timouse

i remember hearing about the chaos that will be caused by all manner of common household items with embedded software that automatically compensates for daylight savings time (VCR's, electronic organizers, etc). i know that windoze always seems to tell me when we get to daylight savings, but i can't remember whether or not it does that based on what i tell it at setup.

No need to apologise my friend,I just was thinking of the winter I was working 150ft up the hydro towers in january with a 5:30am start,and how I wished it was a bit ligther out,not that I'm scared of heights or anything but I sorta like being able to see clearly when up there,especially after a late night at the bar.

Not that an hour makes alot of difference mind you,but still every little bit is an asset.

best reason yet for having the extra hour in the morning. there's nothing worse than going to work in the dark...except working in the dark

Gotta love the ragin with the diesel

I can't wait to see them again' date=' and the perfectly congenial folks they routinely draw. [/quote']

what he said. i totally missed this thread...all this excitement and it's still a month away!!! diesel dog has a very agreeable and loyal following...can't wait to see everyone there!

I heard that Hung Up track on the cbc the other day. As a big fan of electronic music, I must say that Hung Up is one of the worst remixes I've ever heard.

It is bunk and I cannot believe she would put it out on an album.

cheers to you for actually giving her a chance. i can't hit the off button fast enough on the rare occasions i hear her on the radio.

her appearance on the simpsons, however, was classic...the queen drops reckless driving charges against homer if the simpsons agree to take madonna back to america. the last scene of her hauled through the airport in a sack cracks me up..."but oym eanglish!!!"

hopefully DeLay will be convicted without delay!!!

of course he will wind up in a country club style prison...maybe he and sideshow bob can be on the rowing team together

hmmm...madonna's new "...album will be hailed a masterpiece..."

i know all those words, but can't make sense of them in that order.

indeed! hope you have a great birthday!

Yet another vain attempt at humor. Sorry.

[color:purple]purple font is your friend.

actually that shouldn't be in purple as it was not meant sarcastically...but whatever. you get the idea

it is indeed common practice, albeit a befuddling one.

at our local council meetings, the everything is done through the chair. goofy or not, if stone mountain claims an 80% success rate as a conflict resolution tool, then i believe it

i expect that you know theat they mean well...funny that "break a leg" in this context is actually a good thing, where in the rest of life, it's generally not.

from the interweb:

There is a superstition in the theatre that wishing an actor

good luck "tempts the gods" and causes bad luck, so negative

expressions are substituted. In French one says _Merde!_ ("Shit!")

when an actor is about to go on stage. The German expression is

_Hals und Beinbruch_="neck and leg fracture" (_Bein_ used to mean

"bone" in German, so the translation "neck and bone break" may be

correct if the expression is sufficiently old). The leading

theory is that the English expression came from the German, possibly

via Yiddish. Other suggested origins are: John Wilkes Booth, the

actor who broke his leg shortly after he assassinated Abraham

Lincoln in 1865; the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who "had

but one leg and it would be good luck to be like her"; wishing

someone a "big break", that is, good luck leading to success; and

the Hebrew _hatzlacha u-brakha_ = "success and blessing".

there was an excellent " frontline " on the US and torture last night. the conclusion seemed to be that the higher ups (rumsfeld and shrub specifically) knew full well what was going on, and turned a blind eye in pursuit of "actionable intelligence."

bastards. i hope that LAW throws the book at 'em. not like it'll hit them, but it's a very powerful statement. thanks for posting this, corey!!

It does sorta have Simpsons written all over it, doesn't it? (Obviously, I presume you're also picturing Snake hurling the cakes...)

"take that, piggies..."

i'm imagining police chief wiggum making lou lean out the door and scoop up yummy vachon cakes

I'm gonna have to start charging royalties to people in whose dreams I appear...

Aloha,

Brad

so long as you don't mind being paid in dreamland currency

The long and winding road.

For me too' date=' but only the original [i']Let It Be version; ever since I heard the LIB Naked version, it's been more than redeemed.

Let It Be (Naked) rules. many of the overly syrupped tunes on the original kick butt in their stripped down form.

have a great day dave! happy b-day!!

Can anyone explain to me why someone would do that? A person is at a concert' date=' (presuably) having a good time, and suddenly thinks, "I know! I'll jump on stage and grab one of the band members! That'll make it better for [i']everybody!" Huh?

Aloha,

Brad

its called drugs!

or more accurately low quality drugs

hey! he owes milhouse's dad some royalties! let's see...one copy sold, probably at a garage sale, what's 1.5 % of 25 cents???

The Soundtrack to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

eeeh. is that the bee gees one? i had that too. i think my little brother broke it over my head. didn'y upset me in the least...

that article is sensationalist b-s... i'm here, i'm out and about all day every day, and i haven't experienced any discrimination based on my occupation. must have been a slow day for news at the globe last monday or whenever.

that's very reassuring...there was a piece on the CBC, then the Globe article the next day...sure made me nervous for all the canadoian folks over there teaching.

thanks for weighing in, kev...so you find none of the "problems" that the globe referenced??

I think I'm being pressured into going to this show. Ear-plugs will be dusted-off and used appropriately.

chloroform, earplugs and sinead. the perfect trio

from today's Globe and Mail... i hope sarahbelle's well over there. i heard this on the news today and though about folks i knew that were over there teaching...

Nearly 50 English teachers from Canada have been detained, deported or investigated on allegations of visa fraud in South Korea, a country seeking to purge itself of young Westerners increasingly regarded as unqualified, unruly and unwelcome.

