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Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
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8:20 pm
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So, Health Canada have announced that they're now only going to release swine flu statistics once a week instead of daily. (Now how will I get my daily dose of anxiety?)
For those who are wondering, the incidence of swine flu in Canada is now high enough that we're having deaths daily. The death tally is currently 30. A week ago it was 16.
The death rate appears to be about 0.4% at the moment, which doesn't seem too alarming. However, for every person who dies, there's another 10 who are being kept alive by respirators. The fear is that we're eventually going to run out of respirators, and then the death rate could shoot up.
The good news is that they say a vaccine will be ready by September or October. So hopefully the vaccine will become available before winter hits.
In the meantime, avoid crowds, and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth without first disinfecting your hands with an alcohol-based sanitizer.
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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10:13 pm
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I feel weird because everyone around me seems upset about the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, and I'm... not.
It's not that I don't care about celebrity deaths. It's just that these two celebrities didn't mean much to me personally.
Farrah Fawcett was a little before my time, and for whatever reason, it seems I never discovered her stuff or learnt much about her signficance. She seems like a nice person. I just didn't really know her.
I'm aware of Michael Jackson, of course, and I remember that Thriller was the only album my mother owned on vinyl. But I grew up during the later part of his career. I only cared for a few of his songs ("Smooth Criminal" is the only one I think was brilliant), and that was more than outweighed by what a dick I thought he was. (Apart from his well-publicised weirdness, he also had a penchant for aligning himself with anti-Semetic groups.)
The strange thing is that I really did develop an interest in 80s music later, but Michael Jackson was so over-exposed that I never thought to look into his stuff. Maybe I would have like him more if I had.
I still recognise "Don't stop 'til you get enough" as a disco classic, though.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 4th, 2009
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3:15 pm - The state of Canadian bilingualism.
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Yesterday, I bought a can of wasabi peas. In English, they were labelled as being "Cholesterol free".
In French, they were labelled "Le cholestérol libère".
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, May 24th, 2009
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10:32 pm - Ingenious.
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| Friday, May 8th, 2009
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8:45 am - Deadpool is getting his own X-Men spin-off movie!
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And I haven't seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine yet, so don't tell me how bad Ryan Renold's portrayal of him was.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
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10:59 am
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I've been keeping an eye on the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Canada to try to get a sense of whether this thing is going to grow exponentially or not. It's hard right now because the numbers are so small, and there's great variation in the amount of testing being done.
On Monday, the number of cases was reported as 6. On Tuesday, it was 13. Wednesday was 19. Thursday was 34. Friday was 51.
The next couple of days will be very telling.
Update: And today the count is 80 85. It looks like it's increasing by about 70% per day. That's exponential, folks.
If any one wants me, I'll be stocking up on water and non-perishable food.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
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9:50 pm
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The World Health Organisation has raised the pandemic alert for swine flu to Phase 5. There are only 6 phases. Phase 6 means that it's a pandemic.
I don't want to panic anybody, because this isn't smallpox. It's not airborne, and it's not mysterious, and it's not particularly lethal. It's the flu, and we know a lot about the flu, and we know how to make vaccinations for the flu, and we have drugs that interfere with the spread of the flu.
But still. It never hurts to have basic preparations for an emergency. Everyone should have 72 hours worth of food and clean water, as well as batteries, a battery-powered radio, one month's worth of any medications, and a flashlight (electric torch).
I'm not suggesting that people will die en masse. But it's reasonable to expect that you may be stuck at home due to fuel shortages, or simply because you want to avoid other people. Or maybe the local shops will be closed, making it hard to get food (just like what happened during the big blackout a few years back). And even just a few deaths are enough to cause a panic (and panic itself can be dangerous).
In the event of an emergency, your government will be doing all it can to help you. But governments are big, clumsy, and slow. It will take them a while to get to you. (Remember the U.S. government response to Katrina?) That's why you need 72 hours worth of food and water.
Just get a case of bottled water and box of energy bars and store them in the basement, next to your batteries, flashlight, and radio. They can live there forever, and you'll have peace of mind.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, April 9th, 2009
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12:54 am
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You know what's a fun English suffix? '-ster'.
In old English, it referred to occupations performed by women. A woman who weaved was a webster. A woman who brewed was a brewster. A woman who baked was a baxter (bakster). A woman who sang was a songster. A woman who sewed was a seamster. A woman who spun was a spinster.
Over time, the suffix lost its meaning and the derived terms became gender-neutral. Webster, Brewster, and Baxter became masculine enough to survive as surnames. Songster and Seamster gained the additional feminine suffix '-ess' to become Songstress and Seamstress.
And Spinster, somehow, came to mean an old, unmarried woman. The remarkable thing to me is that it managed to remain gender-specific.
In other news, LJ is dying. Three of my friends just posted about defecting to Twitter.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, March 27th, 2009
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12:17 pm
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I'm sitting in a café in Windsor, Ontario, and they're playing "Labour of Love" by Frente! on the sound system. It's like being back in Melbourne.
