The information I need is in this business's outgoing voicemail message. I don't need to talk to anyone there, I just need this little bit of information. However, they are currently open, so if I call someone will answer and I'll have to talk to them, thus wasting both our time.
Why can't they just give us a way to listen to outgoing voicemail without ringing the phone?
Saturday, May 02, 2009
I seem to have awoken into a nightmare
My windows are covered in mosquitoes. There are probably two or three mosquitos per square foot over the entire window area. Fortunately they aren't big or grotesque enough to trigger panic attacks (and I can't see them at all if I take my glasses off), but I'm highly susceptible to mosquito bites so basically I can't go outside right now.
Does this mean the whole summer is going to be like this, or is today a one-day fluke? I don't own any insect repellent because I never go out into the woods or anything. Am I going to need to find a source for that (possibly illegal?) 98% DEET stuff we had when I was a kid just so I can walk around the city without being eaten alive?
(I know the 98% DEET sounds like overkill, but it was a lifesaver. Mosquitoes would come within an inch of my arm and then veer away, like like-poled magnets repelling each other. Considering that I'd usually come back from a day in the woods covered in so many bites I couldn't shave my legs, this was a godsend.)
Does this mean the whole summer is going to be like this, or is today a one-day fluke? I don't own any insect repellent because I never go out into the woods or anything. Am I going to need to find a source for that (possibly illegal?) 98% DEET stuff we had when I was a kid just so I can walk around the city without being eaten alive?
(I know the 98% DEET sounds like overkill, but it was a lifesaver. Mosquitoes would come within an inch of my arm and then veer away, like like-poled magnets repelling each other. Considering that I'd usually come back from a day in the woods covered in so many bites I couldn't shave my legs, this was a godsend.)
Why do parents want their kids to play outside?
This train of thought was inspired by today's For Better or For Worse, but it happened to me all the time in real life and it's a trope you often see in comic strips and other media.
Parents tell their kids to stop watching TV and play outside because it's a beautiful day.
Why do they care? Seriously. Why do they have this need for their child to stop what they're actually enjoying and go through the motions of enjoying the beautiful day?
You often see this in older contexts where the kids don't need to be immediately supervised, so it's not that the kids' presence indoors is stopping the parents from enjoying the beautiful day themselves. In fact, in the comic strip context, the parent most often stays inside while kicking the kids outside. Why?
Parents tell their kids to stop watching TV and play outside because it's a beautiful day.
Why do they care? Seriously. Why do they have this need for their child to stop what they're actually enjoying and go through the motions of enjoying the beautiful day?
You often see this in older contexts where the kids don't need to be immediately supervised, so it's not that the kids' presence indoors is stopping the parents from enjoying the beautiful day themselves. In fact, in the comic strip context, the parent most often stays inside while kicking the kids outside. Why?
Friday, May 01, 2009
Analogy for being incapable of faith
As I've mentioned before, the reason I'm an atheist is because I'm congenitally and inherently incapable of religious faith. My brain just doesn't bend that way.
Not everyone can grok this, so here's how it works:
Think of colourblindness. A person who is colourblind only sees one colour where a person with normal vision sees two colours. The colourblind person simply cannot see the two colours. They cannot be talked into seeing two colours. They cannot be reasoned, threatened, bribed, coerced, seduced or manipulated into seeing two colours. If they're crafty and a good actor, they might be able to put on a good show and convince people that they can see two colours, but the fact of the matter is they can't.
Another analogy that might work: if you're monosexual (I know some people don't like that word but it is le mot juste in this case), think about the prospect of being sexually attracted to the gender you aren't sexually attracted to. You just can't, can you? You could fake it, sure. You could even look at someone of your non-target gender and see intellectually why someone might be sexually attracted to them. But you just can't actually feel it yourself. Similarly, I can fake religion, and I can see intellectually why a person might engage in, say, Judaism or Buddhism. But I just can't do it for real myself.
What I'm still trying to figure out: are there actually people anywhere who can truly change their faith on demand?
Not everyone can grok this, so here's how it works:
Think of colourblindness. A person who is colourblind only sees one colour where a person with normal vision sees two colours. The colourblind person simply cannot see the two colours. They cannot be talked into seeing two colours. They cannot be reasoned, threatened, bribed, coerced, seduced or manipulated into seeing two colours. If they're crafty and a good actor, they might be able to put on a good show and convince people that they can see two colours, but the fact of the matter is they can't.
Another analogy that might work: if you're monosexual (I know some people don't like that word but it is le mot juste in this case), think about the prospect of being sexually attracted to the gender you aren't sexually attracted to. You just can't, can you? You could fake it, sure. You could even look at someone of your non-target gender and see intellectually why someone might be sexually attracted to them. But you just can't actually feel it yourself. Similarly, I can fake religion, and I can see intellectually why a person might engage in, say, Judaism or Buddhism. But I just can't do it for real myself.
What I'm still trying to figure out: are there actually people anywhere who can truly change their faith on demand?
I wonder if people and pets ever have personality conflicts
You know how sometimes you just don't get along with a person? Like even if you're both doing your best to be as friendly and civilized as possible, they just grate?
