Gas In Saskatoon, February 22, 2013.

Another week of pingponging gas prices.  Over the weekend the price dropped to 115.9 cents a litre.  By midweek it had jumped to 121.9 cents a litre  And yesterday it dropped again, right after I filled the gas tank on the car.  How annoying.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 115.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Always Remember.

Before you get out of your vehicle, make sure you have the keys in your pocket or other carrying place.  it will save you a lot of walking.  Especially since payphones seem about as rare as unicorn poop these days.

Vile Tongues.

Listening to CBC Saskatchewan's noon show today I heard about an interesting project.  Madam Premier is a new Tumblr site, run by Diamond Isinger, that's collecting examples of sexist Tweets, forum posts etc. about Canadian female politicans.  And boy, has Ms. Isinger found some doozies.  As is often the case you wonder what some of those people sound like in real life.  Are they that nasty and vulgar, or does the Internet offer them the opportunity to say things they'd be wary of doing in real life? 

Hopefully some of these people will come to regret saying stuff like that.  But I doubt it.

I'm Alive.

There wasn\t really anything to worry about, of course, but if you were wondering, I made it back in one piece.  I definitely wish it had been warmer.  I have more to do tomorrow, and the weather looks like it might be slightly nicer.

If I Don't Post Again...

...it's because I'll be frozen in a block of ice someplace.  I have a bunch of outdoor work to do over the next few days, and temperatures here in Saskatoon will not be pleasant.  Today's predicted high is -19.

Of course the truth is that I've been out in weather like this for extended periods before.  I'll have access to a car for shelter.  And I've got enough brains in my head to get out of the cold for a while if I think things are going bad.

Rock Music.

Given the goings on in the sky over the last few days it seems appropriate to post this one.

Having done a bit of online reading about Killing Joke vocalist/leader Jaz Coleman, and some of the odd ideas he supposedly believes in,  the question is obvious.  Coleman, kook or prankster?  Coleman, true believer, or laughing at people taking him so seroiusly?

Gas In Saskatoon, February 15, 2013.

Saskatoon residents may wonder why there wasn't one of these last week, as the price of gas did change.  And that was the problem.  The price fluctuated so much it was unclear last Friday exactly what the typical price was, as there were at least four different prices, depending on what station you looked at.  Things are bit less complicated this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 118.9 cents a litre at most locations. 

An Interesting Employee.

Currently there's a kiosk for the well known charity World Vision in Saskatoon's Centre at Circle and 8th mall. One of the girls working there is a Muslim.  World Vision is a Christian charity, so it obviously surprised me.  Unless of course there's some Christian sect whose women regularly wear hijabs that |I'm unfamiliar with. 

It Won't Be Long.

If you haven't already, go to  YouTube, or your favourite news site, and check out footage of today's meteor incidence in Russia.  It's amazing to see one so visible during the day.  And the sonic booms are loud even if you're just listening via your computer.

As we get more information about this we're also likely to see a bunch of  nonsense as well.  Some will claim that it wasn't actually a meteor, but some sort of weapon.  Others will claim it was an alien spacecraft, or a sign of some horrible thing that will soon come out of the sky and kill us all.  The fact we're about to have a very close visit by an asteroid will help drive certain theories, although scientists say the two have nothing to do with each other.  And no doubt some religious fanatic will claim it's a warning from God about Russia not doing something, or doing something.

Stealing Their Thunder.

When I heard on the radio this morning that North Korea tested another nuclear weapon I jokingly wondered if they did so because of Pope Benedict resigning.  After all that story dominated much of the international news yesterday, and North Korea loves to be the centre of attention.  It's also a reasonable guess that the Roman Catholic Church is yet another of the numerous groups on North Korea's official "We hate these guys!" list.

More seriously no one is happy about this.  Even China, the closest thing North Korea has to an ally, is not amused.  It's a reasonable guess that North Korea has a ways to go to build a deliverable nuclear weapon.  But if they keep this up it will happen, and it may encourage other states in the region to consider their own nukes.  Japan for example could probably build a deliverable nuke fairly quickly, and adapting its space launch rockets into ballistic missiles wouldn't be hard for them either.

I Hope It Doesn't Give Her Ideas.

No doubt you'll have heard about Pope Benedict's resignation by the time you read this.  I can only hope his actions don't inspire certain others to follow.  Specifically Queen Elizabeth.  I don't know about you, but I'm not particularly fond of Prince Charles and some of his ideas, so I'm in no hurry to see him on the throne.

The tabloids will no doubt have a field day with this.  They'll claim all sorts of evil goings on as the "real" reason Benedict resigned, or start babbling about him making prophecies.

Because of his age Benedict was often suspected of being a transitional Pope, one who was chosen precisely because he wouldn't be Pope long, so younger candidates could strengthen their positions.  Maybe we'll see some evidence of this as the process of choosing a new Pope begins.

Lots Of Work.

Quitting negative behaviours is hard, isn't it?  There are things I'm trying to stop doing, but progress is slow.  You get used to a cycle, a pattern, and then trying to end that pattern becomes troublesome.  And the stuff I'm trying to stop doesn't have the addictive quality of certain behaviours.  I can only imagine what it must be like trying to quit drugs, where you can develop a strong physical dependence on their use. 

Will He Be A Menace?

While I was out and about today a woman and her perhaps 4 year old son sat near me on the bus.  His name was Dennis.  An unusual name for a little boy these days, and thinking about it I suspect it's an unusual name for anybody under 40 or so.  It's probably not as archaic a name, if you will, as a name like Eunice or Margery, but it might be getting there.

Patience.

Someone here in Saskatoon sure is interested to see what I'll post next.  They've been checking the blog a lot over the past couple of days.  Unfortunately for them I don't post that frequently.  I can go a week at times without posting.  Guess I need to produce more content to make it worth their while.

Clone High On Shaw VOD.

Clone High was a 2002 co-production by MTV and Canada's Teletoon.  The cartoon series revolved around a high school whose students were clones of various historical figures, created for purposes the series never got a chance to reveal.  The main characters were JFK, Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and Gandhi, along with crazed principal Cinnamon J. Scudworth and his robotic butler Mr. Butlertron.  Apparently the last 5 of the 13 episodes made weren't aired in the US,  The show's demise has sometimes been blamed on Indian complaints about the portrayal of Gandhi, who was portrayed as a  horny teen with little sign of the original's intellect, although poor ratings are a much more likely explanation.

If you were a fan of the series, or if it sounds interesting, and are a Shaw Cable customer, you can currently watch the complete series via Shaw Video on Demand.   Click on Other TV  then Kids TV, then Shaw Kids Club, then Teen.   The episodes are located after the 6teen episodes, and are free.

The Right Tool.

As the Canadian penny passes into retirement I'll mention another reason I'll be sad to see it go.  Pennies make an excellent tool for scratching off scratch and win tickets.  I'm thinking I'll hold on to the handful I've got left for just that purpose.  But inevitably I'll lose them from my pocket, so I'll have to try something else eventually.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 1, 2013.

Last week's post turned out to be a bit premature.  The price of gas actually dropped 2 cents after I wrote it, to 105.9 cents a litre.  But this week we saw a big jump in the other direction.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 115.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Yep, a 10 cent jump at a rather slow time of year for driving.  I suspect we may see some more large jumps over the next while.