tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283904842012-01-29T16:29:53.342-05:00I can't find my mittens!Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.comBlogger2501100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-54784571267178762672012-01-28T19:20:00.009-05:002012-01-29T16:29:53.353-05:00

For almost as long as the Canadian Senate has been around, there have been calls for its reform. Minor adjustments have been made. For example, Senators used to be appointed for life, whereas now, they must retire at the age of 75. Considering that Senators can be appointed as young as 30, while life expectancy is around 80, the maximum possible tenure as is reduced from an expected 50 to an

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-10642809954120601632010-03-28T20:08:00.002-04:002010-03-28T20:13:14.954-04:00

... Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan's first rock band.Hat tip to Alan Cross of The Edge.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-71577409488393154142010-03-27T12:01:00.003-04:002010-03-27T15:21:54.909-04:00

Tonight is the night of Earth Hour. From 8:30pm-9:30pm we are asked to turn off all appliances other than essential ones like the refrigerator. That means that people will be turning off their lights. The thing is, however, that most of us enjoy the ability to see our way around after the sun goes down. In fact, even those who are participating in Earth Hour seem quite unwilling to give it

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-74377569837787287982010-02-27T11:50:00.004-05:002010-02-27T12:45:31.100-05:00

In my last post, I complained about the apparent uselessness of setting a default location in Google Maps. The address I was looking for was in Hamilton, Ontario, which is also my default location. The address it gave me was in Atlanta, Georgia. (And not only was the location way off from the location I was looking for, but the street name wasn't even the same!) The next day, I was looking for

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-25200900852806796252010-02-26T00:42:00.002-05:002010-02-26T00:48:01.834-05:00

What's the point of having a "default location" in Google Maps if, when I search for an address without specifying the city, you suggest a location that is 1,567 kilometres away from the location with the same address in the default city, in a city that is not even in the same country as the default?

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-47600870279055836542010-02-24T00:17:00.004-05:002010-02-24T15:45:19.439-05:00

Regardless of what happens in the other events, Canada can be almost guaranteed to win a gold medal for shooting fish in a barrel women's hockey. And in the rare event that that does not happen, I can say with a very high degree of confidence that the gold would go to the US team, with Canada getting the silver.Even most of the countries whose men's teams have prevented Canada from getting the

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-59155352912113092902010-02-19T15:00:00.005-05:002010-02-19T15:05:59.414-05:00

Well, now that we've finally achieved that goal, can we start liking ourselves too, for reasons other than "free" health care, without being required to by the CRTC? That'd be nice.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-52793248907402875422010-02-15T18:14:00.004-05:002010-02-15T19:39:43.906-05:00

One of the courses I'm teaching this term is cryptography, which is, roughly speaking, the study of sending secret messages. At first glance, one wouldn't expect that very much mathematics would be involved, but even the simple schemes that I found in my children's activity books when I was young can be phrased in mathematical terminology. Conversely, at first glance, one wouldn't expect that

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-62952670377475546282010-02-14T11:38:00.002-05:002010-02-14T12:48:01.850-05:00

Well that didn't last long. In my previous post, I expressed my discomfort with Google's practice of automatically selecting my followers without my permission, thus allowing some people access to information about me that I would not like to share with those people. The simple fact that a person emails me a lot is not an indicator that I want them to know what I'm up to, if I actually decided

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-49887631094006464122010-02-13T23:44:00.003-05:002010-02-16T18:09:29.403-05:00

Having discovered this site, I'm glad that I'm usually the one behind the camera. Furthermore, a greater amount of kicking and screaming will be involved in the future than there has been in the past if anybody in my family ever decides to have another family photo done. Actually, I might have some material the site could use....

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-18610013155238633392010-02-11T12:24:00.004-05:002010-02-11T13:35:03.439-05:00

Yesterday, when I loaded gmail, it asked me whether or not I wanted to use their new "Buzz" service. It's their latest attempt to ride the social media wave [1], currently led by facebook and twitter. Not knowing what it was and being impatient to see if I had any new email, I clicked "no". When gmail loaded, I noticed that there was a link to "buzz" on the gmail menu, along with a coloured

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-50486667882540190692009-12-06T23:48:00.002-05:002009-12-06T23:53:00.950-05:00

