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INKS. is my current go-to casual iOS game. It takes the idea of pinball to a very interesting, artistic level.

One of the nice things about cars from the last five years is that they keep track of fuel usage and time that the engine runs, and they let the user easily access the information. Based on my last two months of driving, I've driven at an average of 64 km/h, which surprises me. I thought that the amount of idling to warm the car would have brought this down somewhat. 

Bottle of kombucha

I love kombucha. 

Several years ago, I became interested in it, but rarely bought it, as it's in that category of pricey, cool products that are too expensive for this Dutch guy to buy. I mentioned, off-handedly, to my wife once that I wanted to try and make some myself, but never really did anything until Christmas of 2015. That year, we decided to challenge ourselves into trying to find heartfelt gifts for each other with a $10 price limit. I bought her some earthy cosmetics and loose-leaf tea, and she bought me the supplies to start making my own kombucha.

The four best used albums

It’s weird to think of the idea of “used” music these days. In this age of infinitely replicable digital media files, why would someone move an .mp3 to your device when it can just be copied?

Ninety percent of the music that I own on vinyl was acquired second-hand. There’s a multitude of good artists from years past that not only are still worthy of a listen, but were popular enough that their physical music releases are still easy to find. The fact that many used vinyl records can be bought for as little as one or two dollars at a thrift store means the barrier to entry, and trying a new artist, is very low. Sure, many of the more popular albums will get snatched up by someone reselling them for $10, but it doesn’t hurt to check the vinyl rack at the thrift store on a regular basis and see what they have.

As a child, I enjoyed reading the various stories of gold rush successes and failures. At some point, I realized that not every gold panner was guaranteed a success, and it was the secondary industries, like the people selling the supplies, that had better chances of profit and success, even if it wasn't the glamorous job.

As a web designer and developer, I am somewhat like that supply salesman. I'm making and selling a product that every successful business needs, but the product doesn't rely on their success for my success. Sure, it's nice if the gold panner finds some gold and needs to buy more supplies to keep going, it's not a requirement. My success relies on my product being good enough for the gold panners to come back when they need more, and hopefully tell their friends to pick me as well.

Just a thought for the day.

No, it's not.

The value-for-value business model, as described by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak on their podcast, No Agenda, seems to be the only truly viable business model for digital media.

The stumbling block that many people seem to have when it comes to content in digital form is that it's very difficult to force people to pay a set price for something that can be perfectly replicated ad infinitum.

If someone is a craftsman and makes eight doohickeys in a normal work day, and two doohickeys are stolen, it's easy to see how someone stole two hours of their time (not to mention supplies, wear on his tools, and a portion of the time developing the concept of the product). But what if the doohickey is a digital file?

I recently switched mine and my wife's phones from Koodo to Public Mobile. Public Mobile is owned by Telus, and operates off of their towers. (This means that if your phone is locked to Telus or Koodo, you're good to go!) You'll have coverage anywhere Telus operates. Their big marketing push is that they don't sell phones. You can buy a phone from the manufacturer, a friend, or another used phone buyer/seller. Or bring one you already have.

First, I should say: by "spend", I mean spending of all three core resources: time, energy, and money.

While this video is specifically directed at the Catholic Church, it's relevant to all Christian churches in my opinion. Because of Western society's focus on always picking the cheapest option, we've got to the point where church websites and branding are frequently done by unprofessional volunteers. Sure, this can keep the costs down at a new church, and sometimes the volunteers are actually skilled in the relevant areas, but that isn't frequently the case.

Malls should have mandatory valet parking. Maybe not all malls, but at least malls that are big enough to need multi-level parking.

Take West Edmonton Mall as an example. If any mall were to have valet parking, WEM, being the largest in North America, would really benefit from it. (Right now, just the hotel has a valet service.) If one goes to the mall in the early evening or on weekends, the parking lot is a madhouse.

I recently finished reading The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, and it easily makes the list of the top ten fiction books I've read, if not the top five, though I haven't yet made such a list.

Background: it's the future. The Moon has been colonized in a way similar to how Australia was: it is used as a penal colony, for states on Earth to send their criminals. By this point in the timeline, Earth's resources are strapped, and the Moon's society is flourishing. The majority of residents on the Moon are not criminals: they've either been born there, or their sentences have been served and they've decided to stay due to the fact that their bodies have adapted to the lesser gravity.

Taxes 💩

I have a problem with some kinds of tax. I'm not going to go as far as saying that all taxation is theft (though sometimes it wouldn't be too hard to convince me) or suggest better ways to tax people to make the bulk of government funds (though I wouldn't mind talking about wealth taxes as an alternative to income taxes). This is specifically about taxes used as a deterrent against something that is bad, or deemed to be bad.

Sunrise in Edmonton

To contest my sister, who wants me to move back to Metro Vancouver, I've compiled this list of reasons why I'd rather live in Edmonton. (Not how I got here, but why I don't want to leave).

I've commented on the opening credits of TV show episodes to the point that my wife has started making fun of me for it.

Here's five of my favourites.

Silicon Valley

Priest with thurible

Though I've been exploring Catholicism for the past two years, I recently came to a point where I felt that I needed to take action on it. I've decided that, over the summer, I will decide on a local parish to join, and start attending their RCIA (Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults) class in the fall — meaning I would be confirmed and welcomed in to the Church at Easter next year, assuming all follows the usual schedule. Many people have recommend joining RCIA, even if I don't end up joining the Church, to really understand the entirety of what's going on.

Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This was a question that I started asking early on in my research of Catholicism. I understood the basic reasons why Catholics venerate the Saints and Mary, and why they believed they could be asked for prayer. (The actual process of veneration of the Saints, which involves scientifically verifying that a miracle has occurred because of the intercession of a possible Saint, was a key point here.) Being rather skeptical by nature, I decided to research the topic from the other perspective: why can’t we pray to the Saints?

It is a well-known fact that cell phone service providers in Canada are some of the priciest in the world. When it comes down to the lesser of different evils, who should one pick?

Snapchat, despite all it's flaws and concerns, is very quickly becoming my favourite social network. Not my most used social network, mind you, but my favourite. It's all because of the ability to actively network with your friends.

Nota bene: for the sake of simplicity, assume I'm talking about audio podcasts. Video podcasts are cool, but a totally different ball game.

I spend more time in the average week listening to podcasts than consuming any other kind of media. (Music is the only medium that comes close.) Each aspect of podcasting seems to trump a certain other form of media.

Distributed

Podcast episodes are stored locally on one's devices, so you don't need a active internet connection to listen. This is great for people on the go who don't want to pay for Canada's super-expensive mobile data.