Not only does my tech blog, Global Nerdy, cover programming, it also covers other aspects of geek life, including nerd culture favourites like The Office and Xena: Warriror Princess…and what happens when you mash the two together. Consider this photo featuring Rainn “Dwight K. Schrute” Wilson dressed up as Xena:
![Rainn \"Dwight K. Schrute\" Wilson as Xena, Warrior Princess](https://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/rainn_wilson_as_xena_small.jpg "Rainn \\"Dwight K. Schrute\\" Wilson as Xena, Warrior Princess")
Click the photo to see a larger version.
Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.
Check out the article at Global Nerdy for more details.
The blog Firedoglake covers a new Declaration of Independence written in the spirit of the original. Just as the original addressed some problems with a ruler named George, so does this new version, which was posted as an ad in yesterday’s New York Times. I’ve reproduced this new Declaration below in both its video and text form.
When in the course of human events the government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the Right of the People to alter it and demand restoration of those Constitutional Principles that have so long assured their Liberty, Safety, and Happiness. Therefore, on the anniversary of our Independence, we offer this new declaration for our times.
The history of this president is one of arbitrary usurpations of power, the effect of which is to establish tyranny through false promises of greater security.
He has created a multitude of secret programs and sent swarms of petty officers to spy on Americans in a misguided effort to combat foreign terrorism. He has invested these agents with sweeping new powers to monitor our conversations and ransack our personal papers and effects without judicial supervision or any reason to believe — as the Constitution requires — that a crime has been committed.
He has further claimed the power to disregard legislation that Congress has passed.
He has suspended the laws and treaties against torture, authorized the kidnapping of mere suspects, and transported hundreds of prisoners beyond seas so that no independent judiciary could question the legality of their mistreatment.
He and his supporters in Congress have granted amnesty to the officials who unleashed torture and humiliation upon helpless prisoners, to the disgrace of our nation.
He has denied these prisoners access to attorneys, family, and friends and has claimed the right to try them before military tribunals specifically designed to disregard the most basic principles of law.
He has imprisoned thousands of lawful immigrants for months without charges, under brutal conditions, until his agents, rather than independent courts, decide that they posed no threat.
He has wrapped his usurpations of power and his deprivations of liberty in thick cloaks of secrecy, thereby showing contempt for the rule of law and the proper functions of Congress, the courts, and the press.
At every stage of these oppressions we have sought redress, but our petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
We, therefore, resolve to resist these usurpations by all lawful means at our disposal. We insist that the powers of our national government be shared by all branches of that government and not concentrated in one alone. And we call upon Congress, the courts, and the press to reassert their constitutional functions and restore the promise that is America.
To these ends, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
To my American readers and especially my American friends and relatives — who on any given day make up about two-thirds of my readership — have a safe and happy Independence Day!
In honour of the day as well as one of the best things about America, the First Amendment, here’s a great feature off one of the American Dad DVDs — the featurette on the show’s political humour:
Welcome to the fourth installment in Joey’s Unofficial RubyFringe Guide to Toronto, a series of offbeat articles to acquaint attendees of the upcoming RubyFringe conference with Accordion City.
There’ve been three articles in the series so far:
When I visit a city that’s new to me, I try to get a sense of “the lay of the land”. What sort of areas are around where I’m staying? Which zones come alive at what times of the day? If I started walking in this direction, what sort of neighbourhood would I end up in? Where can I see some interesting stuff, and where will I end up running into something I could easily get at home? These are the sorts of questions that I’ll try to answer for Toronto in these “Lay of the Land” articles. In this article, I’ll look at what’s within a couple of blocks of the conference hotel.
The map below covers the area that’s within about a ten-minute walk of RubyFringe’s conference hotel, the Metropolitan Toronto. The Metropolitan is represented by the red marker with the letter “A” (it’s very Hester Prynne, isnt it?). I’ve added some annotations to give you a general idea of the sorts of neighbourhoods that surround the Metropolitan.
Accordion City can best be described as a city of neighbourhoods put together like a patchwork quilt, each patch having its own character and offerings. This is good news: it makes life pretty interesting for the locals, and it should be doubly so if you’re visiting.
There’s bad news, I’m afraid: the neighbourhood in which the Metropolitan is located is a pocket of boring. How boring? So boring that this is the most interesting view on the street where the hotel is located:
The curved backside of New City Hall, as seen from a few paces south of the hotel.
Yup, the immediate area is that boring.