Hello. I have finally taken the time to upload a bunch of pictures that I took from sometime between the third last week in August and the second Saturday of September.Enjoy.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-83750496122478371272009-11-22T10:45:00.006-05:002009-11-22T11:10:18.230-05:00

I remember when the design of the addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, called the Lee-Chin Crystal, was first announced, early in the first decade of the third millennium. I thought it was ghastly. I dismissed my opinions as those of an uncultured buffoon. My roommate at the time agreed with me, without solicitation. That made two uncultured buffoons, I guess. Perhaps this was an

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-23166375321146838052009-11-14T18:08:00.001-05:002009-11-14T18:09:57.222-05:00

...that I'm most proud of my heritage.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-15511214140210568572009-11-11T22:46:00.004-05:002009-11-11T23:14:43.210-05:00

Some time ago I was flipping through the radio stations when I happened to hear about some sort of remedy to some sort of health problem that I thought I was having at the time. I don't remember what the problem was, but I didn't like it and wanted it to stop. If I'm still suffering the same disorder, I probably still don't like it. The remedy, in any case, involved magnets. I listened

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-30897154714387081352009-10-31T21:06:00.001-04:002009-10-31T21:08:13.573-04:00

Here

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-73471058052080236172009-10-02T11:55:00.005-04:002009-10-02T13:13:20.503-04:00

Yesterday or the day before, HBC unveiled Canada's Olympic clothing for the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympics. My reaction was "Ho hum. I don't think I'll buy any," the same reaction I've had for generations of Olympic clothing. Politicians don't share my views. For example Hedy Fry, Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre, has this to say."Here is another embarrassing example of crass politics"She's

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-82098082557672850232009-09-10T20:35:00.003-04:002009-09-10T20:44:58.242-04:00

The meteorologists tell us when the seasons begin and end. Winter is the shortest day, Summer the longest. Spring begins when days become longer than nights, and Fall the opposite. They can tell us this all they want, but we all have our own definitions. Winter begins at the first snowfall and summer when the shorts come out of storage. Spring begins when the maple trees start showing signs

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-80526532487664113232009-09-07T10:43:00.001-04:002009-09-07T10:44:51.479-04:00

More.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-90337662969757269272009-09-04T16:48:00.003-04:002009-09-04T17:26:57.041-04:00

Mathematics is an easy subject to study anywhere. My brain, somewhere to write my thoughts, something to write them with, and maybe a math text or two are pretty much all I need (well, those and coffee). This and a shortage of keys to my office [1] for the first half of the summer meant that I got into a routine of working either at home or at a nearby coffee shop. By the time I finally did

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-35853329239961202982009-08-31T12:41:00.002-04:002009-08-31T12:53:41.763-04:00

The other day, I read that "Chinese is not a phonetic language." This strange, because I could've sworn I heard people speaking Chinese just the other day.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-16555410249513920302009-08-04T13:12:00.005-04:002009-08-04T14:10:14.003-04:00

Where's Randy been? I know you've been wondering. I've been right here, and not all that busy, and enjoying it. Most of this past year, from September until the middle of June, was busy. Although I'm too lazy to check, my recollection is that there have been a rather high number of posts explaining or apologizing for my absence than posts about other topics. Much of what I've been busy with

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-20584441885976516352009-07-07T16:27:00.001-04:002009-07-07T16:29:36.133-04:00

...and I still can't skate like these kids.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-23245679808847023902009-06-16T15:59:00.003-04:002009-06-16T16:04:23.949-04:00

Mid June is here. I have gone to and returned from my conference. Earlier today, I handed back exams from my course, which means, aside from tweaking the spreadsheet with marks, I am more or less done with the class. I should be posting something new soon. Not today. But soon.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-56662744208394553242009-06-05T17:08:00.001-04:002009-06-05T17:08:58.848-04:00

Cool

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-77524586967135713722009-06-01T23:40:00.002-04:002009-06-01T23:40:58.101-04:00

Finally, someone understands my pain.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-90401078221968184712009-05-20T22:32:00.000-04:002009-05-20T22:33:02.312-04:00

Blog on hiatus until mid-June.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-27837925023972235882009-05-02T20:47:00.006-04:002009-05-02T21:03:39.617-04:00

The first time I heard about swine flu, I was watching French language television with the sound off and didn't know until later that this was the first time I was hearing about swine flu. Since then, I haven't lost a moment of sleep due to worry about swine flu. However, I recognize that some of you might be more anxious about it than I am. Thus, in case you are concerned that you might have

