Welcoming Social Restaurants

On the way to work this morning, I noticed yet another one, the "Edge Social Bar and Grill". This continues the trend started with "Browns Social House" and "Pinkys steakhouse[*]", in which spaces and apostrophes are dropped like they might be carrying H1N1, but things are more social. While making for more questionable grammar, I hope this finally brings an end to all those anti-social steak houses, where you'd get ignored by the haughty waiters, the sullen chef dropped cigarette ashes in your overcooked T-bone, and the Maitre D' would always go running after departing diners demanding a bigger tip.

[*] So there's no "Social" in the name, but calling it "Pinkys" should let you know that this isn't going to be a place where the waiter will make fun of your wine choice.

Mirabel 101

If you were reading Canadian newspapers in the 70s, you know this already.

A current thread at Metafilter is covering this white-elephant of public works projects, while agreeing that the 1970s probably marks a golden decade of graphic communications. The airport cost a ridiculous amount of money, and was an utter failure, as the thread shows.

However, no one on the thread pointed out that if you take the map of the expropriated area and rotate it to the left by about 50°, its an unmistakable image of a robber. Not only was Quebec unparalleled in corruption those days, they even made it look good.

Introducing: Yodie

A land where there's no iTunes and the Beatles are still together

http://thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com/

Read the full story at http://thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=53

How do we know it's true? From the FAQ, you can use this gem as an example of circular reasoning.

1. Hi, I'm Nathaniel and I just read your article. How can you prove that this tape isn't just a really nice cover band of The Beatles? - Nathaniel

A: You bring up a good point Nathaniel, though during my discussion with Jonas about music and the music industry, I learned that in his world there were no such thing as cover bands, something about an ultra strict copyright and musicians were only allowed to play music they wrote themself.

RP: "These are the terrines of our lives"

See http://montcarte.umbrela.com/2009/10/21/these-are-the-terrines-of-our-lives/ for all the inspiration you'll need for your next Sunday brunch.

I needed something to keep the blog alive. BTW I found that link at
http://montcarte.umbrela.com/2009/10/21/these-are-the-terrines-of-our-lives/

Yep, it's nice to be able to use full links and more than 140 chars. Now back to your
usual social networking thing...

Passwords: to show them or hide them?

In reference to http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/06/the_problem_wit_2.html:

People have gotten worked up this week on whether programs should show passwords as they're being typed or not. The following is idle speculation, as to what's going on now...

Typing passwords is so 1970s. Researchers at Microsoft are toiling away as we speak, rescuing the shards of the failed SongSmith project. Given that most machines of the last decade are capable of decent voice recognition, we know they still aren't perfect. But the SongSmith group noticed that when people sing to the computer, they leave an easily identifiable, unique fingerprint, even allowing for variances, including colds. The main purpose of the SongSmith video was to get us used to the idea that it's no more unusual to sing a few bars in a public place as it is to type or talk on a cell phone.

So all together now: 0-2-1-3-4

Typical Canuck fan