Weblog Ryan Chen-Wing

Saturday 30 April Armoury

Saturday 30 April 2005 10:18 — 10 people
Saturday 30 April 2005 10:23 — 12 people
Saturday 30 April 2005 10:34 — 12 people

Sunday 24 April Armoury

Matt comparing work and school

I found the following pretty funny.

Matt said: Don't kid yourself. Work is a lot like school.
"Chris" commented: Maybe if your school is UW and your work is MS...

Molson buys Wiggins' Creemore

Last week I read in the news that Molson had bought Creemore Springs, a brewery that makes a lager and a lesser known bock. I think the founder John went to my high school, but that would have been more than fifty years ago or so.

Molson puts cap on the deal, buys Creemore TGAM 23 April 2005

The company was founded in 1987 by John Wiggins, a veteran of Toronto's ad industry. He set up shop in an abandoned hardware store on the main street in Creemore. In designing the beer's image, he created a label with a brook and a waterfall. "We wanted to be known as the little guy, the beer made by elves," Mr. Wiggins told The Globe and Mail in 1997.

A story in the National Post's Financial Post 23 April 2005 said:

John Wiggins, the founder of Creemore, who sold his stake four years ago, said he worries about the owenership change. "A little company like this does very well if it grows on the merits of what it is doing, and it has done that very successfully. I hope like heck the Molson people recognize that."

Late April snow before warm summer

Snow accumulated outside the front window of my house this morning. I snapped this photo around 9:00. The snow was wet and melted on the pavement, but remained on the trees, grass, and ground.

Environment Canada's seasonal forecast is calling for above average temperatures and below average precipitation for this area in the 0 to 3 months period.

Sunday 24 April Armoury

Sunday 24 April 2005 10:05 — 2 people
Sunday 24 April 2005 10:16 — 3 people
Sunday 24 April 2005 10:17 — 4 people
Sunday 24 April 2005 10:18 — 3 people
Sunday 24 April 2005 10:29 — 3 people

Armoury 21 April 05

BC considering proportional-representation single-transferable-vote electoral system

British Columbians are voting on how they vote. Three weeks from this Tuesday, 17 May, BC will hold its first fixed-date provincial election and a referendum on electoral reform. They will consider a single-transferable-vote system as proposed by the citizens assembly in its report released last December.

Should British Columbia change to the BC-STV electoral system as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform?

The report proclaims the slogan "making every vote count," apparently as a purpose of the system. The system should cause the proportion of representatives by party closer to the proportion of the popular vote for those parties.

If implemented there would be multiple-seat ridings. Voter each have one vote, but fill out a ranking ballot in order of preference. If their preferred candidate receives more than enough votes to meet the threshold for election, surplus votes are transferred to their next preferred choices.

Martin address and some things

I watched the television addresses from the Prime Minister and the leaders of the other major polictical parties. Some of it was okay, but I think the analysis is all over the place.

Here are a few points on the talk:

People on Martin's television address

Here are some entries on Martin's television address Thursday night.

Great skiing and boarding in Terrace

Nestled in the Coastal mountains of North-by-northwestern British Columbia, the Terrace area features, amoung many other natural wonders, great conditions for snowsports. Sarah Zimmerman writes about how moviemakers and magazine writers are spreading the word:

TERRACE locals have known for years our mountains are home to backcountry skiing and snowboarding opportunities that are simply outstanding.
With an annual average snowfall of 40 feet at Shames Mountain and seemingly endless backcountry terrain, it’s no wonder locals like keeping it Terrace’s little secret.
But the secret is out.

Untouched snow tantalizes magazines and movie makers Terrace Standard 20 Apr 2005

Armoury 21 April 05

Thursday 21 April 2005 17:35 — 27 people
Thursday 21 April 2005 17:52 — 28 people

It seemed like there were a lot of people who were just starting to exercise. If they are, good for them; if they aren't, oh well.

Armoury Sun 17 April

RobE and energy efficiency in Eire

RobE posted about energy conservation features of devices in his place in Eire, where he is living and working. (Power Down 18 Apr 2005)

One of the cool things in my flat, and in normal construction in Dublin is that I can reduce the electricity usage in my flat to zero. Not "almost" zero or "probably" zero, but zero.

