Mister Versatile.

Last night I watched a mid '70s Italian crime film  on YouTube, A Special Cop in Action, or to use its original Italian title, Italia a mano armata.  It was the final film of a trilogy about Italian police commissioner Betti, played by the late Maurizio Merli.  His main opponent in the film is gangster Alberteli, played by American actor John Saxon.  Watching the film got me thinking that there probably isn't a genre, other than porn, that Saxon hasn't done. Crime, westerns, martial arts(Enter the Dragon, supporting Bruce Lee),  horror, science fiction, prime time soaps, and more.  All in a career that began in the mid '50s, and which continues to today.

You can watch A Special Cop in Action below.  Be warned that besides the general violence you'll find in a crime film there's a sexual assault scene, so some viewers may want avoid this one.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 25, 2016.

The drop has stopped.  Gas in Saskatoon leapt to 93.9 cents a litre early this week.  This afternoon most stations had dropped back down a bit, to 90.4 cents a litre, but you're still paying 6 cents more today than you were last Friday.  And the obvious question is whether this was a Black Friday bonus or not, soon to be followed by another increase.

Tom And Jennifer Would Approve.

I had a nice surprise this morning.  I had to brave the icy streets that resulted from last night's snow and freezing rain.  As I was about to turn onto McKercher Drive I stopped behind a car that had the custom Saskatchewan license plate 6teen.  It probably had some other meaning, but I couldn't help but speculate the driver might be a fan of the cartoon series 6teen.  Hopefully I'll see it again at some point.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 18, 2016.

The price keeps trickling down.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 84.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Could we see the price drop below 80 cents a litre before year's end?  There has to be a limit to how low it can go.

Hello, Baltimore.

For some reason I dreamed last night I was moving to Baltimore to live with relatives, even though as far as I know I have no relatives in Baltimore.  Frankly any relative would find me a horror to live with.  I got the impression I was back in high school again.  And my relatives were very messy.  Oddly someone was coming to visit at the end, presumably to meet me, and she looked like one of my aunts. 

Of course I've had odder dreams.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 11, 2016.

My prediction from last week was correct.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 86.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Since the first week of October the price of gas has dropped 16 cents a litre here.  So if your typical fillup is 30 litres you're paying $4.80 less than you were then.

Today's Theme Song.

Sorry, but it's what a lot of us are thinking after the election.

Mocking The Clickbait 3: Rare Or Well Done, There's No Difference.

15 Rare Photos That They Don't Show You In History Class.

Well, yeah,  I wouldn't expect them to show that photo of your cousin Mike wearing his wife's bikini at that pool party a few years back.  Sure, it's rare, but it's not quite of historical significance. 

Vote, Americans!

Of course if you've already done so don't do it again, that's kind of illegal.  And if you're thinking about voting for Trump you should probably bang your head against the nearest concrete object over and over again instead.  That way you'll be probably be in a coma for the next six months, and won't have to deal with realising just how badly you've helped screw things up if Trump wins.

Too Late Or Too Early?

On a webpage I'm looking at there's an ad for Long and McQuade's free guitar setup day, giving the date as October 15th.  Of course I found myself wondering if that was an ad for last month's edition, or if it's for next year's edition.  Clicking on the ad brings up a page that says the event has expired.  Too late is it is then.  L&M might want to get in touch with their ad provider since it's presenting out of date content.

You Know It's Nice November Weather...

...when you see someone riding their motorcycle.  It's 14 degrees Celsius(50 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature a bit warmer than usual for November in Saskatchewan.  And it's supposed to be 16 tomorrow.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 4, 2016.

Another tiny dip down to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 90.4 cents a litre at most locations.  A dip below 90 cents seems pretty likely at this point.

You Just Know It Will Happen.

Now that the Cubs have won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, they won't win it for another 108 years. 

Of course no one reading this in 2016 will be around to know I'm right if I am right. 

One More Long Week.

Just one more week and the seemingly endless US election campaign will be over.  Unfortunately the aftermath may be pretty awful.  The rhetoric from Trump and his surrogates could lead to some violence if he loses.  If he wins I suspect it will be a complete mess, and I still suspect Trump won't last long as President one way or another. 

And I'm just an observer from another country.  Imagine how long it's seemed if you live in the US.

Running Late.

It's 8:20 as I write this, and we just had some trick or treaters at the door.  Seems a bit late to be running around outside.  Then again we didn't see our first one here until after 5 o'clock, so I guess someone had to turn up late.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 28, 2016.

A bit more relief for Saskatoon drivers this week.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 91.4 cents a litre at most locations.  I won't be surprised if prices drop below the 90 cents a litre mark for the start of November.

The Not So Big 40.

Yesterday was civic election day in Saskatoon.  Voter turnout was up this year, but only slightly.  In 2012 37 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, while this year turnout was 40 percent.  But voter turnout was better here than in Regina, where voter turnout was only 20 percent this time. 

Civic politics is the level closest to the voter, but it never seems to interest a lot of voters around here.  Perhaps it's because there's not enough excitement, or because the issues don't seem as important as those in provincial or federal elections.  But it's worth remembering that not voting means you de facto voted for whoever wins.  Don't like Saskatoon's new Mayor, Charlie Clark?  Well, if you didn't vote you just made it that much easier for him to win. 

Even to the end some candidates were trying to get out the vote.  My mom had to answer the door two different times around 7 PM because of representatives of the candidates trying to encourage people to vote.  It wasn't needed in her case, as she and my dad both voted earlier in the day.  I voted as well.  Did you? 

Gas In Saskatoon, October 21, 2016.

I'm pleased to report we've had another drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 95.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully another drop is in the near future.

Mocking The Clickbait 2: But It Sounds Sciency.....

Stephen Hawking Says Smart Pill Is Proven To Double IQ.

First of all, IQ doesn't work that way.  Intelligence quotient is determined by taking a group of tests.  Your performance on the tests, and hence your score, can improve, but not dramatically enough to double, such as going from 100 to 200, which would be a jump from average to a high genius level.  No pill will change your brain in a way that makes this possible.(And all this is ignoring things like whether the IQ test is a legitimate way to determine intelligence, what determines intelligence, and so on.)

As for Stephen Hawking, he is a brilliant theoretical physicist.  He is not a doctor, a chemist, or a biologist.  Being really smart about one area does not mean you always know what you're talking about regarding anything else.  I'd no more go to Hawking for medical advice or information on the latest studies of the brain than I'd go to a heart surgeon for the latest information on string theory. 

Of course it's a pretty reasonable guess that Stephen Hawking said nothing of the sort.  But using the name of someone everyone knows is really smart tends to work better when you're trying to find new suckers to buy dubious medical products.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 14, 2016.

Another week where my guess at the gas price trend was wrong.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 99.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully another drop will follow.