CuriousJord.com

Blogging outside the supreme court of British Columbia...

2008-09-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

They will take away my phone soon. I'm not aloud to bring it into the court room.

I hope I witness justice today, I could really use the pick me up. I hope...

I'll post the verdict of the trial when they give me back my shit.

Posting for posting's sake...

2008-01-28T15:53:00.002-08:00

Just wanted to state I am still alive and rockin' in Victoria. I will try to post again soon!

Blog post by firelight...

2007-12-03T02:19:00.000-08:00

I am coming home for a few weeks for xmas. Just wanted to post that.. :-)

Another post from the Wii...

2007-10-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well, Nintendo has updated the Wii so that I can type from my wireless keyboard... sweet.

I thought I would make a quick entry to let people know that I am still alive. My main problem has been that I didn't have internet access on my computer, just on the Wii (for whatever reason, the Wii finds a wireless connection with no problems, but my laptop is screwing the pooch).

So anyway, now that I can type with relative ease, I decided to put up a little post. I still haven't figured out how to get my images up into a web gallery, but I will get them up when I can.

Word up to my muthahfuckin homies,
Jord

Posting this from my new Wii...

2007-10-08T02:44:00.000-07:00

This will be short because it's a pain is the wrist. Cool though!

I am moving into the coop as soon as I can arrange a moving truck and labour to move my stuff.

I love this contraption.

Well, I'm here...

2007-09-08T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry I took so long to post something on here, but the main reason is that I caught a nasty cold / chest infection that has basically had me enjoying the indoors during some of the most enjoyable days of the year here in Victoria.

My flight out was kind of rough, it began with a heart-wrenching goodbye to Mom, something I had dreaded for days. But, we both managed to get through it smiling in the last moments. It was similar with Dad, that moment was difficult too. He sang me "Leaving on a jet plane" while I sobbed. I think it's maybe only a few people who understand me thouroughly enough to stick by me despite my peculiar way of being; half of them are in Grande Prairie, and half in Victoria (with a notable but unamed exception in Edmonton). Hence, my mixed feelings of separation anxiety, and warm reacquaintance.

So tumultuous has my life been as of late, that the act of sitting down and writing an entry here on my blog has edged past the limits of my spare time. By the way, this is on the BB, so please ignore my spelling errors.

Here is a list of fun things I have done here:

Salmon fishing (caught no salmon, but fun)
Ate a bunch of Todd's halibut prey
Read adbusters
Rode a bicycle around the neighbourhood
Got my things into storage
Helped set up a new livingroom with the boys
Met two american dudes from California
Hung out and smoked some weed with said amerincanos
Got a chest infection
Slept a lot
Watched the new Halloween movie (very good)
Slept more

So there you have it-- my first week. All questions and comment will be resonded to... Leave a comment... Do it for me.

One last post from this, ahem , place...

2007-08-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

...before I pull the plug. I am packing up the last of my things, and from this point forth, I will be without my computer. I will have my BlackBerry (BB) with me, and that should be sufficient until I get into my storage unit in Victoria.

I will try to do a few mobile posts, but this moving shit is a lot of work, so, I'll make no promises. Into the ever ominous fog of an uncertain future...

...see you on the other side,
Jord

Vodka martinis are lovely on the top, but rank at the bottom of the glass

2007-08-25T01:52:00.001-07:00

I had a really fun time out with the crew tonight, I will try to abscond with some copies of Mary Ellen's pictures before I leave town. Much love to my homie, the Laurski, for driving.

Bye now.

Stuck in the emergency room...

2007-08-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

I am typing in the emergency room because some drunk guy attacked me with a set of jumper cables. I objected to him drunkenly hooking them up to my car battery with the wrong polarity, so he swung them around like a medieval weapon. Anyway, he hit my hand, and maybe broke it... What a douchebag.

Anyway, it's time for my x-ray now.

Details to follow,
Jord

UPDATE: I posted some pictures of the ol' hand. Turns out I have a fracture in my left ring-finger. The interesting thing about this whole thing is, is that it hasn't depressed me at all, I just wanna get on with the business of leaving my Grande Prairie life here, and embracing my new life in Victoria. It's only a knuckle - I have seven more.