It’s a zone of nondescript office and hospital buildings surrounding Dundas Street, which used to be downtown Chinatown’s main drag back in the 1970s when I was a slip of a lad.
(I say downtown Chinatown because we’ve got three Chinatowns here. I’ll elaborate in a later article.)
Downtown Chinatown moved west towards Spadina Avenue, and the offices rushed in to fill the void. There are still remnants of the old Chinatown that still dot this part of Dundas, but for the real Chinatown action — the restaurants, the shops, the lively street stalls that will gladly sell you a big-ass, smelly-as-ass durian, the “holy crap, Blade Runner came true” Chinatown, you’ll have to walk about ten minutes westward.
Lai Wah Heen Restaurant.
The Metropolitan Hotel is the biggest testament to the fact that the area was once the heart of downtown Chinatown. Most hotels in North America have a primary restaurant that serves your generic “North American” cuisine; the Metropolitan’s all about the Chinese food. Their main dining room, Lai Wah Heen, is a Chinese restaurant that serves some very good food — so good that it’s one of the few hotel restaurants where you’ll see at least as many locals as guests. I’ve been to a Chinese wedding reception in this hotel and it was some of the best wedding reception food I’ve tasted. I’m looking forward to the dim sum conference lunch scheduled for Sunday, July 20th.
Across the street from the Metropolitan is a building that looks like a hotel, but missing the hotel markings. That’s because it used to be the Colonnade Hotel, which used to be the Chinese hotel until the Metropolitan took over (it’s deVilla family tradition to have Chinese food for our wedding rehearsal dinners, and my sister’s was there). It’s now a University of Toronto student residence.
Yonge Street, looking north towards the corner of Yonge and Dundas.
Yonge Street (pronounced “young”) is the city’s main north-south street; it divides Accordion City into its east and west halves. The corner of Yonge and Dundas — a very short walk east of the Metropolitan — is pretty much in the geographic centre of the downtown core. You should think of it as the local equivalent of New York City’s Times Square: major retail shopping, “grey market” electronics stores, billboards and lights, bored teenagers, tourists and pizza, pizza, pizza.
The Eaton Centre, as seen from across the street.
I’ve been to nerd conferences where I’ve wished that there was a computer store handy because I needed something like a cable or a USB key. That’s not going to be a problem at RubyFringe, as there’s both a Best Buy on the southwest corner of Yonge and Dundas and a Future Shop (a Canadian electronics/computer big-box store) on the northeast corner.
(There’s a far more interesting electronics store — Active Surplus — not too far from the hotel. I’ll cover it in a later article.)
If you go south on Yonge, you’ll hit the Eaton Centre, the major downtown shopping mall. It’s got the sort of shops you’d expect at a mall; the only surprise for American visitors is that Sears in Canada isn’t as ghetto as it is in the U.S. (that’s because Sears in Canada took over the Eaton’s chain of department stores after they went under).
Interior of the Eaton Centre.
It’s tempting to dismiss the Eaton Centre as just another shopping mall, but for a lot of Torontonians, it’s also one of the most-used and useful pedestrian routes in town. Spanning the distance between two subway stations on Toronto’s busiest line, the mall remains open even after its stores are closed (it closes when the subway closes), making it effectively a covered sidewalk for Yonge Street between Dundas and Queen Streets. (Urban planning nerds should see this article for more.)
Toronto’s City Hall.
You may have seen Toronto’s City Hall in Resident Evil 2, or perhaps you caught a glimpse of it in either the original series or Next Generation version of Star Trek. It’s architect Viljo Revell’s modernist masterpiece and one of the more distinctive features of our city. It’s worth the short walk over from the hotel, and if you’re into taking pictures, it makes a pretty good subject.
If you walk into City Hall’s lobby and turn to the right, you’ll see this:
It’s a wall mural made of thousands of nails. There’s a local tradition: take a penny and drop it into the mural, among the larger nails on the left or right side of the mural. It’s descend, pachinko-like, making a musical noise along the way. Here’s a video:
Well, I wouldn’t say nothing — there are a number of hospital buildings, including some world-class institutions of healing like “Sick Kids” (a.k.a. the Hospital for Sick Children, where Pablum was invented) and the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.
The atrium at Sick Kids.
If you’re an architecture nerd, you might find a visit to the atrium of Sick Kids worth a visit — it’s so bright and airy that it’s easy to forget that you’re in a hospital. Having said that, my guess is that the last place you want to end up during your visit to Toronto is a hospital.