Long a magnet for foreigners drawn to working overseas, Korea has arrested hundreds of them in the past couple of weeks. Immigration officials have been rounding up dozens of teachers at their homes, work, or at the airports.

While as many as 10,000 foreigners legally teach the language at private English schools in Korea, the nation's media have been full of exposés about teachers with dubious credentials.

Many of the foreign teachers, if not most, are Canadian.

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Many teachers say Korean officials and unscrupulous recruiters have long tolerated, even encouraged, the illegal activity.

Some Canadian teachers are worried that they, too, could end up in prison.

"I wish we could tell exactly how much trouble we are in," a 30-year-old Canadian teacher said in a phone interview from Kwangju, Korea, on Friday. "The idea of me being locked up and handcuffed and fed grog is ridiculous. They say what we're doing is criminal, but it doesn't feel that way."

The woman, who is from B.C., said she arrived on a spousal visa, but was enticed into teaching English illegally to supplement her husband's income.

Her husband, a legal instructor, said Korea's response is out of proportion to the situation. "We are all teaching children how to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and ABC," hesaid, adding that he believes more than 150 Canadians doing this type of work have been arrested.

The couple -- who, like several other Canadians interviewed, asked not to be identified -- say they are contemplating a "midnight run" out of Korea, and complain that the local embassy has not done enough for jailed friends.

"The whole situation is totally inhumane -- I've heard of 70 [foreign teachers] being put in a room with capacity for only 30 or 40," the wife said. "It's not like they were dealing drugs or running guns."

Canada's Foreign Affairs Department says there are limitations to what it can do. It has officially logged about 50 English-teacher cases in the past two weeks: 35 have been deported, five are awaiting deportation and the rest under investigation.

"It's clear that the South Koreans are enforcing their laws in a recent wave that began as little as two weeks ago," the Foreign Affairs parliamentary secretary, Dan McTeague, said from Ottawa.

The Liberal MP warned Canadians in Korea to "make sure their credentials conform to the rigours of the law. If they don't, they are strongly advised to rethink continuing in that setting."

Many of the arrests of foreigners have followed that of a Korean man who is accused of selling fake diplomas. Many Canadians who tried to establish teaching credentials by buying fake university degrees are worried that their names have been handed over to the authorities.

One Canadian, who has taught legally in Korea for nine years and helps run an Internet message board for expatriates, is telling affected colleagues that the wisest course of action is to surrender.

"There are some people that freak out and say, 'I better get out of Dodge' -- and then they get nailed at the airport," he said.

Given that Korean authorities are believed to have an inch-thick dossier on illegal English teachers, he urged his compatriots to go a different route. "If you turn yourself in, immigration tends to take a more lenient thinking."

Like many Canadians interviewed, he said that Koreans have an innate xenophobia that has hardened of late. "There has been a definite change in the way we're being perceived in the last nine or 10 months," he said. "Before, it was, 'Please speak me English.' Now, it's 'Get out of my country, white devils.' "

Visa frauds go on in just about every country, but Korea's clampdown has been lent a sense of urgency by highly publicized accounts of immorality by young foreigners. Reports of marijuana and cocaine busts have long tended to feature Westerners -- including five Canadian teachers who were arrested two years ago.

But more recent events have led to a furor. An unknown English teacher in Korea used the Internet to post what amounted to a how-to guide for seducing Korean women. Then, two English teachers from Cape Breton, N.S., made the headlines for breaking a local man's jaw in a bar brawl. They spent 40 days in jail and were ordered to pay $30,000 (U.S.) in a form of restitution known locally as "blood money."

And lately, Korean TV has aired segments painting English teachers as inept, unqualified foreigners who frequently lie about their credentials.

"People basically think all foreign teachers are drunks and molesters who can't get a job back home," said the teacher who helps run the Internet board for expats.

have a great birthday and a fabulous time at smokestack!!

cheers!

Peace' date=' love and hugs to his family and friends, to Mud and Blair, and to everyone who will feel the loss.[/quote']

Absolutely. Very, very sorry to hear this. Take good care of one another.

seconded.

And yet another emailed response..finally with some specifics. It's a good follow-up so I'm content to let this die until I find something else to get all crazy about:

Hello Adam,

In regards to the new Rwandan Cup of Hope coffee, this is actually not a promotional offer, but a new coffee being introduced into our portfolio. It

is purchased under the Solid Grounds purchasing Practice as are all of our other coffees. It will continue to be available to our customer as we

are in the process of forming a lasting bond with this region and should be available in all cafés depending on availability, we have found that

our customers are quite big fans of this new product. Our cafés did actually receive quite detailed information in regards to the coffees and we are broaching it with each café as our Territory Managers do in café visits.

Unfortunately we have found that in notifying the franchisee, sometimes the information doesn't make it's way to the staff in a timely manner but

we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that the café staff is equally knowledgeable. I have also included a copy of a memo that went out in

regards to this new product. I understand that some of the information may be a repeat of the earlier response that I sent to you but you also may get a better understanding of this new product from it.

meh.

the Fair Trade system exists for a reason. what 2nd cup is doing is like selling sugar free snacks (that diabetics might enjoy) that are actually slightly sugar reduced. or selling hairspray that was only tested on on a few animals, and none of them really seemed to mind.

i don't buy 2nd cup products, and i don't think this has enticed me to start.

thanks for digging this up polkaroo!

yay kaidy, and definitely raise shit as far up the chain of command as you can.

unless if course you can foresee needing a reference