Nearly daily trivia v1.4 - Sometimes you have to roll the hard six

Wow. The whole daily thing (well, nearly daily) kinda fell off. Being caught up in the Benoit tragedy, coupled with my car needing work (and hence mile walks uphill AFTER physical days at work to take the SkyTrain home) really kills the desire to post, let alone come up with trivia which is difficult to Google (it’s kind of redundant to try anything conventional).

Which leads to Todd. After the last question, which I thought would be tough to find, Todd found an illegal internet copy of the WKRP episode. As such, he deserves a kick in the ass for that, and another for not even watching it to answer the question. Git.

As such, the answer was that Les was quoting the Hamlet ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy, and the bonus was he wanted to know what fardels were (the line was ‘What do fardels bear?’). Fardels, in context, would be a burden.

Now for today’s question (though I won’t post more trivia until someone takes a stab, and my readership dies out over the weekend).

Name all Canadian skinjobs.

That is all.

Utterly stunned

As many of you already know, Chris Benoit, his wife and son were found dead yesterday in their Atlanta area home. To save all the details, read here.

When I first heard news of this, I was utterly in denial. Benoit was one of my favourites to watch in the WWE. Something didn’t feel real about it (nor does it still feel real). But due to the nature of what was reported (just that he and family were found dead), it became quite easy to speculate conclusions as to what had happened.

As the news came in, I was utterly horrified as to what had been presented. Double murder, followed by suicide. Now granted nobody really knows what goes on in private, but I never in my wildest dreams have imagined him doing this. The news and authorities are dropping the term roid rage, though I would rather avoid speculation until better facts are presented.

I can just be thankful I had the opportunity to see Benoit perform when the WWE was here in Vancouver in the late winter.

As to the memory of Benoit, I prefer to remember him the way I did know him…

Rest in peace Chris. You will be missed, regardless of circumstance.

That is all.

AGW Top News Item of the Week v1.0

Now, admittedly, I do get brief hits of news from these two free Vancouver (well, there’s versions all across Canada admittedly, as well as America Jr.), as it’s simple to pick one up being on the road all day during the week. Now I do have to go on record and say at least 80% of the pages are filled with tripe like Lindsay Lohan’s latest binge, how 68 lb Nicole Richie is pregnant, how Paris Hilton is crying about her jail stint, and so on, and so on. Then I ran across this:

Vatican issues road ‘Commandments’.

What the duece? So I go home, and actually see articles about this online. From ‘reasonably’ reputable sources, and even propagandist sources like US news networks. Needless to say, it had risen above the levels of the tabloids. While I’m not 100% convinced this is for real, I do feel these 10 road commandments need to face my special attention, read wrath.

To wit:

1. You shall not kill.
Benedict, Benedict, Benedict. If I have to pay Coca-Cola money to have 8 visible frames in a documentary that has a pop can in it, as the Coca-Cola logo is a registered trademark, I only think it’s fair that someone comes out and sues your ass for direct and blatant plagiarism of your own holy texts. An eye for an eye.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
I agree with the no mortal harm thing (with the possible exception of village idiots who really want to tempt fate… and we have loads of those in Vancouver), I highly disagree with eating wafers of bread and drinking wine WHILE operating a motor vehicle. For the latter, consumption of alcohol mixed with driving a motor vehicle is considered to be a very bad way to safely drive. And to have that no mortal harm thing in tact, drinking and driving should be avoided.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
Very true. However, please ammend this one by adding opening your fucking eyes.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.
Can’t really take the piss outta this one. Being in need of a boost, running out of petrol, needing a bit of friendly roadside assistance in an awkward spot sucks balls, and my hat is off to all those who help a friend in need.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
I wonder which heartfelt Christian gets to tell all the rich, power-hungry, and self-professed Christians out there that owing a blinged up Hummer or Lexus is now a mortal sin in the eyes of our incumbent Pope? I also wonder if teenage kids will now shag in their parents bedroom instead of the backseat of a car to avoid a one-way ticket to the fiery pits of hell?

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
See MADD, deal.org, and the like. Support your local chapter.

