February Roundup: Top 4 Posts

Without further delay, here are the top four posts of February 2009:

1. Country Style's Win (Crap) Everytime Event! (This one was in January, but it's too popular)
   
2. Frugal Tip: Grow Your Own Hair
3. Review: Gran Torino
4. Groundhog Willie, you lying S-O-B.
   

More articles to come! Have a great March.

Tertiary Series: Crazy Home Office Set Up

I don't know if you would call this a "home office", but I found this while browsing through blogs on office organization and set-up. This is every nerd's heaven right here..


If you have any cool set-ups, gears or anything else I can share - feel free to send it to me and I'll posted it here.

Towards a Hunger and Violence Free Zimbabwe

Former opposition leader and now Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, promised that there will be no more hunger or violence now that he is PM.

“The transitional government will make food available and affordable,” he added. “No Zimbabwean will ever go hungry again... Our hospitals must be places of healing... On Monday, all schools must reopen. This Monday."("No more hunger or violence, says PM Tsvangirai")

That's a pretty balls-y claim considering that most first-world countries still struggle with these issues. C'mon sir, even Barack "God's gift to the world" Obama promised hope and change. It could be change for the worse, but at least he didn't exaggerate. No more hunger or violence?! Your lack of political experience is as obvious as a neon thong.

In the photo: Morgan, is not going to feed anyone by holding out his hands, Tsvangirai.

Shoe-throwing is a Popular Form of Protest, Act II

Did I not tell you that shoe throwing is a popular form of protest? Wen Jiabao, Premier of China was attacked with a shoe by a protester at Cambridge University today (whenever I wrote this, I don't remember). Unfortunately, his shoe failed to make contact and campus security was able to subdue the assailant before he was able to throw the other shoe.

"Hey, Stop it." - Wen to shoe-thrower

(Article of Interest: "Protester throws shoe at Chinese Premier Wen JiaBao")

Mr Wen was coming to the last part of his address when a young Western-looking man with dark hair stood up, blew a whistle and shouted: “How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”

The man, who appeared to be in his early twenties, then took off his heavy shoe and threw it at the stage missing the Premier by a few feet.

“Stand up and protest, you're not challenging him,” he shouted in a European accent as he was bundled out of the room by security staff.

I wasn't surprised at the attack. no I knew it was going to happen again a long time ago. I'm just surprised that the security staff at Cambridge is more competent than Bush's secret service agents.

My Contribution to Society

I want to share with you the student debt clock by Debt 101. You can check out here...
It's currently at 13 billion dollars, do you know how much of it is mine? It's nice to know that I contributed to society without lifting a finger.


Editor's Note: Sorry for not posting for the past couple of days. I have been sick; congrats to all those who wish for me to be sick, you win.

The Robinho Show

Groundhog Willie, You Lying S-O-B

To explain why Groundhog Willie is a lying s-o-b, I direct your attention to the temperature on the week of Willie's prediction:

Courtesy of The Weather Network

Six more weeks of winter my ass. He should have watched An Inconvenient Truth.

First Signs of a Failing Economy

A few days ago, I read something in the Star that disproved my theory on the current economic situation. If you've been following my blog, you'll notice that I don't think there is anything wrong with the economy. Well, I concede - I was wrong because a 16-year-old student showed up at this interview despite being stabbed earlier in the day.

(Article of Interest: "Stabbed student shows up for job interview")

"Staff at the King West Vets veterinary clinic said the Central Commerce Collegiate student showed up on time for his 1 p.m. co-op placement interview."

By the way, they went through with the interview and then called the police. Worse, they couldn't even tell him if he got the job! These capitalists make me sick.

"He did really well on the interview and we were very proud of him for sticking to the appointment," said veterinarian Kent Ackerman. He wouldn't say if the student will get the job."

I sure hope he got the job.

Tertiary Series: Step Fail

see more pwn and owned pictures

Review: Gran Torino

Gran Torino is an inspiring movie on the changing dynamics of race relations in the U.S. It is recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the Ten Best Films of 2008. Clint Eastwood also won Best Actor from the National Board of Review and is nominated for the Critics' Choice Awards. Clint Eastwood's performance was excellent of course, but that much was expected. Why, you ask? Anyone would be good if you surrounded yourself with a team full of amateur actors with little to no experience.

