Cat Blogging

This was irresistible. 

This lazy thing has a new bed that he actually fits in. He doesn't care. Either do I, it makes for good pics.

Recession Merry-Go-Round

The Federal Conservative government released its 2009 budget today.

Pick a side of the fence now.

Billions of dollars in recession spending, huge tax cuts, increases to the EI payment terms, tax rebates for home renovations, 9% government budget spending in this year alone, and much more. The budget will throw Canada into a budget deficit for the first time in years. A deficit of $33 Billion. 

The opposition is quite split so far - The NDP and the Bloc have already come out against it, saying they will vote it down, the Liberals will hold their decision on support by Wednesday. More than likely they will vote against it, and the government will fall. We will be in election mode again in the great white north again. The second time in 5 months, and third time in 2.5 years.

We are in the worst recession in 30 years, and the government is about to fall because it tried to help the economy. They will fall because the partisan politics is more important than fixing the damn country. It will fall because the twits we hired to run this country can't pull their collective heads out of their collective asses and fix the damn problem. They all agree something must be done, but they will collapse the government over the question of how. 

I've never really been a supporter of Harper, I think he's a shady arrogant robot who's hair is designed in such a way to cover the hatch to the mechanism in his head that needs oil every now and then. He's basically an artificial lifeform. No compassion, no personality, nothing, just a robot. 

But.

He has a point this time. His government has the responsibility to push this country forward and get people working again. He has the responsibility to infuse the system with the regulations and financing to get banks lending again, get businesses hiring again, get manufacturers to build again, get people happy again. We've gone from the number one country in the world to a country in turmoil. He has to fix it. Does anyone really envy this guy? Who really would want that task? Whatever decision you make will be criticized from all sides and you yourself will be tarred and feathered for making the tough decisions. I say let him go. Let the deficit grow. Let it happen. What people need to understand is that when the economy recovers they money will come back. Some of these incentives, like the home improvement credit are already stated as temporary - that thing is only applicable for 2009.

The opposition thinks they can do a better job and they are willing to vote non-confidence to prove it. What will the cost be? Another government stalled in its tracks while we hold a new election ($300 million by the way). Wait until the new session of parliament starts, wait until the 'new' government pulls their heads out of their asses while they table their solution, wait until they table their budget, only to have it voted down as well. The nightmare continues.

Whether you like him or loath him, Harper is doing what we need. He's giving Canadians hope in a budget that stimulates our economy. Yes, we're small potatoes compared to the US, and their economic woes vastly overwhelm ours and greatly affect us (especially so close to the border), but we have to make the effort to fix our own.

Leave the damn government alone and let them craft some sort of plan. ANY plan at this point that might instill some hope into our fledgling peoples. We need it and we need it now.

Let's just hope it works, cause this just sucks.

Cheers.

No comment.

Just another day. Nothing to see here citizen, move along please. 

I'm just in the middle of another hum-drum work week, the kids are off to school again, Kim is off to school again, the cat is eating again, dad is going through boxes again, yadda yadda.

Just another ho hum day in January. Depressing time of year, it's -11 outside again. Last night is snowed again. I long for Spring, as do we all. This is the worst winter I've seen in years and we are all sick of it. 

Not too much to be upbeat about today. The old adage says if you have nothing good to say, say nothing. 

No comment.

Happy Birthday Mac!

Saturday marks the 25 anniversary of the little machine that started a revolution. The Apple Macintosh 128K. We should all pause today and wish the little computer that could a happy birthday. In 1984 Apple Computer Corporation launched the Mac during the infamous Orwellian inspired Superbowl commercial touting the new era has arrived.

They were right. 

The Mac 128, was the first personal computer to have a GUI (graphic user interface) and a mouse. It was the first computer to be truly user friendly. The first network computer, the first home machine that could connect the common user (there weren't any 'common users' at this point). The first computer to soak buyers to the tune of $2,495 US, in 1984! A huge sum of money back then (even now)

It boasted a rocketing 128Kb of RAM, running at an astounding 8 Mhz storage was courtesy of 400K 3.5" floppy disks, all this with a monochrome monitor. Wow have we come a long way. The machine I'm typing this on has a 2.4Ghz processor, 300GB hard drive and 1 GB of RAM, and that's a year old. To boot, I paid less than the 128 cost. 

My love affair with Apple goes back to 1992 when I started college. My friend bought a state of the art Macintosh LCII; 16 Mhz 68030 chip, and a 4oMb hard drive. I hung out in his basement with him playing Sim City for hours. I eventually inherited that machine from him thus bringing the affair home. In 1998 I upgraded to the Macintosh 6500 Tower running 250Mhz. In 2002, I bought an iLamp, then finally in 2007, my newest addition, my Intel based iMac. I still have the iLamp running, my kids have it now. The 6500 is in the basement. I can't bear to part with it, even though it's now a 40lb. door stop. It still works, just horrendously obsolete. 

Apple has led the way in the computer market since it started the PC revolution 25 years ago. It has never taken second place. Almost every advancement in computer technology over the years can be attibuted to Apple. The rest just follow suit. It amazes me that they aren't the front runner. But somehow, it's better that way. Here's to the underdog. 

I found a great link today reading news stories about Mac's birthday, go here to find out how it all started. This is amazing, the original development notes, sketches and other tidbits from the very start of the project. I found myself engrossed in the history of it all. 

Something else all Mac aficionados should see is Pirates of Silicon Valley. 

It's a great movie about the start of the relationship, good and bad, between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. 

Happy birthday Macintosh. You've come a long way. Just like people, you have grown up and evolved. You have become a wiser older version of your siblings. And you will keep growing for years to come. 

Anyone know HTML?

I've decided I hate Blogger's templates. So being the industrious graphic designer that I am, I made a new one. Fairly simple, done and exported from iWeb. (I want to keep it simple for now).

But I don't really know what the HTML editor in Blogger is asking of me to get this to work. It tells me I need to skin tag, and I really don't know how to accomplish that. 

Has anyone made custom temps for Blogger? I could use your help.

Cheers.