Bright and Tasty

As the mass of rice fell towards my foot I began to wonder...
Why is curry so damn fluorescent, and how does it instantly stain all that it touches.
Really, what is in it that causes such anarchy?
I quickly removed the rice and then thought... this is a perfect time to test just how powerful this stuff really is.
I then placed the rice back down on my foot just about a centemetre away from the previous stain. You could almost see some sort of magic happenning between the curry and my sock. Like some angry but delicious creature was trying to eat away and become part of my sock.
Now, I left that bit of rice on my foot for about five minutes or so (wasn't doing much anyways) and then removed it and found an amazing bright yellow smear.
The rest of the test continues from here...
I will wear these socks for the rest of the night and see how it holds up, then if it is as persistant as I think it is they will be tested in the washing machine... such suspense.
Slater

Mans Best Friend

We have these two cats that are more like dogs. They come when we call them, they follow or lead when we hike along trails, and are pretty much the biggest sucks in the world.
But there world is soon to change... we are getting a dawg (a real one that is).
His name is Otis and his story is thus:
He lives in B.C. with some friends of a friend of ours, he is two years old and is part husky, lab, and a bit of other goodness. Some have described him as the colour of Reese's peanut butter cups, funny. His folks are moving to Sudan no less and can't bring him along... this is where we fit in.
So if all goes to plan, he will be coming to Ontario via a crazy plane ride in some sort carrier and then a drive to our house, sometime in the end of April.
This is when it will get interesting... two cats, one dog, three people, and one mrs. roper... like a zoo and a sitcom tossed together. It should be a good show, I am excited!!!
Slater

Towards Thunderdome

Estimates in 1980 said that we had enough oil in the world to last us for another 30 years or so... hmmm.... that is soon.
Luckily for us it was just recently shown that we have enough for another 40 years from now.
The first question I had is how were we off by so much.
The main reason for this was that they are now considering almost uneconomical methods of production as part of our grand total, mainly tar sands and oil shales.
Now, tar sands are nowhere near as difficult as oil shales to extract oil but they both have huge environmental problems and cost way more than the bubbling crude of old. The first oil that was extracted on Canadian soil was actually from an oil shale deposit. Funny that they went bankrupt and moved on to easier sources, also funny is that we are now looking back at these exact same spots as future development, and consider them part of our grand total of oil.
Now Canada has some of the largest deposits of tar sands, and has just announced that they are planning to increase production by at least fifty percent... great. You have to think that if every country out there is increasing production, it may not last us as long as we think. So... 40 years eh?
Hopefully the development of hybrid and fully electric cars can stretch this number a little further. I am happy to see some of these weird little cars roaming around the streets of London and the fact that they are actually becoming cheap enough to consider buying may just be the answer.
In the future I propose that we all start thinking about what we are using, or maybe we should just start a stockpile of gas in our backyard so when the prices go up or gas doesn't exist we will be able to drive ourselves to the corner store.
I have always loved the movie Mad Max, and am preparing for the day that i will have to put on my leather coat and race around the desert causing trouble. Now I just need for everyone to keep sucking up crude, find myself a dog (hmmm), buy a shotgun, and get an old 80's sportscar.
"Two men enter, one man leaves!"
Slater

Canadian Legacy

As Canadians we are proud of lots of things.
We have helped develop the space program, ruled the hockey world, gone to war for good reasons (sometimes), and countless others.
But when you speak of legacy I think about things that are old or really old.
So... I have found our new hope, and it is a rock.
None other than an Acasta Gneiss to be exact.
What is it you say, well it is a metamorphic rock that dates back to 3.96 billion years and it was found in the Northwest Territories of good old Canada.
Now doesn't that make you proud? I would say yes.
See the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, but at first it was just a big sea of magma that kept getting smashed by meteors so it really didn't form any crust until about 4.4 billion years. Now this stuff was pretty weak and kept getting destroyed and remade over the next bunch of million years. Then the earth finally started producing some solid crust that we know today, around the time that our famous rock was made.
This sucka has been around for a long time.
Okay so maybe you aren't as proud as I am about that...
Well I got something else for you then,
How about the oldest Metazoan.
What is that you say, well it is the first group of complex multicellular organisms, and you guessed it, the first one was found in good old Canada as well.
Out in Newfoundland, Portugal Cove there was a find of the oldest metazoans... it doesn't look like much but to the trained (crazy) eye you can tell that this two metre long lump was actually a living creature. This is nowhere near as old as the rock at only 575 million years but still... there was nobody else around at that time either.
What is also funny is that this was found to be about 10 million years older than the previous known sample which was found just down the road in Mistaken Point, Newfoundland.
So next time you are talking to some bigheaded american or a Plato preaching greek just tell them we have the stones, so look out or we will throw them at you.
Slater