1. Supporting Actor: Bee Vang as Toad Lor - did an admirable job. The 17-year-old from Fresno, California was a pre-med student at the University of Minnesota. "His only previous acting experience was membership in a drama club." (http://www.thegrantorino.com/#/aboutthefilm/cast/beevang/)


2. Supporting Actress: Ahney Her as Sue Lor - also did a great job. She was sixteen when she won the role of Sue. "Although she had not acted professionally, she loved performing and had trained for three years at a local drama school." (http://www.thegrantorino.com/#/aboutthefilm/cast/ahneyher/)


3. Supporting Actor: Christopher Carley as Father Janovich - The only one with any professional acting experience. He guest starred in The Sopranos, Law and Order SVU, Numb3rs and House. He was also in a couple of independent films.

Did I mention that Gran Torino was directed and produced by Clint Eastwood? Look, there was no doubt that Clint Eastwood was good, especially when he surrounded himself with a bunch of amateurs. It's like Michael Jordan playing against a bunch of kids in a small town rec league HE created - where is the challenge?

Think I'm being harsh? I'll give you three words to prove my point: Million, Dollar, Baby.

Editor's Note: Morgan Freeman won an Academy Award for best supporting actor in Million Dollar Baby

Number of Days it took the President to Mess Up

It's only been 15 days (at the time of writing) since the glorious inauguration of the 44th President. Today, President Obama admitted that he made a mistake by nominating former Democratic Leader in the Senate and long-time mentor, Tom Daschle

"I think I screwed up," Obama said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. "And I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again." (Article of Interest: "Obama: 'I screwed up' on Daschle appointment")

Daschle withdrew his nomination after it was discovered that he had more than $150,000 in back taxes. This is however, NOT his first screw up. Click here to see a list of his questionable nominees..


A survey of America's mainstream media reveals that Obama and America are still on their honeymoon as many of them fail to mention his previous errors in judgement. Big ups to NPR (National Public Radio) for picking up on this story.

(Editor's Note: Why doesn't spell check pick up the word "Obama"?)

London is Crippled

I'm sure everyone remembers the 25 cm snowstorms followed by the 5-10 cm "flurries" from this past month (we can go as far back as last year). Well, London is crippled by a 8 inches (around 20 cm) of snow. (See article: "Braced for another eight inches of snow")

C'mon 20 cm? I know you don't get snow much but if I can drive 40 mins to work in a small Japanese car with no snow tires - you can take on some friggin' snow.

Snow in the UK, you can still see asphalt. Photo: Reuters

We're in the Money

I don't know about you, but I had a very nice shopping holiday over December despite the poor deals that offered no real savings to the consumer. I received my VISA bill at the end of the month and let me tell you, I have been penny pinching throughout January to make it past the month, but pinch no more, as the song goes, "we're in the money!"


Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the Conservative government will run a $40 billion deficit over two years. (Read "$40-billion recipe to juice the economy").

"The budget, tabled Tuesday in the House of Commons, will see government spending increase by nearly 11% to $206.8-billion and revenue drop roughly 5% in the 2009-10, leading to a $33.7-billion deficit.

I did the math, 40 billion over two years divded by around 33 million people and what do you have? Around 600 bucks each! I would like to take this time to let the government know that I accept all forms of payment including Paypal, credit card, certified cheque, direct deposit, practically everything except government issued IOUs. Then I started to make a shopping list of all the things I would buy..until I read the fine print of course.

"The budget casts a wide net, and throws money at a number of fronts. A chunk of the spending programs are designed to expire after the second year. There are permanent personal tax cuts, about $12-billion for infrastructure projects, and financial incentives to persuade households to undertake home renovations. Some analysts said that, surprisingly, the budget did not have a core focus"

First of all, I don't own a house or any infrastructure?! Why does the government decide how I spend my money? I feel as though I would do a much better job stimulating the economy, especially in the industries of beer and popcorn. I guess it's back to penny-pinching for me.

Tertiary Series: Google Search Images By Dimensions

Did you know that you can now search for google images by certain sizes? This will make searching for wallpapers a lot easier. Read this entry, courtesy of Lifehacker

Article of Interest: "Find Images by Exact Dimensions, Make Wallpaper Search a Breeze"

Frugal Tip - Grow your own hair

A new fad of mine is browsing personal finance blogs and I am currently following a couple of great sites. They usually give some excellent tips on budgeting, debt & savings, as well as other tips that will hopefully prevent you from financial disasters. One common theme shared by many bloggers is the importance of frugality. Frugality is the practice of spending as little money as possible. After reading some of these tips, I feel compelled to share one of my own with you.

Frugal Tip 1: Grow your own hair
That's right! Instead of a fancy toupe or wig, we should grow our own hair. It's really easy - let me show you how:

Ingredients:

1. Water
2. Fertilizer
   

Directions:

1. Slap some fertilizer on head
2. Water
   

Savings: $$$$$

Feel free to share this with anyone you know.. enjoy!

Editor's note: Male patterned baldness is not funny, frugality is. GO CARDS!