Is there any excuse for getting lost anymore?

2007-08-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

I was continuing the exploration of my blackberry device today, and decided to try Google Maps. Now right now, I am paying $45 for seven megabytes of data a month on my BB. That's 1631 bytes per penny. It took 197,632 bytes to get this map, so it cost me a total of $1.21. Doesn't seem worth it does it? However, if you are ever stuck in a strange city, and need to get around, damn it would be handy. Also if you are Jack Bauer and need to run an assault on a building, that would be handy too...

Let's test mobile blogging...

2007-08-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

This post is coming from my Blackberry device that I ordered from the Internets, and through wireless internet services through Fido. Cool, huh?

Bye for now!!

P.S. Hi, Daigle!

Space Trader is finally here...

2007-07-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

With much anticipation, everyone who knew about Space Trader constantly asked me, "When's Space Trader coming out?".

Well it's here, the next generation of indy gaming has begun. My friends over at HermitWorks Entertainment have at long last launched their flagship game Space Trader. There is a free trial, and you will love it.

Try Space Trader free here!

Prepare to have your mind blown. Enjoy!

Don't ingore your green tea soda...

2007-07-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

I ignored this bottle for a few days. When I was tidying up, I saw this cluster colony of something... bacteria? ...fungi? Anyway, I took two shots at a similar angle, and placed them side-by-side.

It's like one of those Magic Eye puzzles. I put two white bars on the bottom for reference. Bring the bars close, then look at the 'O' on orange, and keep staring until the image stabilizes. You can see the three-dimensional nature of the colony if you carefully study the image this way.

If you can't do it, or the eyes hurt when you try, just back up a foot or what ever is necessary. If that doesn't work, just lie and say you can see a Romulan warbird.

Low resolution folks, click here!

It's not hard to update my blog...

2007-07-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

But when my life is crazy, I forget to do it. I am in move moving mode, so packing and planning has consumed my life. I do however have a plan, so things are going well, I think.

I have a couple of funny things planned for this blog. One of them is gonna be "Letter of the week", This is where I will write an overly descriptive letter either thanking or spanking a corporation and seeing what they write back. For example, I wrote a passionate letter about the cheese flavouring on some Lays Stacks potato chips. They sent me a pretty funny letter back and I'll put it up when I get a few more letters under my belt. If anyone has any ideas, just post a comment outlining the particulars, and I'll try to make it happen.

Also, I submitted a video of me popping a chest-zit to PopThatZit.com to see if they would pay me. A couple months ago, they put out a call for videos of zit-poppings, and I had a nice one on my chest recently, so I recorded it on a lark. Once they post the video - I'll drop a link.

Well, I have to go file my taxes - I know I am late, but the government is made of people, and people love me.

Bye now!

UPDATE: The link to my video debut at PopThatZit.com; er, enjoy?

A few more details...

2007-07-02T09:42:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are some images from the Mensa conference, as well as a few other things. Darcy and I began Sunday by heading on down to the Delta Hotel for the Annual General Meeting. On this day, we dressed more casually than the day before.

On Saturday, it was a little weird dressing in a thousand-dollar suit and taking the transit, but nobody messed with us.Darcy and I both notice a big difference in how people interact with us when we are dressed up. The perception of authority sort of raises the stakes for people I think, so they either fold quickly and step aside, or dig in and give us dirty looks. Once we arrived at the hotel, we hung out with a few of the Mensan's we'd met in the pat couple of days. Starting from left to right, there is Garrison, Arnold, Rodrigo, and Hali. Unfortunately Darcy and I were the youngest Mensan's in the group. But there was more than enough common ground to start several cool conversations.

The annual meeting was interesting, and was accented by a number of awards, presentations, and kisses. The Mensa crowd is definitely freindly, and the meeting was concluded with a huge 40th Anniversary cake marking the split from Mensa North America and the formation of Mensa Canada. The cake was delicious- and I don't usually like cake. As Garrison told me, "We are a group of thinkers and eaters.", so Darcy and I fit right in.

