Movie Recommendation: American Gangster

This past evening I saw American Gangster with my good friend, John, husband of my friend & colleague, Fiona. John & I typically go to films that Fiona has no interest in seeing. She missed a good one this time! The film stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and was directed by Ridley Scott. I've never yet been disappointed with a movie involving any of these fellows.

It focused on the life of drug lord Frank Lucas, who became extremely wealthy selling pure heroin known as "Blue Magic" throughout the Harlem area of New York City in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The film is long, which I love as long as the story is good. This story was great. It interwove several themes together, including: the illicit drug trade, a highly corrupt NYPD, the Vietnam War, and the emergence of Black power.

Thankfully, it also showed the dark side of the glamour of people like Lucas; wasted lives, miserable deaths, and pain, pain, pain. No thinking person could escape the fact that there are strong parallels with what's going on in Vancouver these days. Highly recommended!

Failed Bread Recovery

I'm a big believer in not wasting food. So here's my first attempt to make something [sort of] edible out of my recent bread disaster:

Was it the most delicious dessert I've ever had? Nope. Did I get sick from it? Nope.

Kindle Revisited

My less than positive views about Kindle's chance of success have been somewhat tempered after reading Guy Kawasaki's blog. What's interesting is that the $400 price tag gives you free lifetime connectivity via a cel-based EVDO network. This isn't direct access to the Internet but instead to a private network controlled by Amazon. However, within their domain you get unlimited free access to Wikipedia and perhaps some blogs and other material too. On top of that you can purchase books, newspapers, etc. Apparently you can also send Amazon your Word and Excel files and "for a small charge" get them converted for viewing on the device; I think the hassle & cost of doing this will make it a non-starter.

You can watch a promo video about Kindle and a tutorial video as well.

It'll be interesting to see in the coming months if some hackers find a way to modify the inner workings of the device to do something totally unexpected by Amazon!

Kindle: A New Generation of E-Books

Amazon.com is trying to do with books what Apple has done with music. They're introducing a new electronic book reader called "Kindle".

At US$399 for the reader and $9.99 for new release books, the price seems a bit pricey to me. I'm sure they've done tons of research but I wonder if it'll sell? Something tells me not.

Letter to Vaughn Palmer

I just read Vaughn Palmer's column about the NDP new affirmative action policy. I couldn't resist sending him a little note about this man shown on the right, BC Federation of Labour president, Jim Sinclair:

Vaughn,

I just read your article about the NDP's new affirmative action plan. I couldn't help but notice that Jim Sinclair was a strong promoter of it.

I firmly believe (as firmly as I can press my tongue against the inside of my cheek) that you should suggest to Mr. Sinclair, that as an older white male, he has 2 choices by year's end:

1. Resign from his current position because it is just patently unfair that someone with his genetic credentials is there.
2. Or get a sex-change operation, thus making him satisfactory to keep it.

On a more serious note, I've ALWAYS been against affirmative action programs. And it's not because I'm a white male, but rather that I'm against the folly of perpetuating the myth that everyone in our society is a victim ... except for white males that is. What a complete insult to the successful women, non-white, and gay people I know.

Don't Believe The Official Line on Reducing the Population

Earlier this year I read Mark Steyn's book, "America Alone". It was absolutely phenomenal and opened my eyes to a lot of things including the huge demographic changes that will become more & more obvious with each passing year.

In this recent posting, Steyn talks about this problem in Japan and in Europe and refers to this BBC article. Japan provides the most crystal clear example of the disaster ahead. The replacement birth rate for any society is 2.1. This means that in order for a population to sustain its numbers, each couple needs to have 2 children, plus there have to be a few more born to account for:

• Homosexual couples who don't produce any children.
• Children who die from disease.
• Children who die from accidents and other untimely deaths.
• Children who move away to other countries.
  

But in 2005, Japan had a birth rate of just 1.26. This is nowhere near enough to sustain their population.

A cynic might say, "Who cares, they have too many people there right now anyhow!" Fair enough, but if a population drops too quickly then obvious problems arise:

• Economic depression.
• Lack of funds to sustain the existing social programs.
• Lack of people to take care of the elderly.

