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Category: Current Events

A Nice plate of Fish and Chips

Published by NiteMayr on June 20, 2008

A Nice plate of Fish and Chips, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.

Yes! A great lunch that wasn’t from “King’s”

Went to “Walker’s Fish and Chips” for lunch, had the Halibut and Chips.

The Fish was great, tasty and flavorful. The batter wasn’t all the taste, the fish was meaty and strong, a pleasure to eat. The Chips were also great, obviously real cut potato, soaked overnight to make sure that they are not too starchy. Great!

I didn’t care for the coleslaw, but I’m not a fan of the slaw anyway.

PLUS Beer on tap (not GOOD beer, but on TAP) and other beer selections on hand.

I can’t recommend Walker’s more.

Roasted

Published by NiteMayr on June 20, 2008

Close Meat-ing, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.

This is not my roast, Jen made this fine repast. I don’t make my roast the same way she does, she’s a bit heavy on onions and lets the meat dry out a bit sometimes.

When I make a roast it’s a simple affair:

Defrost roast
Place roast in roasting vessel with a mixture of several cups of water, a few tablespoons of garlic powder, generous helpings of white and black pepper and a helping of generic steak spice.

Ensure that you drench the meat in said mixture and that said mixture is mixed into water. Turn meat “Fattiest side up” and generously coat with black and white pepper on fat.

If you are feeling adventurous, add instant coffee to the water, enough for two cups of coffee to your taste.

Start to heat the meat (covered) at 300 degrees in the center of your oven.

After about 2 hours remove from heat, increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. Replace any lost water and add 1/2 cup of vinegar.

Return vessel to oven and let cook, check meat after about 1 hour and ensure that it has not dried, add water as needed.

At the 3 and a half hour mark (since you started) add potatoes and vegetables. Cover with water and let cook. [Again, if you are into trying new things, add hot peppers and spiced vinegar]

Allow the water to boil down (until the vegetables are mostly uncovered) in vessel, meat should pull apart easily with fork.

When the meat is ready and potatoes are soft enough, pull from oven and serve.

The meat should be tender and moist, you may turn the leavings in the vessel into soup or gravy.

Investigate 911!!! Yah Boo!

Published by NiteMayr on June 19, 2008

Investigte 911!!! Yah Boo!, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.

Of all the pointless crap, this is Canada you shower of assholes. No one in Canada needs to investigate anything in New York. Okay? The guys in the USA aren’t going to start doing what you want when you deface buildings in downtown London, Ontario, Canada!

(Yes I know that I’m giving publicity to it, but bear with me)

Why won't Jim Prentice let the Market solve his problems?

Published by NiteMayr on June 19, 2008

You have to listen to this — in it, the Minister lies, dodges, weaves and ducks around plain, simple questions like, “If the guy at my corner shop unlocks my phone, is he breaking the law?” and “If my grandfather breaks the DRM on his jazz CDs to put them on his iPod, does that break the law?” and the biggie, “All the ‘freedoms’ your law guarantees us can be overriden by DRM, right?” (Prentice’s answer to this last one, “The market will take care of it,” is absolutely priceless.)

—Boing Boing‘s Cory Doctorow

“We have a well advanced Internet system in this country. It is not publicly regulated,” he said.

–Jim Prentice on isp throttling

“The issue is declining consumption in the U.S.,” he said, adding that “90 percent” of cars built in Canada are sold in the U.S. Prentice told reporters in Ottawa later that he plans to make sure the company honors its “obligations” to the government of Canada, without elaborating.

–Jim Prentice on GM Closures

Prentice maintains that the bill is a “unique made-in-Canada approach to copyright reform” and said it balances the rights of creators and consumers.
Industry groups have welcomed the proposed legislation.

–Jim Prentice’s frequent quote about Bill c-61

So, Jim prentice would have you believe that the Markets will resolve an issue if the problem hurts the actual voters and consumers (ie DRM or ISP throttling) but is more than willing to legislate solutions on behalf of producers and distributors?  We know who is buttering his toast each morning, don’t we?

Mr. Angus, won’t you please use Mr. Prentice’s own words against him in the Parliment, why won’t Jim Prentice let the market sort out the copyright debate?

I think that would make a great meme “Why won’t Jim Prentice let the Market solve the Copyright problem”?