After the meeting, we walked down to "The Works", an annual art and design festival held in downtown Edmonton. One of the sponsors was Alcan, the aluminum producer, so we made tinfoil hats. Mine looked like something from a Dr. Seuss book, but it kept the aliens from reading my mind, so it's all good. I will think some more about my trip when I get back home, and perhaps give you a more philosophical expression of my first experience with Mensa, but for now, it's time to pack up and head back to Grande Prairie. Bye for now!

SiCKO, AGM's, and Festivals... Oh my!

2007-07-01T17:06:00.001-07:00

Well, today was quite busy, and I am taking pictures, but I brought the wrong cable for uploading images. Once I get back to Darcy's, I will post a gallery, and drop a link for you fabulous readers.

Today, I attended the Annual General Meeting for Mensa, which was formally informal, and I am getting a much clearer picture of what being a Mensan is all about. I'll write more about this when I get my notes and thoughts in order.

I then walked with Darcy to "The Works" festival in Winsotn Churchill square. I made myself a tinfoil hat (to keep out the aliens), and bought a Canada Day pin, something that had escaped my list of important things to pack.

Finally, I saw Micheal Moore's "SiCKO" with Darc, and it was the usual Mooreian fare; entertaining and pseudo-authoratative. Nevertheless, I enjoy Moore's style, and Darcy and I agree it was worth the price of admission.

I am off to watch fireworks, and will post again before I go to bed. Bye for now!

Off we go...

2007-06-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived later than planned yesterday so I didn't even make it to the conference last night. However, I am typing only minutes before Darcy and I will head over and check things out. I will try to post again from the hotel once I get there, and hopefully I can put up some photos too.

Off I go to the Mensa Annual Gathering (A.K.A. Pleasuretown)...

2007-06-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long time coming, but I am about to embark on the great Mensa exposé. A while back, I wondered what it would be like to infiltrate the ranks of Mensa - the society for intelligent people.

As it turns out, the national convention for Canadian mensans is being held in Edmonton this Canada Day long-weekend. This prompted me to make a road trip down to Edmonton to test myself earlier this year. As an added bonus, Darcy chose to join me in taking the Mensa challenge.

As it turns out, we're both brilliant! So now, Darcy and I are crashing Mensa's party this weekend, and I will be there recording and photographing the whole thing. Now, initially, I took on this project with a little too much gonzoesque zeal, and proposed humping the keynote speakers leg, which blew over like a lead balloon in my new Mensa circles.

That being said, I'm not sure that rampant drug-use and inappropriate touching is the way to get to the bottom of this, but no guarantees. So anyway, I am going with Darcy, and I will post as I go, so check back here for details. I may also post a picture gallery, so get ready for that too.

Toodaloo

PS - I'll take lot's of pix at the Sex Toy Party... wtf ftw! {:-o

New camera filter mean better shots of your drunken buddies...

2007-06-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Wired has a story about a new filter for digital cameras that is 2-4 times more sensitive in low-light. What does that mean? It means you will be able to get sharp, clear images of your buddy puking behind a dumpster at 1:00am, with your camera phone no less!

I found this excellent clip on YouTube...

2007-06-04T15:42:00.001-07:00

Enjoy!

Puppies are cute....

2007-05-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would quickly post a couple images from my trip to the dog park with Laurie and Tyler. Tyler recently got a lab/collie cross from the puppy mill, or wherever puppies come from. Internet meet Rufus, Rufus, say 'ruff' to the internet.

"Hello my babies..." (In Conan O'Brien voice)

2007-05-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I am feeling a little militant today, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the sleeping pill I took last night to battle my insomnia. I took it at about 12:03, and under the direction of my doctor expected to be sleepy by 12:23. At about 12:30 I remember thinking, "Is this think even working?". Then I woke up after my first alarm had already went by. Yowza.

I don't remember any of my dreams, which was a little disconcerting for me because I always have an s-load of dreams each night. Nevertheless I was still tired after therapy today, so I took a nap. I wonder if the pill will work again, because I really want to be able to get up before I have to tomorrow, and walk to therapy.

