Smartgrowth North America

I’ve been itching to do a very brief piece on North America’s best cities. After having done some mild research I realized it was a lot harder than I thought. I was more interested in a list of cities all scoring high in several ‘Smartgrowth’ categories. I found a few lists here and there and was able to find an excellent report from Smartgrowth America about US cities but was not able to find a similar list for Canadian cities.

Once you follow the link below click on the ranking table.

Link

If anyone out there in our multitude of readers has any useful links to determine this list please post or send.

Sony screws up...maybe

In Microsoft form Sony has delivered itself a serious blow in the ongoing console wars. An insider named ‘Fishie’ who has been very reliable thus far, says the release of the PS3 will be nowhere near March. In fact Sony has inadvertly been helping Microsoft by telling all their loyal fans that their system would be here soon. Thanks to Sony a large part of the market has been momentarily delayed from buying a system. The result being that although Microsoft didn’t produce enough 360’s and did piss off a few people – it could have been worse.

I think most people, myself included, would have waited until March. Unfortunately we probably won’t get a Japanese release date until after March and a North American release date several months after that. This will hurt Sony big time. People are going to get sick of waiting and start considering their options all while 360 partners pump out games. Stay tuned for CES.

Jude's people of 2006

This is my version of best people of 2006. The three pictured here are of course Bill Oreilly, Jim Cramer and Nancy Grace.

All three above are absolutely nuts. I don’t mean this in a bad way, all three are entertainers and do a fine job entertaining.

All three are hard core right wingers, and all three, when they are ranting, make up the biggest whoppers you’ve ever heard, just to be controversial. Jim and Nancy are obviously entertainment while Bill tries to pretend he is a journalist. Nobody is fooled.

Anyway I love disagreeing with all three. They are all very entertaining and I hope we get much more of the same in 2006.

Nancy Grace

Bill Oreilly

Jim Cramer

If you want the official info go the official sites. Keep in mind the people above are entertainers and have nothing to do with journalism, research or otherwise. They are there to stir things up. Don’t get taken in, sit back and enjoy.

MS vs Sony at CES 2006

One of the major battles in the console wars is fast approaching. That battle will take place at CES 2006 in January. To date Microsoft has landed the first major blow by releasing their system earlier then the next generation Sony system. Furthermore games are being developed for the Xbox 360 at a tremendous rate  and Microsoft machines are much easier to for developers to work with.

There was however a major counterpunch delivered – by Microsoft to Microsoft. Not enough machines, unimpressive games, and heat issues have been plaguing the Xbox 360 since its release. Sony has gotten into the fray by telling everyone their machine will be available early 2006 which is complete bullshit.

The Consumer Electronics Show is the biggest and best electronics show in the world with absolutely no competition. Microsoft will most likely be showing off their first batch of decent (not great) games to counter Sony’s exhibition which most likely will only show video with no playable demos. Unless Sony comes out with playable demos for the PS3 they will lose this battle (not the war, just the battle). Hardly anyone doubts that the PS3 will be more powerful than the Xbox 360; unfortunately for Sony consumers are now smart enough to know that both machines are Ferraris. One has 800 HP and the other has 785HP. They are virtually identical and the main focus will be on the games and online play. The games aspect will go either way but Sony will not beat Microsoft when it comes to integration with their windows base and incredible experience in the online arena. Many analysts see Microsoft as the underdog as they don’t have near the console base that Sony does. Analysts need to see the bigger wider picture. This is about the integration of our computers, cameras, pda’s, consoles, etc etc etc. The Xbox 360 is a jacked up Media Centre PC ready to integrate itself with your home video collection, online radio, photos, online communities, etc etc etc. Sony can not touch Microsoft in this arena. If Apple said they were releasing a video game console tomorrow I would give them a better chance than Sony as they know something about integration.

CES will be very telling. Stay tuned.

Merry Ho Ho - I'm out!

Well my whole family is over and what a better time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. There are a variety of definitions out there. Here are a few different ones:
The Christian meaning of Christmas.

Another Christian definition that is pretty cool.

Where the Christians got it all from – very interesting.

Encarta – Who is Santa?

First off let me say Christmas is a name, I couldn’t give a rats ass what it denotes for one religious group or the other.

