It’s New Year’s Eve, although it’s very early in the morning.
At the end of one year and the beginning of a new we often think of new year’s resolutions: things we will do better, things we will start, things we will stop. I’m thinking of something to start, and I’m going to call it “now-ness.”
I […]

A few days ago we had Christmas dinner for 25: two turkeys, one extra-large ham, a massive pot of applesauce, and much, much more.
It was at my sister Renee and her husband Jeroen’s house. That’s Jeroen at the end of the table(s) …

Jeroen is an artist who has created many beautiful paintings (including the 5′ […]

Teresa and I took our sons Ethan and Aidan to Science World yesterday after some furniture shopping in Yaletown.
One thing that caught my eye was an amazing plasma display. I’ve been looking a little at large flatscreen TVs lately. I almost certainly won’t get one this year, but it’s always fun to look.
But I haven’t […]

… and the Koetsier family gathered for a family photo …

… before heading off for family gift-giving. What a wonderful night!
A very merry Christmas to all our friends and acquaintances, and anyone who happens to see these words, and a wonderful, blessed new year.

Oddly, very few optical illusions actually work, at least for me. Perhaps my eyes are different than others - or maybe my brain is wired up a little differently.
However, here’s one that I saw the other day that actually does.

It’s not too often you see someone opening a bottle of wine with a hammer.
However, that’s precisely what I had to do on Tuesday this week. We had a pizza lunch at our Langley, BC office to celebrate Christmas, and someone had a bottle of wine.
The first corkscrew just broke as we tried to pull […]

A screenpic from an amazing photoset on Flicker:

Next up: toe of newt …
. . .
. . .
(BTW, here’s one of my insect shots. Not nearly as close-up, or as quality.)

I recently had the oddest experience - picking up a book and reading it, and having the strangest sensation that it was very similar to another book that I was very familiar with.
The book was There and back again, by Pat Murphy, and the book it is similar to is The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, […]

Last week I finished Eighth Army, by Robin Neillands.
It’s a history of the “British” Eighth Army, which fought most famously in northern Africa during WWII, and then in the Italian campaign with the US 5th Army.
The Desert Rats, as they referred to themeselves, consisted of British, Aussi, Kiwi, Canadian, Indian, and even some Polish units. […]

Saw this on Boingboing just a few minutes ago: a photo tour of Volkswagen’s Phaeton factory in Dresden, Germany.

Unbelievable. This is no factory, it’s a work of engineering and aesthetic art. I’d work in it any day.
Glass, steel, laminated wood flooring: it’s a modernist dream factory made real.
. . .
. . .
Of […]

I need a backup solution for my home computer (an iMac G5), and I’m considering these products:
- Deja Vu, for backup and cloning software
- Iomega 250 GB USB 2.0 external drive, for actual disk space
(That’s a pretty cheap 250 gigs, btw … about $100 USD, after rebates.)

How do you passionately articulate what you know and believe while remaining calm, professional, and pleasant?
This can be a huge challenge for me.
Today Bernie, Rastin, and I had a 90-minute conversation about an aspect of our websites. Bernie and I felt one thing, Rastin probably agreed, but we differed on how to address it.
A couple […]

OK, this is cool. It’s a new way to experience what’s new and hot and interesting online on a daily basis (which is one of the things I visit delicious for).

What is it?

“Phylotaxis”, created for Seed by artist Jonathan Harris, illustrates the delicate balance between science and culture in our world.
Without the randomness of culture, […]

OK, funny break: check out thisisbroken.com.
I particularly like the Mount St. Helens volcano cam being blocked - by a fly!

Imagine you’re an NHL general manager.
Imagine you trade for a guy you think will be a franchise player. Imagine you give up 3 key guys to get him. And imagine you’ve been losing, and losing, and losing.
Then you get this new player. He scores 16 or so points in his first 6 games with […]

I watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Disney, IMDB) last night.
First impressions: really very good. Enjoyable, fun, and well done. The story was not destroyed in the making of the movie, and the movie pretty much is true to the Narnia of the book.
The actors who played the kids (Lucy, Edmond, Susan, and […]

Was checking my server logs today and noticed that someone liked my iPod pix enough to use them for their eBay sale.
I am available for photo shoots, of course. Hourly rates start at about $10,000 (in advance, or at least before you see the pictures), but I’ll give you a special deal if you mention […]

Teresa and I got our new credit cards in the mail today, so we had to destroy the old ones - chop them up in a million tiny shards so that the nasty identity thieves can’t piece them together again and go to Hawaii on our dime.
I decided to have some fun, and here’s the […]

When the aliens come to pick us all up (I mean, cart off the wackos), we have to be sure to let them know where we are, I mean, identify ground zero:

(Aerial pictures of Scientology’s underground archive in New Mexico. More info on what Scientology is doing archiving L. Ron Hubbard’s nonsense. Perhaps there’s something […]

I recently came across the BLDG BLOG, which is a massive productivity sink and should be avoided at all costs, particularly because of horribly beautiful and fascinatingly awful posts like this.