Canada is not in as bad shape as Japan but we have big problems over the horizon too. We've tried to compensate for our declining birthrate by importing people from other countries. That has worked so far - sort of - but the young skilled professionals we'd ideally like are becoming fewer in number.

The next time you hear someone condemn you for the children you've had or are planning to have, remember Japan.

How NOT to Make a Loaf of Bread!

A few years ago my Uncle Hector gave me his bread maker, along with this warning, "The only thing it's good for is making door stops. I hope it works better for you!"

And it has. I've made some terrific loaves of white bread, multigrain bread, and many other combinations. It's also proved highly effective at making pizza dough.

But I've always been VERY careful at using the precise ingredients called for by the recipe. Until now:

I tried making a loaf of white bread but decided to substitute the little bit of milk called for with Egg Nog. The result is what you see - a complete mess of what looks like crumble cake, combined with several 1 cm balls!

In retrospect, since the Egg Nog in question probably contained little to no actual milk, I highly suspect that it was the culprit. Oh well, I'll smash it up some, add some chopped apples, walnuts, and maple syrup, and have a dessert fit for a king ... well, maybe fit for a junior guard at the castle!

Shiny Vancouver

I was out & about today on what turned out to be a very sunny one! Here are some of the photos I captured:

Daily Life in Bangkok?

This is one of the most unusual things I've ever seen:

Embrace the Rain? Not Today!

It was absolutely miserable in Vancouver today, but I was fortunate enough to attend a lovely birthday party of the 1 year-old daughter of some friends of mine. In their home it was bright and vibrant and colourful.

Some Jokes For The Ladies

One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his Sweat-shirt Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, "What setting do I use on the washing machine?"

"It depends," I replied. "What does it say on your shirt?"

He yelled back, " University of Oklahoma ."

And they say blondes are dumb...

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A couple is lying in bed. The man says, "I am going to make you the happiest woman in the world."

The woman replies, "I'll miss you..."

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"It's just too hot to wear clothes today," Jack says as he stepped out of the shower, "honey, what do you think the neighbors would think if I mowed the lawn like this?"

"Probably that I married you for your money," she replied.

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Q: What do you call an intelligent, good looking, sensitive man?
A: A rumor

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Dear Lord,
I pray for Wisdom to understand my man; Love to forgive him; And Patience for his moods. Because, Lord, if I pray for Strength, I'll beat him to death.
AMEN

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Q: Why do little boys whine?
A: They are practicing to be men.

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Q: What does it mean when a man is in your bed gasping for breath and calling your name?
A: You did not hold the pillow down long enough.

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Q: How do you keep your husband from reading your e-mail?
A: Rename the mail folder "Instruction Manual."

The Annual St. Paul's Hospital Lights of Hope

On November 17, 2002, my best friend's mother passed away after a long battle with cancer. Part of her treatment against this horrific disease took place at St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver. Ever since then, the family has donated money to the hospital's foundation.

This year I got to join them for the special evening when the Lights of Hope on Burrard Street are lit up. Here are some photos and videos of this event:






I actually don't know who these people are! Their camera wasn't working properly so they asked me to take a few photos of their family and then will supposedly e-mail me for them. One important thing though: The young ladies (sisters?) are two of the tallest women I've ever met!!

Small Dog Fetches Big Stick

I shot this video the other day but had some technical problems converting it into a format that I could upload. But here it is now:

CKNW Orphans Fund Pledge Day

Friday, December 7th is the Annual Pledge Day for the Orphans Fund. Held at the Hotel Vancouver, it's a wonderful day of good will, singing, and generally a profound start to the Christmas Season. I've signed up to work the phones beginning at 5:30am. They need more people for this early shift so if you'd like to join in then please drop me a line (or comment) and I'll get you in touch with the right people.

The Rain of Vancouver

Vancouver is like a beautiful woman
decorated in all her majesty.
When the sun is shining, the city shows
off its gloriously seductive smile.

But when it's rainin' it's like watching the tears
stream down that beautiful woman's face.
You want to reach out, wrap your arms
around her and assure her that all is okay.

