Chuck Norris counted to infinity…twice.

Chuck Norris speaks braille.

I’m sure you’ve all heard great Chuck Norrisisms at some point. But, there’s nothing better than the man himself listing the top 10 Chuck Norris facts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8k3uGzgZIs

Check out this story from Slashdot: link here

Apparently Google Maps is blurring out images of sensitive location, such as the 2 locations in the link above (one is a nuclear research facility on a university campus in the States, and the other is a power plant in Massachusetts.

Thoughts? Why should they blur it out? Are they that worried about terrorists tracking these locations, and using google maps to attack them? C’mon, let’s get serious here.

So I’m going to keep this short, but here goes:

Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, there was a report on the 2008 presidential campaign, and the reporter made a statement to the effect that in order for a candidate to have a chance at running, they would need to fundraise at least $100 million. There was also a comment made that some of the candidates would be raising close to $300 million. more here

A few stories later, there was a report on New Orleans and how the city is doing 16 months later. And it’s not good. Although the city has applied for more than $300 million in aid from FEMA, they have only received about 1/3 of that funding. Apparently the discrepancy is due to errors in the city’s application, but knowing they need that much money, and having seen the story above about the amount of money that the presidential candidate will be raising makes me sick. Why doesn’t the US government pledge to give more money to New Orleans and Louisiana in general instead of pledging to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq? It seems like we have all of our priorities backwards.

In Philosophy we are learning about the theory of Consequentialism, and soon about Deontology. Basically, consequentialism says that one makes decisions based on what is for the good of the people involved. So, if killing one person meant that 5 would be saved, and saving 1 meant that 6 would be killed, then we should kill that one person. We should live a life where we make decisions that are for the good of humankind. But, everyday there are contradictions to this belief all over the world. In theory, this is a great belief, but in order for it to work, everyone has to live by it. If not everyone lives by it, then it won’t be feasible. Instead, although a few will be making good decisions, a few will be living selfishly and constantly hurt those who are trying to live for the good of humankind.

On the weekend, Sheena and I watched Al Gore’s movie, A Inconvenient Truth. It’s awesome. It’s awesome in a scary, sickening, painfully truthful way. Gore has been saying essentially the same thing for 30 years, and really, how many people have been listening? How would the US, and for that matter, the world be any different had he been elected as president in the place of Bush? I’d like to believe that he would have focused more on the environment, and what we are doing instead of what other countries are doing. I realize that we have to proactive and the US is great for that; who knows, had they not done anything about Iraq, maybe Saddam would have done something. In any case, the issues that really matter, the issues that will guide our future existence on this planet, the issues that we know the least about are the issues that we are spending the least amount of time, money, and press on.

In my opinion, we (as a people) should be focusing on the following issues:

1) Space – there is life out there. When we do find it, it will be the single largest discovery in the history of the world. We mustn’t give up because there have been accidents. Read Michael Crichton’s new book “Next” and you may just see my point of view, or at least understand where I’m coming from.

2) Ocean – along the same lines as space, I believe that we need to explore the oceans more. Who knows just what they hold? And after all, 75% of the world is covered in water, and like 95% of that is salt water, which is not potable, so we need to also focus research on extracting the salt from the water.

3) Global Warming – as mentioned above, watch “An Inconvenient Truth” and read “State of Fear” by Michael Crichton. This issue is very real. This issue won’t be solved overnight. And if we don’t do something about it soon, then soon it will be too late.

4) Overconsumption – this has many facets, but the one that comes to mind is the theory of 80/20; 20% of the population consumes 80% of the resources. This is true in North America. If you don’t believe what I’m saying, or don’t think it’s really that big of an issue, then take a trip to the US. Notice how many fast food restaurants there are the next time you’re driving. Take notice how many vehicles there are on the roads. We are very quickly moving away from a people that is becoming so lazy that we would love to save a few seconds in the most trivial of tasks (why else do people do the things they do when they drive? – i.e. eating breakfast, reading the paper, putting on makeup?). Soon everything that we do in a day will be automated, and will require such little effort from us that we will feel very useless in the average day. More and more people are developing diseases (diabetes, heart disease) from what we eat, and what we don’t do (exercise, eat healthy). It’s very simple. Eat better, and exercise. Yet, many people think that only one of those will work. Some think that if they eat crap food, but exercise all the time, then they will be fine. That’s false. Some think that if they eat healthy food, but don’t exercise, then they will be fine. That’s also false. If you had to pick one, obviously it’s better to eat healthy than to not exercise, but everyone has the time and the ability to do both. They just need to cut out the less important things – watching tv, playing video games, watching movies, shopping, etc.