The Main Event

Vegas got me thinking about boxing matches...
Basically two peeps step into a ring and try to beat the crap out of each other...
They train in different techniques and get all big so that they can knock the other senseless as fast as possible, hopefully to obtain some cash... but if they don't already have a good record or a huge fan following the cash prize is not really worth the possiblity of rendering your brain useless.
So... I propose the fight of the century.
One that will have an amazing amount of fan support and record sales...
One that will promise one of the opponents becoming even more useless then they began...
One that will involve more than just boxing fans...
One that will not ruin any careers any further...
That's right...
O.J. Simpson vs Michael Jackson
Of course we would have to involve Don King just to make things interesting,
You can just see it now...
Both of them used to be famous and have now nothing to lose... and a bit of cash in their pockets I'm sure wouldn't hurt. They both have people that still believe in them no matter how crazy they are or how horrible the crimes they are being acused of... and I am sure that there are just as many that would just enjoy watching one of them get there face smashed in.
Now in the blue corner we have an ex football great that used to run through 350 pound giants to get to the endzone. He has won tons of trophies over the years and has just recently been awarded a "not guilty" vote back in 1995 from a double murder case... I am sure that is his most prized trophy so far. He must still weigh over 220 pounds but I am not sure that he has the stamina or the shear power that he used to.
In the red corner we have the king of pop himself. Fast as lightning, this guy has the footwork down and will probably run circles (backwards) around any opponent. He is recently in court and has been labelled "wacko" many times.
I have a lot of questions concerning this fight:
- Will MJs face go all to mush, will it wipe off on OJs gloves, or will it hold strong like it is worth millions?
- Can OJ win without using some sort of weapon, and will he just deny that he won in the end anyways?
- Is the moonwalk fast enough to get away from an uppercut?
- Will MJ tag in Tito or Jermaine? Is that allowed?
- Will OJ have enough time to fit in the fight in his busy schedule?
- Can MJ hurt an opponent much bigger than the ones he is used to?
- Will the raiders cheerleaders show there support?
- Is it illegal to wear a sparkly glove underneath a boxing glove?
There are so many more but we just won't know the answers unless this fight goes down. I have watched many a boxing match and I can honestly say that if this was to happen, it wouldn't just be me that would be excited to watch it.
So lets all hope that MJ doesn't go to jail, but is left pennyless, and angry, and at that moment a little birdy should give him the idea to get into boxing... it would be great for the world... for at least a minute or so.
Lets get ready to RUMBLE!!!!
Slater

Vegas the Vacuum

Well we returned unharmed from Sin City.
The place is crazy.
So much to do, but it all costs tons of cashola.
We did however get to see a free show of "Viva Las Vegas" which is a mix of comedy acts, magic and of course a few slutty showgirls (show indeed). You can also just walk around and see all sorts of weird stuff that is going on inside each casino. Like the lions at the MGM Grand, the Elvis impersonator at the Sahara, the band in New York New York, and of course all the zombies that sit all day at a machine pumping in money.
Some of the most noteable craziness was found in the Venetion. It was an overcast day when we stumbled upon this gem. You walk through this place and you find yourself on the sidewalks of Venice. Cobblestone, canal systems with gondolas, and stores that look like individual buildings, but the crazy part is that the ceiling is painted with a perfect blue sky. With the lighting, it really is odd, you are outside but inside. The whole town is designed to keep you trapped inside where you can spend, spend, spend.
Then there is the most horrible Ceasars Palace. Once you are in, there is no way out... seriously. Maybe they have secret walls that dissappear in case of an emergency but it is next to impossible to get out of there normally. This made us all a little crazy and at one point everyone was speedwalking away in directions that were thought to lead us out of there, not really caring if the rest of us were following, just wanting out.
The Stratosphere, the casino/hotel/small CN Tower that we stayed in was a funny place. The tower had a bunch of rides on the top of that we forgot to do, and believed that they were a little crazy to do as well. We did however eat some good food in the restaurant that rotates around the top, which is also pretty sweet view. On the last night we went to this latino cantina for some good times and it ended up being funny as hell. It all started with some improv kareoke (not by us) and eventually led to some dudes grinding for some of the girls in the bar, one of which was Peggy. Then, like that wasn't enough, two of the waitresses take their positions on top of the bar to shake their asses, while pouring drinks... what weird lives these people must have.
As for gambling, Casey came out on top by winning $120 on one dollar slots, Peggy made about $10 on one cent slots, I played some Hold'em and almost lost a bunch of money but crawled back to make $5, and Andrea and Dermot just fed the very hungry machines.
The Marathon was a success and everyone finished. Casey and I had a crazy mission for bananas and met up with them when they were about 3/4 of the way and then again at the end. There was this strong headwind and dust blowing in their eyes, but somehow they kept each other moving. I was so proud of them and can not imagine doing that at all. Afterwards was pretty funny, as they were all walking very slowly and stairs became their worst enemy. Then we all ate a bunch of food and the runners crashed so that they could party it up later in the evening... this is when I played poker.
A few other noteable times were the Belagio with its fancy everything and huge fountains, customs giving problems to the irish and people with things in their shoes, opening beers on room safes, fancy shades, 50's diner singers/waiters, hot tubs with an ocean view, IHOP greatness, the sun, gold medals, lessons of the bar-b-q, efficient monorails, voice changing angry self checkouts, accents, finish lines, cheesy american football movies, big drinks, slots everywhere, trading cards, baggage races, Bill (the apprentice guy), and of course just hanging out drinking in our rooms.
All together a fun and crazy experience.
Slater