Recently in Miscellaneous Category

Sunday, 9 Goodenuf 2012

Through the magic of the internets, I have been most privileged to be able to listen to radio stations from quite a few far away places. And, right as I am putting this post together, I am listening to CHOM-FM in Montreal, Canada, and their morning show describe an April Fool's prank by WestJet Airlines:

And then talking to the person responsible at WestJet Airlines - in Calgary, Alberta - and giving away a trip anywhere in Canada on WestJet.

There are two things I would like the studio audience (such as it is) to note regarding the wonders of the Great White North:

- point the first: this is not the first time WestJet has put together a commercial to be broadcast on April Fools' Day that was a tres bon prank. Here's another that I found on YouTube:

- point the second: up in the Great White North, things are both more relaxed and more stringent at the same time. It is relatively common for Canadians to watch their elected officials interact with the media, and it continually amazes me to see the things that happen there that would never take place in the american media. On the other hand, if one of the 99 per cent gets a little bit out of place, civil liberties can take a flying leap into the nearest snowbank.

As always, if you wish to comment on this post, please email me, as the spambots find and overwhelm my blog posts within an hour, so comments are closed until I can find a way to address the issue.

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Tuesday, 1 Reckning 2011

A general sense of anticipa-(wait for it!)-tion is pervading the Funny Farm today. We're almost set to make a major announcement that could change the world as we know it. So far there has been naught but good comments regarding our latest and greatest concept, and, even though I have been triple-checking everything to make sure there's no fly in the ointment, as of this writering I have been unable to find a flaw in my plan.

No worries, kiddies - all will be revealed just as soon as I can sit my a$$ down long enough to knock out another blog post. You may also notice some other changes around here. Talk to you again soon!

_{Fryday, 28 Goodenuf 2011}

Life has been moving along somewhat nicely for Your Humble Narrator of late - I managed to make to the Great White North and back without incident; wish one of my friends a happy eighteenth birthday one day and another of my friends a happy fiftieth birthday the next; get a small bit of financial support to hopefully tide things over for a minute; and watch my beloved Habs take two in Boston in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this year.

But I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a little while now - things have been going too good. Which, of course, has to be some sort of relative term around here - what with it being over two years since the severance ran out, the larder has been somewhat depleted of late, and the frustration with the (lack of) employment sitation has caused a sort of semi-paralytic mental shift within my brain pan whenever I comtemplate the issue. There are some encouraging signs, but I don't want to invest the emotional energy to try and hope for better results in the near future. Hope and change have been tainted for a while by the latest Republican running as a Democrat - the one currently occupying the White House.

So, this year, I had the (cough) pleasure of looking out my window on tax day, April 18, in Pontiac, Michigan, at a couple of inches of newly fallen snow, after a winter that seemed altogether too long about the middle of March. And now the Habs are tied with Boston after the Bruins take two in Montreal, and the entire NHL season for Canadiens fans comes down to a best two out of three. I might have gotten a couple of steps closer to gainful employment within the last fortnight. Not the sort of employment that will let me get ahead of things - but right now I'm at the point of trying to avoid falling behind, and any one of the irons on the fire will clear that hurdle...

As long as things don't fall apart I should be fine. But I'm back to the point of being no paycheck ahead. With the added feature (cough) of not having a paycheck in the immediate future.

Did I mention that I'm looking for some sort of help from the few non spammy readers that come and visit these pages from time to time? As before, I am still vainly trying to figure out how I can fix my commenting feature so that I can avoid the spam and let people know that their comments have posted without a lot of gyrations; how I can add some sort of verification gadget to stop the spammers from spamming me; and waiting for some subscribers to ask for some premium content. Since my comments are still cheneyed, you will have to email me and let me know how you can help that way.

Which reminds me - one person did email me using the link in my last post. An old acquaintance from my days blogging at Open Source Politics and The American Street, as well as a regular on a lot of the big blogs: Barbara O'Brien of the Mahablog. Apparently, she is spearheading an effort to raise awareness about the concern of health care, and the politics that surround it. In addition to her other efforts, she is blogging at the Politics of Mesothelioma blog at the Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center. If you get there from here, tell her the Funny Farm sent you there and that we wish her well.

And brings up another technical detail that I must be missing - so far, my conversations with MahaBarb have been one way. I have tried to send her emails, links to things Im talking about, and once upon a time I tried to thank her for the Christmas concert she broadcast by sending her links to my Xmas mix via attempted blog comments and emails. I never heard from her regarding any of the emails I sent; indeed, I am still waiting to get receipts from the last email I sent her (earlier this week), because I'm not even sure it has gotten through. And I have not been able to even comment at the Mahablog - not that I've tried of late since remivng the site from my links zone. So, Barbara, please respond again by emailing me at this link and let me know if you've gotten my emails, why I wouldn't be able to comment on your site, and if you would like any more shameless plugs for your excellent cause.

A few things are looming on the horizon - most notably the seventh anniversary of the Funny Farm's migration to its' current home on the internets. Stay tuned for upcoming developments...