Environmentalists and Capitalists are Crazy

Published by NiteMayr on June 19, 2008

“There won’t be a ban,” Coun. Judy Bryant, the planning committee chair, said in response to leaflets urging Tim Hortons customers to fight against “banning drive-throughs in London.”

“It seems misleading to me. There is nothing in the recommendation that would indicate the city is planning on banning drive-throughs.”

But the group representing several fast-food restaurants dismissed that criticism, and attacked members of the committee who walked away from a unexpectedly large crowd of 200 that breached the council chamber’s fire code.

The London Free Press

…It is easy for these large chain restaurants to raise issues against the ban, but when it comes right down to it, it does affect the health of everyone! Just take the time out to watch, on a cool day, the vehicles idling 24/7, for the sake of a coffee/doughnut or some fast food!
POSTED BY: Dorothy Bere

It makes me wonder if perhaps a total ban on cars might be the goal here “we got by fine on horses and carts, why not go back to that?“

The best Letter on the Matter, almost the best Satire on the debate:

How about the traffic lights???? I frequent London DT’s on regular basis, and my experience is that daily I sit at traffic lights a lot longer than to get my coffee. The City, as a suggesion should put some effort at getting the ridiculously long lights such as, Highbury rd. to turn left on to Wilton Grove, that takes several minutes during the day and at least 10 min in the middle of the night; not only a waste of time but also a safety issue at night; also after the Malls in the city close, there is no traffic right, why do we still have to stop at red lights?…. City Hall Staff why don’t you take care of items that will improve traffic in London, instead of trying to make it worse…. Thanks for this oportunity.
POSTED BY: Patricia Ferreira

It always seems that whenever something is convenient, someone exploits it and someone wants it gone in the name of health or the environment (or terrorism or to fight pedophiles or the myriad other reasons).  The busybody nannies show up along with the “fuck the earth let’s make money” types in tow.  I think they all arrive in the same indignant-bus.  Each side takes up arms and marks their line in the sand and starts the mantra “The other side hates money/the earth/health” and they go at it.  Each side takes no real losses but hope to make gains in the future.  When the smoking ban came down I heard gloom and doom from the Bar Owners, but the bars seem to be just as full as they always were.  It seems that you don’t need a smoke to have a beer after all.  The smokers still smoke and recruit new smokers; so the people who needed to be “saved” are still at risk, but at least non-smokers don’t have to sit in the smoke anymore, right?

(BTW Hippies who smoke, suck.)

The same goes for bans on new Drive-Throughs.  The developers will eventually see that they can make more money from renting out huge lots of land as Parking (because the coffee addicts HAVE to get coffee in the AM) and they can snare more people into eating at their place because the customers have to see and smell the stuff when they walk in.  It’s a win for the nannies, because they get to say they put a stop to people idling in the drive through, forgetting that the worst of us will leave their car idling in the parking lot anyway.

In the end, both sides get their win and move on to some other cause.

I wish the abortion protesters would go away though.

Fries and a Reuben – Going Negative

Published by NiteMayr on June 18, 2008

Fries and a Reuben, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.

When a political campaign takes to crapping all over the opposing camp, it’s termed “Going Negative” and when it is egregious and possibly slanderous, it’s “Ratfucking”

I’m not about to ratfuck the “Family Restaurant” on Wellington in London, but that is only because I might be forced to eat there again as part of the rodent coitus.

Let me start with the price, 8 bucks for frozen fries and a sandwich. Are you kidding me!?!?

The sandwich might cost about 3 bucks in materials if the meat and cheese are fancy. However, the cheese was “cheese food” – style swiss and the bread was barely rye. The meat was untenable and together with the lack of thousand island dressing made the whole sandwich part of the meal lackluster at best. I also burned my mouth due to the MOLTEN LAVA heat of the meat.

By the time I got to the frozen food product fries I wasn’t really able to enjoy them, due to my injured mouth and ended up just giving up on eating them. Which, if you know me is almost impossible for me to do.

For 8 bucks I expect to enjoy my food.

For 5 I can get a nice salad and the best Chicken Salad sandwich on earth at the King’s Cafe downtown london (near Galleria, next to the Brass Door). I recommend you avoid the “Family Restaurant” on Wellington, south of Grey Street North of Grand Avenue.

