Current Thoughts archive entries:



April 24, 2011

Canadian Subsidy Directory Spam

canadian_business_directory.jpgSome spammers will just never die, sadly. Incredibly, I've been receiving roughly the same spam email from this company yearly since about 2005, as far as I can recall. I say that because I've deleted email from then long ago. The first year or two I tried to contact the company to be removed from their mailing list, but it never worked. So here's what I'm going to do this year...

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Posted by Hammer at 08:42 PM | Comments (2)

May 12, 2010

What Should I Be Preparing For?

google_preparing_for.gifHere's a fun way to pass the time: go to Google and type in a phrase, and then wait to see what it brings back in it's auto-suggest feature...

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Posted by Hammer at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2009

Girl Power

This morning over breakfast, my youngest daughter (who is now 7) asked if I thought that boys were tougher than girls. I paused before answering, wondering where this was going...

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Posted by Hammer at 03:50 PM | Comments (1)

March 26, 2009

Remember The Orthodontist

I was driving my youngest daughter to music class last week when we drove past the orthodontist's office...

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Posted by Hammer at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2008

The Girl With Thirteen Fingers

fingers.jpgMy youngest daughter is almost finished Kindergarten - they have a couple of weeks left in the school year. I was home with her today when I overheard her counting to herself...

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Posted by Hammer at 01:16 AM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2007

Saskatoon Housing Prices Are Speculative

In the past, it seemed that Saskatoon was largely immune to booms in housing markets. We weren't Calgary, Vancouver or Toronto. We didn't see large influxes of people as other cities did when particular industries boomed (and thankfully, because we didn't get any large booms, we also didn't see any large busts). So what's up with the prices now in 2007?

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Posted by Hammer at 03:00 PM | Comments (1)

May 03, 2007

My Adventures With Domain Estate

domainsforsale.jpgI purchased a domain name a few years ago transfercredit.com that was for a specific software project dealing with the transfer of learning credits between various academic institutions. Unfortunately, the project fell through and never was awarded. So what to do with the domain name? Really, it's a good domain name for refinancing credit or consolidation loans. :)

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Posted by Hammer at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2007

Made In China

Made In ChinaMy oldest daughter came back from a birthday party this past weekend, and noticed that the rubber ball she got in her take-home goodie bag was stamped "Made In China". She asked me why it said that...

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Posted by Hammer at 10:39 PM | Comments (1)

October 31, 2006

The Cannibalistic Pumpkin

My oldest daughter took a departure from standard pumpkin carving techniques when she told me that the mouth on hers had to be in the shape of an "O", as if the pumpkin were surprised. I was to learn the extent of her plan when I came home from work the next day...

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Posted by Hammer at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)

August 30, 2006

A New Advertising Low

I was driving home from work yesterday and was a little disturbed to discover advertising in a place that I did not expect to see it...

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Posted by Hammer at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

August 04, 2006

It's a Snap!

fingersnap.jpgIf we pay attention, some times we see that kids are amazing in subtle ways. One day they're asking how something is done, and the next time you look over they're putting their new-found knowledge to use.

Here's a short example...

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Posted by Hammer at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2006

False Friends

harveys_friend.jpgI was in the Calgary airport this morning, waiting for the plane that would take me back home, and I witnessed a poor display of social interaction. It was kind of like an accident scene, where you don't really want to look, but it's so captivating that you can't avert your eyes...

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Posted by Hammer at 07:38 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2006

Are We Really Getting Smarter?

questiomark.jpgI've been wondering this for a while. Even though it's apparent that our body of knowledge is expanding rapidly in certain directions (generally "high tech" directions), how much knowledge are we losing each year? And although society as a whole is gaining this knowledge, how much of that filters down to the individual?

While I was working as an apprentice sheet metal worker in the summer of 1987, an almost-retired journeyman remarked to me, "I've already forgotten more about this trade than you'll ever learn". We laughed at his joke at the time, but that sentence stayed in my head for years to come. And now, years later, I think that we was right - although on a larger scale than we was imagining.

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Posted by Hammer at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)