RobE, Google, Eire 23 Jan 2005

Online applications for companies

Matt posted about Running your company on web apps where Evan says:

One interesting thing about starting a company today versus a few years ago: Lots of cool web apps are now available that you can more or less run you company on.

He lists on-line applications for:

• project management
• information management
• blogging
• e-mail
• bug and ("customer e-mail"?) management
• mailing lists
• online customer support

He left out something that I think is important, customer relationship management (CRM) like salesforce.com.

The post is interesting because it is an illustration of what Jenkins (now former) CEO of Open Text told us in January. About his talk (TomJ OText talk from EA series) I wrote:

What the kiz are talking about: Club DC

I read this hilarious DC Profiles where the girl writes her descriptions of people who hang out at the local club.

She says:

ahhh the highly anticipated web entry of the term. anticipated by me that is. after much time spent on the fantastic Window's default Paint i present to you, CLUB DC (as i overheard/evesdropped someone say)

Pressure cooker weight spins

I cooked some bright red beans in my pressure cooker on Sunday.

The benefit of a pressure cooker is that food can be cooked at a higher temperature and thence more quickly. When boiling in a open pot boiling water, the contents are at atmospheric pressure and the contents boils at about 100 degrees centigrade. When boiling water in a enclosed pressure vessel like a pressure cooker, the pressure builds up and boils at a higher temperature.

Pressure is moderated most simply by placing a weight over a hole. The weight divided by the area of the hole will be the maximum internal pressure in the cooker. If the pressure goes above that it will push the weight off the hole and steam will escape.

You can see the weight in the picture. It was spinning counter-clockwise pretty quickly.

Weird grafitti message "Saint Cin's"

I saw some weird grafitti behind the plaza last week. It says:

SAINT CIN'S WILL BE REMEMBERED

It would seem to refer to the cinnamon bun and coffee franchise that opened in the plaza strip mall, then closed and then reopened. It came after Zuby's (or something) wraps and before Pita Factory.

I don't understand why anyone would be so motivated to share that message with the part of the world that walks behind the strip mall.

Basil plants progressing

I planted some basil and other seeds on 20 March. Now the seeds are seedlings and now they are almost 29 days old.

Now at 29 days the plants have adult leaves and are getting crowded. I planted several seeds in each peat pot because the seeds were old, but obviously most of them sprouted.

International students allowed to work off campus

Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced today a pilot project that will allow international students at public post-secondary institutions to work off-campus while completing their studies.

The announcement also included changes that would allow international students to work for two years after graduation instead of one.

The press release (More reasons for international students to choose Canada) says:

Through past pilot projects and agreements with CIC, some provinces have already experienced the success of the initiatives, which are now being expanded throughout Canada.

I hear that Manitoba had already arranged for international students to work off campus.

With that change there is less need for this: Idea for employing students on campus 8 Feb 2004, where students could telecommute from campus to work for outside companies.

2005Q1 personal expenditure report

After New Year's I produced my expenditure tracking report for the previous half year. Now I have collected data for the first quarter of this year.

Half year of personal expenditure control 23 Jan 2005

I overspent this quarter (~1.5%) even before extraordinary expenditure (4%). Since, I count savings & d-r the same as expenditure, I am still ahead. Three months ago a made some rough predictions as to how figures in each area would change I was close on most of them.

I encourage everyone to track his or her spending. It will give you information on your spending habits and help you find opportunities to better apply your money.

Armoury Sun 17 April

Sunday 17 April 2005 14:10 — 10 people
Sunday 17 April 2005 14:11 — 11 people
Sunday 17 April 2005 14:16 — 9 people
Sunday 17 April 2005 14:26 — 10 people
Sunday 17 April 2005 14:34 — 13 people

They changed the signs on the reusable cloths bin from "Clean Cloths" and "Dirty Cloths" to "Clean Cloths" and "Used Cloths". It is a good change. While I was there there were two young lovers who, between sets of stretches, they would kiss, stand close, and hold hands. I found it pretty unusual.

Ping writes about Gates's comments last year

Ka-Ping writes about a talk by Gates at Berkley and some comments he made (Update to: Bill Gates caught lying on camera.). He wrote is as a followup to Bill Gates: Please retract your incorrect statement.