Toronto Bus Terminal.
The other place just north of the hotel is the Toronto Bus Terminal. It’s nowhere near as scuzzy as a lot of other big city bus terminals, but the usual parade of off-their-rockers and off-their-meds are often milling about.
Just this evening, while the Ginger Ninja and I were walking past the station, a large woman in a motorized wheelchair started a conversation with us.
“I gotta go to the hospital tomorrow,” she said, as she took a sip from her large frappucino. “I got the diabetes.”
“Sorry to hear that,” we said.
“It’s not funny! I’m goin’ fuckin’ blind from the goddamn diabetes!” She took another sip and poured on the speed, disappearing down the street to stew in her own juices, which I assume are made of high-fructose corn syrup and bad life choices.
There are a couple of conveniences to the north: a Starbucks and a convenience store, both at the corner of Dundas and Elizabeth, a block away from the hotel.
I’ll cover what’s west of the hotel, which is where things get interesting. For starters, there’s this:
OCAD’s Sharp Centre Building.
Gummi Lighthouses: a uniter, not a divider.
The “Gummi Lighthouses” post is still getting a lot of pageviews for this blog, and from all sorts of places I’d never expect to link to me. This current influx of readers is coming from, of all places, talk radio host Neal “Mouth of the South” Boortz’ site.
I am only familiar with Mr. Boortz in passing. Here’s a quick summary of Boortz from Wikipedia:
A registered member of the Libertarian Party, Boortz touches on many controversial topics. He supports eliminating the war on drugs, lowering taxes, and shrinking the size of government, while disagreeing with the Libertarian Party platform by supporting incremental tax reform, the war in Iraq, and opposing unrestricted immigration, although he opposes illegal immigration. Like most libertarians, Boortz has sided with liberals on some social issues, with limitations, such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and civil liberties, while siding with fiscal conservatives on advocating less government spending and decreasing corporate regulation. On The Neal Boortz Show, he has criticized politicians, Muslim extremism, the homeless, government schools, liberals, smokers, the obese, welfare recipients, and people who drive at or below the speed limit. On air, Boortz refers to himself an “equal opportunity offender”.
Well, I’m glad that the Accordion Guy blog has something for everyone, no matter where you might be on the political spectrum. Welcome, Boortz fans!
![Cast of \"WKRP in Cincinnati\"](https://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/wkrp_cast.jpg "Cast of \\"WKRP in Cincinnati\\"")
Having grown up in the late 70s and early 80s, this is forever linked in my mind with Cincinnati.
Last weekend, the Ginger Ninja and I went to Cincinnati to attend a wedding. Cincinnati was her home for just under a year when she took her first job there; for me, its state, Ohio, is my ancestral home state (I have blond-haired, blue-eyed blood relatives in Dayton).
The wedding was in an area outside the city, so a car rental was necessary. We’d booked a mid-sized car at Avis, and when we arrived at their rental lot, they offered some upgrades.
“You’re booked for a mid-size,” said the rep behind the counter. “Would you like an upgrade? Maybe an SUV?”
“No thanks,” we said.
“For four dollars extra per day, we can put you in a Mustang…”
I hit Wendy with my best “puppy-dog eyes” look.
“What the hell, let’s take the Mustang!” she said.
Upon entering the car, I dialed up a classic rock station, said “Let’s hit the fuckin’ road!” in my best Dennis Hopper voice and punched it onto the Kentucky roads (while Cincinnati is in Ohio, its airport is in Kentucky.)
The ‘Stang is a pretty sweet ride with solid handling and plenty of power on tap. My muscle car driving has been relegated to Grand Theft Auto IV; it was pretty nice to be behind the wheel of the real thing. Now if I had an SMG and some chumps who needed some perforating…
The only way the experience could’ve been improved would be if I’d had a CD of Ministry’s Jesus Built My Hotrod to put into the player.
Actually, it has that name because it’s the result of merging the Third National Bank and the Fifth National Bank. They didn’t go with “Third Fifth Bank” because of the reference to alcohol, which wouldn’t have been popular at the time — prohibitionist ideas were taking hold back then. (The Straight Dope has more about the bank’s name.)
![Sign: \"Employees must wash hands before returning to work. Customers too.\"](https://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/employees_mush_wash_hands_sign.jpg "Sign: \\"Employees must wash hands before returning to work. Customers too.\\"")
This is a sign in the bathroom at the Potbelly Sandwich Works near Fountain Square. They make a tasty sandwich, and provided us with the last real vegetables we had until the wedding.