While the tears may go away for awhile,
they're certain to come back before too long.
This, my friends, is the dilemma faced by
all of us who love being close to things of beauty.

In the case of Vancouver, there's not much one
can do except embrace the rain.
As for the woman, we can only stand back and hope
that she finds the inner happiness on her own.

I Don't Speak English, Please Don't Kill Me!

That subject title may be a necessary T-shirt slogan for all foreigners arriving at Vancouver's International Airport to wear.

I've long been a supporter of the police in our society. While I've never been naive enough to think that any officer is perfect, I've always believed that each of them tries their best each & every day. My faith in this has been badly shaken after watching this video of Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, being killed (2nd Degree Murder?) via a taser, used by 4 RCMP officers at YVR:

The video speaks for itself. No negotiations were attempted. How difficult would it have been to hand the man a phone to a translation service? In fact, it's clearly heard on the video that the decision to use a taser was decided upon before the police even reached the man. They surrounded him the way a bunch of young thugs would do to a helpless animal in a pen. And then they killed him. After they realized he had stopped breathing, they did absolutely nothing to revive him. Aren't all police officers trained in basic CPR?

Equally appalling was what happened after the fact. The RCMP lied about what really went on there. Then they told the videographer that he wouldn't be getting his footage back for 1 or 2 years. He had to threaten to sue them in order to recover it. After that, the damage control spinsters of the RCMP reminded us that what we saw "was only from one man's perspective". Is their opinion of the public's intelligence really that low?

I lived in Mexico City for a year. From that experience I know first-hand what corrupt police are like and the effects that such corruption have had throughout the entire fabric of Mexican society.

It is thus absolutely imperative to Canadian society that these 4 officers be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Failure to do so will forever destroy the faith that the Canadian public has in our police forces. Police are not given a badge and various weapons with blanket permission to do whatever they want, in a very similar way that BC Ferries workers are not given control of a ship to do with it whatever they want.

This is a pivotal litmus test in the history of our country as to whether people in power will be held accountable for the responsibility they hold. Sadly, I strongly suspect that nothing of consequence will happen and our society will slip deeper into the abyss of incompetence and lack of accountability that we've been heading toward for decades.

Update: An abridged version of this was kindly read by Jon McComb on his show (56:35).

Vancouver Can Learn From Downtown L.A.

When coincidences occur, I pay special attention to them. One happened this morning that I could just not ignore. First, I heard this segment (8:10) on Bill Good's show on CKNW. It featured a discussion of a new film, Tears For April, produced by Odd Squad Productions centering around the tragic misery of the drug infested Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Then I learned about this article via a comment on David Berner's blog. It's about the similarly tragic situation that has been downtown Los Angeles for many decades. Finally some good things are happening to help the drug addicts lead better lives. And the source? No other than the frequently maligned L.A.P.D. Yet, fighting them every step of the way are the usual suspects:

• Homeless advocates
• The A.C.L.U.
• Liberal leaning judges & lawyers
• The Hollywood glitterati

The article is long. It'll take you about 30 minutes to get through it. But it's a worthy read. The similarities between L.A. and Vancouver are incredible. Though the actors are different, the screenplays seem nearly identical. Most importantly, the path forward for Vancouver seems abundantly clear. In order to happen, those in power need to agree to and stick to a logical vision and ignore all the misery advocates who will only detract any progress.

The Vancouver Sun or The Province should definitely print this L.A. article in full!

Bus Stories

Yesterday I took the bus downtown. Just as the bus driver was about to close the doors, a 30-something fellow jumped on and said, "Can I get a ride across the bridge this one time only?" The bus driver (and everyone else within earshot) knew it was complete B.S. but let him on anyhow.

The fellow sat down and then promptly pulled out a cel phone and started text messaging. So he has enough money to own and use a cel phone but has no problem ripping off the public.

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My mom told me about taking the B-Line (a long accordion bus) from downtown. When it reached the middle of the Granville Bridge it deliberately stopped. A fare inspector walked through the bus, fining anyone who was cheating on their fare. He told my mom that there were 40 such people on that bus. That would be a minimum of 25% of the people.

