Year: 2008

A Reuters news report says that Russians visiting a health resort received a rude shock when a nurse used hydrogen peroxide instead of water to give them enemas.

For more information on hydrogen peroxide, here’s its Wikipedia entry.

Courtesy of Boing Boing and photographed by Sean Bonner in Los Angeles, here’s what’s quite possibly the most plain-and-simple political poster you’ll see:

Click the photo to see the original on its Flickr page.

After watching Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (the one where we meet Anakin Skywalker), I remarked that in that movie, everybody knows that the Jedi are the powerful, guardians of peace and order in the Republic and wielders of the mysterious power called The Force. But by the time of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (the one where we meet Luke Skywalker), which can’t have taken place more than a mere thirty years later, almost nobody remembers the Jedi and the Force is considered to be myth. I remember joking with my buddies that it would be like someone in the 1970s saying “Hitler wasn’t real!”

Well, as I like to say, the satirist’s job is a hard one these days, because reality keeps one-upping you. I’m not sure how many people think Hitler was a myth, but according to this news story, one quarter of Brits think Winston Churchill was a fictional character.

Also believed to be myths by the Brits surveyed:

• King Richard I, a.k.a. King Richard the Lionheart (47% of those surveyed)
• Florence Nightingale (23% of those surveyed)
• Charles Dickens (3% of those surveyed)
• Mohandas Gandhi, a.k.a. Mahatma Gandhi (in the top 10 of real people belived to be myths by those surveyed)
• The Duke of Wellington — the first one, who beat Napoleon at Waterloo (in the top 10 of real people belived to be myths by those surveyed)

Even worse, here are some mythical characters believed to be real by the Brits surveyed:

• Sherlock Holmes (58% of those surveyed)
• “Biggles” (33% of those surveyed)

While some people — such as The View’s most moronic host (and she’s up against some stiff competition) Sherri Shepherd — would argue that this isn’t the sort of knowledge you need, I argue that you need some sort of historical context to understand the news and to vote. I am reminded of the Churchill quote: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter,” a telling quip from one of freedom’s most eloquent defenders.

It’s a new month, which means a new Ruby/Rails Project Night at TSOT on Tuesday, February 12th!

The last one was a success — we had over 50 attend (you can see photos and a quick writeup here) and this one looks like it’s going to be as big a hit. Better still, based on feedback from the attendees, we’re going to delve even deeper into technical matters, because that’s what you asked for!

Several eager Rails developers have asked us about presenting their projects at our Project Nights, and next Tuesday, we’re proud to feature these presentations:

• How to Avoid Hanging Yourself in Rails (or: Optimizing Your ActiveRecord Associations) by Rowan Hick
• Helping New Businesses be Memorable with EasyBrandingTools.com by Mike Bowler and Steve Vetzal
• Clinical Research Management System (CRMS) by Luke Galea. CRMS is a Rails and Prolog/XSB application used to manage drug and procedure trials at the some of the biggest hospitals in the US.

TSOT’s Ruby/Rails Project Night takes place next Tuesday, February 12th at our development office at 151 Bloor Street West (just east of Avenue Road), Suite 1130. Doors will open at 5:30pm with presentations beginning some time between 6 and 6:30. This event is free but space is limited; reserve your spot today by emailing corina.newby@tsotinc.com or joey.devilla@tsotinc.com.

[This article was also posted at Global Nerdy.]

The third Toronto edition of Facebook Developer Garage/FacebookCamp (it goes by both names) takes place tonight at MaRS Discovery District (101 College Street, just east of University Avenue).

Here’s the agenda as of the time of this writing:

If you were wondering what happened at the last Facebook Garage/FacebookCamp, you can see my notes at:

• Notes from FacebookCamp Toronto 2, Part 1
• Notes from FacebookCamp Toronto 2, Part 2
• Notes from FacebookCamp Toronto 2, Part 3

[This article was also posted on Global Nerdy.]