Today we studied body-awareness techniques, ending the session with a "body inventory". This is where you go through each piece of your body and think about it's place as it is attached to your body. Is it warm? cold? itchy? sore? etc. The idea is to get in the habit of listening to your body's signals, to ward off any sickness before it gets too serious.

Now I am going to clean my apartment up a bit, before I take my next pill of soma. See you on the other side!

VOIP for Facebook users....

2007-05-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

So, now that FaceBook has an application production interface, people can create all kinds of interesting beasts to plug into your FaceBook account. One of them is the neat-o WalkieTalkie app by a little company called YackBack.

Basically, you connect to groups of people via FaceBook groups. Anyone that joins a group can add that group to the list of 'channels' in the app. Then, a little walkie-talkie button appears on your FaceBook profile. Push the button, talk to the other members... cool, no?

Anyone interested can join my group, and I even put up step-by-step instructions. You can look at all the other apps popping up on FaceBook here. Hope to hear from you soon!

"Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you."

Happy birthday, Amanda!

2007-05-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was Amanda's birthday party, although I believe her actual birthday is on Monday. She's a nubile 23 years old... again. Phil, Dawna, Shaylan, and myself joined Amanda for a bowl-fest at the bowling alley. There was pizza, cake, and all the gutterballs you'd expect from our crack squad of 5-pin aficionados.

Anyway, here's to another good year for Amanda, as she prepares to begin work on her masters degree in, er... bees.

Super High Resolution shot of the sunset...

2007-05-26T03:04:00.000-07:00

This image is a composite of about 80 images taken with my Olympus Evolt E-500 8.0 mega-pixel camera. There are probably some blending mistakes in the images, so you don't have to email me - I already know. For those who don't know, "Prairie Skies" were recently nominated for The Seven Wonders of Canada, so they can be pretty spectacular. They also extended the deadline to vote until May 31st, which means there are five days left as of the publishing of this post.

The color is pretty true to life, but I forgot to lock the white balance on the camera, so the process took much longer than I wanted; I had to tweak the color balance of each slice as I went. But, in the end, it's not too bad. For those counting, the largest resolution amounts to about just about 60 mega-pixels... whew.

Here are some links to the image in a few different sizes, so pick your poison:

Weird fog...

2007-05-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

I received a phone call from Marcia at sunset this past Wednesday, and at 9:45 in the evening, I snapped these. It reminded me of a mountain fog, like the Scottish highlands, or way up in the rockies. I must say it was damn cold, maybe -1 C° or so, cold enough to see my breath and wish I'd thrown on some sweatpants before I ran out the door.

I told Marcia I would show her the shots I got, so these are the best ones. I gotta admit it was pretty neat.

I recently created composite of a prairie sunset, but I have to find a solid host for it because it's HUGE. The resolution of the composite is 12150x5143 pixels. Once I get a decent host for it - I'll make an entry. I put a fair amount of work into it, so I want to secure a Creative Commons friendly host for it.

Now I have to speak frankly...

2007-05-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

I think a lot about the world I live in, perhaps more than I should. Sometimes, I discover things that are frightening, and I don't know if I can unlearn them. Probably not. Albert Einstein, a man I aspire to emulate, is quoted as saying "Imagination is more important than knowledge". Considering the massive intellectual efforts his insights have spawned, to say that what you know is less important than how you came up with it is extraordinary.

Bearing that in mind, I have had a frightening insight. I realized today that I am mapping out the process of my creative behaviour, as far as my language in this blog, onto a structured set of metrics that provide a picture of my creative behaviour through time. But most importantly, that while I am choosing to provide some of this data for the world to see (in the form of this blog), even more intimate patterns than that are recorded by Google Incorporated.

Google has a model of my behaviour that is so intimate that it contains structures encoded in it, that are based on my behaviour, and the actions I took when I used Blogger's services to type this. That is extraordinary!

Consider this, Google just introduced a feature that saves my work at regular intervals. They have an observable set of data that records my changes as I compose. After I'm done writing my article, they have a software engram of the event now also housed in my wetware. It's encoded in the server logs of my interaction with their system.