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Is it any wonder why Translink is consistently short of revenues. Has Vancouver become a community of cheats?

Ever wonder how much money is spent holding each meeting?

I'll never forget the time I was a consultant, helping to reorganize the graphical document management system of a large company. We held a meeting to finalize a number of issues. One topic that came up was what colour a line representing a certain kind of object should be. The choice was between Red and Green. There were about 10 highly paid individuals there, all employees at this company. What I thought might take 60 seconds to decide ended up going back and forth for at least 30 minutes. It was simply ridiculous and I later started calculating how much money was being spent in salaries to make that one decision.

One of my new favourite blogs to read is the "Bits" section of the NY Times. It could aptly be described as "Technology meets Culture". An hilarious story today was about a little piece of software called "Meeting Miser" that allows one to calculate how much money is wasted ... errr "spent" at each meeting.

Internet Browser Trick

With the Mozilla Firefox browser, you can put folders on your Bookmarks toolbar. Each folder can contain any number of bookmarks. When you click on a folder it opens up much like a traditional pulldown menu. At the bottom of each list of bookmarks is an item called "Open All in Tabs". With just 2 clicks you can then open a bunch of websites at once. This is a very handy feature that I use every morning for viewing the 9 blogs that I currently browse.

Vancouver in November

I've taken several miscellaneous photos in the past few days and am posting the best of them here:

John Les: Top Cop-Out

Vaughn Palmer has just written a subtle, but telling article about another Peter Principle candidate, BC's Solicitor General, John Les. I heard him on the radio today and it was nothing short of embarrassing.

One thing is crystal clear: We have Major League Organized Crime vs. Disorganized Double-A Politicians. It's no surprise who's winning, no surprise at all. :-(

The Wild, Wild West! (Revision)

An anonymous commenter informed me that the quote from Sam Sullivan, which I heard on CKNW, was never actually said. So I contacted The World Today program on CKNW and received a call back. The commenter was correct. But here is the precise quote from our mayor: "We're not as bad as other American cities."

So in the interest of accuracy, I have amended and resubmitted my letter to the Vancouver Sun:

Over the past 3 weeks there have been 10 very public gang related murders in Metro Vancouver. At least 2 of the victims were innocent members of the public, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. After the shocking execution of two people in a car in Marpole we received this gem from Mayor Sam Sullivan: "We're not as bad as other American cities." Wow, I'm sure that'll bring great comfort to school kids and senior citizens standing at a bus stop, the next time bullets are whizzing past them.

Since our mayor is making geographic comparisons, let me do the same. Imagine the Canucks losing 10 straight games and coach Alain Vigneault being asked how he felt. Do you think if he responded with, "Well, at least we're not as bad as the Blackhawks or Red Wings", that he'd be employed much longer?

I voted for the NPA in the last election and the one before that. And goodness know that I would be hard pressed to ever vote for Vision or COPE, but abstinence may be the theme of the day for many voters if Sam Sullivan is once again on the NPA ticket. Every week, our very own Mr. Dithers is providing textbook proof that the Peter Principle is alive and well.

The Wild, Wild West!

Here's the letter I just submitted to the Vancouver Sun:

Over the past 3 weeks there have been 10 very public gang related murders in Metro Vancouver. At least 2 of the victims were innocent members of the public simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. After the shocking execution of two people in a car in Marpole we received this gem from Mayor Sam Sullivan: "Well, the crime rate in Vancouver is still not as bad as in Chicago." Wow, I'm sure that'll bring great comfort to school kids and senior citizens standing at a bus stop, the next time bullets are whizzing past them.

Since our mayor is making geographic comparisons, let me do the same. Imagine the Canucks losing 10 straight games and coach Alain Vigneault being asked how he felt. Do you think if he responded with, "Well, at least we're not as bad as the Blackhawks", that he'd be employed much longer?

I voted for the NPA in the last election and the one before that. And goodness know that I would be hard pressed to ever vote for Vision or COPE, but abstinence may be the theme of the day for many voters if Sam Sullivan is once again on the NPA ticket. Every week, our very own Mr. Dithers is providing textbook proof that the Peter Principle is alive and well.

