If it started in Canada why do they call it the 100 mile challenge? Should it not be the 100km challenge? Or if you want to keep the distance the same, why not call it the 160.93 km challenge?

My wife was flipping the channels the other day and came across the 100 mile challenge on the food network. For those of you who don’t know what this is, participants are challenged to go 100 days eating ONLY food originating from within 100 miles of where they live. This includes everything right down to raw goods such as flour, sugar, and salt. If the food you eat has preservatives, all those preservatives must have come from within that 100 mile radius.

My wife has decided that she wants to try this for the month of July. I am not sure what I will do without bread – no wheat is grown around there parts – or sugar, or salt! Yikes! They say you can extract salt from sea water, but I dunno…

I get the concept from an environmental standpoint – the less distance food has to travel, the less the carbon foot print, it all makes good ecological sense – I just don’t know if I can go without all those great foods I have learned to love. At least it’s only for a month.

I started to also think about this challenge from a different perspective, the financial one. With all this economic turmoil and crashing economy, it kind of makes sense to keep as much as, if not all, food purchases local. Not only does it help the environment, but it helps the local economy, which is always a good thing.

Up here in Canada we are certainly feeling the economic crunch – perhaps not as badly as our neighbors to the south, but its still impacting things around here. I don’t want to further damage the US economy, but it seems to me that if more Canadians started buying 100% local, or at least 100% Canadian, it would help all of us Canadians out in the end.

So start small, try eating locally. I think after July is over, I will go back to my ways and start consuming imported products again, but I do plan on purchasing more stuff locally where I can.

Have you ever given much thought about the safety of sharks? I know the first thing that comes to my mind when someone says “shark” is Jaws and the idea that these creatures are nothing but dangerous predators who wouldnt give a second thought about gobbling me up for dinner (I suspect I would be quite tasty). In reality though, sharks, just like all other creatures, are a vital part of the food chain, and they in great danger due to over-fishing (if you can call it that) by some of our human counter-parts.

The practice of “shark-finning” is one that I was totally unaware of until a good friend introduced me to his personal activism website, AntiSharkFinning.com. Fisherman are catching sharks in great numbers, cutting off their fins for delicacies such as shark fin soup, and throwing the sharks back in the oceans, fin-less, to drown.

Not only is this incredibly in-humane, it has driven the shark population down by an estimated 90%, and this trickles through the food-chain to cause other issues in our oceans.

Please take a moment and visit AntiSharkFinning.com to learn more and find out what you can do to help.

Recently we received a notice in the mail. Switch to Shaw Digital and get a FREE HDPVR. This sounds great! We were already a Shaw customer for Internet and Phone, and thought we might make the switch from Star Choice.

Well, Star Choice is now owned by Shaw, and has changed names to Shaw Direct. As a result Shaw will not extend the offer to us. They say they are only offering it to people switching from other competing companies. I can understand that, but its quite annoying – simply because the direct mail they sent us didn’t say anything about that.

My wife called Star Choice (now Shaw Direct) to try and get the deal from them, saying “Shaw Digital is offering this deal, so if you cant match it, then we will switch to Bell”. After more than an hour on the phone with 6 different employees, the best Shaw Direct could offer was an HD PVR for $499… interesting, considering that they are offering that anyways!!!

We have been using Star Choice for nearly 5 years now, and until this recent event, have had great customer service. It seems that only when they made the switch to Shaw Direct that their service has gone significantly down hill. It is funny really – in this tough economy companies should be doing whatever they can to keep their customers, instead they are letting us walk away. They are willing to watch a loyal customer of 5 years spend their money elsewhere. Does that make any sense? I don’t think so.

If Shaw Digital can afford to give away a FREE HDPVR for a new customer, you would think that Shaw Direct could afford to give away a FREE HDPVR to retain a customer – after all, it’s really the same thing.

So after all these years with StarChoice, we will say goodbye, all because your parent company made us an offer that they are not willing to stand behind.

My wife and I just recently bought a house and lately have been buying and selling quite a bit using Craigslist. I have to say, that I am very surprised at how quickly you can sell stuff there, we have had a great response from our posts, and are selling stuff rather quickly.  Gotta love Craigslist!

One of the categories we check out frequently is the “housewares” category. Recently someone posted an ad essentially complaining about a particular retail store posting listings for new commercial products, and I thought I would use this as some inspiration for something to write about. First, this is the location/category in question: http://comoxvalley.en.craigslist.ca/hsh/

First, My opinion:

I have to agree with a few of the posters that commercial advertisments are a bit anoying here, and they should not be permitted. My reasons for this opinion is simple. I agree with the first poster, and believe that if commercial retailers start using Craigslist excessively, as this one particular business has been doing, then before long all commercial businesses will be doing the same thing, and this will drown out all of those who are trying to sell their used products.

I happened to notice the particular business posting quite a few items, but as I was looking only for used appliances, I simply ignored them.

As of my writing of this post, 4 people in total had responded to this issue. Here are their comments in the order they were posted.