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-2345321017265057842009-03-23T16:07:00.000-04:002009-03-25T09:43:02.356-04:00

When I was kid, I loved winters. I don't remember there being a whole lot of super cold days, and there were all sorts of fun things you could do on snow or ice that you couldn't do on grass or dry pavement. Some things were as simple as running and sliding on a small patch of ice [1]. Other things were more technologically advanced, like tobogganing. There were the occasional winters where

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-89127840453714172009-03-01T11:27:00.002-05:002009-03-01T13:13:11.918-05:00

Some time ago, two brothers from India developed an application for facebook called Scrabulous, that allowed facebook users to play Scrabble against each other. Other than the name, it was no different from Scrabble. It also wasn't licenced by either of the companies that own the trademark to the game. Legal battles ensued, and eventually Scrabulous was shut down. In the meantime, Scrabulous

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-34452153522298186942009-02-22T12:51:00.002-05:002009-02-22T15:01:42.538-05:00

Some time ago, I learned about a book simply referred to as "Fowler". A book identified only by the the name of its author must certainly be an important one, and so I sought out the title of the book, which turned out to be "Modern English Usage," or "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage." The former title appears on the spine, while the latter appears on the first page of the dictionary.While

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-4195151036103725742009-02-18T11:34:00.005-05:002009-02-18T16:45:32.275-05:00

This 25 Random Things meme has been flooding my facebook news feed for a few weeks now. I read the first one that I saw, when I had not yet realized what a phenomenon it was going to become. I've lost count on the number of people who have posted them since, so I don't remember how many of them I haven't read in full (I do read parts of them if they get comments).The instructions are simple.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-72550449275433902662009-02-09T21:57:00.004-05:002009-02-09T22:46:09.453-05:00

I remember learning about traffic circles or roundabouts in elementary school. It seemed like such an exotic form of traffic control. Lately, it seems like a fair number of them have been cropping up here and there. In the last year or two, I've encountered them in Ancaster and somewhere in the Waterloo Region. If any traffic circles existed anywhere nearby when I was learning to drive, I

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-80258317698622338062009-02-05T00:04:00.001-05:002009-02-05T00:18:31.523-05:00

And that is why you don't ignore your math teacher.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-27066166070967496132009-01-22T20:36:00.002-05:002009-01-22T20:40:43.754-05:00

Back when my brother and parents were still living under the same roof, my dad would wake up around 5:30 and go downstairs to make sure that my brother was up in time for work. On his way to my brother's room, he would make sure that the cat's food bowl was full. After a while, my cat picked up on the pattern, and rather than wait for my dad, he would come and wake him up. While I was usually

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-32672103346379122172009-01-21T01:15:00.001-05:002009-02-05T00:28:24.296-05:00

Craziest calico colouration ever.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-70217205236394312542009-01-20T23:44:00.004-05:002009-01-21T22:18:41.463-05:00

As of the beginning of the writing of this post, there were 17 minutes left of Inauguration Day, which means 17 minutes to post something before my thoughts on the day are hopelessly out of date (I'd have more time if I lived in, say, British Columbia, but then I would have just started this post three hours later). Truthfully, I don't have much to say on the matter itself. I did manage to

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-55815434682201597072009-01-19T23:54:00.002-05:002009-01-20T00:05:05.330-05:00

Oh be careful, little hands, what you Wii.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-40971408488160710182009-01-18T12:08:00.004-05:002009-01-18T13:46:55.742-05:00

After Dave Matthews released his second major album, there were accusations that he ripped of David Bowie. The only song I know from David Bowie is Ground Control to Major Tom [1]. The only other work from Bowie that I knew of was his portrayal of Andy Warhol in a movie about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. To the best of my knowledge, Dave Matthews wasn't portraying Andy Warhol on his latest

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-78501017244345131752009-01-15T23:45:00.003-05:002009-01-17T21:18:49.645-05:00

On my way back home at the end of Christmas break, I got a phone call just as I was heading out of Toronto. It wasn't a number in my contact list [1], and I was driving, so I didn't answer it. If the phone call is really important, the caller would leave a message. They didn't. Since then, I've received 8 more phone calls from the same number, 5 in the last 3 days. Last week, not long after

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-37357692516883646792009-01-15T23:10:00.001-05:002009-01-15T23:11:24.925-05:00

