COVFEFE!!!!!!

Yes, I too will acknowledge the wondrous wordiness that is covfefe.  All hail the mighty covfefe!  I just have to make sure I'm one of the first 194712947218972 people to post something about it on the very first day it exists.  I hope that by doing so I will get zillions and zillions of hits.

Unfortunately my previous attempts at such Shameless Hit Mongering really haven't worked.  But this time for sure!

Gas In Saskatoon, May 26. 2017.

The confusing path of Saskatoon gas prices continues.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 102.9 cents a litre at most locations.   I wouldn't be surprised to see prices go in either direction next week.

1000.

Today I received my 1000th hit at Where's Willy.  It kind of snuck up on me over the last couple of weeks.  My next milestone will be my 900th bill hit, but that's a good way away, since today's hit was my 841st bill hit.  It's theoretically possible I could reach 1100 hits before 900 bills hit, but I'd have to see my re-hit rate go up quite heavily for that to happen.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 19, 2017.

Fortunately my prediction last week was wrong.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 96.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully it will drop some more next week.

Stro Makes It Go.

If you're a Jays fan I hope you've been watching the game tonight.  Marcus Stroman hit the first home run of his career just a few minutes ago.  The only other Jays pitcher to hit a home run  was Mark Hendrickson back in 2003 against the Montreal Expos.  So cool.

"Superman" Crashes.

Kevin Pillar has been one of the most popular Toronto Blue Jays over the last couple of years.  He regularly makes spectacular catches in the outfield, and this year has been one of the team's best hitters.  But his popularity may take a hit after last night's game against the Atlanta Braves.  After striking out to Braves reliever Jason Motte in the seventh inning Pillar threw a number of curses at Motte, which reportedly included a homophobic slur.  After the game Pillar apologised, but Major League Baseball is investigating the incident, and sanctions may be possible. 

This is sure to remind some Blue Jays fans of Yunel Escobar.  During a 2012 game then Jays shortstop Escobar had a Spanish language homophobic slur written in his eye black.  The team suspended him for three games, and donated his salary for those games to gay rights groups.  There would later be speculation that Escobar's tenure with the team was cut short due to his behaviour, as he was traded to the Miami Marlins late that year. His contract was set to continue into the 2013 season, with options for 2014 and 2015. 

If Pillar were to be suspended for this incident, even if presumably only for two or three games, it would just add to the woes of the Jays, who have blown the momentum they gained with their recent five game winning streak.  It may also have an effect on the marketing of the team, given that Pillar has played a prominent role in that marketing.

How many gay players are there in the majors?  No one knows.  You can be sure that incidents like this won't encourage them to come out while they're players.  Such incidents may also discourage gay youth from considering a baseball career.  A lot has changed in pro sports in recent years regarding the way such things are treated, but the actual climate on the field is still questionable.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 12, 2017.

The recent trend of downward prices has ended.  Gas in Saskatoon has jumped to 98.4 cents a litre.  I suspect it will be back above the one dollar mark next week.

I Don't See The Connection.

For years after it become obvious the series itself wasn't coming back the official Undergrads website continued to be available online.  It's been a while since I've checked it out, so I wasn't expecting to find the URL now redirects to an Asian cosmetics site.  I'd love to know why.  Chances are most people looking for an Undergrads site aren't looking for cosmetics from a non-North American supplier.  I knew the webpage would go down sooner or later, but I expected to find a for sale notice up, not this.

Today's Cassette, May 9, 2017.

It has been a long time since I've done one of these.  And I should do them more often, since I still have a big pile of cassettes, and a couple of machines to play them with.

In the player today was Salmonmoose, released on saxophonist John Oswald's Mystery Tape Laboratory label.  It's a reworking of live improvisations Oswald, guitarist Henry Kaiser, and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo recorded in several places in Canada in 1978 and '79.  Instead of a strictly linear presentation of the material as recorded it was reworked in a montage fashion.  Some nice low key free improv on this one, and certainly one of the rarest cassettes I've got. 

Closer To Gone.

Pay phones have been slowly disappearing for years.  The cell phone has been slowly killing them.  And now two more in Saskatoon are gone.  The SaskTel pay phones in the lobby of the Saskatoon Public Library's downtown Francis Morrison branch have been removed.  There were a pair of them.  The library now has a free courtesy phone just inside the doors of the main floor.  It will be interesting to see how well that works.  It will also be interesting to see which pay phones here are the next to go.

Wish I Could Send Some.

Today's weather in Saskatoon has been lovely.  Sunny skies and temperatures more normal for July.  It's the kind of weather I'm sure some of you could use right now.  Large chunks of Eastern Canada and the US are facing heavy rains today, with flooding possible in some areas.  So I would love to be able to send some of our nice weather to dry things out.  Unfortunately no one has sent me a weather machine to do so.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 5, 2017.

Gas prices continue to decline in Saskatoon.  Gas is now 93.4 cents a litre at most locations.  It will be interesting to see if we go below the 90 cent mark next week, and how far we might go below that mark in the near future.

Not For Me.

It's amusing the product ads advertising algorithms sometimes produce.  For some reason I ended up seeing an ad today for Swimtails swimmable mermaid tails.  Yep, a company actually makes mermaid tails, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are others.  But it's an odd product to try to sell me.  I don't swim.  I don't have a thing for mermaids.  And the webpage I was looking at has nothing to do with mermaids, swimming, or anything else water related.  So it seems their algorithm needs some fine tuning.