5) Less drugs – every so often, when I’m up really late at night, I’ll stumble across an infomercial about the book “Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About” and other books from the same author. What’s amazing to me, and I believe this guy, is that he promotes healing through the use of everything but drugs from people like Tylenol, Advil, or Aspirin. From what I gathered from his responses, much of the cures are simply eating healthy food. And think about it. Why would any doctor want there to exist a cure for cancer, diabetes, MS, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s Disease among others. Why they wouldn’t want there to be a cure is because? if everyone is healed, then that means a lot less sick people, and a lot less doctors would be needed. Also, drug companies for sure wouldn’t want there to be any cures for the diseases that their drugs are supposed to treat because in that case they would be out of business. It’s late, and I’m headed for bed, and I could definitely go on about this issue for a long time, but for now, I will leave it at that.

We as a people have come a long way, but we also have a long way to go. The only way we can change is to think about what we see, hear, and read. In this way, we can all evolve as a species together, and help each other out. True, this is more of a communistic view, where everyone is equal but we can all do our part. As a whole, we have much more power than a single person.

Think about it.
That is all.

1. What is your passion?
Disc sports (ultimate frisbee, disc golf, dog disc and overalls)

2. What is your favourite beer:
Alexander Keith’s IPA

3. What is your favourite scent?
Lilac

4. What is your favourite movie:
Rudy

5. Do you own a care?
Nope…walking, bus and train for this guy!

6. What is your favourite pet?
A dog for sure…

7. What is your favourite clothing store?
Lululemon, Sears, Memory Express

8. Do you have a phone?
Yes, a crappy flip phone 🙁

9. Desktop or laptop computer?
Desktop

10. Favourite way to download movies?
Torrents

11. Do you hands get cold in the wintertime?
No, I’m like an oven lol

12. Do you have more guy friends or girl friends?
Girl friends

13. When is the last time you saw your mom?
Thursday, May 17, 2001; the night she died. 🙁

14. What color are your eyes?
Green/Brown. Depending on what I’m wearing and perhaps my mood?

15. What time did you wake up today?
Around 10:30, Sheena and I had to start packing since we fly back to Calgary tomorrow.

16. What are you wearing right now?
Brown cotton pants and a striped dress shirt.

17. What’s your favorite Christmas song?
So This Is Christmas by John Lennon.

18. Where is your favorite place to be?
This has changed over the years, but I would have to say that it would be on Wickwire field at Dalhousie University throwing a frisbee.

19. Where is your least favorite place to be?
Sitting in the gym writing a final exam.

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere?
Africa on a safari or perhaps to New Zealand on a looong tour.

21. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years?
Hopefully working a sweet job, teaching my kids how to play sports, and still playing ultimate at a high level. Or maybe golf 🙂

22. Do you tan or burn?
Both. Depends on how long I’m outside and if I wear sunscreen or not.

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
A fire 🙁

24. What was the last thing that made you laugh?
Watching Sheena walk from the car to the steps. She took a wiiide turn 😛

25. How many TVs do you have?
4

26. How big is your bed?
Queen. Anything smaller suuucks.

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer?
Both, although I use my laptop way more than the desktop. Too bad it’s not as easy to upgrade a laptop as it is to upgrade a desktop.

28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on?
On – boxers and an undershirt.

29. What color are your sheets?
Navy blue, green, or gray.

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?
1 for my head and one for between my knees. Sometimes with a body pillow too. That’s a good sleep 🙂

31. What is your favorite season?
Summer. Get to go golfing, play frisbee, and run outside. I’m like a puppy dog in the summertime 🙂 And winter is pretty grand too. Time for hockey and skiing.

