Gas In Saskatoon, September 26, 2008.

No picture today. I forgot my camera. Today gas in Saskatoon at most stations was 126.9 cents a litre, 3 cents down from last week.

This post was brought to you by Pornsack Songsaeng's Luck Andro and Ginger Baker's Horses and Trees, the cassettes I was listening to as I drove.

Scheduling.

Sunday night saw the last major league baseball game held at Yankees Stadium. (Unfortunately I missed the broadcast.) Frankly I was a bit surprised at this. You would think that given this historic event has been in the offing for a good while now Major League Baseball would have scheduled it for the last day of the season. Instead the Yankess will end their season on a road trip, including 3 games starting tonight against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Of course one assumes a lot of people thought that the Yankees would make the playoffs, and hence Sunday's game wouldn't have been the last. The new stadium is located across the street and will be open for the start of next season. The cost? A measily 1.3 billion. Nice cash if you have it.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 19. 2008.

What a difference a week makes.

A Bargain.

Like a bargain? Me too. Here's mine for today, a couple of CDs I picked up at the Centre at Circle and 8th Zellers for a buck each. Even with the tax they came to less than a bottle of Coke and a bag of chips. At that price if you don't like them you can toss 'em if you really want to. On top we have Steppin' Out by Genesis touring guitarist/bassist Daryl Stuermer. It's '80s style rock/light jazz instrumentals, some of which could probably have been used as TV themes. Nothing special but competently performed and recorded. Then we have Pete Townshend's peculiar 1993 concept album Psychoderelict. Not only do you get songs you get quite a bit of dialogue as well. Apparently this was sufficiently off putting to a lot of people when the album came out that Pete later released a music only version. And without getting into details some of the plot seems eerily prophetic of events that would happen to Pete some years later.

Woo Board?

This billboard, which has been up for a good while in Saskatoon's downtown, has made me raise my eyebrows more than once. It features what sounds like a dubious idea. A bit of research indicates a 2001 study did claim milk production from cows varied depending on what kind of music was played, with calmer music leading to more milk production than louder, faster music. But colour me skeptical, especially since the study has apparently had no followup. So I can't help but wonder if the school board should be using the idea in it's advertising. On the other hand it is an ad for the music program, not the science courses. If it for the latter I would find it a lot more questionable.

Rick Wright, RIP.

It was announced this morning that Rick Wright has died of cancer at age 65. Wright was a founding member of Pink Floyd, meeting group co-founders Roger Waters and Nick Mason while they were architecture students. Besides being the group's keyboardist he wrote a number of songs for Pink Floyd, including "Us and Them" from Dark Side of the Moon, and sang either lead or harmony vocals on many Floyd cuts. Wright would be forced from the band in 1979 by Roger Waters due to personal frictions between them, and ironically would actually make money from the tours for The Wall as a hired gun, unlike his fellow Floyd members who lost money. Wright rejoined the Floyd for 1987's Momentary Lapse of Reason album and remained a member until the group's unofficial demise in the early 2000s. Wright also released several solo albums during his career as well as appearing on David Gilmour's most recent solo album On an Island.

Listen To The Music...

...tell me who this is by. The music used in this opening credits sequence to the movie Invasion UFO, a film compiled from various episodes of Gerry Anderson's 1969 sci fi series UFO, is not by Barry Gray. I'm sure this piece of music was used as a theme song to some program in the late '70s or early '80s, and if so someone should have a clue what it is.

Nine Years On.

It's that time of year again. In certain universes it was nine years ago on this date that the Moon was blown out of Earth orbit by the detonation of a huge stockpile of nuclear waste as the result of an unforeseen interaction with the surrounding lunar rock. If you're visiting from one of them I hope you enjoyed any chances you've had to see the Moon in its proper place in the sky.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 12, 2008.

The price of gas in Saskatoon jumped this afternoon from 134.9 cents a litre to 145.9 cents. That's one of the biggest jumps ever I can remember. They're blaming it on Hurricane Ike threatening oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, which is rather amusing and bemusing given that the oil used to make gas for the Saskatoon market doesn't come from the Gulf, and the refineries are located here, not Texas.

Gobblegobble.

Is it telling that the Canadian federal election, announced over the weekend, will take place the day after Canadian Thanksgiving? Certainly most Canadian visitors to this blog can think of politicians, and if they're really mean whole parties, who they think are turkeys. The choice of dates may also prove appropriate given that like the evening meal the day after Thanksgiving, which generally consists of more of the same from the night before, this election may well produce more of the same, another Conservative Party minority government.

While I'm on the subject I must mention one way in which the Canadian electoral system is superior to that of the United States, no argument.(Sorry, but if you disagree you are quite simply WRONG!) Unlike the United States, where you must be born American to run for President, any citizen of Canada can become Prime Minister of Canada. In the current election if by some miracle the Green Party won sufficient seats to form a government Green leader Elizabeth May, who immigrated to Canada from Conneticut when she was a teen, could become PM. On the other hand someone who has spent most of their life in the US and became a citizen as soon as possible cannot become President.

Have You Seen Her?

If you live in Saskatoon the answer is yes. This photo, seen here on a large billboard, is part of the current Midtown Plaza shopping mall advertising campaign. As with similar photos used in past campaigns I'm curious to know if this photo was taken specifically for Midtown Plaza, or if it's a stock photo or part of other campaigns by the mall's owner, Oxford Properties. So if you've seen it elsewhere let me know.

Sorry, Guys.

I like you. I really do. But I'm afraid I need to start seeing you a lot less often. Spending too much time with you is just not good for me.