The true meaning of Christmas, and by true I mean the reality we live in, is to buy loads of stuff and give it to people who don’t need it. More than half the time those people are ourselves. We live in a society with an incredibly guilty conscious – we need an excuse to buy something and Christmas is it.

Well I’m done with the whole shebang. I will continue to stuff my face every holiday season, but from here on in no one gets anything unless they need it. Next year friends will receive cards with little notices saying congratulations you just donated ‘X’ amount of dollars to so and so charity.

So the true meaning of Christmas, in my slanted view, is to remind us that there are those out there not nearly as well off as we are. Furthermore we are very lucky to have what we do, and those we love around us to share in our wealth – spiritual or otherwise. We live in an unfair world where not all living things are treated fairly or given a fair opportunity. I am going to continue doing my part to ensure that my favorite charity as funded all year round.  

I am better than you

Now that I am firmly located in middle class and moving up through the ranks of society I have decided to kick it up a notch.

In fact I already have.

Before I get started however I just hope that I don’t alienate a large section of our readership as they may feel, once I drop this bombshell, that they can no longer relate to me or those I associate with. Although there has been a major shift in my life and I am now better than you, I can still relate to you because at one time I was as poor, pathetic, and as broke as you.

Everything has changed however as I am now the new proud owner of the incredible, technologically advanced, Crest Spinbrush Pro!

What does this mean? I’ll tell you what it means. It means I dropped $6.58 of cold hard Canadian cash (plus tax) at my local Walmart. By local I mean a good 20 minutes away at some huge shopping mall with lots of parking for singles driving the biggest vehicles know to man. Although my vehicle isn’t that big it has a hefty turbo on it so rest assured I too am burning gas like crazy.

So unlike the rest of you plebs I have the honor of sticking a vibrating, girating, double A battery powered, beacon of modern technology in my mouth twice daily. If you are one of these people that enjoys handling a remote you need a Spinbrush Pro. I do the happy dance every morning. When I start brushing, and by brushing I mean ‘Spinbrushing’, I walk around my house, stand in front of the window, check for a paper outside even though we have no subscription….

Bottom line: I want the whole world to know I am now superior.

For those of you interested in the Spinbrush Pro or the Spinbrush enthusiast club of North America please contact your local chapter.

PS: I have no idea if my teeth are cleaner; that is however not the point.

How intelligent is this design?

Intelligent Design has been given the cold shoulder in the United States. This is in fact old news in the blog world as this story has been running for several days. Just so we are all clear however Intelligent Design (ID) is a Christian supported idea that yes maybe evolution did happen, maybe even dinosaurs, but it was all part of Gods master plan. Furthermore, say ID supporters, anything else we discover (like an ancient cloning station set-up by aliens to start the human race) was all in the good Lord’s plan.

Isn’t that convenient. In other words you science people can research all you want, our little ID scheme will save us every time. Essentially we are looking at the modern day: ‘I’m rubber you’re glue, everything you say bounces of me and sticks to you’.

When these stories come out my favorite thing in the world is look up the most biased source possible and read their outright lies.

So I went over to www.christianitytoday.com. For those of you who don’t know this website is actually in favor of ID. Some have even gone as far as to say there is some sort of connection between ID and websites like the one listed above. Regardless it is all part of the good Lord’s plan anyway.

Check out the beauty of a quote below:

"Anyone who thinks a court ruling is going to kill off interest in intelligent design is living in another world," said John West, associate director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank researching intelligent design.

The first thing you will notice is the sweeping broad statement. Those always workout.
The second part I LOVE is the “a Seattle-based think tank researching intelligent design.”

Think tank my fat overstuffed ass. This ‘think tank’ is linked to places like ‘antievolution.org’ which I am lead to believe is slightly biased in one way or another.

I find it amazing that people can lie there asses off, get employed to lie, create organizations to lie, in an attempt to fool people into converting.

When I say lie I am not referring to ID. That whole thing is fine. Believe what you want. The lie comes in when places like the Center for Science and Culture attempt to pass themselves off as anything but a special interest group. Regardless we can all rest assured that it is all part of the good Lord’s master plan.

I think we need to accept ID and start researching just how intelligent the plan has been to date. I can tell you I have some questions that need to be answered!