David Berner speaks out about Vancouver's Misguided Drug Policy

"The sound quality is poor but the message is crystal clear: David Berner, a well known broadcaster, writer, and actor in Canada's West Coast city of Vancouver, speaks out about the city's misguided policy on drug use and drug users. Having started SUCCESSFUL drug treatment facilities himself, he knows of what he speaks and everyone, within and without of Vancouver should be listening."

I filmed this with my little digital camera at the October 31st meeting of the Chinatown Rotary Club. It took a while to clean up the sound quality to what is now legible. I filmed as much as I could until the memory card was full.

If you have your own blog, please strongly consider posting this video as well. We need to get the message out that the current drug policy in Vancouver is NOT working. You can obtain the HTML code here. And contact David through his blog if you would like to get him speaking at one of your events on the same subject.

Crime Rampage

Last night, 2 young drug dealers were shot to death in their silver Mercedes at 70th & Granville. A few days ago a high-end mobster was shot to death in front of his home in the prestigious Shaughnessy neighbourhood. This makes 10 people murdered in some sort of ongoing war in the past 2.5 weeks.

On today's 3pm CKNW news broadcast, Mayor Sam Sullivan was quoted as saying, "At least Vancouver doesn't have crime as bad as Detroit."

Oh my, isn't that wonderful. This will make me feel sooooooo much safer when I go out for a walk and bullets are whizzing by! Now that Paul Martin has retired, the "Mr. Dithers" moniker is free and Sam Sullivan seems like a prime candidate for it!

Late Update: Sullivan's office called into CKNW to correct the quote. He didn't say Detroit, he said Chicago. Whoooh, that makes it so much better. Not!

Decadence, Simply

I was hankering for a midday snack so I made some homemade bread in my bread maker. The minute it came out I cut off some slices and applied some delicious peach freezer jam ably made by mon mama. Unfortunately the photos can not communicate the wonderful smells wafting through my home, nor the delicious taste and texture. Yum!

Vancouver on the Rick Mercer Show

BC Digital Divide on Shaw TV

BCDD and 3 other other organizations were recently featured on Vancouver's Shaw TV:

Who Is Steve Winwood?

That RIDICULOUS question was asked of me today by someone who will remain anonymous! Steve Winwood is my favourite musician of all time and an absolute genius IMHO. Here are some videos that Fiona (ooops, I was going to keep her name anonymous) might recognize:




Quick notes:

• The second song is my #1 favourite song. The first time I heard it was the very first time I drove on my own. My Dad helped me buy a 67 Buick (in 1980) and had a cheap Korean stereo installed in it. I heard "While You See A Chance" and absolutely loved it. I also heard "Morning Train" by Sheena Easton but it never stuck.
• The third song, Gimme Some Lovin', Winwood wrote and released in 1966, when he was just 18 years old.
  

Pierogi Night in Vancouver!

On the first Friday of every month the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, at 154 East 10th Avenue, offers up a fabulous pierogi and cabbage roll dinner. For between $10 - $13 you get a LARGE plate of food that will fill even the hungriest of appetites. All proceeds go toward the church.


The food was absolutely delicious. My only complaint, but it is a big one, is this: The volunteers at the church know a lot about cooking but not a thing about process! Once in the door, there's still about a 45 minute wait. Why? Because they had everyone going through one food line and the woman dispensing the pierogies was doing so one at a time with a fork. Her actions delayed every single person in the line and are cumulative. They also required her to get more trays from the kitchen when she ran out. At the same time the priest and other volunteers were just standing around doing nothing. This resulted in an enormous number of tables sitting empty for the first hour. Ridiculous! Let me be clear: I didn't mind waiting but the whole purpose of the evening was to raise money for the church. We saw many people leave, not willing to wait so long.

I'm very tempted to contact the church and say the following: "I make very good money showing companies how to improve their processes. Without one bit of technology, I could show you how to rearrange your food distribution process and you would instantly increase your revenue, likely dramatically. I would be happy to volunteer once a month for a minimum of 6 months to help you in this regard. Are you interested?"