Okay, so I'm not the only one who does that.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-84084198237897887542009-01-14T23:30:00.003-05:002009-01-14T23:49:55.186-05:00

Cheese is one of my favourite things to eat. I've eaten plenty of the common varieties, such as cheddar, mozzarella, and marble, and I've eaten a variety of other less common varieties of cheese. I know that there are many other types of cheese that I haven't had the chance to try yet, but I'd like to. I never thought that there would be a limit to the sort of cheese that I would eat. Until

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-11924004195148464052009-01-14T19:50:00.002-05:002009-01-14T19:58:35.207-05:00

My ears perk up every time I hear about a new study on coffee. And for the past decade or so, I've heard or read a fair bit about the health effects of drinking coffee. It seems that they take turns in suggesting that coffee is good for you or bad for you. Yesterday and today, I read two more such articles. The first suggests that drinking coffee could make you crazy if you're young, and the

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-841540732726449602009-01-11T21:57:00.003-05:002009-01-11T22:09:57.042-05:00

This article from the Globe and Mail would have been a lot more convincing, had the link to it not appeared directly above a link to this article from the Globe and Mail.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-14497365823939506262009-01-04T22:12:00.004-05:002009-01-04T22:30:23.943-05:00

When I think about all of the various options available to us for choosing political leaders, democracy usually comes out on top. Sometimes, though, I see things like this, and I can't help but become sceptical that The People are really the best ones to leave that choice to. 5 out of 5 stars? Really?

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-42641828687126661832009-01-01T00:00:00.001-05:002009-01-01T00:00:52.021-05:00

Happy New Year!

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-59420969538364113682008-12-30T22:45:00.006-05:002008-12-31T11:55:33.228-05:00

Since I finished my degree and started teaching, my wardrobe decisions have been based primarily around looking halfway professional. This seems not to be a universal concern amongst professors. I know of one professor who is barely distinguishable from a homeless person. There is another who could easily be an extra on Trailer Park Boys. I don't think I'm smart enough to get away with that,

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-1775339937835018692008-12-25T13:43:00.000-05:002008-12-25T13:44:03.497-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-28019121537093816022008-12-15T23:18:00.001-05:002008-12-15T23:19:38.813-05:00

The Germans are at it again.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-59376514454588934212008-12-03T23:59:00.003-05:002008-12-04T01:01:10.080-05:00

According to this article Toronto plans to "ban the sale of plastic water bottles on municipal premises by 2011." On the one hand, if I were a Torontonian, I would welcome the potential reduction in waste floating about the city. On the other hand, the law is heading in the direction of banning the sale of things that I don't think ought to be banned, and in places I don't think they ought to

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-8678377866536512542008-11-30T11:19:00.005-05:002008-11-30T12:38:59.215-05:00

In my quest to understand the current financial crisis, and the wisdom of our current government's policy of not running deficits and its consequent reluctance to provide a stimulus package, I decided to turn to the experts on the internet. Here is the best of what I could find.First, a quote from the Number 2 economist of the Number 1 bank in Canada [1]"' I think a lot of us were a bit

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-12635148369643720552008-11-28T00:30:00.003-05:002008-11-28T00:46:32.857-05:00

Well, it seems that spelling has won yet another battle in its war against me. Frequently in my class (which ends tomorrow), I have to take about parameterizations. Whatever that means. It doesn't matter. This isn't a math lesson [1]. Normally, I only need to talk about one of them at a time. You would think that forming the singular of that word would be as simple as deleting the s. But

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-21070255688117313922008-11-26T22:50:00.003-05:002008-11-26T22:59:06.150-05:00

I always appreciate the extra hour of sleep I get when we switch from daylight savings to standard time, although it's a bit shocking in the following days when it gets dark "so early". Now that the the switch is well past, and we're heading into the shortest days of the year, it's usually dark before I leave work. On days like this, I sometimes hope that the day will come when we are on

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-85634726945438505612008-11-12T22:02:00.003-05:002008-11-12T22:11:53.308-05:00

What have I done this time? A while ago, my credit limit dropped by a mysteriously inconsequential 4 dollars. A few days later, it was raised by the same amount. I just checked my accounts again, and it seems my credit limit has been reduced by 100 dollars. It's still inconsequential. And still mysterious. Also mysterious is that I have a balance of $30.19, but no recent transactions. Why

