Groundhog Day is Junk Science
Published February 2, 2010 @ 15:24 in Miscellaneous

Today is Groundhog Day, and every morning radio or television show felt obliged to tell you whether Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania, Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia or Wiarton Willie saw their respective shadows.

I've peeled back the curtain to look at the science behind these supposed indicators, and I've come to the conclusion that it's nothing more than junk science. You cannot gauge the amount of winter remaining based on whether a rodent saw its shadow or not.

Don't believe the hype.

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Toronto Photographers Shoot Avatar / Profile Pics
Published February 1, 2010 @ 11:04 in Miscellaneous

Last Friday night, during what was the coldest night of the decade, I met Terri and Mark from Light Monkey Photography. We met at a very cool old brick building in the middle of a park in Liberty Village and they shot me (with a camera, not a gun).

Light Monkey Photography is diversifying their offerings, and now create photo avatars for use in social media profiles, like Twitter and Facebook. Here are some shots of me, taken outside in -35°C conditions.

Terri and Mike were fantastic to work with and they're very accommodating and reasonably priced. Whether you need avatar pics, corporate head shots or just want to update the family pictorial, I urge you to contact them at info@lightmonkey.ca or 647 342 3603.

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The Interweb Lies
Published January 30, 2010 @ 16:20 in Miscellaneous

Neil Young has never won a Grammy. I know this for a fact because Neil Young might just be my favourite singer / songwriter of all-time.

Neil was honoured at the pre-Grammy MusiCares gala as their Person of the Year for his artistry in music and philanthropic contributions. I did a little reading about the event in which several artist covered Neil's biggest hits. I went to Google News, typed in Neil Young and started reading.

That's how I found this article. Below is a screen cap of the page in which it clearly states that Neil Young wasn't the only big name artist to never win a Grammy. It says The Beatles also never won a Grammy.

That factoid surprised me. I instantly tweeted about it.

It didn't take long for people to call bullshit on my erroneous tweet. That article was dead wrong. The Beatles have actually won 7 Grammy awards.

The interweb lies. Consider yourself warned.

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Laura DiBattista vs. Lara Di Battista
Published January 21, 2010 @ 22:15 in Miscellaneous

If you thought spelling Mroczkowski was tough, try spelling Lara Di Battista's name.

When I wrote about her leaving Citytv, I spelled her name Lara Di Battista, having seen it spelled that way on a couple of web pages. Her Wikipedia page, however, clearly refers to her as Laura DiBattista.

Does anyone know if it's Laura DiBattista or Lara Di Battista?

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Donate Now to Help Haiti
Published January 18, 2010 @ 15:12 in Miscellaneous

To make a personal donation to the Canadian Red Cross or to make a donation on behalf of an organization, click here.

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No Sugar Tonight In My Coffee (Agave Instead)
Published January 17, 2010 @ 10:31 in Miscellaneous

My wife makes great coffee. It's the best part of waking up on weekends.

I was advised yesterday that sugar in our coffee is slowly killing us. Sure, we breathe dirty city air every day, eat lots of pizza, and drink Coke Zero like it's water, but the teaspoon of sugar in my morning coffee is what's going to do me in.

Because my wife makes the weekend coffee, I'm really not in a strong bargaining position. She's gone out and purchased something called Organic Blue Agave. There is now Organic Blue Agave in my coffee where sugar once was. I'm sipping my first cup as I type and I suppose it's okay.

I honestly hadn't heard of the agave plant until its nectar showed up in my morning brew.

Late breaking development: I'm sticking with sugar! To be honest, sugar in my coffee tasted better, and I'm not sold on the benefits of Agave. A man needs a few vices. My wife will stick with agave and I'll stick with good ol' sugar.

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Derry Newbury: 1988 - 2009
Published January 14, 2010 @ 18:53 in Miscellaneous

I just learnt Derry Newbury passed away late last year. Derry was the young man behind First Sounds, a blog I wrote about back in 2007.

Derry was a former Deaf Mute who had his life changed by a specialist who did an implant surgery giving him the ability to hear and speak. His blog was where he wrote about his struggles. When I shared that link he was dealing with a tumour on the base of his brain stem.

His brain cancer returned and took his life in October. I had lost touch with Derry's blog and only found out about his passing today when someone tipped me off.

It's just sad. He was a brave kid.

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Low Emission and Fuel Efficient Vehicles Only
Published January 14, 2010 @ 09:16 in Miscellaneous

I spotted this sign at Mississauga's Square One mall. It's a parking spot reserved for "Low Emission and Fuel Efficient Vehicles Only".

I just wonder how they enforce it. Do they have a list of car makes and models that fit the bill? Does my '99 Mazda Protégé qualify?

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Life Is Funny... I'm Working With Rick Hodge
Published January 11, 2010 @ 14:13 in Miscellaneous

Life is funny. You never know what's around the corner or how things will work out.

On November 27, I wrote about Rick Hodge being forced off Astral's airwaves. In that entry I wrote about something I witnessed when I sat in on the old EZ Rock morning show. What I wrote upset Rick Hodge and many of his friends, and the aftermath caused me to write "This is a Blog. This is My Blog".

Earlier today, I wrote about a shake-up with the EZ Rock morning show. Of course I wrote about the dismissal of Rick Hodge and Kim Stockwood. You could have bet the farm on it. After all, I've always loved radio, I wrote about Rick Hodge leaving CHUM-FM, about Humble getting a new gig at EZ Rock and it's the only morning show I've sat in on. It would have stuck out like a sore thumb if I didn't address this developing story.

So I did what I've done 9524 times before. My fingers hit the keyboard and I reported what I knew to be true. Then, because it's my blog, I threw down some personal opinions about it all. And yes, that included a less than flattering story about Rick Hodge. This isn't something I do lightly, I managed to not tell the story for 18 months, but this morning I felt like sharing it. So I did.

Rather quickly, my email filled up with angry emails and comments. It was as if I had attacked the Pope. I came back from lunch, read one negative email after another, and quickly realized it simply wasn't worth it. This is my hobby, I had shared a little story about the subject of the news story I was writing about, and suddenly I was under attack. That prompted me to do something I haven't done in 9525 entries over 7 years. I deleted the story about Rick Hodge.

Six weeks later, I'm working with Rick Hodge. Rick's got some time on his hands and things he wants to share, so he'll soon be blogging up a storm at TheHodgeBlog.com. I'm setting everything up for him now and will soon be teaching Rick how to be master of his domain, so to speak. One of his first entries will be about the move from CHUM FM to EZ Rock / CFRB 1010 and he'll also address that paragraph I deleted.

You really never know what's around the bend.

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The Funny Hockey T Shirts Go To...
Published January 11, 2010 @ 08:00 in Miscellaneous

We had a little contest. Name your favourite tee shirt form Pucking Hilarious and you win the shirt. I had two shirts to give away, and they're going to...

Patrick (who prefers the Sad Habs shirt) and Andrea (who prefers Hackey Night). I've written you both emails to find out size, colour and shipping address.

Today is the last day to order Goal Scores You and Sad Habs, so click over to http://www.puckinghilarious.com/ to buy one of each. NHL 94 and Hackey Night are still available and will soon be joined by new designs. I got a sneak peek at Puck Man and it's great.

Congrats to the big winners!

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