When a horse takes a drop in class, does it know it's better than the other horses running that race?
Only when it passes the tote board and sees that it's the favourite.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Monday, 14 July 2008
My sleepy town is in the news!
Five men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets have pleaded guilty to lesser offences in a London court.
The defendants allegedly identified seven flights from Heathrow airport to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Montreal, although prosecutors say no specific date had been selected.
Finally, Canada generally and Toronto specifically shed their "unimportant" status. Hurrah!
Full Story
The defendants allegedly identified seven flights from Heathrow airport to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Montreal, although prosecutors say no specific date had been selected.
Finally, Canada generally and Toronto specifically shed their "unimportant" status. Hurrah!
Full Story
Friday, 11 July 2008
Ding! Ding! Ding!
This morning at about 11:00 a.m., the fire alarm went off in my apartment building. Reluctantly, I walked down five flights of stairs. I noticed immediately that no one was in the stairwell and not one tenant from the building was outside. I know there's a good dozen or more cars in the parking lot most days so there are people at home. I strolled completely around the building and nary a person was seen. The fire department arrived and after several minutes, the alarm was shut off.
I guess it's a case of "crying wolf". Most alarms are false and so people are conditioned not to respond. I'm not even that crazy about my life but I got out of the building toot sweet. It'd be interesting to know how many people die or are injured each year by ignoring alarms. Maybe it's just nature's way of thinning the herd and cleansing the gene pool.
I guess it's a case of "crying wolf". Most alarms are false and so people are conditioned not to respond. I'm not even that crazy about my life but I got out of the building toot sweet. It'd be interesting to know how many people die or are injured each year by ignoring alarms. Maybe it's just nature's way of thinning the herd and cleansing the gene pool.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Brothel offers customers gas rebate
Clients of the Shady Lady Ranch will get a $50 gas voucher if they fork out $300 -- worth about one hour's worth of services -- at the brothel in Beatty, Nevada, 130 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Owner James Davis said he already has had to order another $1,000 set of gas vouchers because the first $1,000 were spent in one week.
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If the price of gas goes any higher, I wouldn't be surprised if some women will be going to gas stations offering "services" of their own in exchange for a "fill-up".
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
This week's contestant is a school teacher. I hope she does better than the other teachers I've seen on the show. (I'm watching it as I write this.)
First mistake: Before getting to the first question, she proclaims she will not be admitting she's not smarter than a fifth grader--a requirement of not going all the way in the test and winning the $1 million grand prize. Something, incidentally, that no one to date has accomplished.
She's got up to $25 thousand answering such challenging questions as:
Spell "elephant".
and
What continent has the coldest annual average temperature?
The following question was more than she could handle...
What is the name of the river that forms the border between the state of Texas and Mexico?
She answered "Colorado River". She was saved by her "classmate".
Now, I'm just a stupid Canadian, but I didn't need the visual aid of the map to know it's the Rio Grande.
She didn't even attempt to answer the next question, opting to use her "cheat" and taking her classmate's answer--which was correct. In fact, all the students had the correct answer.
The next question was interesting:
In Fahrenheit, how hot is the surface of the sun?
a) 10,000 degrees
b) 35,000 degrees
c) 35 million degrees
Thinking out loud, she says to herself "The sun's really, really hot, so I'm going to say the hottest answer." Then, she thought better of it and decided she really didn't have a clue and "dropped out". Her fifth grade "classmate" had the right answer: 10,000 degrees. Definitely not smarter than a fifth grader.
The next contestant was a real door knob. His 'mates got him to $50,000, despite him asserting he knew answers that he did not. He did, however, admit that he didn't have the foggiest idea what a contraction in grammar was when presented with a grade one question and was again saved by a "classmate".
After seeing the $100,000 question, he confidently said "I know the answer. It's a Spanish dude and I'm going to lock in "Christopher Columbus". First of all, Columbus was Italian. Secondly, the question was about the explorer responsible for circumnavigating the globe in the 16th century. Thirdly, Columbus sailed in the 15th century--1492 to be exact. He dropped down to $25,000. His "classmate" had the right answer. Definitely not smarter than a fifth grader.
The preview for next week's program showed yet another guy who says he will be the first to win the million. I can't wait.
The compelling thing about this show is not how stupid people are--we see/hear/read about stupid people all the time. What does it for me is that they are completely oblivious to how stupid they are.
First mistake: Before getting to the first question, she proclaims she will not be admitting she's not smarter than a fifth grader--a requirement of not going all the way in the test and winning the $1 million grand prize. Something, incidentally, that no one to date has accomplished.
She's got up to $25 thousand answering such challenging questions as:
Spell "elephant".
and
What continent has the coldest annual average temperature?
The following question was more than she could handle...
What is the name of the river that forms the border between the state of Texas and Mexico?
She answered "Colorado River". She was saved by her "classmate".
Now, I'm just a stupid Canadian, but I didn't need the visual aid of the map to know it's the Rio Grande.
She didn't even attempt to answer the next question, opting to use her "cheat" and taking her classmate's answer--which was correct. In fact, all the students had the correct answer.
The next question was interesting:
In Fahrenheit, how hot is the surface of the sun?
a) 10,000 degrees
b) 35,000 degrees
c) 35 million degrees
Thinking out loud, she says to herself "The sun's really, really hot, so I'm going to say the hottest answer." Then, she thought better of it and decided she really didn't have a clue and "dropped out". Her fifth grade "classmate" had the right answer: 10,000 degrees. Definitely not smarter than a fifth grader.
The next contestant was a real door knob. His 'mates got him to $50,000, despite him asserting he knew answers that he did not. He did, however, admit that he didn't have the foggiest idea what a contraction in grammar was when presented with a grade one question and was again saved by a "classmate".
After seeing the $100,000 question, he confidently said "I know the answer. It's a Spanish dude and I'm going to lock in "Christopher Columbus". First of all, Columbus was Italian. Secondly, the question was about the explorer responsible for circumnavigating the globe in the 16th century. Thirdly, Columbus sailed in the 15th century--1492 to be exact. He dropped down to $25,000. His "classmate" had the right answer. Definitely not smarter than a fifth grader.
The preview for next week's program showed yet another guy who says he will be the first to win the million. I can't wait.
The compelling thing about this show is not how stupid people are--we see/hear/read about stupid people all the time. What does it for me is that they are completely oblivious to how stupid they are.
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