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-56666858762484651822008-11-12T21:47:00.002-05:002008-11-12T21:50:34.546-05:00

It seems the market has hit croc bottom.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-22464641184433649052008-11-12T21:44:00.002-05:002008-11-12T21:47:50.042-05:00

Well yes.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-79752116319565121772008-10-22T23:01:00.004-04:002008-10-23T09:50:25.156-04:00

I just read on the CBC that Albertans will soon be paying a deposit on milk cartons. According to the article, they're the only province in the country to do that. Damn those environment hating prairie hicks.The truth is, I would like to see the Ontario government expand the list of deposit-worthy items from wine and beer containers to all containers, plastic or otherwise. Now, I must be

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-8060689164011515792008-10-21T21:07:00.003-04:002008-10-21T21:16:54.083-04:00

If there is an important document that is needed on a daily basis, I might suggest that you don't use it as a bookmark, close the book on it, put the book back on your shelf, and then search frantically for the document later in all of the usual places, none of which include a book on your shelf. Or, if you do do that, remember to check your books first, starting with the ones you used most

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-41948052679836634432008-10-20T20:32:00.007-04:002008-10-20T23:29:46.995-04:00

For a good three to four years, I managed to hit the gym on average about three times per week. That stopped last summer when I decided to put everything I had into finishing my PhD. I also gave up eating food that I either couldn't pour milk on, couldn't put on bread, or didn't contain caffeine. I did get into the gym fairly regularly during the month of July, but dropped it again in early

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-78045794051362726832008-10-19T22:38:00.004-04:002008-10-19T23:37:29.633-04:00

Conclusion: Jack Layton and Stéphane Dion are effectively extreme right-wingers [1].The proof is simple, based on two statements I hear a lot and which, based on their commonness, I have no choice but to assume are true without the need to question their validity.All of the parties/party leaders are effectively the same. [2]Stephen Harper is an extreme right-winger.Because Jack Layton, Stéphane

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-35664709585225266192008-10-14T09:44:00.003-04:002008-10-14T10:02:17.458-04:00

I receive, though rarely read, daily headlines from the Hamilton Spectator in my email. The particular account that receives these daily mailings only gets checked every 4 or 5 days [1]. Just today, I got around to reading the headlines. This one"GREEN IS MAKING THEM BLUE"caught my eye. Interesting. The Green Party must posing such a threat to Hamilton's political climate that the typically

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-41270184327165974362008-10-13T23:34:00.003-04:002008-10-14T01:11:06.296-04:00

When I returned to Kingston this evening, there was an email waiting for me in my inbox with the subject line "Are you ready?!..." Am I ready for what? New Month Day was a while ago (or isn't going to happen for a while. We're almost as far from the last one as we are from the next one.), so it couldn't be that. I'm ready for the stock markets to recover. But hey, who isn't, right? So it

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-38053605499081793782008-10-08T23:00:00.005-04:002008-10-08T23:45:43.965-04:00

Much has been said about Stephen Harper's strategy of "staying the course" with respect to the Canadian economy. The obvious response is "The economy is doing terribly, and you're going to do nothing?"One newspaper columnist, Randall Denley of the Ottawa Citizen, made the following comparison. "If our economy were a boat drifting toward Niagara Falls, Dion would form a committee to consult

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-59091160693177400672008-09-29T12:02:00.004-04:002008-09-29T12:21:18.742-04:00

For some odd reason, CIBC lowered the limit on my credit card by 4 dollars. This would be quite the reduction in credit if may previous limit was, say, 8 dollars. But it wasn't. It was significantly higher. High enough that the 4 dollar reduction is negligible. So, except for the fact that my credit limit no longer ends in a zero, I don't care. But still, why.Perhaps spent too much time

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-86023201672121218852008-08-29T12:14:00.005-04:002008-08-29T12:58:19.106-04:00

From May 1 until today, I've been working half-time at Queen's University and half-time at the Royal Military College. Today marks the last day of my employment at Queen's. This fall, or rather next Tuesday (which still seems a season away), I will be full-time at RMC. My duties at RMC are changing from strictly research to research and teaching, and this addition requires a new application

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-34846798442285651972008-08-21T12:18:00.002-04:002008-08-21T12:19:17.098-04:00

What he said.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-69690555508623446992008-07-24T15:29:00.005-04:002008-07-24T16:09:03.217-04:00