First:

Is anyone else sick of Central Builders in Courtenay SPAMMING Craigslist with their inventory? This should not be permitted, at this rate all commercial retail outlets will eventually be posting here for Free advertising, littering the place with crap.

I went to Central Builders as I was looking for a fridge/stove, and their deals aren’t nearly as good as their Craigslist ad states, and there selection is terrible.

I am boy-cotting them until these posts stop.

Second:

Not sure what the problem was. I recently went to the business in question and found their selection quite good. And the prices that attracted me were quite clearly listed in the ads. Make your own decision.

A VERY satisfied customer.

Third:

I agree that there Craigslist ads are SPAM. This is not a place for commercial retail advertisement. Their selection & price is irrelevant, they should not be spamming here, its not the place. This is a place for individuals to buy and sell their used products, not brand new retail. I chalk their ads in craigslist up there with the mass spam email I get for Nigerian money scams and penis products.

Fourth:

I think you should check some of the other categories, like materials for instance. You will find plenty of commercial resellers there. If you had a bad experience, it probably should not be posted here.

So have your say with this new poll:

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Update:

Here is a Fifth Post:

How can the commercial resellers be listed as spam? It’s not sent to your e-mail and you are not forced to look at it. You sound disgruntled and need an outlet for your words I guess.

“Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising.<continue reading their definition>.”

• New Post: Scott Blogs Weekly Twitter 2009-04-19 http://tinyurl.com/cordqn #
• New Post: Man Tries 72 Times to Impregnate Neighbor’s Wife http://tinyurl.com/dfqdag #
• @LynBlue yes, yes it is - entirely messed up. (if its actually true…) in reply to LynBlue #
• @rajacenna Coldplay is great - did you see their live rendition at the grammys? in reply to rajacenna #

I found out about this on FailBlog of all places.

Here is the situation. Demetrius Soupolos tried to get his wife pregnant but failed, So he hired his married neighbor, Frank Maus, to do the job for $2500. After 72 attempts over 6 months, and still no pregnancy, Soupolos ordered Maus to take a medical exam. Maus agreed, not suspecting any fertility problems as he has two kids.

Maus’ wife objected and demanded that this arrangement stop. Maus insisted that he was only doing it for the money. Maus later got the medical report from the doctor back and found out he was completely sterile. His wife then made the confession that she had cheated on him, and that neither of their two children are even his.

Now Soupolos is suing Maus for breach of contract to get back his $2500.

I have to say, I would LOVE to see that one on the Peoples Court.

Moral of the story, don’t have sex with your neighbors wife for money to get her pregnant unless you are positive that your wife has been faithful to you and that your kids are actually your kids – or maybe just don’t have sex with your neighbors wife.

Note: I highly suspect that this story may in fact be fake, as I was unable to find any legit news source discussing it. I saw it mentioned in a couple forums, as well as failblog. Here is the image from failblog.

Real or not, its still amusing.

• New Post: Scott Blogs Weekly Twitter 2009-04-12 http://tinyurl.com/cojtxh #
• 36% of Americans visit a porn site at least once a month. 0.5% of Americans have a subscription to at least one porn site. That’s craziness! #
• @pleavin That 36% figure is according to the current issue of Discover Magazine. I thought it sounded high… but what do I know in reply to pleavin #

Wow, its been a long time since I posted something here - life sure has a way of keeping a person busy.

A friend recently sent me a link to a great video posted on The Onion - This is definately worth a moment to watch and get your daily laugh on.

Study: Children Exposed To Pornography May Expect Sex To Be Enjoyable

• New Post: Scott Blogs Weekly Twitter 2009-04-05 http://www.scottblogs.com/scott-blogs-weekly-twitter-2009-04-05/ #
• Is it wrong that I am a grown man who likes Britney Spears “womanizer”? I really want to HATE it, but have to admit, its kinda catchy! #
• @andreweldon Crap - hopefully I don’t get judged too harshly (My wife likes it, so I will just pretend to listen to it for her) in reply to andreweldon #
• @grahambunting Ya, I have to agree with you - “if it feels right, do it” in reply to grahambunting #

• New Post: Scott Blogs Weekly Twitter 2009-03-29 http://tinyurl.com/c6bztz #
• Google Selling Organic Search Results! http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2009/04/google-sells-organic-prepares-for.php #
• Snow on Apr Fools, then MORE snow on Apr 2. Give me a break - give me some sun already mother nature! I cant afford to go to Hawaii! #
• posting from a windows vista gadget, lets see how well it works #
• Wife is Raising Money for the MS Walk. Even $5 Helps! Pls donate at: https://msofs.mssociety.ca/2009walk/Sponsor.aspx?PID=1107885&L=2 #
• Wifes Mom died of MS 2 years ago, so this cause is dear to her heart: https://msofs.mssociety.ca/2009walk/Sponsor.aspx?PID=1107885&L=2 #
• New Post: MS Walk - April 5, 2009 http://www.scottblogs.com/ms-walk-april-5-2009/ #
• this twitter for vista gadget thing sucks, it doesnt update the posts entered by those I follow.. #