Happy Birthday, Lilli!

Happy Birthday, Lilli!

I went to school with a few awesome girls.  They basically ignored me for the most part (I being the nerd, and they being almost supermodel hot).  But for whatever reason, we had a friendship that endured for years.

At some point, I stopped seeing the majority of these girls, but one friendship has persisted.  Lilli was my closest neighbour growing up, and we attended the same public and high schools.  Although we went our separate ways after high school, we still enjoy calling one another on our birthdays, and when she visits my home town, I make an effort to get together.

Ironically, this weekend, she has returned to visit her parents and celebrate her birthday, while I will be heading out of town to visit my sister in Toronto.  Before leaving, I took the time to call her (first at her home, and then at her parent's home when I found out she was back in town).

I can't describe how happy it makes me feel to hear her voice - to know that she's doing well.  Happy Birthday, Lilli!

I'm just speechless

Last December 7th, I posted about the mastermind of a local car dealership scam. This person duped many people into buying worthless warranties on their vehicles, and also forged their finance agreements so that the amount they thought they owed on their vehicles was different than the amount he reported to the finance companies. Most of the car buyers are now facing threats of repossession from the finance companies.

Back then, I posted how this mastermind fooled the court into letting him leave the country to visit his "ailing" mother. He hasn't returned to face trial and is reportedly living large in his home country of Lebanon.

So today, his second in command (who is currently in jail facing more than 60 charges of fraud related to the same scam) also approached the judge to say that his father is sick, and he wanted permission to leave the country to visit him.

It's obvious what the judge would say, having been fooled before. He said "Fine, go visit your dad. Just be back by May 16th".

I guess you'll be seeing part 3 of this continuing saga come mid-May.

That's just creepy

I just finished sending an email to someone using my Gmail account. It was intended to help the person solve a technical issue, and I asked him how his disk drive was attached to his computer.

As I hit the "send" button, Gmail did not immediately send my message. Instead, it popped up a box saying something like: "You used the phrase is attached in your message, but you haven't attached any file to this message. Did you intend to do so?"

Now, I realize people forget to attach files to their emails once in a while. Hell, I have forgotten it myself more than once. But, I think it goes too far to have Google try to interpret what I mean in my messages unless I'm performing a search. Unless I ask for help with my grammar, I'd prefer Google just do what I ask.

The heat wave continues

This is Canada. Until yesterday, it was winter. The average temperature for Windsor in March is 2 celcius (36 fahrenheit). The highest average temperature ever recorded in Windsor was 5 celcius (41 fahrenheit) ... until now. With days left until the end of the month, the average temperature for March stands at 9 celcius (48 fahrenheit)!

Over the past four days, the average temperature in Windsor has been 78 fahrenheit. Yesterday, Windsor hit an all-time high temperature for March 21st in all of Canada ... 82 degrees. That was higher than Las Vegas, Dallas Texas, and a few other cities that are normally considered "hot". And it was freakin' WINTER (OK, technically the first day of spring).

I'm not complaining, but G-d help all the blooming flowers and no-longer-hibernating critters if we get one or two more good snowfalls before the really warm weather begins.

Not much worth talking about has been going on recently. But the weather is amazing. Except for some very cold weather at the beginning of March (the nerve!), the remainder of the month has been amazingly warm.

Yesterday and today, I had to turn the air conditioning on in my car to remain comfortable. You heard right! Air conditioning in Canada in March!

The temperature today reached at least 24C during the afternoon (according to the built in outdoor temperature sensor in my vehicle). That's 75 in "real" degrees! If this is "global warming", then I'm all for it.

New device will detect infections, cancer in minutes

Canadian ingenuity is alive and well. A device has been invented that can visually analyze blood samples and has the ability to recognize and categorize diseased cells in a matter of minutes.

A prototype already exists and the inventors speculate that a fully operational unit should be in the field within about two years. This will allow nurses and health care professionals in clinics and doctor's offices to perform quick and accurate diagnoses of diseases like cancer without biopsies and long waits.

Read the story here.

Throne 2.0 - a toilet seat for the internet age

I saw a new device today at Costco.

It was a toilet seat with a remote control! So, I thought... finally, someone has determined we're so lazy or germophobic, we need to have the seat raised and lowered automatically.

I was wrong... the remote is used to control two functions - a stream of warm water intended to wash away any vestiges of unseen waste from your behind, and a dryer which is meant to get you back to the state where you can comfortably don your undergarments without getting them wet.

The toilet seat comes with its own plumbing fixture (presumably to connect a water source), and a power cord (presumably to heat the water and drive the dryer).

What will they think of next?

The pattern continues

My last blog post was about how criminals in this city have it easy. That crime does pay. Well, following the well established pattern, today's post suggests the opposite.



Note to thieves: When attempting a getaway after a robbery, make sure to use a car that's not easily identifiable. Read the story here.

Want a life of crime without punishment? Move to my fair city!

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of ink spilled about a crooked used car business (yes, crooked used car businesses exist outside of the movies). This business (or businesses, actually) would sell cars to anyone - regardless of credit - and had a pretty good thing going.

So, how did they make a profit? For one thing, the interest rates they charged were outrageous. For another, after they made deals with clients (for example, a deal which involved selling a car for $nnn and arranging for the purchaser to pay $x per month for 3 years), they would turn around after the customer left, and forge the documentation so that they collected far more than the originally agreed $nnn from the finance company, and doctored the paperwork so the buyer would get stuck with $x per month for 6 or 7 years, instead of 3.

