Things They Should Invent: Restore points for the Sims

There was a small error happening in my Sims: the helicopter (which takes one of my Sims to work) wouldn't appear. After that, none of the vehicles would appear, so one of my Sims was stuck at work and the others lost their jobs.

I used the boolprop testingcheatsenbabled cheat to see if I could fix it, and in the process of trying to do so, I accidentally deleted one of my Sims. I then needed to save and return to neighbourhood, but I wasn't sure if the deleted Sim would come back or not, so I ended up not saving.

It would have been really helpful if I could have created a restore point before each boolprop modification, so that if I really messed up the house, I could just go back and undo it. As it stands, I can only go back to my last save, which isn't helpful when you're blindly trying to fix a bug as opposed to playing normally.

If anyone got here through that particular error message, here's what I did: I did boolprop as mentioned above, and got a pop-up error message when the helicopter was supposed to come, informing me that there was an error with the helicopter and creating an error log (this didn't happen when I wasn't in boolprop). I clicked on "delete," and the helicopter didn't come, but the game continued and the other vehicles came. So the Sim that took the helicopter to work ended up losing her job, but the others got to come and go normally. It is possible that there is a better solution out there, this is just the best I could work out myself.

Adjective abuse

1. There is a variety of aerobics called Urban Rebounding. Basically it incorporates one of those little round black trampolines. So, um, what exactly is "urban" about this?

2. Read the last anecdote on this page. The story-teller's point is obviously "OMG, this restaurant guy is so stupid, he doesn't know what the word plain means." But if you read it carefully, you'll notice that the customer is doing nothing whatsoever to promote understanding. He is just repeating himself over and over ad infinitum in exactly the same words. Obviously the sandwich-maker doesn't understand what he means by a "plain" sandwich, but the customer never makes any attempt to rephrase. I don't know if the customer's accent doesn't make the word "plain" sound clear. I don't know if the sandwich-maker's understanding of the English language (whether through dialect or ESL) precludes his understanding of "plain." But as soon as the sandwich-maker stated outright that he didn't understand the word plain, the customer should have rephrased, saying "Just bread and meat, nothing else," or whatever it was he actually meant. I used to work in fast food, and when a customer ordered a "plain" burger, they could mean bun & patty; bun, cheese & patty; bun, cheese, bacon & patty; or even just a patty. The story-teller's intent is to make the sandwich-maker look stupid, but he also makes himself look stupid.

Seen in the grocery store

1. A little old lady, staring at her shopping cart, saying "But how does it work?" There was nothing in the cart, and I could see nothing out of the ordinary about the cart itself.

2. A lady crossing herself before pulling a cart out of the big-line-of-carts thing.

3. A very small dog wearing a coat. Unfortunately, the coat had a fur collar.

Open Letter to my Toronto City Councillor

I am writing to draw your attention to an egregious and unfortunate waste of city resources.

A number of OMG Media garbage bins are currently displaying ads for the new Megabins. An example can be found on the northeast corner of Yonge & Eglinton (the ad in question is on the side of the bin that faces the street), and Paved has been kind enough to supply photographic evidence.

I'm sure I don't need to explain why it's ridiculous to advertise a garbage bin on another garbage bin. Anyone in the presence of an OMG bin has no need for a garbage bin, since the OMG bin will immediately meet all their garbage disposal needs.

If it really is necessary to advertise the Megabins, do so somewhere other than on a garbage bin. Otherwise, stop buying up your own ad space, and let someone else buy it to generate revenue for the city!

I want my dream back!

Last night I had a dream where Stephen Harper did something wrong - like broke some small, niggling, unspoken rule - thus triggering an election before he had even officially taken power. Elections Canada was unprepared, so there were no parties and no candidates. So I was trying to vote for mi cielito, but I had to undertake this weird sequence of tasks to cast my vote - like some bizarro scavenger hunt combined with the Neverending Story combined with a Marx Brothers movie.

When I woke up, I really missed the dream and wanted to go back, but I had no idea why. Then I remembered - in my dream I had a dog! I had a big yellow lab that followed me around everywhere throughout my adventures, and smiled and wagged its tail at me. We had so many adventures together! I want my puppy back! :(

Fun fact: if you initiate a court case, you instantly become googleable

I cannot wait until Doug Anglin tries to get a job, since it is widely-disseminated public knowledge (not to mention the entire first page of google results) that he considers being expected to follow rules, sit down, and do his work grounds for a lawsuit.

Yes, I bought it just for the pilates ball

The Globe and Mail's Leah McLaren seems to have a certain disdain for people who would buy Special K for the pilates ball.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I did just that. Here's why:

I was in the market for a pilates ball already. They are often used in the exercise program I (try to) follow. I've tried to improvise with various household items, but they weren't quite comfortable to grip for such a long time - it would hurt my forearms in a bad way. However, all the balls I found available commercially either came in a set of different-sized balls, or came with a DVD. I didn't much fancy the idea of spending the extra money just to have extra junk cluttering up my home - all I wanted was one ball! Then the Special K offer came along, so for just a couple of bucks I got a ball, plus a box of cereal (which I don't eat regularly, but like to keep around the house as a staple). If that makes me a prole or a lemming or a slave to marketing or whatever, so be it.

