, there can be no circumstance that allows for a player to leave his bench for the purpose of coming to the aid of a teammate.

Hmmmmm ... let's see Coli. The officals had so little control of the game that a goon was able to skate to the OTHER end of the ice and attack the goalie. No circumstance?

Micheal Haley, the guy who skated down to attack the goalie, and had another fight earlier in the game, got an instigator penalty and a 2 game misconduct. Doesn't something seem off?

"The Islanders also must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players,” Campbell added.

And so must the 4 officals. And the League. And the owners.

Then you have the Penguins owner Mario Lemieux lamenting about what happened and chastising the league for not doing enough to stop the stupidity. If Matt Cooke didn't play for the Penguins I would have more sympathy for Mario and put more stock in what he had to say. Cooke is arguably the dirtiest player in the NHL and if Mario REALLY wants the NHL to take a stronger stand maybe he should take one as owner of the Penguins and do to Cooke what he wants done to others. If he isn't willing to do that he is just crying crocodile tears.

Was there too much fighting/stupidity in the game last Friday? Yeah, somewhat. Just as there was some stupidity in the penalties handed down. Just as there was some stupidity in the rhetoric being thrown about by all parties, including the media.

When the media is as hard on bench clearing brawls in other sports as they are for the non-existant ones in the NHL since 1987 I may put more stock in what they have to say. Fighting and physicality is a part of hockey and it isn't usually as bad, or in the case of bench clearing brawls as common, as the media makes it sound.

Ch Ch Ch Changes

Why the hell do people think they have to re-invent the wheel? And why do they assume their changes would be great?

Outlook Express wasn't the best program but you know what, it worked. It was easy to use. Easy to configure and add stuff to.

But that wasn't good enough. MicroSucks had to change it ... and supposedly make it better. So now you have Windows Live Mail. It is easier to add other POP servers to it but overall it ain't that great an improvement. Outlook Express was at least it's equal.

Much as with Windows 7 microsoft decided to re-invent the wheel and failed. Unfortunately, Windows 7 came with my laptop and my laptop doesn't seem to like "lesser versions" which quite frankly worked better.

Thanks again Microsucks for failing to actually improve.

What the ... wussification?!?!?

Our parents were right. Our generation were wimps compared to theirs. The current generation are a bunch of pussies compared to mine. What brought this revelation on? being home in the winter and seeing what conditions constitute a "snow day".

Today in the Halifax Regional Municipality schools are closed. Why? I have no fucking idea. I woke up at 7:30Am to a clear blue sky and a lot of wind. Not hurricane winds, just strong winds. I also woke up to hear that on this bright sunny day schools are closed. Why? It WAS snowing in the wee hours of the morning in parts of Nova Scotia. We MIGHT get a snowstorm today. What the hell?!?!?

Not to play the role of SNL's Grumpy Old Man but this is insane. When I was in Elementary School we walked to school in blizzards, and school wasn't a 10 minute walk from home. It was more like a 20-30 minute walk on our stubby little legs. When I was in Middle School I had to take a bus and it showed up even in blizzards. In High School the walk was only 10 minutes or so but it had to be HORRIBLE out for school to be canceled. When I was in University they never closed you were supposed to use your own judgement. If you thought it was too bad you didn't go. Now if there is a HINT of a storm they close the schools.

Mind you a lot of the fault lies with parents who get their panties in a bunch if little Johnny has to walk in the snow. God forbid they dress their kids for the weather and even help them on the way. Maybe it is because they weren't molly coddled that much as a child so they do it to their child. Parents don't have to use their own judgement and can foist all the blame on the schools for days like today.

I understand closing the schools when it is storming. It isn't safe on the roads for the buses, or for those walking. Considering the crappy job HRM does on the paths kids use to get to school here I would be worried too. But to cancel school because there MIGHT be a storm is a tad silly. Your child might be hit by a meteor falling from the sky. You'd better get a cast iron roof and do home schooling.

Our parents were right. The next generation are pussies. But they had a hand in making them that way.

Winter Mooks

There is a breed of Parking Mooks that aren't always noticed when their mookishness is out of season. I am talking about Winter Mooks.

During the Summer you don't always notice their horrible parking and stopping skills. They shine through, so to speak, in the Winter. In the Winter, when the streets are plowed, sometimes even when they aren't, you will REALLY notice these idiots. They tend to turn a good road or street into a one lane path. Which can cause accidents in the winter here.

I saw one of those mooks the other night, right after a big snow storm, while walking the dog. The mooks were visiting a house on our street and pulled up and stopped in front of the drive way. Across the street another mook had parked his pick up truck. This turned an icy street into a one way street. But that was minor mookishness compared to what the twits did next.

The woman who was in the back got out into the drive way. She then proceeded to walk around the car out into the street and open the other door INTO the street all without looking. If she had looked she would have seen a car coming down the street. Only a heavy duty mook could have failed to not notice the headlights .

So now you have the mooks making a one lane road and this idiot opens the door into the only passage. Luckily the oncoming truck was able to stop in time. Considering the road conditions the mook probably used up her entire luck supply for the next 10 years. She then proceeded to do something in the car, being half inside and half on the road. Now there are several cars wanting to go in both directions but unable to because of the mooks. She was in the car for a couple of minutes.

She then takes out a CAKE BOX. The fucking idiot couldn't take it out the side not facing traffic. Oh no that would be too easy and not potentially cause an accident. Does she move out of the way? No. A woman living in the house was shouting to them about being careful parking on the road. She stood on the road shouting/talking with the housemook for a couple of minutes. All the while cars are waiting for her to shut the door and get out of the way.

I figured I wasted enough time on their antics and went back to walking the dog. They were "talking" loud enough that a couple of minutes up the road I could STILL here them. Bloody mooks!