life in and around a Vancouver suburb
Rants Category
Remember the 2010 Winter Olympics? Remember how fun they were? Remember how much is cost? Well it continues to cost the taxpaying victims of VANOC’s success well into the summer as the bills just keep rolling in. ICBC reports that over $2.3 million of damage was done to VANOC’s fleet of General Motors vehicles used [...]
It’s no secret that here’s no shortage of scumbags in the lower mainland but the numbers seem to be growing as our useless legal system does little or nothing to slow their reign of terror. Here’s a few of the most recent pieces of garbage to grace the pages of our local newspapers…
Facebook sucks at the best of times. It reaches a new level of suck when a few young horn-dogs flagrantly advertise their mission to bed Grade 8 school girls on a Facebook page. Such was the case with students at Lord Tweedsmuir High School in Cloverdale.
Pop music officially entered the ‘complete shit‘ phase of it’s existence with the recent appearance of The Black Eyed Peas on the American Idol Gives Back broadcast. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at the video below but be sure to have a small bucket handy while you watch this piece of visual and aural excrement.
About this blog
A collection of thoughts and observations regarding life in a Vancouver suburb. I may touch on world events, local, regional and national politics, religion, sex, sports, fine wine and any other subject that strikes my fancy. Do you disagree or have something to add? Leave a comment by clicking the comments link below each post but note that I read and approve each comment before it appears on this site.
Georgia Straight Music
- Elvis autopsy tools no longer for sale July 28, 2010The tools, including rubber gloves, forceps, and eye liner, had been in the collection of a retired Memphis embalmer. […]
- Welsh Jay-Z parody: "Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)" July 28, 2010Welsh filmmaker MJ Delaney created this parody of "Empire State of Mind". […]
- Video: The Dead Weather soak Seattle with feedback-fueled blues July 27, 2010With Pemberton long gone, Virgin Fest cancelled, and no word on Rock the Bells returning for a second hit, Vancouver music junkies have been left fiending for their next good fix. […]
- Will Gwyneth Paltrow be the next big country music star? July 27, 2010Gwyneth Paltrow is dusting off her singing chops for the upcoming movie, Country Strong, in which she plays an alcoholic country star who has fallen from grace. […]
- Guitarist Robben Ford cuts through the B.S. July 26, 2010You might think that teaching is one way that guitarist Robben Ford has of giving back to his near-cult following, especially among blues and jazz devotees. But you’d only be half-right. […]
- Jack White does Paul McCartney for Paul McCartney and Barack Obama July 22, 2010Taking a break from his scuzz-rock adventures with the Dead Weather, Jack White performs "Mother Nature's Son" for a crowd that would make Mick Jagger sweat. […]
- Elvis Presley embalming tools on the auction block July 21, 2010This one is for all the Elvis Presley fans out there. […]
- The Georgia Straight presents Blonde Redhead at the Commodore Ballroom July 20, 2010Live Nation announced yesterday that Blonde Redhead will return to Vancouver this fall. […]
John Gilliat – Nouveau Flamenco
- Back to Whistler to perform at the Squamish Lilwat Cultural CentreToday I’m heading back up to Whistler, BC to perform at the Squamish Lilwat Cultural Centre. I’ll be performing solo guitar from 6pm to 6:45pm. Then I’ll join my trio with Andre Stepanian on flamenco guitar and Lyndon Dewitt on percussion inside in the Great Hall to perform from 6:45pm to 9pm. I’ll load up […]
- Performing at the top of the Hyatt RegencyOnce it got to 9pm it was time to pack up and head home. Parking again was very expensive for this event. $29.00! When you factor in gas and AFM dues it really takes a bite out of your net pay. So it's important to make sure as a corporate performer to charge enough to still make a decent wage after your perceived expenses. […]
- Music Success in 9 Weeks – Week 4#1: I'm now posting new content to my webspace which in turn gives visitors and fans a reason to return to my site to see what's new with John Gilliat. It's my own reality web show. I post behind the scene gig pages so people can see and read what it's like living a guitarist life. […]
- Performing solo guitar for Colliers InternationalAt 9pm it was time to pack up and head home. One crazy thing about being outside, up 31 floors leaning on the railing you get that creepy feeling in your legs from the height. It's so weird that it bothers me as I have a pilots license, have flown aerobatics in small single engine planes, flown hang gliders and ultra lights. I guess not being strapped i […]
- Wedding reception performance at the Eagle Harbour Yacht ClubThis performance will begin in the club house at 4pm and end at 8pm. It's also a little more formal than most of the corporate performances. Usually our attire is all black. (Black dress pants and a black dress shirt). Today will be suit and tie. […]
Wolfram Alpha
- Accessing U.S. State-Level Economic Data with Wolfram|AlphaWolfram|Alpha launched with an extensive database of United States economic data, derived from the Federal Reserve Bank’s FRED database. Over the past year, we’ve continued to improve our handling of this data in a variety of ways—teaching Wolfram|Alpha to return more related statistics along with any specific result, improving our linguistic abilities so we […]
- Introducing Wolfram|Alpha Widgets for Everyone, EverywhereThe beta version of Wolfram|Alpha Widgets is here! What are Wolfram|Alpha Widgets? They’re free, Wolfram|Alpha-powered mini apps that are easy to make, customize, and share on your blog, website, and social networks. And they’re the next step toward our goal of making the vast knowledge and computational power of Wolfram|Alpha available to everyone, everywhe […]
- Personalized Activity Results and Tools for Runners and CyclistsRunners and cyclists can now get personalized physical activity and fitness results from Wolfram|Alpha. Our team has added enhanced activity formulas to provide specific results that account for the individual differences among all types of runners and cyclists. Whether preparing for a race or monitoring regular routines, athletes and enthusiasts alike can n […]
- Computational Knowledge in Practice: Inside the Wolfram|Alpha ProjectAt the recent London Computational Knowledge Summit, Wolfram|Alpha content manager C. Alan Joyce gave attendees an insider’s look into Wolfram|Alpha. He shared how Wolfram|Alpha’s teams of Mathematica programmers, knowledge-domain experts, and data and linguistics curators have been able to transform raw data from public and private sources into “computable […]
- Ask Wolfram|Alpha about Medical Drug TreatmentsA new medical diagnosis or drug treatment can often leave us with more questions than answers. A few weeks ago we introduced a disease dataset within Wolfram|Alpha that can be helpful for those wondering how their condition and treatment plans compare to those of other patients. Most notably, this dataset includes the fraction of patients […]
- Health and Fitness Data for Water ActivitiesThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults engage in at least 2.5 hours of moderate aerobic physical activity each week. Recommendations for children age 6 to 17 are even higher: at least 1 hour of moderate or vigorous activity each day. Yet according to the CDC, only one-third of American adults regularly […]
- World Population Day 2010This Sunday, July 11, is World Population Day—an event established in 1989 by the United Nations to raise awareness of global population issues. This year, the emphasis is on the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme and the importance of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data in a way that supports good health and social […]
- The Future According to Stephen WolframAs a scientist and a technology CEO, Stephen Wolfram often thinks about the future—both near-term and long-term. On June 12 he gave an unusual keynote talk at the 2010 H+ Summit @ Harvard, titled “Computation and the Future of the Human Condition”. Check out the transcript to find Stephen’s latest thoughts on our future… […]
© 2010 My Dog Buster