Poor writing

I find poor writing - the kind that's the result of undereducation - very difficult to read. I find it particularly difficult when the writer uses punctuation incorrectly or uses no punctuation in a place where punctuation is necessary. These punctuation errors don't just make it difficult, they often impede meaning.

I wonder if these grammatical errors are equally difficult to read for other undereducated people - people whose writing skills (or lack thereof) are at about the same level as those of the writer of the ungrammatical text.

For example, in a book I'm reading about WWI, they included a snippet of a letter from an uneducated enlisted man. He used practially no punctuation, and I found it very difficult to understand. But did his family back home, who presumably aren't much more educated than he is, find it easier to read than I did because they don't write much better.

On TTC crowding

I commute northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening. My entire commute takes place north of Bloor. My morning commute is at the tail end of rush hour. I have to stand maybe 25% of the time, maybe less.

I don't feel overcrowded, but that does not negate the fact that other people in other places do. So it occurred to me: what if they short-turned subways? That would make my commute a little less pleasant, but we've got plenty of capacity up here, heading upstream. So what if, in the morning, every second or third northbound train short-turned at Bloor or Eglinton instead of heading all the way up to Finch. I know they did this in the past and then stopped, so perhaps there's a very good reason why, but it seems to me like something that would work.

If I could make the world understand one thing about introversion...

Yes, as an introvert, I do enjoy being alone. I recharge when alone, I'm at peace when alone. However, when I am with another person, it does not make it more comfortable to just sit there in silence. Just sitting there alone in silence does not give me the recharge that being alone does. It often feels awkward if we're just there without anything specific to do - just like it does for extroverts - so I'd much rather have a pleasant conversation to pass the time. Yes, there can be a comfortable silence in an extremely close relationship (like marriage-close, or possibly marriage-potential-were-it-not-for-incompatible-gender/sexual orientation-combination-close), and yes, I feel no awkwardness about silently riding the elevator or the bus instead of chit-chatting with strangers. But with friends, acquaintances, colleagues, classmates, etc. it is not in any way helpful or enjoyable to just sit there in silence. Use your extrovert skills to help guide me through a pleasant conversation instead, and I'll recharge later when I get home.

A word about commenting

Under the comment box, there are three options: Blogger login, Other, and Anonymous. If you don't have a Blogger login or don't want to comment under your usual screenname, click on Other instead of Anonymous. Then you can fill in the Name blank with the name of your choice. Please be consistent about the name you use - it's rather annoying when there are multiple Anonymouses. :)

Being compassionate means not embarrassing your children

The following is a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star from one Robert Campbell. I can't seem to find it online, but it's on page A21 of today's paper, in the very bottom left hand corner.

Who is the real Stephen Harper? the man who, during the campaign, was photographed cuddling babies or the man, now elected, who walked his children to school and shook their hands instead of giving them a kiss on the cheek? So much for a compassionate Canada.

Three things occurred to me upon reading this:

1. When I was Mr. Harper's children's age (I believe they're 7 and 9), I did not like it when my father kissed me. I do not know whether the Harper kids feel the same way, but it is certainly possible they do. If they do not want their father to kiss them, then he's doing the compassionate thing by not kissing them.

2. Even if they don't mind being kissed, it's possible that being kissed by one's father is the sort of thing that would get them tormented by their classmates, especially in the case of the 9-year-old boy. This was certainly the case when I was in elementarly school. If this is the case in their elementary school, then Mr. Harper is doing the compassionate thing by not kissing them when there are photographers around, thus avoiding having a photograph of the kids in a torment-worthy situation appear in all the major newspapers.

3. Displays of affection, in general, are a very personal thing. There are always private dynamics to any relationship governing what is a reasonable display of affection in any given situation. An outside observer cannot accurately determine what kind of affection is appropriate to the individuals in the relationship. I'm sure if I followed Mr. Campbell around commenting on the appropriateness of his displays of affection, he would not appreciate it. The Harper children deserve the same respect. If he wants to find evidence of Stephen Harper not being a compassionate individual, I'm sure he can find it in policy. Leave the poor kids alone!

Insider Trading

This week's Ethicist deals with a doctor who finds out, in his professional capacity, that the CEO of a major company is seriously ill. The doctor wants to know if he can ethically sell his stock in this company. Randy Cohen says this would be considered insider trading.

But then, under the insider trading rules, can the doctor EVER sell his stock? In general, if you acquire insider information, can you EVER change the investment in question? What if he wanted to sell it anyway? What if he needed to liquidate it so he could use the money for something else?

Things I Don't Understand about the election results

1. It seems that some 36% of Canadians don't feel it necessary to improve the social safety net. This absolutely boggles my mind. Even if we completely discount any possible feelings of altruism, this means that more than one third of all Canadians do not think it possible that they or their loved ones will ever lose their jobs or not be able to find new jobs before the money runs out. And these are all people who lived through the early 90s recession and the dot-com bust, and yet they feel completely financially secure, no matter what happens. More than one third! This is simply unfathomable to me.