In case you've ever had a hard time remembering the name of a band that never actually existed, Rocklopedia Fakebandica is exactly what you need.As an added bonus, I checked, and, despite what the 10 or more facebook groups entitled "There's a facebook group for that" [1] would have you believe, there isn't actually a facebook group for that. And before you suggest it, I'm not going to be the

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-1160771197953488502008-06-13T16:39:00.005-04:002008-09-21T11:14:09.026-04:00

Today I went to the store to buy a pen. A black pen. You see, I'm filling out some forms which ask me to please use a black pen. I suspect a blue one is fine, but I hate filling out forms [1], and buying a new black pen now is preferable being told later that I have to fill out the forms again that time being sure to use a black pen that I must buy, even if this latter possibility is remote.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-87876403523224194942008-05-25T23:48:00.004-04:002008-05-26T00:33:22.651-04:00

I just got back from a short trip to A&P. The A&P in downtown Kingston. I was buying some cheese. Mozzarella. When I looked up from the cheese display, I saw a number of crystalline formations in jars and small plastic containers. They were salt. Many varieties of salt. Sea salt to be precise. In big lumps. A salt grinder will probably be needed for most applications. I'm both

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-49402137255558338992008-05-25T14:23:00.005-04:002008-05-25T17:29:44.299-04:00

Were it not for a certain friend, I'm not sure this blog would still be funct. While I do get feedback from various people here and there, she is the only one who actively encourages me to write. A few nights ago, I had some spare time that I should have been spending washing dishes, but didn't want to. I thought about writing something to this blog, but nothing came to mind. I mentioned

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-32242831764730310222008-05-24T13:22:00.005-04:002008-05-24T21:07:23.591-04:00

A while ago, I was at the Kingston Brewing Company with a few friends. It's actually a restaurant, and, as the name of the place suggests, they themselves brew most of the beer they sell. So it's actually a brewpub, and since it's the only brewpub in town, it's The Brewpub. Normally I opt for one of their regular self-brewed offerings. If I'm there long enough to order a second pint or pitcher

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-54689722495035558912008-05-14T20:38:00.006-04:002009-02-05T00:19:59.564-05:00

Last weekend, I went home. While there, my sister told me that, unlike me, she likes the penny. I didn't think to ask her why. While this disappoints me, it does provide me with a solution to two problems. First, I know what to get her for her birthday. Second, I know what to do with all of my pennies.Since my most recent post on the matter, I've read a few more things here and there about

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-11936053993562126522008-05-05T23:03:00.004-04:002008-05-07T00:35:47.996-04:00

In what seems to be turning into something of a hobby, I moved again about a week ago today [1]. An essential part of this hobby is that I underestimate both the time and number of boxes it will take to pack. (It would be quite brilliant, really, if I did this on purpose, since what happens is that the helpers end up doing most of the heavy lifting while I scurry around frantically trying to

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-15474500328385764312008-04-13T15:54:00.003-04:002008-04-13T16:33:53.949-04:00

Microsoft Windows is the operating system that everyone loves to hate. I recently bought a new computer. Before I bought it, I had to decide whether to stick with the old and familiar, or to go with something new. There are two common alternatives to Windows. One is to buy a Mac. The other is to install Linux. In the process of researching my decision, and in the aftermath of the purchase,

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-80183540782334387872008-04-06T15:30:00.000-04:002008-04-06T20:20:25.730-04:00

From the FAQs at the NeoCitran website:"Q: I’m going to be drinking alcohol. Is it OK to take NeoCitran?A: If you consume 3 or more alcoholic drinks every day, ask your doctor whether you should take the NeoCitran products that contain acetaminophen or other pain relievers/ fever reducers. Acetaminophen may cause liver damage."Now I suppose that NeoCitran is only responsible for responding to any

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-55824642084516035292008-04-02T17:05:00.009-04:002009-02-05T00:19:33.711-05:00

Further to this post, NDP MP Pat Martin has finally introduced his private member's bill on the elimination of the Canadian 1 cent coin. The man himself appears not to have caught wind of his introduction of the bill in parliament. As of the writing of this post, there is not a mention of it on his website.Despite my best efforts to spend my pennies, the number in my possession still seems to

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-70784494444847548702008-03-18T00:06:00.003-04:002008-03-18T00:32:01.363-04:00

