Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

In an effort to be more fluffy and less news worthy, here’s a piece about Ebert allegedly threatening those who would use his “Thumbs” without permission.
I give tumours a thumbs down.

Raising housing allowances for the poor by just ~$35 when rent has increased more than $50-$200 over the last year (for most renters I know), is an insult. It’s obscene really, because we know that many of these families that are already in desperate need of money to scrape by, are going to have to pay to move to a less desirable rental situation. What kind of a government do we have again? I thought it was one that claimed to be socially conscious.

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Governments have “done nothing” to stop downloading because it means you can put 200 songs onto a disc, instead of 20 like you get from HMV.

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Did you pay your bank $1100 over the last 12 years for fees? I know I didn’t. This story is great news if you’re over 60, but banks still could be cutting fees for customers of any age, and still make piles of money.

I will get my 200,000th visitor to my websites (since 1997) sometime today. Most of the visitors have come in the last two years. This number only partially includes people who searched for the Pet Foil Hat Technology I invented in 2003. On eBay when it was selling, over 250,000 viewed the various pet foil hat auctions.

This blog navel gazing has been brought to you by Stat Counter.

If you’re the 200,000th visitor, and I manage to figure out who you are, I’ll mail you a free Pet Foil Hat Technology (PFHT). The best way for me to figure out who you are and confirm it, is to leave a comment when you visit, and that way I even have your email to get in touch with you and to send you your prize.

UPDATE:
The 200,000th arrived at my blog, and they were from Texas and didn’t leave a comment:
cpe-24-162-173-xxxxx.rgv.res.rr.com (Road Runner Holdco Llc)

Texas, San Antonio, United States, 0 returning visits
31st August 2007 02:16:25 PM
They were looking for abandoned buildings in china.
They found my page here.

So, anonymous surfer from San Antonio, if you want your pet foil hat, please get in touch from the same computer.

Thank you to all of my readers, even if you don’t like to leave comments. The other day I was in a small room with a few people I didn’t know well (and some not at all), and three of them had read my blog at some point. That felt pretty good. At the pace I’m getting visitors, I’ll hit a quarter million by January 2008.

I haven’t checked into what it means officially, but the Wheat Pool’s new name has “terra” in it, which presumably means “earth”. The Vi could mean “virgin”, “vitamin”, “victory”, or maybe “vicious”. Vicious Earth Pool?

I guess none of us guessed right as to what the name change would bring.

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CJME found the answer for the name’s meaning.

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Last night I attended a meeting and potluck dinner for people interested in creating a car share organization in Regina. One of the fun bits was picking a name. What do you think an organization responsible for managing a shared vehicle for members of the group, should be called?

It was 10 years ago last week that I registered for my first Hotmail email account. That was before Microsoft bought Hotmail when it had become the most popular web based email provider. HoTMaiL was a play on the “word” HTML.

10 years ago is also when I co-designed and published my hometown’s website for the Community Access Project. Not many of today’s websites can say that they are a decade old and still online and updated.

I got a National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) spammed press release about digital TV converter coupons in the States. I thought I’d pass along the news anyway, but my copy of the release was truncated and no website was given for further details. A blog has the full release though.

The coupons are an effort to keep over-the-air TV broadcasts free for people who own a traditional analog TV set.

The email came from an @crosbyvolmer.com address.

REGINA, SK - August 29, 2008

The throne speech has never had this much appeal to so many Canadians. Will the Rhinos bring an end to the monarchy in Canada? Without the Senate on board, it seems unlikely.

What next will our Rhino majority government bring Canada? And what will they do to our global reputation? Has Canada become the elephant in the room, where everyone knows something is amiss, but is too afraid to talk about it? Fox News has said nothing about the Rhino win in Canada since election night on Monday, and CNN devotes just their usual website pieces to the change in government. I haven’t seen anything on TV about it.

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Other bloggers have of course been grappling with the results from Monday too.

“Who is War Child Canada?

War Child Canada is a registered charity that provides humanitarian assistance to children affected by war and generates awareness, support and action for children’s rights everywhere.”

In a media campaign at least as successful as the organ donor competition stunt performed in Europe, War Child has ignited interest in why we allow children to be trained as soldiers in other countries.

More at RT.
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Hat tip to Will Daggart (AbandonedStuff.com reader)