No, I don't want to play poker

An evening's plans went awry last night when playing poker suddenly trumped not playing poker and hanging out at a comfy pub instead. I opted to call it a night.

I've never been much for gambling. The last time I was in a casino, I ended up on crutches for two weeks. The only gambling I normally participate in at our family's annual Purim party. That's it.

Scott Adams -- in his own mind-reading brilliance (yes, this is today's post) -- has his own take on this. I just don't have an addictive personality. Not even mildly.

Yirmumah Chanukkah webcomic

DJ Coffman, the controversial, potty mouthed webcomic artist was remembering his buddy's Bubbie's rugelach and decided to make a special Chanukkah webcomic. Yeah, there's not much of a storyline, but it's typical DJ, and we love him for it.

Tofutti cream-cheese substitute: lies, lies and more lies

On the package it says "Better than cream cheese."

Yeah, right. Maybe it's better as a reliable bathroom caulking than cream-cheese could ever be.

I made my own comic strip

Well, sort of.

I was looking for the URL to a webcomic that I've read in the past when I stumbled on stripcreator. It's webcomics for the artistically declined.

Hint for anyone who wants to try it out -- you still need to be funny. It can't do that for you too.

I managed to create one myself, however, it won't be posted here. Remember the thing I wrote about being funny?

Too many tofu-lattes for Mr. Torvalds

What latte and tofu induced rage inspired Linus to weigh into the Gnome/KDE debate like a dismissive jerk? What's wrong with a simple, standardized desktop? Seriously?

I use Ubuntu's Gnome environment. I am not an idiot.

I prefer to not have to consistently tweak my desktop to the nth degree (not that I don't do *some* tweaking). Once it's set up, it stays that way. I don't spend my day tweaking my system. For me, using a computer is a means to an end, not the end itself. Write an e-mail or a letter, send an IM to a friend, organize photos of Jacob.

Maybe the next time I upgrade my hardware I'll choose the KDE desktop, however, I'm not going to spend the day futzing with it just so I can say that I did it. It'll depend on the distribution I choose. If I stick to Ubuntu, then I'll also be sticking with Gnome.

1. Yes Gnome makes a lot of decisions for you.
2. No, it's not for everybody.
3. What's the big flippin' deal?

Workplace lunches and holiday parties

Free food.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. And I propose that the preferred venue for holiday gatherings this year should be your local pub or sports-bar.

• You already know people are going to drink, so give them some selection.
• You're honouring Chanukkah at the same time by eating lots of fried foods.
• Taxis are always nearby for the ride home.
  

Jacob goes tobogganing

Jacob had his first ride in a toboggan today and he had a blast.

He had a bunch of trips down the hill. We even went over a jump and cleared some air. I wish I had a camera handy.

I'm worthless

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Busy

Doing everything for everyone. It's exhausting.

DJ Coffman posted hislist of the best Web comics of 2005 today at Yirmumah.net along with this daily strip. At first glance, most of his pics look pretty good. A few have a little too much detail to present well on-screen.

CSI: computer forensics -- most common mistake on TV

I've seen this happen more than once on CSI. The investigators grab a computer to take to the lab, or even see a computer lying around, and then turn it on or touch the keyboard to see what's on it.

Big mistake.

The number one rule of computer forensics is don't touch anything. There's a great quote in Tech Times from Stuart (Doc) Wells, professor of Decision Sciences and chief deputy for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Reserve.

“The first urge is to turn on the computer, but the minute you turn it on or look at a file, you’ve lost your best piece of evidence — the last date the computer or file was accessed,” he says. “Also, we never analyze the original media. We make a copy, a bit-stream image, which is an exact duplicate. That way the original stays intact, and we don’t accidentally contaminate the evidence.”

Of course, it could be dumb as sending an anonymous threatening letter from your home computer instead of an Internet cafe (so your IP is tracked), using your own e-mail address for blackmail, not deleting a system log, or even knowing the log existed.

Bad wedding photographer

Crappy David Cox. Serves me right for finding a photographer out of the Yellow Pages (strike one), whose shining achievement was pictures of Scientologist Kristi Alley. His portfolio looked really good, but he did a horrible job at our wedding.

• Ylana's dress was crooked -- he didn't say anything.
• He botched some important family portraits and just tore them up so we couldn't even see the proofs.
• He got mad when after the ceremony, Ylana and followed the tradition of spending some time alone (having a snack, we were starved!). He had underestimated how long we'd need for the couples shots.
• He left immediately after the first dance.
  

At least he wore a kippah.

I'd link to his website, however, it no longer exists. Although he's still in business. And unfortunately for him, his namesake -- also a photographer -- nabbed the domain www.davidcox.org.

Strategic voting

Eric forwarded me a link to a CBC website called Vote by issue. It asks you questions based on 12 main issues and tells you who you least disagree with.

According to my personal results, both Paul Martin and Gilles Duceppe share equal footing, and Jack Layton seems to win overall. Eric quickly pointed out that there are a great deal more issues not covered by the survey that could sway the results significantly. It's also important to note that the issues are not weighted.

That's unfortunate since the whupping the NDP candidate in our riding received less that 10% of the votes in the last election. I'll definitely be voting strategically this time 'round.

Keeping up with the polls

I guess it's time to fire up the Election Prediction Project website again.

In Don Valley West it's not going to be much of a contest. David Turnbull was trounced in both the federal and provincial elections. It looks like John Carmichael will be running against John Godfrey. The Conservatives usually give me the creeps and this time 'round is no exception.

Aside from having a glowing endorsement from David Turnbull (strike one), Mr. Carmichael owns City Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac (a car dealer - strike two). I imagine he'll come knocking on my door eventually. It'll probably be on Shabbes (strike three).

Obligatory post?

So now that I have a regular reader I need to post regularly?

What a week. It seems that everyone has a cold and we're short-staffed. At least profits are up ;)

I remember when banks first past the 1-billion dollar profit mark. I think it was immediately before or after I started working at a bank. There was quite an uproar in the media. Each year the profits enged up a healthy bit, and this year RBC blew right past the 3-billion mark.

Impressive.

What suprises me is how the media's opinion of banks has changed over the last ten years. I remember some crazy stuff happening in Peterborough. People were complaining when Royal Bank renovated their main branch -- squandering profits renovations? Give me a break.


I remember seeing a picture of a brick that was thrown through a Bank of Montreal window in the student paper. Being an employee at the time, I kept a copy of the photo.

The theme of the attack (written on a piece of paper) was Times They Are A-Changin', referring to Dylan's selling the rights to the song for a bank's television commercial.

I mean, a lot of opinions still hold, however, with the exception of Enron breaking CIBC in two, nothing ever makes it to the front page -- unless it's the business section. The War on Terror seems to have stolen the thunder.

What do you think?