Hey Everyone.I hope you all had lots of fun last night, celebrating the day that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland or something like that. I'm not exactly sure how that goes. One thing I do know for sure is that he celebrated by putting up tacky green plastic banners with shamrocks on em, wearing green felt hats, confusing himself for a Scot, colouring his beer an unholy green colour,

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-74708851803542631212008-03-12T20:52:00.004-04:002008-03-15T15:05:49.485-04:00

Suppose you were the type to steal a credit card. Or perhaps you just found one somewhere, and, finders keepers being the hard and fast rule that it is, you decide to thieve someone's identity and go on a shopping spree, hoping that whoever lost their card hasn't yet noticed or couldn't be bothered to call it in. What would you buy? I've never seriously considered using someone else's credit

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-4696799119467174162008-02-27T14:13:00.005-05:002008-03-08T22:12:35.044-05:00

When I took my undergraduate math courses, almost everything was done on the blackboard. When I took my graduate math courses, almost everything was done on the blackboard. Almost every seminar presentation I've seen has been done on the blackboard.Sometimes overheads were used in my lectures, but their purpose was used to illustrate the main subject matter, and not to present it. There was

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-40466120787431023112008-02-07T22:51:00.000-05:002008-02-08T00:38:39.922-05:00

This past November, a couple of old roommates dropped by for a weekend. While they were here, we took a walk around campus, for old time's sake, I guess. One roommate commented on how much things had changed since he was here. For one thing, there was much less blasting going on when he was still here. I bought my first laptop then, about 5 years ago. Hardly anyone had laptops at the time.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-2105276256615409212008-02-04T20:00:00.000-05:002008-02-04T20:41:25.035-05:00

Last night I went to a Chinese New Year celebration put on by the Queen's Asian Cooking Club. There were many tasty dishes. One in particular was a dish whose main ingredients were tofu and beef. I think most people I know see tofu as an alternative to meat, especially for vegetarians. Beef on the other hand seems to be the poster child for turning people into vegetarians. It was rather

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-54704249697508839682008-02-01T16:20:00.001-05:002008-02-01T16:37:21.021-05:00

For years, one of the standard references in graph theory was "Graph Theory with Applications" by J.A. Bondy and U.S.R Murty, first published in 1976. More recently other texts have played that role. On November 30, 2007 a follow up to this book, entitled simply "Graph Theory", was published. When I told my supervisor, he was astounded. Apparently word isn't out yet. So I'm letting you know.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-20267514360278667812008-01-31T13:58:00.000-05:002008-01-31T14:09:32.884-05:00

"I still haven't gone cow tipping. I'm not sure it's even possible, but I'd like to try."Good luck with that.When you've tipped your cow, perhaps you'd like to go snipe hunting.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-69838872674933901512008-01-27T13:52:00.000-05:002008-01-30T20:47:57.273-05:00

I went out for brunch this past Sunday and ordered a typical breakfast, with eggs, toast, hash browns, and an assortment of pork products.When the plate arrived, I could see everything but the bacon. Clearly it wasn't underneath the eggs. I checked underneath my toast. It seemed an odd place to hide bacon, but where else could it be? No luck, though. I pushed around my hash browns with my

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-54323992792296312482008-01-19T15:59:00.000-05:002008-01-19T19:12:10.758-05:00

I haven't written to the blog for a while.If you're a regular visitor to the blog, I don't even need to tell you that.If you're a regular visitor to the blog, I'm grateful that you are such despite my not writing.While I do not feel I owe my readers an explanation for not writing, I'm going to give you one anyway.When I started actually writing to this blog, it was because I had a fair bit of

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-7282779015331994042007-12-11T11:41:00.001-05:002007-12-11T11:43:32.021-05:00

Happy Statute of Westminster Day!