I wonder if this ever happens between people and their pets, like you get a new pet and bring them home and find that they just grate?
I wonder if this ever happens between people and their pets, like you get a new pet and bring them home and find that they just grate?
Post your hand cream recommendations here
I'm looking for a hand cream that soaks in quickly (because I'm always at the computer) and lasts a long time so I don't have to keep remoisturizing every couple of hours.
Anyone have any recommendations from personal experience?
Anyone have any recommendations from personal experience?
I wonder if there are acquaintances within large families
When I think about large families - like families with 8 or 10 or 12 kids - the thing that baffles me the most is that I can't imagine how someone could be emotionally close to that many people. For the kind of closeness where you're dependent on each other and you can't lie to each other and they truly have the ability to hurt you, I can't do more than five or six people max.
So within these large families, there must be relationships that are closer and relationships that are less close. So I wonder if any of these are acquaintance relationships? Kind of like someone at work whom you have nothing against but just don't ever end up talking to very much.
So within these large families, there must be relationships that are closer and relationships that are less close. So I wonder if any of these are acquaintance relationships? Kind of like someone at work whom you have nothing against but just don't ever end up talking to very much.
Things They Should Invent: minimum usefulness requirement for advice articles
Have you ever noticed that advice articles in newspapers and magazines very rarely contain advice that you haven't already heard of or don't already know? There are whole articles that give you no new information whatsoever!
There should be a manadatory minimum usefulness requirement for these articles. They should survey random people (random people within the target audience is fine - I get that the same advice might be new and useful to the readers of Seventeen but old hat to the readers of Cosmo), and ask them how much of this advice they did and didn't already know. If the article doesn't meet a minimum percentage usefulness to a minimum percentage of the population, they have to send it back and come up with something better.
There should be a manadatory minimum usefulness requirement for these articles. They should survey random people (random people within the target audience is fine - I get that the same advice might be new and useful to the readers of Seventeen but old hat to the readers of Cosmo), and ask them how much of this advice they did and didn't already know. If the article doesn't meet a minimum percentage usefulness to a minimum percentage of the population, they have to send it back and come up with something better.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Finally!
I look forward to finally welcoming our Afghan colleagues to Canada. We've been worrying about them for years, so I'm very happy to see our government doing something for them, if belatedly.
White House Photostream
I'm really enjoying the White House Photostream. I've never been huge on photography as an art, but looking at these pictures I'm really appreciating the photographer's sense of composition and eye for interesting details. Each picture is its own little story and they make life in the White House look vaguely fun.
It's also fun to guess which of the "candid" photos are and aren't staged. It's a bit unfortunate that the people in the comment thread don't seem to see the careful and deliberate spin, but that might just be how the comments are moderated.
It's also fun to guess which of the "candid" photos are and aren't staged. It's a bit unfortunate that the people in the comment thread don't seem to see the careful and deliberate spin, but that might just be how the comments are moderated.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Open Letter to the City of Toronto recycling program
Dear recycling people:
Thank you for that very useful flier showing me, with pictures and detailed instructions, exactly what can and cannot be recycled. I didn't realize just how extensive our recycling program is (milk cartons! styrofoam!) so now I've put the flier up on my fridge and I'm recycling much better.
However, next time you make a flier, would you mind also including those recycling numbers that are sometimes found on plastic products? I can't figure out which category this plastic bag falls under. The manufacturer has very helpfully labelled the bag with a number 4 inside the recycling symbol, but I can't figure out which of the plastic categories on your chart that corresponds to.
P.S.: If you start collecting organics from my highrise building, you'll get like 90% diversion out of me. My building has a tri-sorter and everything, we're ready whenever you are.
Thank you for that very useful flier showing me, with pictures and detailed instructions, exactly what can and cannot be recycled. I didn't realize just how extensive our recycling program is (milk cartons! styrofoam!) so now I've put the flier up on my fridge and I'm recycling much better.
However, next time you make a flier, would you mind also including those recycling numbers that are sometimes found on plastic products? I can't figure out which category this plastic bag falls under. The manufacturer has very helpfully labelled the bag with a number 4 inside the recycling symbol, but I can't figure out which of the plastic categories on your chart that corresponds to.
P.S.: If you start collecting organics from my highrise building, you'll get like 90% diversion out of me. My building has a tri-sorter and everything, we're ready whenever you are.
Worms
(Content warning: graphic descriptions of worms. In case, like, you couldn't tell from the title.)
When I was a kid, quite often after it rained there's be worms all over the sidewalks, and it would be SO gross and it would SMELL like worms outside.
It just occurred to me that that hardly ever happens any more.
Possibilities:
1. It's because I live in a city now. More paved areas = less grass for worms to live in. I think this is unlikely, because I live on a residential street and there are lawns at nearly every building. I would notice at least on the side streets.
2. It's because I live in an older neighbourhood. I don't know (and can't google up in 30 seconds) precisely when my area was first developed, but historical fact has buildings on my section of Yonge St. in the 1830s. The neighbourhood where I grew up, on the other hand, was built in 1979/1980, before which the area was farmland. Maybe worms prefer natural areas as opposed to paved and built-up areas, so the local worm population has died out or emigrated.