I'm curious about how Google Maps determines what the centre of a city is. Like, if you type in a city name with no other information, what intersection does it take you to?
In Toronto, it takes you to Yonge and Bloor. That kinda makes sense to me, because it's where the main subway lines intersect, and when I first came to Toronto, I assumed that would be the centre of town. But now that I've lived here for a while, I think the centre of town is more likely to be in the vicinity of Yonge and Queen. Or maybe Union Station.
In Montréal, it takes you to St-Denis and Autoroute Métropolitaine (where Crémazie Station is). That seems clearly wrong to me. I never went that far north. I would have thought the centre would be St-Denis and Ste-Catherine. Maybe I'd be more familiar with the autoroute if I had a car, though.
In Brisbane, it's Queen St and Anzac Square. I guess that's fitting. I would have expected Queen and Edward, or else King George Square on Ann St.
In Melbourne, it's Bourke and Elizabeth. That seems completely right. It would have to be that, or Flinders Station.
I imagine this post was dull for anyone who doesn't live in one of those cities. Why don't you try it with your own city!
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, March 26th, 2009
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9:09 am
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| Friday, March 6th, 2009
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12:38 pm
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I find it strange when people advocate Communism in a dispassionate, abstract way.
Let's be clear on what Communism is. Communism is not sitting around in a Starbucks and expressing concern for the poor. Communism involves guns. Lots and lots of guns.
And you will certainly not be drinking $5 coffees under Communism. You will be drinking the same government-issued coffee that everyone else is drinking. It will probably be freeze-dried.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, February 27th, 2009
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10:48 am
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You know the clothing store Kingsport?
Is that supposed to be pronounced "King Sport" or "Kings Port"?
Either would make sense.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, February 23rd, 2009
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12:17 pm
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| Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
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8:54 am
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| Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
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11:29 am - Australian English
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In Australia, the word "due" is usually pronounced the same as "jew". "Dual" is pronouced the same as "jewel", and "deuce" is pronounced the same as "juice".
This is why I'm afraid to say the word "duopoly". I'm worried that if I don't say it carefully, people will think I'm being anti-Semitic.
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
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8:52 am
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| Monday, February 2nd, 2009
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9:02 pm
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So I've been reading some very basic Economics books about how government spending is used to ameliorate a recession, because I want to understand what's going on.
According to what I'm reading, these stimulus plans usually only work when the market isn't expecting them. If the market is expecting the stimulus spending, then companies tend to put their prices up in advance (partly in anticipation of the increased demand, and partly to offset the inflation that tends to accompany these stimulus plans). And the higher prices end up reducing consumer demand, which negates the effect of the stimulus plan.
So, everyone has to pretend that we don't know the stimulus package is coming. Try to look surprised.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, January 25th, 2009
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11:10 pm - Sartorial rationalism
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After some hours of cleaning this weekend, I'd now say my place is about 35% clean. We'll see what I can get done after work this week.
So I've now rid myself of all my brown socks. And you know what's next? White socks.
I hate having to do a separate load of laundry for whites. I'm going to get rid of all my whites so I can cut down on the amount of laundry I do.
I used to think that white socks were a necessity for the gym, since most gyms require that you wear white sneakers (i.e. sneakers with non-marking soles), and I used to think you had to wear white socks with white sneakers. But I think I could get away with light grey socks instead. (Wearing black socks with white sneakers is still a definite faux pas, though.)
And I particularly hate white undershirts because they show through your shirt too much. (Well, mine do. Maybe they wouldn't if you have lighter skin than me.)
It's only black and light grey underclothing for me from now on.
Less laundry. It's good for the planet.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, January 23rd, 2009
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10:45 am
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So even though I've been away from Australia for a number of years, I'm usually still unable to "hear" an Australian accent. It just sounds normal to me. Numerous times I've found myself talking to an ex-pat Australian over here without realising it.
(At the place I worked in Montreal, our I.T. support was outsourced to Australia. I didn't realise. After talking to them on the phone for several days about an issue I was having, I asked if I could come talk to them face to face. The guy was like, "Uh... we're in Sydney.")
Well, just about a month ago, I started being able to notice Australian accents. For example, I noticed the head of our department at work sounded a little Australian.
And now I'm noticing Australian accents everywhere! And I just walked past the office of our head of department while he was on the phone, and he sounded really Australian to me!
I'm amazed at how suddenly this has happened.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
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10:07 pm
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I recently ordered two pieces of medical jewellery, one from a Canadian website and one from an American website. I asked for each one to be engraved:
Diabète
Type 1
Diabetes
The one I ordered from a Canadian website arrived yesterday and looks great.
The one I ordered from an American website arrived today. It reads:
Diabetè
Type 1
Diabetes
I was probably asking for a bit much, wasn't I?
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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