Home of DJ and technophile Jonathan Puddle (aka J Puddy)
Recommended Reading
Damn it feels good to be a father
Jan 24th
Maija’s contractions started in earnest this morning, and within 45 minutes we were on our way to the hospital (leaving uncooked cookie dough on the kitchen counter… shock!)
Upon arrival, the midwives seemed to relax just a little when they found out it was our first child. “This’ll take some time” I’m sure they were thinking. Until they checked Maija out, and found she was already 8cm dilated. This baby’s coming out!
2 hours later… for a total of 4 hours labour… James Eden Puddle!
#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-1 More >Nobody wins
Dec 18th
Following on from my last post, a good friend sent me this article in Macleans. Here’s a snippet:
THERE IS nothing wrong with minority governments, per se. It depends what kind of minority. Do we want the kinds of minority Parliaments we have had in recent years, a clutch of hobbled regional or quasi-regional parties, fingers perpetually on the button, endlessly threatening to pitch us all into another pointless election in the vain hope that, if the swing voters can be distracted in their direction, if the splits go their way, if they can demean and belittle their opponents enough, if More >
What to do with the Canadian government
Dec 14th
If you’ve been following Canadian politics at all, you’ll know the last month has seen some very interesting headlines. I’m convinced now more than ever, that what Canada needs most is electoral reform. The current system of election is so remarkably unrepresentative of the population’s desires, that it’s no wonder we end up with back to back no-confidence votes and posturing to take over the government. No matter who you support, I believe you owe it to yourself to examine the way our government is elected, and to look at the alternatives.
Fair Vote Canada is a nonprofit, multi-partisan advocacy group for More >
Building of the Lego minifigs
Sep 6th
One of things I’m most looking forward to about having a baby is the unavoidable Lego, once the baby levels-up to child.
Gizmodo have yet another exclusive Lego video. I don’t recall if I posted the last one… I can’t find it here when I search. Here’s the links. Anyway, the new video is a demo of the minifig assembly process. Quite impressive.
First, the raw plastic material is put into the molds to create all the parts: the head, the torso, the minuscule hands, the hips, and the left and right arms and legs, plus any minifig complements, like helmets or tools.
• The More >
Facebook – Too many stupid fan pages
Jul 28th
Your account has been disabled by an administrator. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here.
I’ve decided there are too many fan pages for people I think it’s silly to declare yourself a fan of. The catalyst for me has been Christian leaders and teachers. These are good people we assume, maybe I would be even be a supporter of them. But I’m not a FAN of anyone of them anymore than I am a fan of my wife, or many of my friends. In fact, there are many who I agree with theologically More >
Carbon neutral architecture
Jun 29th
Carbon neutrality and general care of the environment is something Maija and I have been getting into more and more. Maija is very likely changing her thesis topic to something politically environmental, for reasons that will become public soon. A part of our interest in sustainability is due to moving to Finland, where everyone cares about the environment. We break our garbage into 5 groups for recycling… not because we’re especially good people but that’s what our housing complex provides :) I like it here. It’s just the normal thing, to take care of your surroundings.
Laura and Tom Kolbasenko are More >
Guess what’s coming to dinner
May 17th
I have to take a moment here to praise Battlestar Galactica. If you’re not watching it, or have never watched it, just do yourself a favour and pick up the DVDs. You’ll be in for some of the greatest television ever. If you don’t know what the show is about, that’s fine, you’ll like it. It’s the best.
Season 4 is blowing my mind. I am overwhelmed every episode at the creative genius, and fine storytelling. The most recent episode, bearing the title of this post, is possibly the best episode of the entire show, in my opinion. I am in More >
Congresspedia and video game laws
Oct 12th
Little bit for the politicos.
Congresspedia is a US congress related wiki. They recently launched a project called “Wiki the Vote” where you can read, add, and edit the profiles of all US congressional candidates. I think is absolutely superb.
Senator Leland Yee is a hated figure by many in the video games industry for the bills he’s been pushing to restrict video games sales. Here’s an interesting interview with the man, who seems pretty level headed to me.
Ontario Election and Reforendum
Oct 7th
Almost there friends. Don’t forget to go out and vote… because I forgot to organise it for myself.
Matthew Neugebauer wrote a nice little piece on MMP. Requires effbook.
The Pirate Bay sues Big Media
Sep 23rd
The Pirate Bay are a large bittorrent tracker. That means they provide tracking data so you can download bittorrent files, which are streamed from other people’s computers. They made a documentary recently about their experience with the Swedish police and the US government.
In a nutshell, by Swedish law they are providing nothing more than metadata for people. Any files downloaded are pulled from participants computers, not The Pirate Bay. Think of Pirate Bay as a phone book, maybe. So the MPAA (evil) calls up the Whitehouse and says “These Swedish kids are hurting our profits. Help.” So Uncle Sam threatens Sweden More >
Most polluted places in the world
Sep 17th
Before you think, Toronto! or New York city! try this article on for size.
Norilsk, Russia — This city above the Arctic Circle contains the world’s largest metal smelting complex and, therefore, some of the world’s worst smog. “There is so much pollution going into the air from this place that there is no living piece of grass or shrub within 30 kilometers of the city,” Fuller says. “Contamination [with heavy metals] has been found as much as 60 kilometers away.”
It disturbs me how (reportedly) easy some of these problems are to solve, or lessen. Maija points out that China have the More >