Surfergeeks

Okay – we all know they suck – that’s not what this post is about. Well, not really.

If you happen to visit the site in the mornings there seems to be a possibility that you may actually get the OLD layout. I *think* it has something to do with the archiving that happened with Moveable Type. It would recreate the ‘index.html’ file – which is what ANY browser will first look for before trying ‘index.php’ (which is what WordPress uses). I’ve disabled the archiving on MT to see if that resolves the problem. If it doesn’t, I’ll probably just need to yank all the MT files out of the directory.

Comments should be working now. Give ‘em a try and let me know. You probably won’t actually see the comment right away as it will go to moderation but after I allow the first one you shouldn’t have any problem. Also, if you use the same information you used on the old layout for the comments it MAY not even have to go to moderation – it may appear right away.

As you can see, things have changed a bit around here. I’ve switched from Moveable Type over to a different program called WordPress. This template that I have up right now is a mix of old Moveable Type template and one of the WordPress templates. It is only temporary. Creating a template for WordPress is a LOT more indepth and requires some PHP knowledge – something I’m slowly picking up.

The first thing I am absolutely not happy with is the width of the page. I want it to be floating. It’s going to take me a while…

On the plus side though – there should be NO MORE comment spam! Yay! The downside to this is that the first time everyone comments the comments will be sent to moderation. Once I approve you, you shouldn’t have any problem posting future comments and having them appear immediately. I think. Give it try! Comment on this post and we’ll see what happens!

EDIT [3:21pm]: I’ve added the links to the Amazon Wish List (not that anyone has ever bought us anything off it. Bastards. ), Who We Are, and the ever-popular but horribly in need of updating Photo Gallery. They’re over on the right down at the bottom of that column. Again, this layout is only temporary. I’m hoping to have a more permanent layout ready by the time the baby is born…

Oh yeah – if you visit and page looks wonky it probably means that I’m working on it at that moment. All the editing is done in a live environment and changes are real-time. If it looks broke, don’t worry – I’ll be seeing the broken-ness and changing it back almost immediately.

Ha! Two posts in ONE day! It’s almost a record!

Researchers have found that cows keep grudges, nurture friendships, and also are capable of strong emotions such as pain, fear, and even anxiety about the future…(if only they knew)

Here’s the link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/04/cows_bear_grudges/

The article also links to previous studies about cows and sheep.

Quick! Call Guiness (either the book people or the beer people – either way is a good way to celebrate!)

There were some other things that I wanted to post about but I really needed to get to bed when I made that post. So, in no particular order, I’ll now post about those things.

First up – local politics and my two cents. So, the Freeps tells us today that we may already be facing an 8.8% hike next year. Not sure where the science on this one comes from but it obviously has to do with spending money. At no point during this most recent budget debate or since then have I heard ANYONE suggest killing the stupid project to build a rail overpass on Hale Street. It’s costing a bloody fortune (something like 11 or 12 million dollars – which means it’ll be closer to 15 or 20 by the time everything is said and done) and is only going to benefit a SMALL percentage of the city’s population. If these idiots whining about being delayed by trains on their way to work are so concerned let them drive 30 SECONDS west and take Highbury. Asshats. While on the topic of city budgets, I would be negligent if I didn’t mention Fanshawe Pioneer Village’s incessant whining that they need more money. First they cry about money then it’s reported that if they have to close down it will cost 1.7 million dollars to shut the place down. What the fuck?!?!?! Almost two million dollars to CLOSE a place? I don’t think so. There was talk about having to build a structure to store all the “historical artifacts” (read: old dusty shit) and then maintain that structure. Maybe I’m missing something here but if we’re going to close something down…why would we be storing the stuff? Wouldn’t it seem to make more sense to close down FPV to the public and then auction off EVERYTHING. Sell the “artifacts”, sell the buildings, sell the costumes. Get rid of it all. Gee, maybe the city would actually have revenue from this…Probably not – Upper Thames River Conservation Authority would probably at that point claim all revenue as theirs even though they’re quick to insist that the city pony up for at least half of all expenses.

Next up on my list of rants is the London Hydro deposits. Since we just bought a house and never had to pay hydro before, it was required that we put down a deposit to make sure we’re not deadbeats. Yeah, it sorta sucks, but I can understand why they (and Union Gas) would request it – we have NO history with these organizations. They don’t know us. So, apparently the utility has evaluated all accounts and have now imposed deposits on some existing accounts where past payment history indicates a risk to the utility. Needless to say, these freeloaders have whined and complained to the local media and The New PL had a report on the deposits on the evening news this week. One guy whining had a $602 hydro bill. I managed to catch that $291 of that was this new deposit. Hmm…that still leaves $311 unaccounted for. Let’s back up the awesome PVR and pause it on that bill. Now let’s take a more detailed look at it. What’s this? $170 previous balance? You mean *gasp* this guy didn’t pay his bill last month??? And now he’s crying that he has to pay a deposit? Okay, okay, I concede – maybe this one guy is the odd-man out and the rest of the people being charged the deposit are being unfairly treated. Wait, here’s another guy on the report. What did he just say? Something along the lines of “Sure I’ve been late paying my bill but I’ve only ever been threatened with being cut-off once.” All I could do was shake my head. Seriously – these people are lucky I’m not running hydro. They’d need a lot of candles….

Jason sent us a link the other day to an article on proposed changes to the fine structure for FCC broadcasting violations. I don’t have the link handy right this moment but it was widely reported across all major news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, etc. Basically what it boiled down to is that the networks could get fined more for a single utterance of the word “fuck” than a Nuclear utility would get fined for a hazardous incident which required evacuation and may include health-risks resulting in hospilization and perhaps even death. Tell me that isn’t fucked up…

Hmm…I think that’s about it for now. Comment at will. I will be more than happy to discuss, debate, defend, argue, etc. my above positions.

We are definitely not the greatest at posting to the site. Sure, there’s tons of stuff that we mean to post here or could post here but generally it comes up when we’re nowhere near a computer to enter it. By the time we are there, we’ve forgotten – especially Dory.

That said, there is one thing that I’ve been meaning to post for the past little while and am just now getting around to it. (Of course, I should be in bed since I have to get up in less than six hours)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to read Michael Crichton’s newest release State of Fear. Like most of his novels, SoF is a techno-thriller that centers around the universe that is global warming and eco-terrorism. When was the last time you read a FICTIONAL book that sported a 17+ page bibliography and data reference at the end of it? Yes, that’s seventeen-plus pages! This guy did his homework. So while the story is fictional the data and science behind the story is culled directly from many different references. The thing that I found most interesting is that the data shows that global warming doesn’t really exist (and by the amount of snow on the ground outside I have no trouble believing it). In fact data seems to show that there has actually been an overall COOLING trend across the globe in the past 150 or so years. Not a significant decrease but still a decrease in average temperature. So, regardless of your beliefs about global warming, if you enjoy reading you owe it to yourself to read this novel. After all, how often can you be entertained AND actually learn something at the same time?

Oh yeah, by the way – next time you see Nikki, ask her how she’s feeling – she really likes that.