Here's a Bombe we can all welcome

• September 11, 2006

Enigma fascinates me. Not just any enigma, although they are pretty interesting too. Enigma was the breadbox sized cipher machine used to encrypt messages (most famously) by Nazi Germany during World War II. I’ve even downloaded and played with a simulator to encode my own messages. It’s very cool, just for it’s own sake. A very brief explanation is that it made code sorta like A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. Except it doesn’t take much of a rocket surgeon to guess what’s going on. Read More

Banks...

• September 10, 2006

I hate banks. I especially hate my old bank I’m transitioning away from. They’re the worst lot of penny-pinching, short-termed thinking, “We’re only following the crowd even though we’ve received bigger profits than ever before thanks to our minisculely small interest rates we pay and the excessive and exorbitant fees we collect. And we’re rated Canada’s most respected corporation. (tee hee!)” No, they’re probably not the worst, I consider them amongst a lot of equally corrupt and evil-at-the-corps corporations. Read More

Wooooo! Labour Day Classic

• September 4, 2006

44 to not enough. The Stamps are on a roll and looking good. Four in a row under their belts as this boy’s mind turns to football.  Photos going up now. Quite the weekend with Highlanders, waterparks, and of course, the aforementioned Labour Day Classic. Go Stamps. The rest of you can go check out the new photos. Read More

My ghod, I love the pipes.

• September 2, 2006

It’s the Labour Day long weekend and everyone in Calgary knows what THAT means. You betcha. The Calgary Highland Games! Oh, and Labour Day Football. But we’ve only made it up to Saturday so far. I’ve never made it to the Highland Games before. (I’m not really sure why I would have, I’m nae Scottish.) I just have an unnatural love of the bagpipes, a fondness for thistles (ha ha), and I dream of eating a freshly prepared haggis. Read More

So how the heck am I and what's going on in my world?

• August 28, 2006

Okay, I was house-sitting for a week. We’re bug-squishing at work and doing assorted release goodies. By the time I got home I mostly made dinner, grabbed a beer, played Runescape two nights in a row (falling asleep at the keyboard once), and tried to figure out the alarm system. Ooh.. I’m a technically smart guy. I work with alarms all the time. I had one at my old job, I have one at my new job. Read More

A shortie, but a goodie.

• August 28, 2006

Zab-man, you are the coolest man alive. Next to Bill, of course. I love Bill. And let’s never forget Brian, who takes me back to a little piece of my youth and hammers it through my tune-hole. And what’s this? Ralph’s revived www.ratsofrass.com. Awesome. Read More

Think you know about software licencing?

• August 28, 2006

I’m putting up a couple quick hits tonight. Professionally, I’m both a DBA as well as a Systems Administrator. Yes, I fix computers. I try to be better than the kid outta high school, but I’ll tell ya, schools today can pump out kids every bit as smart as when I graduated. And I’ve become a crotchety old fart, so you can trust me, right? I do contract out my services. Read More

Pluto, Pluto, whereforth art thou, Pluto?

• August 28, 2006

I’ve been following the procedings of the IAU in Prague with great interest the past few weeks. Furthermore, it has been much more humourous to hear what the Mainstream Media ™ has been reporting to the Less Scientifically Aware ™ general public. It seemed to me to be joyous reporting of adding a 10th - lo and behold - even an 11th and 12th planet, promoting Ceres, Charon and UB313 (Xena). Read More

I'm a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad neighbour.

• August 20, 2006

Dear neighbours,  I have mowed and removed the series of noxious weeds which were growing alongside your fence line this evening.  Please be advised that the weeds in question were primarily Canadian Thistle, however there were also small quantities of Sow Thistle, Chickweed, Stinkweed, and numerous other varieties I did not identify.  The above stated varieties are explicitly listed in Schedule B of the Community Standards Bylaw 5M2004 which may be found on the City of Calgary’s web site under City Hall > Municipal Government > Bylaws > Bylaws of Interest > Weed Control > Weed Regulations and are weeds that must be controlled by law. Read More

Photos in a new Album / Gallery / whatever

• August 15, 2006

It’s past time I throw up some photos. Mostly dinners and a trip to Drumheller to the Royal Tyrrell Museum Updates: I like peaches. Maybe I can make a pie next. I like pie. Read More