Wendy’s parents, who were also there for the wedding, took us out to dinner at the Montgomery Inn, and we all ate the restaurant specialty: ribs. I had the ribs and pork chop combo, which was pig-licious!
We had to stop at a grocery store to pick up some distilled water (grumble grumble CPAP grumble). Luckily, we had a GPS, and it led us to Kroger.
While there are grocery stores all over the world with great selections, there is nothing quite like an American grocery store. We may have choices, but when it comes to processed food, our neighbour to the south has mega-choices. For starters, who knew that there were so many types of cheese crackers? Who knew that there were so many types of Cheez-It brand crackers?
Here’s something else I found at Kroger:
![Bag of \"Old Yeller\" brand dog food](https://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/old_yeller_dog_food.jpg "Bag of \\"Old Yeller\\" brand dog food")
Really? Old Yeller brand dog food? Old Yeller chunk style dog food?
A little Googling led me to Kroger’s news release about the stuff:
Inspired by one of the most beloved movie classics of all time, The Kroger Co. today introduced Disney’s Old Yeller, a chunk style dog food now available at more than 2,500 stores around the country.
…
Released in 1957, Walt Disney’s Old Yeller was the quintessential tale of a boy’s love for his dog. Set amid the landscape of 1860s Texas, a young boy named Travis wants nothing to do with the lop-eared stray. But Old Yeller quickly proves himself a loyal friend, protecting the family and saving Travis’ life. They soon become inseparable pals, sharing joyous experiences and learning valuable lessons about growing up.
I’m a dog lover and had two dogs as a teenager, but when it comes to Old Yeller, it’s not the “boy and his dog” bonding that sticks out in my mind. It’s the ending, where Travis has to shoot his beloved dog because he gets rabies (or, as they say in the movie, “hydrophoby”).
When most people think of Old Yeller, it’s something like this clip, titled Old Yeller in Five Seconds:
It’s a cultural meme that’s found its way into a lot of comedy routines, including this one by the Kids in the Hall:
…and this follow-up sketch:
I’ll leave the final word on Old Yeller Dog Food to James Norton at Flak Magazine.
Ooh! White Castle! The holiest of holies!
Cincinnati is supposedly famous for chili, but I have yet to meet anyone who likes it:
![Skyline Chili sign: \"Extreme cheese is back & it\'s hot\"](https://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/skyline_chili_extreme_cheese_is_back.jpg "Skyline Chili sign: \\"Extreme cheese is back & it\'s hot\\"")
“Three-way” in Cincinnati does not means the same thing as “three-way” does here in Accordion City [safe for work], believe you me, nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more…
After all these years, I finally got eat at Waffle House!
I had the All-Star Breakfast: two eggs, two sausage patties, toast, biscuits smothered in sausage gravy, all washed down with a chocolate milk. I’d better go hit the gym.
Cracker Barrel is a great place for down-home cookin’. You have to respect a place that lists macaroni and cheese as a vegetable (Mama Dip’s in Chapel Hill does the same thing).
They’ve got lots of rocking chairs on their porch:
Here’s a photo of what I had for dinner:
From left to right, that’s: hash brown casserole, biscuits, chicken and dumplings, deep-fried breaded okra and turnip greens. Wendy had meat loaf with mac and cheese as one of her vegetables. The meal should come with a free defibrillator.
Here I am with the ‘Stang after the wedding, wearing my barong (in fact, it’s the barong I wore at my wedding). No, it wasn’t a Filipino wedding — it was a Jewish one, in fact — but it’s light and cool, making it perfect formal wear for hot, muggy weather.
![Joey deVilla in a \"barong tagalog\" beside a silver Mustang](https://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/joey_devilla_in_barong_with_mustang.jpg "Joey deVilla in a \\"barong tagalog\\" beside a silver Mustang")
In its continuing quest to be recognized as the Pravda of the Republican Party, FOX News sank to a new low when profiling a New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe: they gave them the “ugly” treatment using Photoshop. Steinberg and Reddicliffe were given yellowed teeth and their facial and cranial features were distorted significantly, and no hint was given that any Photoshopping was done. It’s as if the new organization was being run by grade-school bullies.
Compare these actual photos with the doctored photos shown on FOX News:
Here’s the clip in which the doctored photos were used:
It’s an election year, so expect more desperate and childish stunts like this from FOX News over the next few months.