I've been assimilated by Facebook

Blame my brother, Ben. He convinced me to check it out. I think I know where the majority of my free time will be going for a while.

It's a Habitrail for cats

The Cats' House: Cats Overhead!

I am now officially going to stop listening to anyone who accuses me of spoiling our cats.

WANT

2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback on Jalopnik

I want one. Feel free to scoff if you must, but I still want one.

Welcome to the world of gas at $5.16 / gallon

So, yesterday the price of fuel in our area was $1.237 / L (that's $4.675 / US gallon). Today, it's $1.366 / L ($5.163 / gal). It spiked by 12.9 cents / L at midnight (48.8 cents / gal). No, the price of oil hasn't gone up that I know of, but the gas stations are using the excuse that it might, because there's a hurricane moving towards Texas.

We were among the fortunate who learned about this before it happened, but just barely. We happened to hit the evening news by accident while changing channels around 11:30 last night. We were all ready for bed, and just wanted to watch a few minutes of TV before turning in. The news, in their standard fear-mongering Chicken Little way, made sure that we all knew that this price spike was coming at midnight.

So, on went some clothes and away we went to the nearest station. The tank in the truck was over half full, and it only took 37.797 L (10 gal). We really only saved $4.88 by making a midnight run to the station. Minus however much fuel we burned by driving over there, of course, but it's not too far away. It's the principle of the thing.

I think I was the last one at that station who managed to get the Thursday price. After I finished pumping I looked up and saw the numbers on the sign spinning like the wheels on a slot machine. The price spike wasn't supposed to happen until midnight, but they did it at 11:49 PM. I could see the pimply-faced jerks employees of the station through the window. They were getting huge laughs from watching the reactions of people on the security monitors who just drove up expecting to get gouged at one price only to discover the new price now included 10% more gouging than it had just a few seconds ago. I checked some of the online news sites, and apparently some other stations got so caught up in their gleeful gouging spree that they just couldn't wait any later than 11:30 to apply the "after midnight" price.

Five years ago, if you had told me that I would be thinking of $1.237 / L ($4.675 / gal) as the cheap price, I would have said you were insane. Now I'm quite convinced that it's the entire world that's insane.

I'm coming out of hiding :-)

I've decided to finally get my butt in gear and start posting to our blog again. Instead of overwhelming myself trying to update everyone and keep in touch, I'm hoping this will work better. Yup, I'm gonna give it a shot and hopefully I can keep this up. Wish me luck :-)

It could be worse

see more funny pictures

There. That'll give you nightmares.

More ridiculous nonsense

see famous look-a-like faces

Yet another way to waste time, brought to you by the fine folks who brought you LOLcats.

I'll second that

Allpar Weblogs: Not everyone is an idiot.

Bears are smarter than humans, part 2

Non Sequitur, June 20

More government brilliance

Jalopnik: Alternative Energy: Canada Launches Old Car Retirement Program, Green Hypocrisy Continues

Ikea studio apartment

MAKE: Blog: Build your own studio apartment

Excellent. How do I get one?

More about the Phoenix lander

From Computerworld this time:
NASA: 'Extreme programming' controls Mars Lander robot

That sounds so much cooler than my job.

T-shirt police

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Gun T-shirt 'was a security risk'

Just the latest exercise in government ridiculousness. This comes from the UK, so I don't know why it even surprises me anymore.

Oops

Offbeat News: Old Man Backs Over Cop Car... Accidentally

When Specialty Plates Go Hilariously Wrong

Jalopnik: When Specialty Plates Go Hilariously Wrong

Very true

more cat pictures

Vampires

reportonbusiness.com: Petrocan profit tops $1-billion

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Important educational material here.

Gas at $1.14 Per Litre

CityNews: Motorists Grumble As Gas Prices Reach A Staggering $1.14 Per Litre

That's over $4.25 in US dollars per gallon, according to Google. And it's only scheduled to get worse.

Yay. Anyone want to buy a 1995 Dodge Dakota that gets 17.5 miles per gallon? Anyone?

I guess I'm an introvert... who knew?

I found this article about Instant Messaging for Introverts. Most of it sounds awfully familiar, and helps explain why I'm not such a big fan of the insta-chat programs. Apart from this, I'm just a cranky old Internet user who can't figure out why we ever needed anything more than e-mail, and what the heck is with all this spam anyway? I really wish those darn kids would quit TXTing on my lawn.

Anyway, I noticed there was a link to a Quick Quiz to determine whether you're an introvert or extravert. Obviously this is not a sophisticated diagnostic tool, but it is amusing. Out of 30 possible points, I got 29 for introversion and 1 for extraversion. I suppose that settles it, then.

CityNews: Woman Holds Robber At Bay With Ice Scraper

CityNews: Woman Holds Robber At Bay With Ice Scraper

Good thing that didn't happen in Toronto. They would have arrested the woman for assault and used tax dollars to pay for therapy to help the poor traumatized youth recover from his ordeal.

That's actually pretty creepy...

see more loldogs ask - i can has hotdog?

Eeeeeeeexcellent...

Eight Healthy Reasons To Drink Beer - Forbes.com

Captain Who?

Rant: Prequels Aren't Just Dumb, They're Evil

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! My eyes!!!

That's creeeeeeepy

From the "things that are way cooler than my job" department:

New video of BDI's Big Dog robot

I still think something with wheels or treads would be a better solution, but it's amazing to see how fast robotic technology is advancing.

Turning Star Wars Japanese

Star Wars: Expanded Universe | Checklist: Turning Star Wars Japanese -- Manga Scenes Done Better

Makes me wish I could read Japanese.

Oops

Chair-wielding bikers foil armed robbery - Times Online

Titan Has More Oil Than Earth

So apparently Saturn's moon Titan Has More Oil Than Earth. And if that doesn't spur the private space flight industry, then I don't know what will.

More record profits for Petro Canada

The propaganda

The reality

Multitasking is bad for you

The Autumn of the Multitaskers

Who knew?