July 9, 2008BabyPosted 1 month, 1 day ago on July 9, 2008 Jin and Jesse's new baby!Specs: Birth Date: July 5, 2008 Birth Time: 19:12 PST Birth Weight: 3.705kg Duration of Labour: 18.5h approx. Labour type: epidural, mid forceps (OR) July 2, 2008David Baines is my heroPosted 2 months, 1 day ago on July 2, 2008 David Baines is one of the few reasons I read the Vancouver Sun any more. The guy is a muckraking machine, relentlessly exposing fraud artists in a province with what is probably North America's last bastion of rampant fraud.His most recent article uncovered seedy dealings of the victim of a seemingly random pepper spray incident in the upscale city of West Vancouver. Turns out the victim has a history of pissing off people by losing them money. Baines is what reporters should aspire to be. Most Associated Press plagiarisms give me nothing of value to read; I can find all this stuff online for free. David Baines, on the other hand, I can only find at the Sun. If the newspaper is looking for increased readership and differentiation from the rest of the interweb, I recommend hiring more David Baineses. If anywhere in the world needs more reporters like him, it's here in BC. May 6, 2008Insane CribsPosted 4 months, 2 days ago on May 6, 2008 JF & I were looking for second hand cribs on craigslist and came across a doozy the other day (I can't find the post anymore tho). It was a designer crib that someone apparently paid in the thousands for and was offering it for the low low price of $750. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice crib but I'm always curious what makes it worth 10 times what other decent cribs are selling for.It reminds of a scene from the '80s movie Trading Places: Pawn shop owner: Man, that watch is so hot, it's smokin'. Winthorpe: Hot? Do you mean to imply, stolen? Pawn shop owner: I'll give you 50 bucks for it. Winthorpe: 50 bucks! No, no, no. This is a Rochefoucauld, the thinnest water-resistant watch in the world. Singularly unique, sculptured in design, hand-crafted in Switzerland and water-resistant to three atmospheres. This is the sports watch of the '80s. $5000 retail. Pawn shop owner: Got a receipt? Winthorpe: Look, it tells time simultaneously in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome and Gstaad. Pawn shop owner: In Philadelphia it's worth 50 bucks. Winthorpe: Just give me the money. February 7, 2008Helicopter Mitt hits the kill switchPosted 1 week ago on February 7, 2008 Surprise! Mitt drops out. I thought, for a while, he was doing his patriotic duty to stave off deflation by spending his fortune on a fruitless campaign but I guess that was too much to hope for.January 11, 2008Tradesports cutting through it allPosted 8 months, 6 days ago on January 11, 2008 Tradesports is predicting Republican and Democrat presidential nominees. What I found interesting is how low a chance Mitt Romney is being given, around 10.4% (about half of Giuliani!), but listening to media reports they make it sound like he's #2.After digging into the primary procedure it's amazing how little information is presented in the media about the actual nomination process. The Democrat process is much easier to understand, but the number of delegates for each candidate sent to the convention in the Summer is proportional to the percentage of votes cast, not winner-take-all. When we hear about Clinton or Obama "winning" certain states, it is very misleading. For example, Clinton received only 1 less delegate from the Iowa caucasus but media reports have her being handily trounced. Other oddities in the Democratic nomination process has "superdelegates" that are made of congresspeople, senators, and other specific party people. Clinton has the decided edge there. See the Democratic presidential primary 2008 wiki. July 6, 20074 more yearsPosted 1 year, 2 months ago on July 6, 2007 Russia was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics by a 1 vote margin over Pyeongchang, South Korea. This marks the second time Pyeongchang has been beaten by a narrow margin.I wonder if the same IOC members who voted against South Korea four years ago are the same ones who screwed them this time around. "Pyeongchang's bid proposed that the games would help promote winter sports in Asia and potentially spark movement toward peace and reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula." Guess we'll have to wait another 4 years for that one... February 25, 2007The Sack of SactoPosted 1 year, 7 months ago on February 25, 2007 Sacto it getting destroyed.December 12, 2006NZ photosPosted 1 year, 10 months ago on December 12, 2006 Just posted our photos from our New Zealand trip. Unfiltered.August 8, 2006Error 34735CPosted 2 years, 2 months ago on August 8, 2006 JF and I were standing in line buying some clothes. One of the cashiers taps away at her touch screen.After 3-4 minutes of frantic button pushing she clicks on her headset communicator and says, "Hey John or Carla if you have your mic on, what does 'Error communicating with credit card confirmation server' mean?" To which in a condescending tone I reply, "Exactly what it says." JF then whacks me across my gut, but I was ready for it before the words came out of my mouth. Nice try though, honey. Interesting lesson. No matter how well-written an error message, most users still need help fixing the problem. The teller still needed help from her supervisor, her supervisor needed training from the product support engineer, and the product support engineer needed training from the design engineers. One could almost argue a unique error code with some unreleated haiku or limerick would be as effective an error message as 'Error communicating with credit card confirmation server.' Certainly there are good error messages and bad ones. I cannot argue this particular error message was bad, only that it should perhaps describe how to remedy the error. Notwithstanding it would be neat to see it written in trochaic tetrameter. May 17, 2006Not Dead YetPosted 2 years, 5 months ago on May 17, 2006 As predicted, the Wal Mart in Vancouver debate has risen from the ashes. This time, likely, the chain will be given the go-ahead to build a store in Vancouver. I don't know what sort of margins Wal Mart is expecting from this store, but it seems weird they would want one so close to inner-city Vancouver.Vancouver is a bit of a strange city, partly due to the high turnover of immigrant businesses. Walking down a street 3-4km away from the proposed site, I count 6 dollar stores. I know that these stores change hands every couple of years when a new family comes to run it. A specific type of immigration visa requires some immigrants to be self-employed for 2 years and owning a shop such as this is a good way of fulfilling this requirement. But what this means is that likely the business is run at a loss or at near-zero margins as the incentive for the owners is not necessarily to make money, but to fulfill their immigration requirements. Can Wal Mart compete with those who don't mind losing money? The only thing Wal Mart has going for it is brand recognition, service, and diversity of inventory. But on price I doubt they can beat Vancouver's dollar shops Indiatowns and Chinatowns. Add to this the excessive building costs for their proposed "green" building and who knows if they will ever turn a profit that pulls Wal Mart's margins higher. My advice to Wal Mart: save your money. Consider buying back your shares or increasing your dividend. But doing business in Vancouver is not like doing business in Tulsa. |
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