Tim Bray's photo of an empty room in Waterloo

Tim Bray recently posted a picture of an empty room on his ongoing blog

There is an office chair and a crate with a laptop computer and daisies placed in a wine bottle. He explains that the room has been emptied as a part of a move from Waterloo to VanCity. The picture is not all that remarkable, but Tim as one of the co-founders of Open Text is.

FSS: Still Life ongoing

Tim Hortons locations compared to population

Kevin put together a table of the number of Tim Hortons locations in different cities and compared them to the population in those cities (Tim Hortons Study). I tried the same thing with only a few centres. The figure for VanCity isn't there because I couldn't easily get matching numbers. The TH store locator giveslocations in Vancouver proper (17 locations), but the population figure I found at Stat includes greater VanCity (Richmond has 7, Burnaby has 9, etc.)

McGuinty, Macdonald on fiscal imbalance

With the current efforts by the Ontario government to get more money from the federal government, I have been looking for information relevant to the debate.

McGuinty suggests that there is a gap between what Ontario tax payers send to the federal government and what Ontario receives in return. Really it is a gap with what the Ontario government receives in return.

In some areas there is unequal funding, but that does not suggest that the total figure quoted by the Ontario Liberals, $23-billion, is correct. To look at the real balance between all payments between jurisdictions. Ontario receives a lot more direct federal spending which the Ontario government receives indirectly through taxes.

Confederation made Ontario wealthy from the beginning of the country. Just ask John Macdonald:

Saturday Armoury9 April

Saturday 9 April 2005 10:10 — 26 people
Saturday 9 April 2005 10:25 — 29 people

Armoury Thursday 7 April

Another Porcellino -- Sydney Hospital, Australia

A Porcellino sits in the land down under. For an Anglo-Italian Australian doctor he was bought to remember.

Another Porcellino — The Butchart Boar 1 Mar 2005
Another Porcellino — Little Rock law office
Our Silent Volunteer - Il Porcellino South Eastern Area Health Services

Armoury Thursday 7 April

Thursday 17 April 2005 12:07 -- 20 people
Thursday 17 April 2005 12:17 -- 17 people

Armoury Monday 4 April 2005

The New Manic new UW arts journal

The New Manic Magazine premiered today. It's new UW arts journal started by Bram Wigzell and Andrew Judge. On the inside front cover they list the stories, the people, and the players. They Bram and Andrew, the players, hold the positions of co-founder, chief-editor; and co-founder, finance manager.

Simpsons reference on canada411

There's a Simpsons reference on canada411.ca, "The phone directory for everyone (tm). The sample address for "Reverse Address Search" is 742 Evergreen Terrace, which is the address of the Simpsons family on the television show, The Simpsons.

UW 4th in 2005 ACM programming finals

UW came fourth at ACMs in Shanghai today.

Rank Name Solved Time
1 Shanghai Jiaotong University 8 1517
2 Moscow State University 7 711
3 St Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics 7 888
4 University of Waterloo 7 1046

Feds leadership awards 2005

Feds held its Feds Student Leadership Awards reception at Fed Hall. Unlike in previous years the winners were informed beforehand. There were about forty people there.

Ten students won awards: Continue reading "Feds leadership awards 2005"

Linking to a golf course and curling club — South Muskoka

Jesse requested links to South Muskoka Curling & Golf Club. "While it is located in the heart of downtown Bracebridge, it features the majestic trees and granite out-croppings that are so prominent in Muskoka."

pagerank manipulation helmer¡ca

Last Feds council meeting and pictures

Students' Council had its last regular council meeting for the school year Sudnay afternoon. I arrived late because I had a meeting and the fellow I was meeting forgot to change his clock.

The April meeting shows pretty well who the troupers are.

Armoury Monday 4 April 2005

Monday 4 April 2005 12:34 — 28 people
Monday 4 April 2005 12:36 — 37 people

27Mar EasSund Armoury

Granted honorary membership at Feds GM

Students voted to grant me honorary membership in the corporation Federation of Students University of Waterloo at its general meeting last Thursday.

While the motion was being considered Strick and I were counting votes for the election of directors. When the motion was made to appoint me as returning officer, I was not asked if I would accept the appointment. I complied with the motion and thence accepted through action and not word.

Mentioned in Feds GM 2005 agenda