For about a decade now I've had an endless mental flirtation with the period of my life where I was exposed to the high-quality children's entertainment. You see, Ontario has a TV station called... well, TVOntario. It's basically like the Canadian version of PBS. Really, they should consider going national in my opinion.

TVO had a program you may or may not remember called The Edison Twins. It was about the lives of the especially bight adolescent twins of the Edison family, Tom and Annie, and their little brother Paul. Some of it was ordinary life drama but they also were known to solve mysteries using SCIENCE! Check out their totally awesome 80's intro theme.

Now Annie Edison was played by one Marnie McPhail, who now looks like this (yowza). IMDB handily provides us with all her film credits. In fact, even if you haven't seen the Edison Twins, you've probably seen McPhail before as Crewman Eiger, the second Enterprise crew member to be assimilated in Star Trek: First Contact. Crazy!

If you use your head you'll always win, just like the Edison Twins. :-)

Posted at 06:18 PM | Comments (1)

"Truth is stranger than fiction" is an axiom often paraded out by 20th century history buffs who moonlight as conspiracy theorists. But when it comes to the filthy underworkings of the world-war, cold-war, war-on-terror era, they're probably right.

The CIA recently declassified a huge range of documents between 1950 and the 1970s. Dubbed "the family jewels" by the media, the declassification covers a mountain of dirty laundry, including domestic spying, testing of experimental drugs, and opening private mail.

But the most outrageous revelation (it's making headlines today) is that the CIA conspired with the Mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro. That's right, government agents and mobsters working together to wack the president of Cuba. Bizarre.

Oh America, you are a sick, sick puppy.

Posted at 10:14 AM | Comments (4)

Full-scale Lego stadium

Posted at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)

Hey everyone! I'm gonna talk about my AppleTV more! Don't you love it when I do that?

So Apple released it's 1.1 update yesterday that adds YouTube support. Unfortunately, Apple made the update a massive 179MB image that completely wipes out any modifications you've made to the system. However, the folks at AwkwardTV got right to work, and by the end of the day there was a workaround and a brand new version of ATVFiles. Huzzah!

I really can't get enough of this device. Playing digital media files on my TV is something I've been waiting on for a while. It's good that a grassroots effort has sprung up to make this happen easily. We can't help it: OS X devices are just so much fun to poke around inside. That's probably why so many people are getting OS X to run on BIOS PCs. Not that I would ever do such a thing: it's a violation of my EULA.

Posted at 10:30 AM | Comments (2)

I have discovered a whole new level of geek co-understanding.

Posted at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)

Posted at 04:22 PM | Comments (2)

Fox News Through the Ages

Posted at 03:17 PM | Comments (1)

Okay, now we really, REALLY need a roommate.

Jeff's parents have moved away from PoCo. This has required Jeff to take possession of his grandfather's old piano, lest it be moved up to Quesnel. So we now have a piano in the house. A few notes are out of tune, and it needs some new ivory on a few keys. But it's a REAL upright grand, with a powerful sound... in our house.

Now, if we can't find a roommate, poor Jeff is gonna have to shell out another $350+ to get it moved somewhere else. And who know if it will even fit. What we really need is a pianist...

Posted at 02:26 PM | Comments (2)

Whatever, I still think the AppleTV is cool...

But there are more pressing matters to discuss. Jeff and I need a roommate. In mid-late August, Iain will be moving out so that he can finish off his degree in France (lucky bastard). Jeff and I have spent a lot of time discussing what we would do come August. We've decided that we're going to make one last big push for a replacement roommate. It's a nice house in a lovely little area known as Vancouver Heights. There's a bus loop right down the street and highway one affords me quick access to PoCo on weekends. I like my neighbourhood, I like my garden, but without three roommates we can't afford to live there.

It's been suggested that Jeff and I place an ad to find someone to live with us. Neither of us are very keen on that idea. We want someone we know personally, whom we can trust with sensitive matters such as our budgeting system, as well as sharing food and resources. We want someone who cleans up after themselves and is pleasant to socialize with.

So I'm making a shoutout here to any of our buddies who might be interested in moving to East Vancouver. If you're interested, give me a call or send me an e-mail. The clock is ticking...

Posted at 10:20 AM | Comments (1)