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-7422780054416271662007-11-14T19:28:00.000-05:002007-11-14T19:55:43.373-05:00

It appears I was misled on the nature of Poutine Day. From that same friend who told me about it in the first place:"We kind of just made up poutine day since we all like poutine so much. In fact, every day could be poutine day."I'm glad we've that got that cleared up. But every day could be poutine day? I'm now worried that my friend has joined some sort of death cult. She's already on

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-52587170358861326292007-11-11T19:27:00.001-05:002007-11-11T19:30:45.115-05:00

LOL

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-1826499690960885602007-11-07T00:49:00.000-05:002007-11-07T00:54:41.969-05:00

Given my obsession with alternative political structures, I'm disappointed things didn't work out better:"WASHINGTON, DC—Political scientists at the Cato Institute announced Monday that they have inadvertently synthesized a previously theoretical form of government known as megalocracy."We were attempting to recreate a military junta in a controlled diplomatic setting, and we applied too much

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-85173538070301713562007-10-27T13:44:00.001-04:002008-03-20T11:36:36.420-04:00

...sort of.A few weeks ago, I wrote a rather lengthy post on an alternative voting system, based on Google's algorithm for ranking websites. It was more of a thought experiment than a serious proposal.Recently, while researching something on a different, though related, topic, I found out that the main idea behind Google's algorithm is a variation on something called the Kendall-Wei method.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-27156980744159972352007-10-25T21:12:00.000-04:002007-10-25T21:14:43.456-04:00

Me: Do you recognize this sequence?Student: It's not the Fibonacci sequence is it?Me: No.Student: Then what -nacci is it?

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-89877083210633675452007-10-24T16:55:00.000-04:002007-10-24T22:05:10.511-04:00

Thanks to the magic of facebook, I've discovered that today is poutine day. I'm not sure that today is actually poutine day, but supposing that it is, then, you're probably interested in knowing what it is. According to the facebook friend that I learned about the day from, "poutine day is, quite simply, the day on which we all eat poutine. Nothing says friendship more than fries smothered in

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-3134675852109342252007-10-14T17:19:00.000-04:002007-10-14T17:20:33.172-04:00

Funny

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-78258850905996422512007-10-12T22:00:00.000-04:002007-10-13T10:55:59.888-04:00

This past Wednesday, the province of Ontario held its latest provincial election. I didn't vote. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the first provincial election that I have not voted in since I've been eligible to vote. The party I would normally vote for doesn't seem to do well in this riding, and, besides, most of the campaign seemed to pass me by with out my noticing. I've been

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-6100543185411114852007-10-02T00:23:00.000-04:002007-10-02T01:38:04.804-04:00

I wrote a post on this topic some time ago, but then decided to abandon it. However, a few days ago I received a brochure from some branch of the Ontario Government regarding the upcoming referendum on whether to replace the current First Past the Post system of representation with the Mixed Member Proportional system. In light of that, I decided to rewrite the post.About a year and a half ago,

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-740658651804340992007-10-01T19:09:00.000-04:002007-10-01T19:54:41.205-04:00

Near the end of this (rather lengthy) post, I described my car as driving on the green mile, because of the problems with my car that mean it is very likely destined for the scrap yard within the next two years. In particular, the car is certified environmentally unfriendly. While preparing the post, I googled the phrase "driving on the green mile". To my surprise, among the hits that were not

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-15114803656573438482007-10-01T18:41:00.001-04:002007-10-01T19:06:04.418-04:00

Many times I've been asked "How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?" though I never knew the answer. In fact, I didn't think there was answer, like that other age old question "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Courtesy of Oscar Leroy from Dog River, however, I've finally learned that a "A wood chuck would chuck all the would he could chuck if a wood

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-35875448817098223092007-09-25T17:02:00.000-04:002007-09-30T22:14:13.105-04:00

Haven't posted much lately. Been busy. Sorry 'bout that. I've got a couple of posts in the making, but they are taking a bit longer than I expected. I hope to get to them soon.I was just flipping through a math text and came across this newspaper clipping that I had been using as a bookmark. I thought that I would offer its contents to keep you entertained until I can give you something

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-2080886733633580612007-09-13T21:53:00.000-04:002007-09-13T21:59:23.771-04:00

I finally made the fern curry last night, though obviously too late to use fresh fiddleheads. While I was making it, I realized that I had written 12tsp. of salt when it should have written 1/2 tsp. I hope that none of you tried to make it using 12tsp. I've corrected it along with a few other typos.

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28390484.post-17387803944550305352007-09-13T21:40:00.000-04:002007-09-13T21:48:36.109-04:00

On the third last week of the summer, I usually go away on the remnant of a family vacation [1]. The day I would normally leave happened to be the day of my defence. Fortunately for me, the older of my two sisters and her husband decided to come up for the first weekend of the vacation because of my mom's birthday. They were leaving later in the day than my mom, so I was able to leave Saturday

Randyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193206388642235586noreply@blogger.com0