7. Support the families of accident victims.
I completely agree.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
Remember, bad driving is the work of Satan’s helpers, witches. So if they are guilty of their infractions, and are witches, made of wood, and they can float in water, as can a duck. So determining their guilt is easy. If they weigh the same as a duck, they are made of wood, and therefore a witch. Burn the guilty at the stake. But give them the opportunity to repent moments before they become alit.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
So kids, remember, slam on the brakes on the freeway to protect the rodent running across the road, and brace yourself for the 18-wheeler about to slam into your backside.

10. Feel responsible toward others.
Hey. It’s not my fault if someone in front of me slams on the brakes making me do the same. The responsibility is the party in front of me. Maybe this should be preceded by ‘take some fucking responsibility first’.

Benedict’s purpose is not without good intent. However, the practicum in his concept is far from flawless. As such, I have some ‘rules’ of my own.

To wit, the AGW rules of the road:

1. In all cases, Newton overrules ICBC .
2. Drive like you are NOT the only vehicle on the road.
3. Nothing makes anyone more important than anyone else (Dubya should take this to heart). Every driver has somewhere to get, and the road is a first come, first serve situation.
4. Use your fucking indicators ALL THE TIME.
5. Texting, playing Tetris, and talking on a mobile without a handsfree should not be done while operating a manual transmission vehicle.
6. Neither should any activity from 5 be done while operating a automatic transmission, large truck, motorcycle, scooter, or while being a pedestrian crossing an intersection.
7. Another for pedestrians: Do not stop in the middle of an intersection, spend 10 seconds digging up your iPod, and then scan through songs before proceeding, especially when cars are waiting to turn down the street you are crossing.
8. Yet another pedestrian one: Yes, you have right of way. However, watch your ass. Refer to number 1 if this doesn’t quite make sense yet.
9. Putting a sub-woofer in your vehicle to give more bass than anyone can know what to do with will not impress anyone, but rather reveals that your penis cannot be any longer than 2 inches erect.
10. Conversely, instead of hip-hop, listening to the following bands can only bring the correct emotional state to facilitate safe driving: System of a Down, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Killing Joke, Rob Zombie, and Jane’s Addiction.

That is all.

Nearly daily trivia v1.3

Well, it seems both Peter and Todd knew the end theme (and the beginning theme as well) for WKRP in Cincinnati was written by Jim Ellis. However, neither had the bollocks to actually go on record and say the song had no official title. As such, half points for each. They might have to choose Charis if they ever ventured to Vancouver and played Stump the Show.

But alas, the WKRP trivia reminded me of high school, when during long bus trips, it was a point of interest to quiz each other about the show. As such, I have another question from the show. But, hopefully, I will have hit a question which is far from easily google-able. As such, here is today’s question:

What does Les Nessman recite standing on a ledge?

Bonus points: What word does Mr. Carlson look up for Les during that point, and what is the meaning of said word?

That is all.

Nearly daily trivia v1.2

Well, congrats to Peter for knowing that The Gates of Hera, from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, was actually a shot of the Lions here in ever sunny Vancouver, BC.

Now for today’s question.

Name the title and composer to the song that runs during the end credits of WKRP in Cincinnati.

That is all.

Nearly daily trivia

Gawd, I miss CFOX’s Damn Near Freakin’ Impossible Trivia. But, in the spirit of rekindling my nearly burnt blahg, I shall try to post a trivia question at least every other day.

And just for Peter, I’ll actually give away an answer to the lone unsolved question, just this once.

Now, onto today’s question:

What landmark was shot to be the Gates of Hera?

That is all.

Filler so hopefully we can dyke up the floodplains

Okay, the rivers are receding back to a level we’re more used to here. For now. And in the hopes of creating some content here until I come up with something more creative, I’m bringing back my iTunes list. As such, my current top 25 from iTunes:

1. You May Be Right - The Grapes of Wrath (6)
2. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd (7)
3. You Were Always on my Mind - Pet Shop Boys (2)
4. Viva La Raza - WWE - Eddie Guerrero (1)
5. Killing In The Name - Rage Against the Machine (20)
6. Give It Up - KC and the Sunshine Band (5)
7. Romantic Traffic - The Spoons (4)
8. Keep On Rocking In The Free World - Neil Young (10)
9. Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim (3)
10. Kyle’s Mom’s A Bitch - Eric Cartman (
11. Twin Peaks (Instrumental) - Angelo Badalamenti (NR)
12. The Lonely Shepherd - Zamfir (16)
13. Sycamore Trees - David Lynch and Jimmy Scott (12)
14. Reflections - The Supremes (NR)
15. Sin - Nine Inch Nails (NR)
16. Connection - Elastica (9)
17. What is Life? - George Harrison (17)
18. Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths (15)
19. Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots (11)
20. Papa’s Got A Brand New Pig Bag - Pig Bag (13)
21. The Bazaar - The Tea Party (24)
22. There’s No Other Way - Blur (21)
23. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison (NR)
24. I’m Too Sexy - Right Said Fred (NR)
25. Chemical World - Blur (14)

That is all.

