Archive for September, 2009

Austin Powers Cat; Self-Generated in Toronto Alley

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Well not exactly, but the cat was found in a Toronto neighbourhood called Roncesvalles.

According to the Toronto Star, these hairless mutants were found in an alley in this Polish neighbourhood. Once local delinquents’ hi-jinks had been ruled out, and a Toronto Vet had been called in, the world started on the path to welcoming a new breed. The breed, called theSphinx, is hairless.  The most famous example is Mr. Bigglesworth from the Austin Powers’ trilogy.  I wonder if Mike Myer’s being a Toronto native had anything to do with that…

So there you go, another Random Toronto, Ontario bit of Trivia.

Posted in Toronto | No Comments »

Buy Windows; Eradicate Polio?

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

It seems there is a really good reason to buy a legal copy of Windows.  A substantial chunk of that money might go to ridding the world of Polio.

Bill Gates Foundation, Rotary International and the British and German governments today pledged $630 million over the next five years to vaccine and other programs designed to wipe out polio.

Since 1988, the WHO, the U.S. and other governments as well as charitable orgs such as Gates and Rotary have contributed $6 billion to eradicating polio. The international effort has cut polio cases by over 99 percent, from some 350,000 in 1988 to about 1,600 last year.

Full Story here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bill-gates-hands-over-millions-more-2009-01-21

Getting a stadium or a school named after you is cool, but really that’s more of an egotrip legacy thing than a true good to society.  Eradicating a disease that has destroyed millions of lives last century, and untold millions before that?  THAT is cool.

But I think that Bill’s greatest contribution isn’t contributing moral, organisational and financial support for this. Nor even MS Products that make my life easier. It’s that he made it cool for the mega rich to become real philanthropists.  Warren Buffet, for a long time the second richest man in America, after dear Bill, is going to contribute the bulk of his wealth to support the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (story here).  I imagine he won’t be the only one.

Whether you took a note from George Soros’ OSI (that gets 10 times the efficiency in project spending compared to the EU), or just did it on your own, it’s good stuff Bill.  Well done.

Posted in Colin's Random Rants | No Comments »

Toronto Legal Aid “Strike”?

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Toronto’s summer’s strike had garbage was literally left on the streets, but the coming weeks and months may see it shift from the literal to the metaphorical.

Toronto defence lawyers began a boycott of legal aid cases in June.  The boycott soon spread to other Ontario cities. The issue was that the systems rate haven’t kept up with inflation, whichi s fine for a year or two of hardship but the legal profession argues that decades of underfunding means the rates are simply no longer acceptable – at least for lengthy court cases.  And lengthy court cases are what occur when defendants try to prove they didn’t, indeed, pull the trigger that killed a suspected gang member.

The boycott seems to have worked as the Provincial Government has put $150 million into the Ontario legal aid system.  I’m not sure where that money comes from at a time of massive government deficient but hey, at maybe they can take it from the funds they were gonna put towards the streetcars we don’t need.

Posted in Toronto | 1 Comment »

Cure for Colour Blindness

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

We all have a bucketlist – I don’t actually call mine that, but I do have one. One of the top 5 things is to see the fall colours that Canada is famous for.

You see — I don’t see them. I have red-green colour blindness – it’s a pain with traffic lights, a lot of professions are closed to me and I can even dress right.

But gene therapy for humans doesn’t seem that far off. They’ve got it down in Monkey. By that I mean they can use insert genes that help guide the cone cells to become “proper” cone cells. They are using human genes in the Monkeys so they have the right genes even.

To me, if this does actually occur, this is wonderful gift far more important than any work of art, any opera, any form of creativity — it’ll let me SEE the creativity of thousands of years of human works.

For now tho, I can’t. If you want to read the full article, here ya go.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Colin's Random Rants | No Comments »

Google Newsletter Spam

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Google the Newsletter Spammer

So I’ve been hit up by a meaningless Google newsletter for a while now, and finally decided to unsubscribe.  I press on the link saying “unsubscribe”, send the autogenerated email, and I’m free right?  No, no, that would be COMPETENCE…so instead I get a failed mail back into the inbox.  I’ve included some of the content below for tech types.

<inside-adwords-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>:
209.85.221.207 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try
550-5.1.1 double-checking the recipient’s email address for typos or
550-5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at
550 5.1.1 http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6596 24si865811qyk.2 Giving up on 209.85.221.207.

So while they know I exist because they actually mail their now-usless newsletter to me, but won’t acknowledge I exist to allow me to stop them harassing me by mail!

I assume that comes from the fact that nowhere in the newsletter does it identify which of my accounts it’s emailing.  And yes, that includes the “to” field.  So the automail generated back for unsubscribe comes from my default mail, not perhaps the one they normally send it through to me. So I guess to get it really stopped I have to go through a list of mails, and send ‘em mails from ALL of those.

Paaaathetic.  Google, you’re a pathetic spammer. Get your act together — ’cause right now you’re spamming me.

Posted in Colin's Random Rants | No Comments »

Rogers Telemarketing — FAIL!

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

So I’m on the phone with Rogers getting something verified (their online instructions for verifying external mails actually don’t work).   They want a bunch more contact info, which I give them, but with the caveat to remove me from any more marketing phone calls, or emails.

While I am on the phone with them, I’m interupted twice by my second line calling. It’s ROGERS trying to market stuff to me.  The number, if you were curious was 250-260-3907.

Rogers it’s impressive but you found a new way to fail.

Posted in Colin's Random Rants | 6 Comments »

These are the Colins I know, I know, …

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

So we all know about Colin Ferguson the Canadian Actor – (lead in Eureka, the TV show), and Colin Ferguson the guy who Massacred a Long Island Train.  Oh yes, there’s me too, but I don’t even show up in the first ten results on Google for the name, so do I even qualify?

Anyway, there is a new kid on the block.

A few weeks back girlfriend received an email from one of our favourite local wineries…their big news was they’ve hired ME as their new Winemaker!  After a hurried phone call, my girlfriend confirmed it wasn’t actually me but rather another Colin Ferguson taking over as Winemaker at Cattail Creek the Niagara, Canada Winery!  If you want, check out Colin Ferguson, the Winemaker.

But if he messes their Catastrophe Ice wine and it’s perfect Orange-Infusion, then he’s off the good list.

Posted in Colin's Random Rants | 1 Comment »