That freaks me out a little. I feel like the structures of my thought processes should be at least my intellectual property. Don't I have a right to any products of my interaction with the world?

I have to think about how I am going to proceed. I would like to ask Google to supply a check box that prohibits the recording of my thought processes. I'm not sure how to ask that. Will they even listen?

For now, I am going to type my work in a word processor, and submit the article as a chunk of data that is course enough, that when whatever technologies Google Inc. invents in the future to generate insight about my existence, it will provide so little insight, that I will blend into the background of the ebb and flow of human thought on the internet and in society.

What about you? Are you listening? Is my concept of you actually a void?

I am a futurist..

2007-05-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

Just as I predicted, FaceBook.com is exploding. It may in fact replace much of the social networking services out there - as long as they don't muck with the formula too much.

Tons of my techno-luddite friends are now joining and finding me. This is a testament to how easy to use facebook truly is. I included my facebook 'badge' so people can go check shit out.

I think it's going to overtake MySpace by about 30% in the next year, then level-off. It might even go higher, but I doubt it.

Goddamned Godaddy!

2007-05-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

So, GoDaddy.com gives everyone who buys a domain from them a 'free' hosting account. That is 'free' like beer, not 'free' like speech. Apparently, unless I point one of my domains to the free hosting server, I am not allowed to reference any files I store via thier FTP applet (ei., "http://123.45.67.89/~myusername/somefile.xyz"). Free my ass. What good is it if I have to sell GoDaddy products on my website. I am really dissappointed in them.

What this means is that I can't host the template images for this blog (as referenced in the CSS) on my 'free' account, unless I point curiousjord.com at their ad-saturated server. Sorry GoDaddy, I am not your corporate tool!

Then I thought, what if I put the images in a blog entry and referenced them in the CSS from Blogger's servers. Nope. Apparently, Blogger won't load any high-res images uploaded via a blog if they are referenced in the CSS. Blogger won't be my tool!

So finally, I found a service at ImageShack.us that lets anyone put 20 images up and reference them any way they want, as long as they are not pornographic, racist, or nasty. Finally someone willing to be my tool. So if the site suddenly goes blank, it's because ImageShack found a reason to delete my images. No worries, the world in full of tools, I'll find someone else to host my shit.

UPDATE: Imageshack's server went down, so screw them. Thanks to Donkey Kong™ for the suggestion to use Photobucket.com - let's see how long this lasts... ;-)

Moving to Victoria...

2007-05-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

I have finally made up my mind. I am moving to Victoria. Man, that feels weird. Just to type the words feels strange. Though, the bottom line is that I hate living here. I hate the pollution, and the trucks, and the people. Grande Prairie used to be really nice, but now it's full of people who work here but don't live here.

What I mean is, people come from other provinces to work here, but there heart is back wherever they came from. They litter, finger you in traffic, drive grocery and rent prices up, and bring the quality of the air down. Everyone drives a truck. There are more Hummers per capita here in Grande Prairie than anywhere else in the world. So sad.

I just can't take it anymore. I am also a libertarian in the middle of the Alberta conservative heartland. How depressing is that. So that's it, I'm moving. I'm going where people think like me, and share my politics, and where there is clean air and no snow. Done.

Mensa is a dating service for nerds...

2007-05-23T00:07:00.001-07:00

I ruffled a few feathers on the facebook Mensa group the other day for suggesting that Mensa may amount to a dating service for nerds. In fact, there was a suggestion that my grandmother might be a whore (?!). In a wall-posting, I wrote:

My IQ is high enough to know that any group that limits or allows membership based on a psychobabble metric, is probably just a nerd dating service... ;-)

To which one Matthew Thompsett responded:

Ah i see - yer grandma's knitting/quilting circle if she did such things was actually a secret cover for the bordello that she and her friends ran when you werent there.

Interesting hypothesis - ooo im getting to use big words ;) The problem with that theory is that you infer that any group with restrictions on it is therefore a group for the sole purpose of dating - I am assuming that you have a job - and arent quite as big a bum as I - as such you have membership in what would qualify as a group with restrictions - which would then call into play your dating scenario.

