In "Plural the same as Singular"

sheep?

In "Zymurgy."

It's only a good scrabble word if you happen to have the only two Ys in the game. On the other hand, beer rocks.

In "Sept. Toronto Meetup?"

Either day should be okay, I'll try to make it.

In "Curious Conglomerating George:"

80s Vinyl. Surprisingly cheap and so much of it is good. More than half my collection cost me $1 CAD. I have a decent representation of bands like Spandau Ballet, Bananarama, A Flock of Seagulls, Wham, Brian Eno, The Human League, but it's nowhere near comprehensive. Tragically, I use my computer for music more and more for listening to music, so the collection is beginning to gather dust. And I still need to flesh out the Japan section.

In "A Foreign Affair"

It is a good article, etc,but i can't help but notice the typical patronizing tone. It's perfectly clear that the author considers himself above the losers he's hanging out with, and that their social, moral and intellectual defects are supposed to amuse us. Which isn't to say he isn't better than they are, but it's pretty annoying to read supposedly unbiased, documentary-style journalism with all the moral judgements built in. But that's Harper's for you. On another note, these women are all lovely and submissive, but wait until they get their citizenship and see how long they stick around.

In "More of the same censorship and spin from American Media Corporations on the Israel Conflict"

I think the apparent acceptance by western politicians of whatever Isreal wants to do is much more disturbing. Not that Isreal doesn't have valid reasons to defend itself, but they seem to have crossed the line between acceptable response into the naked agression. At least I would like to see western nations take a truly neutral position with regards to Isreal. At this point I wouldn't even be opposed to some agressive military intervention from the UN to stop the fighting.

In "Curious George: Global Warming?"

To answer the original question - there are people who believe that global warming may not be caused by human activities, and aren't necessarily motivated by oil profits. It's an interesting question - a collegue of mine is a global warming sceptic and she's intelligent, sceptical, and not being funded by big oil. She doesn't even drive to work most of the time. Reasons given on the above wikipedia link are: the climate has changed in the past, long before humans were around; the difference is temperature over the past century is too small to be taken as conclusive; there are other possible causes such as changes in ocean currents . As far as more selfish reasons for ignoring global warming - it's rarely in corporate interest to think about the long term, and people change deeply-ingrained habits only very slowly. It's taken humans about a century to get used to autobiles as transportation - not even firm believers in global warming can stop using their cars, for example, overnight .

In "Curious, George: Cultural misconceptions"

This isn't a misconception, but it's on the topic of cultural oddities. In Hungary and the Czech Republic you're expected to tell your server how much you plan to tip. If you leave money on the bar they won't touch it. If the bill comes to 19.99 and you leave 25 they'll give your five back and a penny change - unlike most other places I've been where they'll break the five without asking.

In "AERIAL PHOTOS AND PICK-CHURS!"

I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but it doesn't seem to work in Safari. I've noticed problems before on Windows Live with Firefox, although this one does seem to work at first glance.

In "How To Be A Spiritual Atheist."

I'm not quite an atheist but I don't believe in God because there's no proof that the judeo-christian god as described in the bible exists, and in fact enough contradictory evidence for me to believe he cannot exist. Plus, if it's a simple matter of beliving - frankly I'm happier without him. But I'm willing to consider the possibility of any number of supernatural phenomena, including life after death. And I find there is such a thing as spiritual well-being, as it's described by religious people. I guess that makes me a spiritual agnostic or something, but I'll take spiritual atheist, since that's the topic under discussion.

In "Natalie Portman Gangsta Style"

full disclosure: I still watch SNL (am I the only one?) and I love it. All this 'SNL used to be great but now it sucks' talk doesn't make sense to me. SNL has always had more lousy sketches than good ones. Recently (the last 6 months) it seems like the number of lousy ones has actually gone down, and the have been a few truly great ones here and there. I think SNL is as good as it was in the early 90s when I started watching. And I really doubt it's better than it was in the 80s, though I'm too young to remember that.

In "Curious 30-something George"

It's about the music.

In "Curious George: When to Tell the Old Boss he's the Old Boss"

You can always quit of your own volition - say it's to take some time off and for personal growth or something fuzzy like that. If you're positive that the end is in sight, and/or don't enjoy your job anymore that's an option, but not one you should take lightly.

In "Curious George: moving past point-and-click"

I find having a good lens is very important. The cheapest way to do that is to buy and old Nikon SLR from the 70s and use the standard lens that comes with it. However i know absolutely nothing about digital cameras.

In "Worst. Weatherman. Ever."

I think that's what I'd look like on my first night as weatherman.

In "Chewbacca's got a blog."

That was awesome. Especially this one.

In "The Rhinoceros Party of Canada"

Er, yeah, that king of newfoundland thing is a red herring. I apologize. Don't drink and post.

In "Canadian Election: Conservative victory?"

NDP supporters have a very hard time understanding why anyone would vote for anyone but the NDP. They are said to be the party closest to the hearts of the Liberal party, except without all that nasty corruption. It's because they take uncompromising positions on all ethical and moral issues, and intend to personally see to it that each and every promise is fulfilled -- they're really the most idealogical party in Canada, and I think Canadians are really a pragmatic people. Ontarians that have lived here longer than I have remember what it's like to see all those election promises fulfilled and the government bankrupted. For example, support for the Conservatives didn't take off until they started watering down their conservative idealogy, not with socially left-wing ideas (which I would have preferred) but with promises spend more money. The NDP could have taken this election, I think, if they'd take more realistic positions on privitisation of healthcare (it's already about 20% private, let's not pretend otherwise) and social spending (yeah, things have been cut back too far but I don't think we need to be spending more money on absolutely everything). Tax cuts aren't 100% good but neither is social spending, I will vote for a party that spends what needs to be spent and knows why. I'm just not sure what party that is, at this point. The NDP are on the right side of every issue but they're under the mistaken impression that the federal government ought to be responsible for every frigging thing in the world. Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. I'll be voting probably NDP or Green in Parkdale/High Park (voted Liberal last time) because I've seen enough evidence that Sam Bulte is working in corporate interests rather than those of her consituents.

In "Curious George: Song pairs."

Is there anybody out there/nobody home from Pink Floyd the Wall. Yeah, so they probably don't even bother to play them at all, but if they did...

In "Curious Humbug!"

If I could go anywhere for Christmas it'd be the southeast coast of Hawaii's big island. The weather is always perfect in Hawaii, even when it rains. The big island is the one with most local flavour, and the southern part of the island seems to be a favourite with hippies. Although Prague would be nice too.

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