Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and safe 2012!
Archive for December 2011
Will Ottawa have a green Christmas?
Trashy posted something a couple of days ago stating unequivocably that “no way… is Ottawa getting snow before Christmas day”. The long range forecast on Environment Canada’s website suggests it’s going to be cold enough for snow and the latest aviation forecast suggests there’s going to be periods of snow overnight::
TAF CYOW 221744Z 2218/2318 24007KT P6SM SCT030 BKN100 TEMPO 2218/2220 BKN030 OVC100
FM222000 23005KT P6SM OVC025 TEMPO 2221/2301 6SM -SHSNRA OVC020
FM230100 33005KT P6SM OVC020 TEMPO 2301/2310 4SM -SHSN
FM231000 34012KT P6SM OVC030
FM231500 33006KT P6SM SKC
RMK NXT FCST BY 222100Z=
For those who need a translation, it basically says starting at 4pm this evening (2100Z), there will periods of light rain showers and light snow showers until 10pm followed by periods of light snow showers until 5am tomorrow morning. I suppose there could be a thin layer of snow that hangs around until Christmas but I’m not too hopeful. If you believe the long range forecast, there will be periods of snow on Christmas Day, but it’s still a bit early to tell for certain.
Easy come, easy go: Why you should always have car insurance
Apparently, an American chain of convenience stores called Maverik ran a contest called “Joe Schmo to Lambo“:
Maverik is excited to team up with teamgive to raise money and awareness for the treatment and cure of rare neurological diseases by giving away a Lamborghini Murcielago!
Maverik is all about adventure, so when teamgive approached us with the idea of giving away a Lamborghini to raise money to find a cure for rare neurological diseases we jumped in with both feet.
The Lambo will be given away to one of 10 qualifiers in September 2011. Enter to qualify and you could drive home in a car that will change your life forever!
What would you do with a Lamborghini Murcielago?
Well, apparently the winner decided to give his family and friends rides in his new $380,000 car. Understandable, and I think most people would do that. I mean, just how many people win Lamborghini Mucielagos?
Unfortuantely, the last ride didn’t go so well. In the words of the owner…
“We were coming up a hill, going around a corner; and as soon as we came up the hill, we either hit some black ice or loose gravel or something, and all of a sudden we just started spinning. We ended up in a field, and I back-ended a couple of fence posts.”
Oops.
Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like anyone was hurt, but the car has damage to its rear some damage to the front, a puncture in the wheel and scratches along the side. Fortunately, he was required to take out insurance before they gave him the keys, so he doesn’t have to pay for most of the repairs. I wonder what his insurance premiums are going to be when it’s repaired…
Oh, and did I mention he also won driving lessons at a road racing facility?
Pressure’s fallin’, (freezin’) rain’s a-comin’
I’ve been dragging myself around today, but I was attributing that to a long day yesterday and not enough sleep. A couple of hours ago I started to feel “out of sorts”, so I checked the Weather Office’s website and sure enough, the air pressure was climbing most of the last day and then dropping fairly steadily since mid-morning.
Given the forecast for the next twenty-four hours, which can be summarized as icky¹, it’s not surprising that the pressure’s dropping.
—
¹ ick·y /ˈikē/ adj. a meteorological term describing unpleasant weather that typically includes low clouds and freezing rain.
A Touch of Brass: As Seen On TV
I was up well before the crack o’ dawn this morning to play bells with the other people in A Touch of Brass on CTV Ottawa’s Morning Live show. We played two pieces this year: Christmas Angels Medley and Let It Snow.
The two segments have been posted on YouTube by CTV and I have to say I think these are our best appearances on the show, yet:
and
Comment spammers
I happened to notice these entries in the logs while looking for something else:
208.85.175.27 - - [16/Dec/2011:07:04:13 +0000] "POST /wp-comments-post.php HTTP/1.0" 500 2367
81.17.23.117 - - [16/Dec/2011:07:04:14 +0000] "POST /wp-comments-post.php HTTP/1.1" 500 2367
194.8.26.147 - - [16/Dec/2011:07:04:15 +0000] "POST /wp-comments-post.php HTTP/1.1" 500 2367
93.187.17.200 - - [16/Dec/2011:07:04:16 +0000] "POST /wp-comments-post.php HTTP/1.1" 500 2367
213.186.122.27 - - [16/Dec/2011:07:04:17 +0000] "POST /wp-comments-post.php HTTP/1.1" 500 2367
It’s highly unlikely that five people would all be making a comment at one second intervals, so I can only assume that it’s some sort of spam network.
And sure enough, these IP addresses appear at regular intervals making similar attempts, all of which fail.
Remember: All spammers must die.
AKA Keeper of Maps, I'm a geocacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