32. What do you like about fall?
Crisp air and the smell of leaves.

33. What do you like about winter?
Fresh snow and ice.

34. What do you like about the summer?
Weather.

35. What do you like about spring?
Warm weather but also cool temperature.

36. How many provinces have you lived in?
3 – Alberta, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

37. How many cities/towns have you lived in?
5 – Edmonton, Calgary, Halifax, Woodstock, Ardrossan.

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet?
Shoes with socks.

39. Are you a social person?
Sometimes. Mostly I like to have time for myself though.

40. What was the last thing you ate?
Sunomono, Caesar salad, japanese chicken wings, and Dairy Queen cake (Sheena and I made the food, except for the cake of course, for dinner)

41. What is your favorite restaurant?
Sushi Club in Calgary

42. What is your favorite ice cream?
Chocolate Chocolate Chip – Haagen Daas. They only sell it on the States now so when I’m down there, I eat like one per day! hahaha. Mmmmm.

43. What is your favorite dessert?
Rhubarb crumble.

44. What is your favorite kind of soup?
Chicken noodle soup.

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich?
Homemade strawberry jam with the little strawberries.

47. Do you like coffee?
Yuck. Hell no. Water for me.

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average?
4 or 5 litres of water minimum. Depends on how much exercise I get.

49. What do you drink in the morning?
Water and sometimes orange juice.

50. Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone?
Depends. With someone is nice, but when I’m actually sleeping, I like to have my own space.

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?
Against the wall at home, but when I sleep alone, I sleep in the middle.

52. Do you know how to play poker?
Yup.

53. Do you like to cuddle?
Gee let me think. Um, yes.

54. Have you ever been to Canada?
Lol. Nuff said.

55. Do you have an addictive personality?
Not so much.

56. Do you eat out or at home more often?
For the last year, it’s been out more often than in it seems, but with the New Year comes a resolution to change that. Twice per month we’re gonna aim for. That’ll be good.

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you?
Yup, an older lady who’s friends with my grandparents that lives a few houses away from them. She would always send me a birthday card 🙂

59. Do you want kids?
Yup.

60. Do you speak any other languages?
Used to be bilingual in french, but it’s kinda rough now.

61. Have you ever gotten stitches?
3 times in my chin cuz of the stupid new helmets that we wore in high school.

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Nope.

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?
Beach cuz you can play frisbee on the shore. But I sorta don’t like the taste of saltwater, so for pure swimming I like the pool.

64. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats?
Window. Although the best seats on the plane are at the emergency exit.

65. Do you know how to drive stick?
Yup.

66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Electronic stuff – mostly for my computer. And eating out. And stuff for ultimate. And dvd’s. Dammit, I love spending money on stuff.

67. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7?
My watch once in a while. My grad ring even less.

68. What is your favorite TV show?
Smallville, Nip Tuck, and The Apprentice.

69. Can you roll your tongue?
Twist it yes.

70. Who is the funniest person you know?
Elliot.

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
Nope. Just Sheena.

73. Do you still have clothes from when you were little?
Not with me in Calgary, but my dad’s saved some.

74. What color are your bedroom walls?
White.

75. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth?
I do. And I turn the water off when Sheena brushes her teeth and it drives her nutty.

76. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
I don’t have a closet door. But when I did, it was normally closed.

77. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?
Bees. You can outrun them. The bear. Well, that’s a different story.

78. Do you flirt a lot?
Um, hrm, once in a while yes.

79. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
Honey sauce is good.

80. What is your favorite food?
I’d have to say pizza. It’s the most consistent favourite.

81. Can you change the oil on a car?
I do believe I can yes.

82. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?
Yup. And almost had a 2nd but the cop who stopped me had the same car and knew how fast it went. Really, he just didn’t want to ticket me I think.

83. Have you ever run out of gas?
Nope. Close yes though. Very very close.

84. What is your usual bedtime?
99% of the time never before midnight. Usually closer to 2 or 3 am.

86. Do you read the newspaper?
Not so often. I read daily news online from slashdot and dailywtf.

87. Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Men’s Health.

88. Best comedian?
Robert Schimmel and Larry the Cable Guy.

89. Do you watch soap operas?
Yeah, no.

90. Do you dance in the car?
No, but Sheena sure does.