I love non-stick...but I hate cancer

The non-stick cooking deal has has been going on seriously since the 70's. The world almost fell on it head when:

"On May 16, 2000, the 3M corporation stunned the rest of the chemical industry with an unexpected announcement: It had decided to stop producing a family of compounds used in Scotchgard, Teflon, and a host of other consumer products. Saying that the "perfluorochemicals" it had manufactured for half a century had been found to persist in human blood and wildlife, 3M portrayed its move as that of a conscientious corporate citizen. "While this chemistry has been used effectively for more than 40 years and our products are safe," declared Charles Reich, a 3M executive vice president, "our decision to phase out production is based on our principles of responsible environmental management."

Read the whole article here.

With all the above said please understand the following. The end product is not carcinogenic. It is the manufacturing process that is the problem. Please don’t make one environmental atrocity even worse by throwing out your non-stick pans.

Besides, non-stick pans rule.

US changes torture policy

As many of you are aware Con-ice (Condaleezza Rice) the US Secretary of State has been doing her world tour lately. Middle East issues, environment, trade disputes have taken up a large portion of her time but not nearly as much as the US torture policy. She was constantly denying, defending and of course lying her face off to get out of a variety of situations. Just as she was getting used to her official policy that torture is okay if we are doing it the administration has gone and changed everything. Now they have decided to honor the United Nations ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, not just at home, but around the world as well.

“The White House has tried to argue that rules against torture don't apply beyond U.S. soil, in places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or Afghanistan. But on Wednesday that all changed.” – CBC

After the reversal in policy there were a few great gems from US officials (courtesy of CBC).

On the one hand, White House spokesman Scott McLellan called it nothing new. "Is this existing policy? As I stated earlier, yes it is existing policy."
But at the State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Rice's statement "is a statement of policy and it's been the U.S. policy ... at least since the secretary said it."

Bush vs Evil

I’m done with Evil. Evil has no respect and is making life difficult for millions of people everywhere. No one however is having a harder time than my main man, number one source of comedy and entertainment, George W. Bush.

Dubya has been waging a war against the forces of Evil for many years. Has he had any success? Hell ya, representatives of evil have been getting their asses whooped all over the globe by Bush and his buddies. Now that is good enough for a few years (decade upon decade if we look into the recent history of the United States) but eventually evil is going to have to take the stand and answer some hard questions.

Has Evil bothered to show up? Has Evil even contacted Bush once? How about a quick email? The truth is Evil has been so elusive some are starting to believe that Evil (sex unknown) might not actually be a thing but rather a notion or concept. Some very reputable brainy types are even referring to Evil, much to the shock an awe of millions, as an adjective.

Unperturbed our main man Dubya keeps on challenging Evil at every opportunity. I am confident we will eventually be able to get Mr or Mrs Evil to comment on the various accusations that have been labeled against him or her and set this whole embarrassing debacle to rest.

The entire quote below, as well as other interesting facts can be found here.

“Bush has spoken about evil in 319 separate speeches, or about 30 percent of all the speeches he gave between the time he took office and June 16, 2003. In these speeches he uses the word "evil" as a noun far more often than he uses it as an adjective — 914 noun uses as against 182 adjectival uses. Only 24 times, in all these occasions on which Bush talks of evil, does he use it as an adjective to describe what people do, that is, acts or deeds. This means that Bush is not thinking about evil deeds, or even evil people, nearly as often as he is thinking about evil as a thing, or a force, something that has a real existence apart from the cruel, callous, brutal and selfish acts of which human beings are capable. His readiness to talk about evil in this manner raises the question of what meaning evil can have in a secular modern world.”

Religious homophobes give Ford a break

The American Family Association, aka religious homophobes of America, has recently ended their boycott of Ford much to the dismay of religious zealots everywhere determined to trample on the rights of others in the name of God. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not against religion or anything like that; I also recognize that there are very prominent religious groups that support gay marriage – see here.

Anyway back to the homophobes. It just blows me away that such a prominent group can hide behind the auspices of religion to trample on the rights of gays. While we are at it lets not forget the influence they wield on women and their bodies, the bill of rights, constitutions, curriculums – feel free to add to my list.

All the above stuff, fine whatever. I have been brainwashed like the rest of the masses to accept your right to trample everyone else’s. I swear to god if the special interest groups (except for oil companies, unions, etc) start telling me and my buddies what cars we can drive I will snap. I will write a very eloquent letter to someone. I will at least send a short concise letter. At the very least I will email someone a one liner. I will at least tell someone I’m pissed.