2. I don't get Stephen Harper's whole "The West got in!" thing. Yes, I am aware of the history of "The West wants in," but I just dno't get equating right-wingedness with "the West". (Aside for non-Canadians: in the context of Canada as a whole, "the West" means the western provinces, not the western hemisphere). Perhaps people ar emore conservative out west, I wouldn' tknow, I've never discussed politics in Alberta, but why would you equate your national party with only part of the country? Isn't that just going to alienate the voters in the rest of Canada who voted Conservative instead of Liberal this time around? Isn't that terribly insulting to socialists in the western provinces? If their intention is to represent "the West," they should do so explicitly. Set it out in their platform, call themselves the Western Bloc. But if their intention is to be a right-wing national party, they should be national.

Update

Based on the information currently available, I voted correctly. I think the overall outcome could have been better, I also think it could have been worse. However, I voted precisely as I would have if I'd gone into that polling station knowing exactly how the outcome would have been.

There were I think four ridings I was following closely, because my close friends live there and I know their politics. The voting system I've been advocating produced the correct results in all four of those ridings; in other words, if my friends followed my system (and I don't know whether they did or not, it's none of my business) they would have cast the best possible vote for their ridings, given their politics. I don't directly and openly share political views with that many people, so I can't really vouch for the situation in more ridings.

More tomorrow evening - I have to be at work in 8 hours.

Voting

I felt like one of the elves, going in to fight at Helms Deep - a futile symbolic gesture, going out in a blaze of glory. I was wearing comfy runners, but I walked as tall as if I'd been wearing heels. I looked everyone I passed directly in the eye, unsmiling, with the kind of stare that would be considered a challenge among pack animals, not knowing who among them might be my judge, jury, or executioner. Into the polling station. Handed my ballot. Listened attentively to the instructions, despite the fact that I've done this many times before. I ceremonially bore the ballot over to the voting table, carefully unfolded it, and carefully, deliberately read the four familiar names, which I could have rattled off in my sleep.

Given my personal politics and the situation in the riding, I was faced with two clear choices: vote like a Gryffindor, or vote like a Slytherin.

I marked my X, folded the ballot off correctly, handed it back to the election lady so she could tear off the tear-off section, and placed it in the box with a jaunty tap. Then I thanked the lady and went home for a quick nap before I faced my doom.

I voted like a Gryffindor.

I'll walk the plank
Yes, I'll jump with a smile
If I'm gonna go down
I'm gonna do it with style

My kingdom for a Ravenclaw option.

Voters' Resources

This post has been post-dated, so it will be on top until election day. If the date and time indicated for the post have not yet passed, there may be new posts beneath this one.

This is an attempt to collect all the information you need to make an informed vote in one post. If I have missed anything, please feel free to leave a link in the comment.

Getting Started

First, go to the Elections Canada website and type in your postal code to find out your riding, your candidates, and where to vote.

If you have not received your voter information card, you can still vote on election day, you just need to take ID with your address and signature.

Your employer has to give you enough time off to ensure that you have three consecutive hours off during polling hours.

Issues

The platforms:

English summary of the Bloc Quebecois platform
Issue-by-issue summary of the Conservative platform
Green platform
Issue-by-issue summary of the Liberal platform
Issue-by-issue summary of the NDP platform

Tools to help you decide which party is best for you:

CBC Vote By Issue
Politics Watch Vote Selector
Globe and Mail Voter Analyzer

Strategy and Predictions

My "How to Vote"
My "Where to Vote"

Election Prediction Project
Hill and Knowlton Election Predictor To use this tool you need poll results, which can be found at the Globe and Mail, as well as most other media outlets.
DemocraticSPACE Strategic Voting Guide and seat predictions
Jord's Election Prediction (national and regional seat projectsion, but no seat-by-seat)

If I've missed anything, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

At Home in the World: Canada’s Global Vision for the 21st Century by Jennifer Welsh

I really appreciated this book because it dealt intelligently with Canada's foreign policy without lapsing into the whole "OMG! Canada must be the single greatest country in the world or else we'll be a FAILURE!" thing. The author actually outright advocates Canada carving out a niche for itself as a minor power rather than trying to be a major global power, which I find quite refreshing. I did find it a bit off-putting that the author was discussing certain things that I consider to have an ethical component (like military involvement) from a purely pragmatic political perspective, without even considering ethics, but I guess that's what happens in international relations. It remains to be seen how relevant this book will be after Monday though.

"Look what I found in the parking lot..."

In the move Catch Me If You Can, the protagonist tries on a number of occasions to bribe various female employees with a necklace, presenting it as something like "Look what I found in the parking lot! It must have slipped right off your neck!"

That wouldn't work on me. Not because I'm so freaking virtuous, but because I'm so socially awkward I wouldn't recognize it as a bribe attempt. I would be all "No, that isn't mine at all - we should probably turn it in at the front desk in case someone comes by to claim it." If someone came up to me with "Look what I found," it would never occur to me to claim it as mine just because it's nice.