On commitment:

How can I promise to love you forever when there are dozens of things you could do that would make me stop?

I can give you today, but tomorrow is up to you.

The ‘Nothing’ is real!

Remember The NeverEnding Story? When I was a kid it was one of my favorite movies – although part 2 and part 3 never really sat too well with me.

In any case, I came across this video a little while ago.  The source website is in a language I don’t understand, so I have no idea what is actually going on. But it looks to me like the Nothing is consuming the land.

Keep watching all the way to then end when they move the camera and give a better view of how the Nothing spreads.

Creepy!

Did you vote?

I did – though I was disappointed by the results.

But what really stood out for me last night was not the results of the election – it was the ease with which I was able to cast my ballot.  This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to vote in an Ottawa Municipal election, and I have to say that it was done better than any election I have ever participated in.  And since I had moved in the last few years, I wasn’t even on the voter list!

The Federal and Provincial election people should take note.

Words I wish I could still use:

Booya!

I don’t think I got enough use out of this one before it went away.

Seriously.

Yet more proof that Canadian phone companies suck

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/18/oti-report-finds-us-and-canada-have-the-most-expensive-cellphone/

Another study has once again pointed out that Canadians pay way too much for cell phone use.

Take a good look at that chart (which Engadget has graciously bestowed).  Notice how Canadians pay as much for voice service alone, as most of the world pays for voice, text and data put together?

It’s a sad day when even the US looks enviable.

Fairytale of New York is just too good to ignore for 11 months

Every January I make the same resolution:

I will not listen to the The Pogues‘ Fairytale of New York again until next year when stores start playing Christmas music.

And every year I give in.  Seriously, I have no will power at all.  Please don’t ask me for money.

I almost made it this year… But it’s such a great song!

Why are divorce rates high? Because divorce is an option.

Source: http://jeremyhermanns.org/get-an-online-divorce/

CBC News has an interesting piece about a recently released study by the Vanier Institute of the Family. The study found that, according to 2006 Canadian census data, 40% of first marriages end in divorce. Or, if you like, 60% of first marriages were doing alright (as of 2006).

My immediate reaction is that I would like to know a little more information about that statistic – like how many of those first marriages were still in the “honeymoon phase” at the time the study was done, and could therefore have crumbled by now. I’d also like to know what the divorce rate is for second and third marriages…

But what is really interesting to me is the top eight reasons why people got married and the top five reasons given for divorce.

Let’s start with the reasons people say they got married:

1. Feeling that marriage signifies commitment
2. Moral values
3. Belief that children should have married parents
4. It is the natural thing to do
5. Financial security
6. Religious beliefs
7. Pressure from family
8. Pressure from friends

Notice anything missing from this list?  Where is the “I fell in love and wanted to make sure that we would always be together” answer?  What about, “we get along so well and I just can’t imagine living without him/her“?  Maybe these answers were nine and ten on the list? Am I the only one who finds it disheartening that every reason listed for marriage is an external force acting as pressure on the couple? Where are the answers from people who wanted to get married?

Now lets look at the reasons people say they got divorced:

1. Different values and interests
2. Abuse — physical and emotional
3. Alcohol and drugs
4. Infidelity
5. Career-related conflict

Well, you can’t really disagree with any of these.  I doubt that most people would expect someone they loved to stay in a relationship involving #2, 3, or 4.  #1 isn’t a great thing to have in a relationship either, though I would question the reason those people got married in the first place.  As for #5, well, it’s debatable – but I would say that if a person cares more about their carrier than their spouse, they probably should be divorced.

But what is really striking about these answers is that they are timeless. We seem to make a big deal about how divorce is more common now than it was 20, 30, 50, 100 years ago.  Yet the most common reasons given for divorce today would certainly have been just as common 100 years ago.

The only difference is that 100, 50, 30 and even 20 years ago divorce was far less acceptable.  There certainly is still a stigma regarding divorce today – but it is nothing compared to previous generations. Today, if you have a reason to get divorced, you can make it happen and you can move on with your life. You can even get remarried if you like.

Now, consider this in tandem with the fact that the top eight reasons for marriage involved external pressure…

It’s pretty clear why the divorce rate is so high – people are getting married even though they don’t want to. And once they realize that they made a mistake, they fix it.

I think that the real story here has nothing to do with divorce: it is that society has forgotten that pressuring people to get married is only effective if you don’t give them a way out.

Let the fiasco begin!

I’m going to get right to the point – there are going to be monkeys guarding the venues at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. Yes, monkeys.

Source: http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5639934

Why monkeys?  Here’s the logic: Delhi has a history of wild monkeys terrorizing visitors, so the plan is to have slightly bigger monkeys patrol the grounds to scare away the smaller terrorist monkeys.

What is going to protect visitors from being terrorized by the larger monkeys? They don’t know yet – but Bengal Tigers and Elephants are rumored to be on the short list.

And who will protect visitors from actual, human, terrorists?  Nobody. Everyone will either be running in fear from the monkeys, or laughing and pointing at those running in fear from the monkeys.

In any case, the Evil League of Evil has already mandated that there will be no official acts of terrorism directed towards the Games… they figure that between the monkeys and the crumbling infrastructure, there’s already enough for the visitors to be afraid of.

Finally, a planet just like home, but somewhere else

Scientists have discovered the first ever exoplanet likely to be inhabitable: So the race is on to see who will develop interstellar travel first….

If we can get to Gliese 581g before the Glisesians get to Earth, we might be able to use the element of surprise to our advantage.  If not, we better hope that they wasted all of their time developing spaceships instead of weapons.

Not a LEGO set that I ever got for Christmas…

A friend sent me the  these photos the other day.  I’d give some credit, or even some context, but he just got them from a friend who got them from a friend…

All I know for sure is that nobody ever bought me this set when I was a kid, and I didn’t see it for sale in the LEGO Store when I was in Frankfurt.

And yet, whoever made the photos but nice, official-looking logos on them. Still, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that these are probably not shots for the new LEGO catalogue.

Somehow the pixelation is sort of reminiscent of online porn from back in the dial-up days.

Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I am talking about.