Yeah, Right

The man who fired into a group of politicians, killing 8 and wounding many more apparently committed suicide during his interrogation.

Sure.

He managed to get out of his handcuffs, through a throng of officers at the police headquarters and hurl himself out a 4th floor window.

Yeah, right.

Listening to Spam

You've probably received spam.

If you are like me, with an e-mail address that has been around for many years, you might actually receive a large amount.

You've probably even read some of the spam you've received. Until you got wise and set up filters to delete it before it even hits your inbox.

But have you listened to any spam lately? Check out Spamradio.com.

(Thanks to Derek for this one).

Welcome to Spring

Today is the first official day of Spring. However, if you live in Vancouver, you'd think it was a lot closer to the first week of January.

There is a lot of snow on the ground where I live, and in Abbotsford (just east of Vancouver) there is about a foot on the ground. The highway into the city is gridlocked for about 10 miles and the conditions are icy throughout the area.

This is not typical Vancouver weather. Normally it would be raining for the next 6 weeks or so and the temperature slowly rise until sometime in late April or early May the clouds would part and reveal a beautiful, colourful, lush city. Not this year though.

(Ed. note -- clearly I wasn't awake when I wrote this)

Then and Now

If you have ever seen a commercial for National Geographic, you will likely remember this face, the eyes so piercing. That picture was taken in 1985.

Find out what has happened to her since.

(Thanks to Alice, who found it for me.)

More Sandpaper Bird Evidence

As I was walking in my local park, I found more evidence that a Sandpaper Bird is living in the area.

This tree used to be a 180 foot tall cedar, reduced to rubble in just a few days! You can see the tell-tale sawdust around the base of the tree, the hallmark of the Sandpaper Bird.

2 for 1 Movie Night

Last night, I took in two new films: Men With Brooms and Showtime.

Both movies were pretty good and fun to watch, but in very different ways.

MWB was like watching a feature length in-joke, where Canadians get to laugh at themselves. Before seeing the film, I had read a couple of reviews criticizing the movie for having some silly plot points and bad character development. Well, I thought the movie was silly, but in a good way. I liked the strange characters, the crazy situations and exaggerated story lines. I lost myself in this film, which is the point of a good flick, no?

Showtime was more of a Hollywood comedy. It was formula all right, but it was a light piece that had a good beat that I could dance to. I give it a 7.

What made the night even better is that it was 2 for 1 night at the theatre. Now, the management didn't know about this one-night special, but I figure that if they charge $13.50 for me to enter their establishment, I'd damn well better get two shows out of it.

Video Evidence

In a stroke of luck, I managed to get a clip of the Sandpaper Bird on video!

There are two versions:
Sandpaper Bird MPEG (2.2 MB)
Sandpaper Bird WMV (56K stream)

BCIT ~ FSCT 0016 - Crime and Science Seminar

Crime & Science

I just registered in this class. The full description is not listed there, but it's an entire day of Forensic Investigation techniques. Fun!

My Little Friend

As I was walking back to my office after lunch the other day, I was amazed to hear the distinctive sound of the Sandpaper Bird.

I thought they were native to Redwood forest areas, but I guess this little guy got lost.

DallasNews.com | Dallas-Fort Worth | Latest News

Hit and Hide the Body

In one of the strangest cases I have heard of in a long time, a Dallas woman has been accused of hitting a pedestrian, and then driving home with him lodged in the windshield.

That would be bad enough. But it got worse. She parked in her carport and closed the door, leaving the man to die.

Even that would be pretty bad. It still got worse. The victim was alive for as long as three days, unable to help himself and calling out for help from the driver.

Even more tragically, she has admitted to going to the carport and apologizing to the victim on a number of occasions.

Read about it.

Jury Duty? Me?

I just got a Jury Summons in the mail. It's definately a good news/bad news kinda thing. I have always wanted to serve on a jury and observe the legal process from that perspective.

The bad is that it happens to coincide with my trip to Spain, so I have to write a nice letter to the judge as to why I can't make it.

I think any judge interested in blind justice wouldn't want a pissed-off juror who is supposed to be in Spain on the panel anyway.

Failte!

If you have always wanted to learn Scots Gaelic, try out this excellent primer called Beag air Bheag which means 'Little by little'.

Mar sin leat!

Spanish Lessons

My sister is including a few Spanish phrases every time she sends an e-mail, so that I'll be better prepared for when I arrive in Madrid.

The latest one: Donde coño esta mis maletas.

Translation: Where the fuck are my suitcases.

Red Awakening

Outside my apartment, there are 3 firetrucks and a Command Vehicle. I can see them unwrapping their firehoses, preparing for something.

I hope my insurance is up to date.