Make your own Gin

Make your own Gin

I’m totally making this.

Baconnaise

Baconnaise

Awwwww yeah!

Reading List

Books I’m working my way through right now:

Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt
The Best American Science Writing 2008
The Physics of Football by Timonthy Gay
Brain Fuel by Joe Schwarcz
The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon

Are you reading anything interesting?

Woot!

If you follow me on Twitter you’ll have known for about a week now that I’ve ordered a MacBook and after an extended shipping period (Fuck You UPS) I am now in possession of one of those newfangled, single piece MacBooks and it is awesome.

This is not my first Mac but it most definitely the best Mac I’ve ever owned (the SE/30 ranks 2nd all-time) and it’s quite possibly the best Mac I’ve ever used. It is a marvel of engineering and absolutely blows any PC product out of the water to the extent that if one can afford a Mac one should simply get it regardless of what you can get at the same price in PC-land. It doesn’t really matter if the PC has much higher specs like a bigger hard drive or more ram or a bigger screen because the PC is still a piece of shit and always will be.

Everything on a Mac is just so well thought out. Coming out of hibernate on a PC is like torture, coming out of sleep on a Mac is just a tap of a button. All the little touches just make you feel like you paid alot more than you actually did.

Really, you should get one.

Eating While Pregnant

Eating While Pregnant: Food Politics : gourmet.com

I also find it absurd the lengths that people go to to “protect” a pregnant mother. Granted, you do not want to do things to harm a fetus but people are behaving on the margins of lunacy when they are frown upon a mother who has a cup of coffee or eats fresh salmon. I’m not advising that you pile on the Red Bull or tuna but the risk/reward is very safe.

You’d save more babies by not texting while driving. Or you can elect Sarah Palin.

Barackamania

I follow American politics much more than I follow Canadian politics for a few reasons: 1. Americans are crazy and the theatrical nature of American politics just can’t be replicated in any other democracy, dictatorship or communist state. 2. Canadian politics doesn’t have the level of partisanship that exists in America, Harper may be nuts but he’s no Bush or McCain.  3. The mockery that’s possible in American politics is entertaining.

So of course I’ve been following this upcoming election very closely and it looks like America will have a more liberal, more open minded leader than Canada will have.

Anyways, several months ago I said I thought Hillary Clinton was the best choice for President. Barack Obama was a nice guy but I didn’t think he was ready yet. I take that back. The last 2 years Obama has learned what he needs to learn in order to be President, he has been battle tested against Hillary and shown that he’s smart enough, calm enough and strong enough to be President.

I appreciate his temperment and his general coolness which doesn’t allow him to connect to voters the way Bill Clinton did (Bill, I love you) but it’s a critical skill to have as leader in a world that’s not stable. However, what has impressed me the most isn’t his policies which I think aren’t clear enough nor his oratory which is outstanding nor his calmness which is admirable. What I am impressed by is how well he’s run his campaign.

While Clinton and McCain and all the other campaigns were loaded with gaffes and internal fighting etc that are almost commonplace among political teams, the Obama team which featured several hundred employees and several thousand volunteers has run like a well oiled machine. They have been like the Celtics during the Bill Russell era, they have been like Yankees of ancient lore. There have been no leaks, no panic, no public fighting – Obama’s run his team like a seasoned CEO that knows what he’s doing and trusts his people.

It’s been amazing to watch. A modern corporate equivalent would be to liken Obama’s campaign to Steve Job’s Apple. Both are organizations that have a messiah-like leader that have this cultural goal of change where thousands of adherents have signed on as though it were a religion that would free them of encumbrance. Both have great products and face an “enemy” that is at the end of days. I’m pretty sure both Obama and Jobs could turn water into wine too.

Short of Obama eating a white baby in public I think he’ll be President and it appears that he’s more than ready for it.

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

Note to both Presidential candidates: You’re sending more money to Canada than to the Middle East to buy oil.

IE. You’re funding socialized government health care just as much as you are funding terrorism and useless manmade holiday resorts.

Orlando Concept previews production Chevy MPV

Paris 2008: Orlando Concept previews production Chevy MPV – Autoblog

Love it.