I have little doubt that they would never get back to me. The problem with most organizations, especially public sector and volunteer ones, is that they have no interest in improving the way they do things. The result is sub-standard performance and in the case of this church, greatly diminished revenues.



Final note: Steve later posed the question: How many people there would even be thinking of ways to improve things? One of the perils of having an engineer's brain, I guess!

View from Inside An Internal Combustion Engine

Ever wonder what actually occurs inside your car's engine? Watch this:

A Great Day For a Walk!

Vancouver was surprisingly spectacular today, very rare for this time of the year. I seized the moment and met up with two friends downtown, Steve and Steve. The first I went to high-school with.

The second was visiting from Sudbury, Ontario. He still works for the huge mining company I was employed by between 1989 to 1994. In fact, we both started on the same day: September 5th, 1989! We talked about a lot of things including the fact that his company, Inco, can't find nearly enough workers. They need to hire at least 500 next year but just can't find qualified people. And this despite two interesting facts:

• The underground miners there are now making around $45 per hour just to come to work and then a HUGE bonus on top of that. Apparently Hummers are the vehicle of choice for many of these guys nowadays, as they're just rolling in the dough.
• The car industry in Southern Ontario is laying off tens of thousands of workers every year yet most of these people don't want to venture elsewhere. Crazy!

I mentioned to Steve an observation I made a while ago: Isn't it strange that Canada, a so-called "First World" advanced nation is now making most of its money from the primary industries of oil, natural gas, and mineral extraction, yet so-called "Third World" nations like India and China are making their money from secondary and tertiary type industries? I think this is a very weird paradox!

Throughout the day, I took several photos, which you can view here. But I'm posting some of my favourites as well.

Hilarious & Sad Commentary on the Canadian Film Industry

This morning, David Berner, posted a great rant about a bunch of Canadian arts groups who are appealing to the Canadian government to control the Internet. Yes, you read that right. They want our federal government to control what we see on the Internet.

I posted a little comment about this but the fellow before me, "Steve", posted something absolutely brilliant:

Okay, being a filmmaker, this is my OTHER pet peeve (the first being Vancouver's drug policy).

This is best explained by example:

The US method:
Sam Raimi (director of Spiderman), his brother Ted, and friend Bruce Campbell wanted to get into the movie business. So, they made a bunch of 8mm films to learn how and see what audiences liked, then went around to a bunch of doctors and dentists and friends and family, and collected enough to make Evil Dead, which they sold for a profit and started all their careers.

The US Method Version Two:
Ed Sanchez and Dan Myrick wanted to get into the film industry. So they started creating a buzz about their story online. Then, using borrowed equipment, and cheap hi8 tape, they shot Blair Witch Project, which they sold for a profit and started both their careers.

The Canadian method:
Go to Telefilm, Ontario Film, BC Film, the Canada Council, and the CRTC and apply for a Cancon status/a grant/forgiveable loan/interim financing. If the jury deems your project worthy of Canadian Content status, they give you more forms to fill out, and if they think it is culturally Canadian (whatever the hell that means), they might give you some money. Then you can make your film, with creative approval from the funding bodies at every stage, and try to get it on some Canadian broadcaster late at night. Because the kinds of films these juries approve are abysmally unpopular.

Because you've got a bunch of socially disconnected leftist failed artist wannabes who've managed to wangle jury positions, with no oversight or criteria for success, deciding what the public ought to see.

But that's fine. It's their money. They can be as stupid as they want to be about who they give it to.

The real bee in my bonnet is that Canadian filmmakers (with only a couple of exceptions) all buy into this crapola. And make films no one wants to see. And then whine about there being no access to Canadian screens.

And then they apply to the government to create some protectionist legislation to save them.

Inspirational Lecture by Professor Randy Pausch

Material Wealth vs. Real Happiness

A woman I know named Kelly took a break from her hectic professional career to spend some time down in rural Costa Rica. She had some very interesting things to say about it:

Lebanese Dancer

Absolutely no redeeming intellectual value here ... but who cares!