Its an interesting hypothesis - but it has its flaws - form a club of whatever sex doesnt attract you - and try to start dating.

Not going to happen - well maybe you'll swap preferences and it will. But i doubt it

Ouch. So, now there is a debate about whether the Mensa group I joined should be deleted, in favour of a group that makes people prove membership. The idea is that a mindless horde of young less-than-geniuses is destroying the sanctity of the group.

Those FOOLS! They don't realize that I will mercilessly lampoon them if they force me to prove my pedigree. Now, I admit, I am being a little antagonistic... but I bet you a donut that the Edmonton Mensa National Gathering will be an all out carnal fuck-fest.

I did some counting, and 35% of the facebook mensans are chicks! That is a huge proportion of women. Maybe I have tapped the greatest source of horny chicks ever?! Anyway, I am going to stir up shit a little more before I prove my mensa status and join the more restricted "Mensa International" facebook group. Don't worry, I'll post the choice cuts on the ol' bloggeroo.

The girl with no pants...

2007-05-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

I am reading an excellent graphic novel by Doug Chiang and Orson Scott Card called "Robota". It's about an alternate universe where a fleet of robot flying saucers come and enslave humans in the age when we still were exploring the Earth in ships with sails.

Normally, I wouldn't have bothered, but I was in the library and I needed to look like I was browsing for a book. It had an attractive silver cover, and Orson Scott Card is an awesome writer (Ender's Game), so I picked it up.

The reason I was in the library, is this: I was following a woman with no pants. At least, she was wearing shorts so short, that I spotted her walking down the street, and it looked like she was wearing no pants. I have to start carrying my camera around everywhere. I was spying on the woman, not because it was hot - the hideousness of her half-naked rotund figure was equaled only by the strangeness of her half-shaved head. Yeah.

Anyway, I never found out if she was truly half-clad, because I would have had to either ask - a proposition that jellied my bowels, or try to look directly up her crotch, which I confess would probably have earned me a trip to jail. But I saw not one hem line escape from the zippered confines of the brown hoody she wore, and I watched her walk for a block or so before she went into the library.

Bizarre; and perhaps I am a pervert, but I assure you this was pure morbid curiosity which as you know is often my greatest source of delight, and often scorn. "Too curious for his own damn good" indeed.

Group therapy...

2007-05-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

I attended my group therapy orientation today, and it was a little weird, but ok. There is a guy that looks like the German swinger with the hot wife in Super Troopers. It was really strange, I felt like asking him if he liked mustache-rides. Another girl is kinda cute, but I'm not sure how appropriate it is to hit on other group members. I probably won't have much to say about this phase of my mental health treatment (due to privacy issues), but if anything awesome happens, I figure out a way to write about it. That's it for now, time for a nap.

New template...

2007-05-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

I whipped up a new template for the blog based on the excellent TicTac (Blueberry) by Dan Cederholm. It came as an option in blogger, so I hope it's ok that I adapted it. I left original credit in the html/css code, but I had to copy over some images to my webserver; last time I adapted a template, the images moved one day and I was fucked. Anyway, enjoy the new look!

Welcome to the new CuriousJord.com!!!

2007-05-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

I gotta tell you, I am gonna work hard to keep my content fresh - I know I say that with all my projects, but this time I mean it. I think part of the problem was that I always had to much cooking. I didn't have the time, nor the organizational skills to manage everything. Anyway, I am unifying my web presence into just this blog, so that anyone who wants to see what I am up to can just come here. I'm not even using a hosting service...

I plan to add an image gallery, maybe through Picasa Web Albums. The beef I have with that is, is that Web Albums is not unified with Blogger.com. This is stupid considering the they are both Google services. Are you listening corporate overlords?

Also, I am still hoping to do a podcast, but that will be added as a regular post on CuriousJord.com and stored at the Internet Archive or OurMedia.com. That means I will use yet another site to host my podcast audio because I eliminated hosting from my steaming pile of chores.