Cosmetic Blahg surgery

Well, for the consistent, day by day readers (all five of you out there), I’ve changed the template. Simply put, I needed a change on this blahg. Not had too too much to say lately (well, on the funny front… lately I have the feeling my ‘humour’ has a little too much of a sadistic edge). Also, to be noted, I have become slightly addicted to Facebook. So, as such…

Though as a note to spammers (and shit disturbers and the like), I don’t just auto add anyone. I really do have to know you before I do add. Just so you know…

Hopefully, I will have something useful to post soon.

That is all.

Break out the Life Rings

Yup, that was the feeling we had here in the Lower Mainland early in the week. Due to the record levels of snow we received in the winter, we have, for the last month or so, been expecting record level heights for the Fraser river here. Cities in the northern interior (Terrace and Prince George) have experienced flooding now, and some are even under a water advisory as the flooding has reached sewage lagoons.

Luckily here, the majority of homes sit well above the flood plains. Those below include Richmond, Ladner, Langley, Maple Ridge, Mission, Abbotsford, and Chiliwack, to which some have already received evacuation notice. For the lot of us, however, bridge use will be limited if not completely cut off. As it stands, ‘experts’ are now predicting we here in Vancouver are at around our peak water level, but I’m not counting on it. So, if there is flooding around the bridges, and being a unionized employee, that means only one thing…

Fully paid days off of work!!!!! Woot!!!!!

But seriously, the isolation is not a healthy thing. I have horrible visions of mad riots in grocery stores for food, not having enough to eat, poor drinking water quality and the like. So, as the heads up, we are preparing (under a tight budget I know, but meh). I just can’t wait until July when the lot of this will hopefully have subsided.

As a matter of point, I do point out to the conservative readers of this tripe blahg that this is empirical evidence of one half of the greenhouse effect is actually scientifically accurate and undeniable. Melting vast quantities of frozen water (such as snow or ice) DOES in fact make natural water levels rise. Now it’s not so much that they are refuting that now, but in their worst nightmares, if there becomes solid, undeniable, scientific proof that emissions are not only toxic (another point conservative pundits overlook, by the way) but are contributing to the ‘greenhouse effect’, I’m sure, at least in Canada, that the circular thinking of the Conservatives that be will try to convince others that either higher than freezing temperatures won’t melt ice, or that extra melted ice won’t increase sea levels.

But alas, science does not always work for these individuals. Maybe if we convinced the Pope to put it in the bible… then they’d believe it. But I just don’t think he’d go for that. Meh.

That is all.

It’s not my shtick… or is it schtick?

I always thought it was the latter. Though CBC likes using the previous spelling. Either way… seems ol’ Stephen Harper (cos he can be considered Canada’s ‘new government’ anymore) snubbed Bono at the G8 summit. He claimed he was ‘too busy’, and as well, it ‘wasn’t his schtick’.

Of course, the latter ’schtick’ comment really appears to be a snub of former Prime Minister Paul Martin, which only goes to prove his entire political platform really wasn’t based on trying to ‘one up’ the Liberal. No new ideas, or do old habits just die really hard?

But yet, it seems Harper backtracks himself when he realizes Bono actually wants to talk about AIDS in Africa. Now it seems he’ll talk to Bono after the summit.

AFTER the summit? So is talking to ‘celebrities’ (and in this rare case, celebrities that actually engage in activities that benefit the world, not the profit lines of tabloids) your schtick or not Harper? Where’s your accountability Stephen? Seems you can’t even be accountable to your word these days (not that we were buying your ‘new’ environmental stance anyway). You even went on to say you’re a big U2 fan (though I’m sure you’d look blank if I mentioned songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday) to suck up to the press.

One thing is for certain. Stephen is full of shit yet again. This is speculative though… is Stephen trying to get a private concert at 24 Sussex in his ploy?

That is all.