3. Maybe global warming or climate change or some other factor is reducing the worm population.
When I was a kid, quite often after it rained there's be worms all over the sidewalks, and it would be SO gross and it would SMELL like worms outside.
It just occurred to me that that hardly ever happens any more.
Possibilities:
1. It's because I live in a city now. More paved areas = less grass for worms to live in. I think this is unlikely, because I live on a residential street and there are lawns at nearly every building. I would notice at least on the side streets.
2. It's because I live in an older neighbourhood. I don't know (and can't google up in 30 seconds) precisely when my area was first developed, but historical fact has buildings on my section of Yonge St. in the 1830s. The neighbourhood where I grew up, on the other hand, was built in 1979/1980, before which the area was farmland. Maybe worms prefer natural areas as opposed to paved and built-up areas, so the local worm population has died out or emigrated.
3. Maybe global warming or climate change or some other factor is reducing the worm population.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Let's make some new rules for the subway
1. Point to the train. One of the unorthodox tips for riding the TTC is to exaggerate your body language so the people behind you can see that you're running for a train. While I appreciate the intentions behind that idea, its execution is difficult, passive-aggressive, and easily misinterpreted, especially on centre-platform stations. Instead, let's all point to the trains. If you see a train, point to it. If you see someone else pointing to a train, point in the same direction. Then everyone in the station will quickly know which train is there.
2. Be your own pusher. In Tokyo, they have people whose whole job is to push passengers into crowded trains. In Toronto we don't, so people stop right in front of the doors even though there's a dozen people behind them. So from now on, if someone stops right in front of the doors and you're trying to get on, push them. You don't need much of a push - I've been trying it the past couple weeks and a gentle nudge always does the job.
2. Be your own pusher. In Tokyo, they have people whose whole job is to push passengers into crowded trains. In Toronto we don't, so people stop right in front of the doors even though there's a dozen people behind them. So from now on, if someone stops right in front of the doors and you're trying to get on, push them. You don't need much of a push - I've been trying it the past couple weeks and a gentle nudge always does the job.
Rogers tech support: the good and the bad
The bad: there was a prolonged internet outage in my area yesterday.
The good: when I called Rogers tech support, I got an automated announcement informing me that there's an outage in my area and giving me an ETA for service to come back online. This quickly gave me the information I needed and saved me a lot of pressing buttons and waiting and troubleshooting.
The bad: service wasn't back online by the ETA given.
The bad: even though service wasn't back online, the automated announcement was gone.
The good: I only had to wait under 10 minutes to speak to an agent, and they gave me an estimated hold time going in.
The bad: the interrupting "we appreciate your call, please continue to hold" sort of message is way too frequent.
The good: the agent accepted my troubleshooting and my explanation that there was a previous outage, and confirmed that my area is still out.
The bad: the agent was unable to give me an ETA.
The good: the agent arranged for me to be called back when service was back online.
The bad: I was never called back.*
The possibly good, possibly bad, depending on your sleep schedule: perhaps the reason why I was never called back was because service came back online sometimes between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
The good: service was back online when I woke up this morning.
The bad: after being out for somewhere between 14 and 18 straight hours.
*Update: I just got the call back - eight hours after I noticed that it started working
The good: when I called Rogers tech support, I got an automated announcement informing me that there's an outage in my area and giving me an ETA for service to come back online. This quickly gave me the information I needed and saved me a lot of pressing buttons and waiting and troubleshooting.
The bad: service wasn't back online by the ETA given.
The bad: even though service wasn't back online, the automated announcement was gone.
The good: I only had to wait under 10 minutes to speak to an agent, and they gave me an estimated hold time going in.
The bad: the interrupting "we appreciate your call, please continue to hold" sort of message is way too frequent.
The good: the agent accepted my troubleshooting and my explanation that there was a previous outage, and confirmed that my area is still out.
The bad: the agent was unable to give me an ETA.
The good: the agent arranged for me to be called back when service was back online.
The bad: I was never called back.*
The possibly good, possibly bad, depending on your sleep schedule: perhaps the reason why I was never called back was because service came back online sometimes between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
The good: service was back online when I woke up this morning.
The bad: after being out for somewhere between 14 and 18 straight hours.
*Update: I just got the call back - eight hours after I noticed that it started working
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Things They Should Invent: let people join other countries' do not call lists
When I joined the do not call list some of my voicemail spam did drop off, so now a significant portion is taken off by that automated recording that apparently wants to lower my interest rates without bothering to tell me which card they're talking about.
According to call display these calls are coming from the States, so I tried signing up for the US do not call list. But it won't let me because my phone number isn't USian.
Why not let us join their list, and they can join our list? Or are they trying to stimulate the economy with a cross-border telemarketing industry?
According to call display these calls are coming from the States, so I tried signing up for the US do not call list. But it won't let me because my phone number isn't USian.
Why not let us join their list, and they can join our list? Or are they trying to stimulate the economy with a cross-border telemarketing industry?
Click?
The Simpsons is pronouncing clique as "click". I've always pronounced it "cleeeek".
How do you pronounce it?
How do you pronounce it?
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