I am so sick of idiots who have a sense of entitlement.

You have probably heard the story about Eleni Prontzos, the 17 year old who was caught for shoplifting at a Price Smart Foods  recently. She had stolen about $20 worth of makeup.

Rather than press charges, Overwaitea Food Group, owners of Price Smart Foods, demanded $300 in fines for the theft.

Prontzos and her parents are refusing to pay the bill! HELLO, you could have been been prosecuted and have a criminal record,  instead they are fining you? Suck it up and pay the fine. YOU STOLE FROM THEM. You broke the law, pay the fine and be grateful they didn’t call the cops on you!

The media is having a field day, blaming the big box stores for fines that can reach as much as $700. This is generous people!! A criminal record would cost you WAY more in the end!

Peter Prontzos, Elani’s father said that this is just a “money making operation”. Is he serious? These stores lose MILLIONS a year to shoplifters, they are entitled to try and get a SMALL percentage of that back.. What a joke shoplifter dad.

I think that they should revoke the fine, and instead throw the book at this little thief, and give her the maximum penalty permitted by law. Maybe then they will look back and say, maybe we should have paid the fine. Make an example out of her for what can really happen to shoplifters.

There is more on this story over at CBC.ca

While I live in the north, the back of my house has a southern exposure. I would love nothing more than to stick some solar panels on my roof and start making some use of this wasted energy. The problem – its far too expensive. Some rough estimates put the cost at around $30,000 for the installation of solar panels suitable for our needs.

If I look at my current electric bill, we are spending around $1,200 a year on hydro – therefore, even if we were able to get 100% of our electric needs from these solar panels, it would still take 25 years till we would break even. More likely, we would only get half of what we need at most (factoring in cloudy days as well as nights, in which case it may take 50 years till we break even. Yes, a benefit for the environment, but certainly no financial gain.

Wait? How long do solar panels last? Would they even last 50 years? I’m not sure – perhaps financial gain is impossible.

A few years ago I saw something about a company that would come and install solar panels on the rooftops of big business (grocery stores, department stores, etc) at their cost, then sell the power back to the retailer at a rate lower than that of the power company. By doing so, the retailer saved money, the solar company makes money, and the environment can breathe a bit easier. Seems like a win-win-win situation. My question is, where did they go?

After a few Google searches I was unable to find this company – I have to admit I didn’t look very hard, but still. It seems like such a fantastic idea that should have taken off, yet it just disappeared into nowhere.

All we need to do in order to get more people and business on Solar and take a bite out of this whole global warming thing is make it cost effective. Only a select few will go solar strictly for the environmental benefits, but if you throw in actual financial savings (and perhaps even a small profit via net metering) it would be a no brainier!

I think its time for the governments to put more funds into R&D for Solar to help improve the technology and drive down the cost. It seems that the answer to the world wide power crisis is just sitting there staring at us, and nobody is doing anything about it. Come on people…

Research shows that eating specific “anti-angiogenesis” causing foods may not only help prevent and force cancerous tumors etc into remission, but it may also assist those struggling with weight issues.

There are always studies coming out that show that scientists are on the verge of a breakthrough in cancer treatment – seems we have been on this never-ending verge for a long time now.  But perhaps this guy is onto something. I am no doctor, and am hardly qualified to talk about any of this stuff, and as such, I am not certain if this is just a bunch of BS, or if this may just be the cure, but regardless, its an interesting talk. Take from it what you will.

The title of this post really says it all, and I could just leave it at that. Pooping does make you smarter.

What? You want an explanation?

Alright, for those of you who think I am crazy, here is why I believe that.

Most men… scrap that… all men read while they, well, poop. At least I know I do. I live in British Columbia, and the Province sends out a free health guide with answers to common health questions. For some reason our health guide wound up in the bathroom, and, naturally, I decided to read a bit of it every time I – well, you know.

I joked with my wife that I was learning to be a doctor, and during the next several “sessions” I actually found my self learning things about various medical issues that I had not known before. Would I have ever read that medical guide otherwise? Probably not, unless I needed it to look up a specific rash or something.

I am also a big fan of Discover Magazine. The magazine is far more technical than my brain can digest, but I still manage to learn things every time I take the throne – and yes, that’s pretty much the only place I read it. I learn something every time. It’s no wonder many people call it the library.

So you can see, that by my own personal experience, I have proven that pooping does in fact make you smarter! You simply don’t need any more proof than that.

Earlier today a friend of mine sent me a news story, which sparked this entire article. In the story a specific company was mentioned. Normally I would have never heard about them, but I recalled the exact moment I read of their existence. I was reading a magazine, while, you guessed it, doing my business. In that instance I was away on a short holiday and was staying in a hotel, but for some reason, the name of that business, and how I heard of it stuck with me. Apparently there must be a connection between pooping and memory as well.

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Do you ever fly? Has an airline ever lost your luggage? Have they ever damaged your luggage? Have they ever damaged your luggage before your own eyes and refused to take responsibility for it?

Musician Dave Carroll had this happen when United Airlines baggage handlers destroyed his $3500 guitar as he watched from inside the plane!

Here is an excerpt from his website:

“…my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss…”

His website goes into great detail telling the story and unsuccessful ordeal of what he went through trying to get United Airlines to pay up for their mistake. He vowed to the last employee he spoke with that he would write three songs about what happened.

Below is the first song – its kinda catchy. Thanks to Ross Dunn for sending me the video – I suggest everyone share this story, as these big corporations should not be able to get away with behaviour like this.

A Finnish software developer has had a USB flash drive implanted into his prosthetic finger. After losing part of his finger in a motorcycle accident last year, Jerry Jalava’s doctor suggested he have a USB drive built into his replacement digit.

When he needs to use it he simply pops off his finger and sticks it into the computer. I think this is a great idea, and am thinking about getting a couple drives surgically implanted into my nipples. (I was going to say somewhere else, but that’s too crude even for me to write publically – although I guess I just kinda did.)

Today is my daughters 1st birthday – its hard to believe that she has been a part of our lives for a full year now. It is just insane how fast time flies. Can’t imagine life with out her – cant even remember what we used to do to pass the time before she was here.

Here is a video of her from a couple weeks ago. We have a video from her party on Sunday, but its still stuck in the camera.

So if you have ever needed a full explanation of the whole base metaphor, here it is.

I came across a comic posted at xkcd that answered all the questions you ever had on dating and bases. If my posted image is too small below, just click on it to see the full size strip on the official website.

(Also, if you saw that binary at the bottom right and wondered what it said, you are not along. I was curious if it was random, or if it actually said something, so I found a binary to text translator online (here) and found that all that binary code translates to say “base 2″. Not as fun as I was hoping.

Okay, so until today I liked my job. Now I don’t. Why don’t I like my job anymore? Well, I discovered I can make way more money at a far better job… well, I would need some practice. I am also willing to bet that all red blooded (straight) men out there would also LOVE this other job.

So men, what do you say? Interested? What if I said you could make $2000 a day painting art onto nude, and gorgeous, carnival models? Oh ya, I thought that would get your attention.

Artist Betto Almeida does just this, painting naked women… literally (as it putting the paint onto the naked women, not painting a picture of a naked woman). He does this all day long and earns $2000 to do it – heck, I’d do it for free – if my wife wouldnt mind…