And that is Going Negative.

No Gene, F**K You

Published by NiteMayr on June 18, 2008

There is no record industry around so we’re going to wait until everybody settles down and becomes civilised. As soon as the record industry pops its head up we’ll record new material.”

–Gene Simmons

http://www.aol.com.au/celebrity/story/radiohead-blasted-by-veteran-rockers-kiss-for-giving-their-music-away-for-free/604011/index.html

Gene Simmons has made a great deal of hay over fans downloading music, of course Gene has made millions off of the backs of his fans merchandising everything he can to add to the Simmons Coffers.

So what if music just becomes free and artists make their living off of touring and merchandise?
Well therein lies the most stupid mistake anybody can make.

–Gene Simmons responds to an honest question in a Billboard interview

There you have it, the man who is using his fame and band to sell “Kiss Branded Vomit” says that you can’t make music money without being in the “industry.”

Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead may be making money off of their no-record industry adventures, but they are established bands; so we will have to ignore them for now.  Lily Allen might be an example of indie success, but her Dad is hardly a penniless dock worker.   I don’t think I can point to an independent success that was created whole-cloth by the Internet though; but at the same time I can’t point to someone who can say they failed because of it either.

It’s fun for the entrenched types to point fingers and just say “sue em all” but I have to think that they should be looking at ways to attract people into buying the damn albums.  I know it’s difficult to add value to the CDs, but when you are coming out and saying things like “the purchaser is licensing the music” you are probably going about it wrong.

But back on the topic of Old Gene.  Gene, you are selling out your whole life to make a quick buck, it’s not even an original idea either.  Why don’t you make an honest buck that isn’t made off of your fame and we’ll take your word for it, until then go back to the kabuki makeup and leave us kids alone.

Old Content is Old

Published by NiteMayr on June 18, 2008

I spent a few hours yesterday converting old VOX posts into WordPress Posts.  These posts were also propagated to my LJ and all over my social map.  Sorry guys.

Some of the old posts have images that work, some do not.  I’ll update them as needed with original flickr content.

I skipped over a bunch of content in favor of leaving it on LJ.  So don’t expect reposts of anything that came from me between June 2007 and June 2008.  I also left out a number of QOTD posts from vox as they didn’t really say anything about me.

In total, I added nearly 100 new posts to this blog and tagged a them all with “vox” (afaik) so if you are new to my blog(s) or just want to stalk me a bit more effectivley, go ahead and look through my archives.

Thanks for visiting!

Third-party Flaming of a Stranger

Published by NiteMayr on June 16, 2008

i hope they pay their respects to Don Adams in the movie. I am just turned 25 years old and I AM AN INTOLERABLE NERD

–Bold and Caps added by me

Jesus, who worries about the treatment of Don Adams in the new “Get Smart” except for serious nerds?  Didn’t years of Inspector Gadget dull any glow people had for Don Adams?

Keeping an Eye on the Food

Published by NiteMayr on June 16, 2008

I’m writing this stuff and starting to feel a bit like John Pinnette “who stole the food!?”

Corn rose as much as 3.5 percent, and soybeans, wheat and rice gained. The Midwest floods probably will cause “hundreds of millions of dollars” of damage, according to the National Weather Service. U.S. corn stockpiles may fall 53 percent to a 13-year low before next year’s harvest, the USDA said June 10.

High food prices “are here to stay” as governments divert resources to make biofuels, amass stockpiles and limit exports, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awdVeAM6F4Qs&refer=home

It’s looking more and more like transportation and storage costs are going to drive the cost of food basics up and up.  By food basics I’m referring to grains, roots and vegetable crops.  Those food items that require transportation in large quantities.  Even local gardens are being hit hard by the weather this year, some people planning to weather any serious food price issues with home garden may need to put forth more concrete solutions, like sturdy greenhouses for year-round food production.

Suburbanites, like myself are really starting to feel the pinch of the ever-rising gas prices.  Trips to visit my Parent’s house have started to stretch into the 40+ dollar mark for each trip.  40 Dollars is about my normal meat and vegetable budget each week.  It’s not like I can’t afford it, but I do have to make choices now about how to spend my wages.

Add to all of this the budget crunch  of debt and many of us might be looking at food uncertainty in the next year.