Gifted Typist

I became a great runner because if you’re a kid in Leeds and your name is Sebastian you’ve to to be come a great runner – Sebastian Coe, British middle-distance runner, politician and chairman of organizing committee for London 2012 Olympics

A surprise is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, there is the anticipation of the unknown which is good. And on the other hand, there is the anticipation of the unknown which is not good. It isn’t so much the surprise that drives me bonkers, it’s the not knowing. I can’t stand not knowing. [...]

This morning, this typist set a personal best time in the pool with a 38.0-seconds time for 50-metre freestyle (short course). The women’s world record was set by Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands. She swam the 50-meter freestyle event in 24.13. The World Masters record for my age group is 27.31. My previous personal [...]

The other day I bought a book called The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. It’s a buzz book on the way the internet is tearing down borders of space and time in commerce. The book, published by Hyperion of New York, was originally priced at US $24.95 and [...]

Turns out that this typist is not alone in being irritated by the new CBC radio taglines. Even the CBC’s own insider blog is quoting listeners who are being driven to distraction by the following cutesy little tropes.  If you live in Nova Scotia you hear: CBC radio – Soooooooo Nova Scotia If you are [...]

It’s good to hear that Canada’s publicly-funded radio network the CBC is doing its part for the mega-marketing launch of XBox 360′s video game Halo3. On Monday morning, the CBC was running “news” reports on the launch of the video game in national and international news broadcasts. Mixed in with pieces about political protests in [...]

Where I live, they are thinking about banning snakes and reptiles. That seems a little extreme. OK, yes I recall snakes and reptiles were a bit a nuisance when I was a bright young thing doing the pubs, bars and lounges on a regular basis. There were snakes and reptiles all over the streets of [...]

Time was when a simple typist never had to worry about things like the Universal Serial Bus or USB. You just typed until the little bell went off and then you pulled the carriage return. Sure, you had to fuss with carbon paper and liquid ink, but at least you knew what you were dealing [...]

Walking along the Northumberland Shore one evening this summer, a phycologist of my acquaintance showed me a little trick of nature that sort of blew my mind. He called me to the water’s edge and told me to stir the water with my feet. So I did. And the most amazing thing appeared: flecks of [...]

Many love them and many love them but despise the lead singer. But I love The Police and Sting and his gargantuan ego. And on November 8th, I will be seeing them live. In Toronto. For The Police Reunion Tour. This is fulfilling a long-time wish. I’ve loved The Police since the first note I [...]

I’m afraid I don’t agree with the Victorian notion that children should be seen and not heard. By the end of the summer, I’m all about having them not seen and not heard for a good chunk of the day. And even though it isn’t politically correct to say things like this, most parents – [...]

And why is my website getting spammed with MSN image searches for her. I’ve never heard of Kate Bosworth, but starting last night my Stat Counter starting spiking with image requests for Kate Bosworth. Hits are coming from all over the world but the majority are coming from Quebec. I’ve had over 150 since last [...]

After a spirited explanation from Zed, I did a quick google and found that the 9-11 date notation for September 11th is correct by every national and international standard. If you wanted to be absolutely correct you would say 01-09-11. But that’s getting picky. To characterize it as day first, then month or 11-9, as [...]

It’s always struck me as curious that this day is codified as 9-11. It’s true that we say September (9) 11th(11), but whenever you distill a date down to numbers on a form, the little boxes always ask for day-month-year in that order. Not month-day-year. Think of your birthday. I always assumed the logic to [...]

You were an inspiration for girl entrepreneurs everywhere. You showed us that abstract things like ideas, vision, hard work, blind determination, risk and little luck could be turned into something very concrete and great. And you showed us that the naysayers can be shut down if you just ignore them long enough. Now your Body [...]