Many of the customers couldn't really complain, since they had lied on their original credit applications and were therefore complicit in the scheme.

In addition to cheating customers with forged documents, they would also sell "extended warranties" to the customers, but didn't register them. So, if a client ever tried to get service, they were denied because there was no such warranty in place!

During the lengthy investigation of the first business, police found the connection to the second business and made arrangements to raid that dealership (owned by the same person). Quite coincidentally, that second dealership experienced a suspicious fire only hours before the raid was scheduled to take place! Too bad their excellent fire suppression system actually worked - preventing the evidence from getting burned up!

The mastermind and his business partners were arrested and placed in jail. He approached the court sometime later with a request to have a few days off to visit his ailing mother overseas. Over the objections of local police, he was allowed a week to see his mother. He hasn't been seen since.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure why he even bothered to run.

In a completely unrelated case, a local man accused of running an international theft and chop shop ring was charged with over 200 counts. His family members and other related parties were similarly charged. The local police, provincial police, federal police and police from the United States all had been watching his operation for over a year. They had a strong case. For some reason, rather than endure a long pretrial and trial, the prosecutor agreed to accept a guilty plea on a single charge - possession of stolen goods over $5000.

All other charges were dropped. And because this was a "first offense", our mastermind criminal escaped with probation and a laughable restitution order. He won't spend a day in jail.

Let that be a lesson to would-be criminal masterminds. If you move here, get charged with a serious crime (or crimes), don't bother leaving the country and giving up the life of luxury to which you've become accustomed. Show up for court, and take your tap on the wrist like a man!

On the lighter side...

I went to see the new movie "Hugo" on Thursday night. I really enjoyed the film and its use of 3D. I won't talk about the film at all, except to say the theatrical trailer doesn't reveal anything about the movie's plot. I think that's the first time in a long while that I've seen a movie that wasn't spoiled by the TV commercials.

If this post was an English paper, my teacher would scold me on the excessive use of the word "I".

And then, there are times when the law doesn't go far enough!

This isn't the first time that I've posted an opinion, only to have to weigh in on the opposite side of the argument just a day or two later.

From France comes the story of a teenage boy, 17, who has been charged with the rape of a 15-year old schoolmate. While awaiting trial for this alleged offense, the boy underwent psychiatric assessment, and drug counseling.

Figuring the boy would not be a danger to anyone else, he was eventually released from custody and allowed to enrol in a different school.

That turned out to be a very bad move! (viewer discretion advised)

I'm all for law and order, but this goes too far!

Let me start by saying I'm straight as an arrow when it comes to crime. I've never tried to smoke (cigarettes or marijuana). Except for Passover wine that was foisted on me by my parents when I was very young, I've never tried alcohol. I've never tried any illegal drugs of any kind. I'm not perfect (I do like to go a bit over the speed limit), but I believe that laws were meant to be followed.

The Conservative government in Canada is considering a law called the "Safe Streets and Communities Act" which will make it a felony for a young adult to share a joint with or give a pill to a friend.

Most sane people realize that for the vast majority of teens, smoking marijuana is a phase they'll outgrow. There are some people who won't outgrow it, or will graduate to something stronger. Some of those people will even turn to crime to support their habit or sell drugs to others. But, the vast majority of young teens won't go that route.

If this law passes, judges will have no discretion to reduce sentences or take the person's character into consideration. A mandatory minimum 2-year penitentiary sentence will be required.

This is a stupid law, and people need to talk to their MP's to let them know that this is going to ruin the lives of many otherwise decent young people.

Here's where I heard about the story.

A beautiful neighborhood, indeed!

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

To "B" or not to "B"?

That is the question. After a damning report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which concludes that Iran has been pursuing aspirations of a military nuclear bomb since 2003, the question remains...

Will the US and Israel have to resort to bombing to unravel the process, or will diplomacy work to diffuse the situation? I'm betting Iran doesn't back down when faced with diplomatic pressure. That won't leave many options.

The Devil is in the details!

For 800 years, the 13th century painter Giotto must have been laughing in his grave at the joke he played on the pope.

Giotto was commissioned to paint a series of frescoes depicting the life and death of Saint Francis. Now, Chiara Frugone, an Italian art historian, has discovered a surprise in one of those pieces.

Yup! It's the DEVIL!!! Hooked nose, sinister eyes, and even horns!

Don't you just love it? Click the images for a larger view.

Nicely done!

A Polish airlines flight coming in for a landing with 231 passengers on board had a minor issue... it's landing gear wouldn't deploy!

So, after circling the airport a few times and dropping all unnecessary fuel, the pilot attempted to gently land the plane on its belly, and his efforts were caught on film.

Ancient stone carving?

When I first saw this photo, I thought I was looking at an ancient stone carving.



I was almost right, in that it does have to do with "stones". It's actually an ultrasound photo of someone's testicles. Believe it or not!

I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

This road sign in Manitoba showed an effective message after a low-tech hacker got his hands on it.

Imagine that!

On tonight's news, I heard about a 73 year old that just won a $50M jackpot in Ontario. That's the largest single-ticket win in Ontario history. This man had purchased his ticket two weeks after retiring. He's been playing the same set of numbers for decades.

It's comforting to see that some elderly folks will be able to live comfortably, without putting too much strain on the government or their families.

Perhaps retirement income supplementation was the reason that drove an 87-year old man to allegedly smuggle $2.9M worth of cocaine across the border. Here's the story.

I couldn't resist

I got this cartoon today via email and had to share it. It was drawn by Bruce MacKinnon and originally published in the Chronicle Herald (Halifax) on October 7, 2011.