Rubénerd!

Tristin Hopper writing for the Canadian National Post:

He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high,” said Ryan Ruppert, president of promotions company Spectre Live Corp., which had booked Mr. Cheney for an April 24 appearance at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

So you're brave enough to send thousands to their deaths and shoot animals in a reserve, but not to face your critics? You sir, are beneath contempt.

They'd have my vote, particularly for lumberjack fashion.

From the CBC:

So while embassy officials can provide you with list of lawyers and information on local laws, they cannot arrange a helicopter to rescue your son from a German prison yard after he was arrested on drug charges, as one family requested.

A friend of mine who's father worked at the Australian High Commission in Singapore told me a common question was which stores carried Vegemite. People actually called the High Commission to find that out!

Topic #198: Describe your dream house. Where is it? What rooms does it have? How would you design the floorplan? Would you do in the layout and style of the house if there were no restrictions on expense or location?

I've had enough to discuss that I haven't needed to consult the WordPress team's Post A Day 2011 challenge site, but this suggestion was just too cool to pass up!

Das ist Schade Haus

We have a terribly unfortunate German last name! But I digress. Before we attempt to answer this terribly fun question, it it would serve us well to define what they mean by house specifically. According to Dictionary.app on my Mac:

house noun |hous| a building for human habitation, esp. one that is lived in by a family or small group of people.

If they're referring to a free standing structure on its own plot of land I'm out of luck, but if we use this more liberal interpretation then I can talk about it!

Fact is, having grown up in houses and apartments, I far prefer the latter. They're usually in more convenient places, meaning commuting time is far less. They take far less maintenance. If you're lucky, you can get a really great view. In large cities with urban sprawl, they're more sustainable. I find suburbia depressing. But enough of that!

Okay fine, what's your dream dwelling?

I'm a simple person, the following would suit me just fine:

A fancy apartment, not a condominium

I lived in rich expat condominiums in Singapore growing up, and I can count the number of times I used the pools, tennis courts and other facilities on one hand. Not to mention I always felt as though I wasn't dressed for the occasion when I'd enter the foyers, public transport card in hand, my colourful backpack with badges on it and a smile and a handshake for the tired security guards who usually get ignored. A nice apartment would suit me just fine.

Small, but not tiny

I'm not as bad as my old man, but I hoard stuff. Those giant expat houses and apartments enabled this bad habit to an extreme. A small (but not tiny) place would force me to collect less junk, and to help me live within my means. Our tiny new house in Sydney has already helped my family with this, so it shows it's possible!

Efficient furniture

I suppose this is related to small, but having less space would really encourage creativity in making the most efficient use of space. I absolutely love looking through IKEA and coffee table design books at all their ideas.

Colourful Microsoft Bob-iness

I'll admit it, I had an obsession with that program growing up, and loved the colourful and futuristic design of their Postmodern rooms; they're the source of the screenshots you see here. I want it to look like that!

Good connectivity

One other advantage of apartments is they're often wired up with cable TV connections. I don't watch TV, but I sorely miss my cable internet and would love to have it again! I'd also love two separate phone lines for voice and fax/data, and some of that flexible but more stylish wall tubing that could be used to wire through some Cat6 goodness, clean up cable clutter and allow for future upgrading. Finally, plenty of powerpoints.

Close to public transport

But not too close that I can still hear trains with double glazed windows! If I were living in the centre of town though, being near an underground metro style station would be schweet.

Frasier-esque view

In our first apartment in Singapore we had a view of almost the whole city skyline from our loungeroom window, in our second I had an amazing view of a park from my bedroom. Either would suit me just fine!

Location

Ultimately though while all of this would be wonderful, for me it's not so much what my dream apartment would be, but rather where it would be. I've realised Singapore is my de facto home, but having never lived in the same place for more than few years has rendered the idea of settling down somewhere permanently absolutely terrifying!

Therefore I'd trade a gigantic apartment of opulent decadence for smaller ones in lots of places!

Singapore

I'd be happy with an HDB. Seriously! Somewhere in a newer estate near an MRT station and friendly aunties and uncles next door would be just wonderful. That said, I wouldn't be adverse to a fancier place in Outram Park, just saying :).

Perth

It's a long way from the rest of the country... a blessing in many ways! It's also easily my favourite Australian city, and it's the same timezone as Singapore and only a four hour flight away! And they have DOME!

Dublin

My sister's and my favourite city in Europe. Beautiful place, super friendly people, and easy access to the rest of Europe. Would love to show solidarity given all this bullsh*t economic hitman-ism. A close second would be Munich, and third Frankfurt am Main. Es ist gut so!

Damansara

I don't see myself staying there for too much of the year, but it grew on me living in Kuala Lumpur for a couple of years and I'm a hopelessly nostalgic fool!

Toronto, BC

Haven't been there personally, but would be my base for visiting friends in Canada, Alaska and the Lower 48. If it had to be in the US, I'd love a pad in Portland, OR, or Boston, MA.

Kyoto

Haven't been there personally either, but my old man claims it's the most beautiful place in East Asia, and judging from his photos I can agree with him. Would be great base for visiting friends in Japan and Korea! Ooh, a place in Seoul overlooking the Han River or the redone Cheonggyecheon would be great too. Wow, this list is just getting ridiculous!

Vulcan

In the original Star Trek timeline of course! I imagine it would be a delightfully tranquil and lucid place to spend some time meditating and programming.

I suppose all that would be left would be to have a flexible enough telecommuting job that I could do from anywhere, though I suppose that's outside the scope of the original WordPress team's question!

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends, from another of Her Majesty's realms ;). I haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting your country, but friends and family members who have claim it's the most beautiful place on Earth. Well, my old man claims it's a tie between Canada and Ireland, but the point stands!

As I heard a guy in a coffee shop today say "those Canadians are just about the friendliest people in the world!" There's a political statement there too :).

Photo is from my Flickr account thingy.

Hope you had a properous Queen's Birthday, if you were in [most of] Australia. Folks in WA, the UK, Canada and New Zealand already had theirs. As I said in 2009:

Don’t you just love living in a commn [sic] sense monarchy? :)

Dang typos. Speaking of mistakes, I'm also 99% sure that isn't a picture of Her Majesty. Maybe someone from Ireland can help me out, didn't she just visit you?

When I wrote a post in 2006 about the Hinton Train Disaster and a followup post in 2007, I never expected them to be some of my most commented on and read entries, let alone appearing #3 in Google for the search term. This latest comment was left by Margaret, a student at Carelton University in Ottawa:

I’m writing an article on the Hinton Train Disaster and would love to speak with anyone who can provide me with information and insight into their own experience. If you can help, please send me an email at omrshll[AT]gmail[DOT]com. Thank you very much in advance!

Republishing her comment here if you can help her out. Much appreciated ^__^

TheNextWeb Canada is reporting that ministers in Saskatchewan (hey, spelled it right the first try!) have started using iPads. They seem almost too excited by their new toys... or at least one of them is!

Don't get me wrong, I love the hardware and think that anything that can reduce costs and improving service is a Good Thing, but I'm wary of governments relying upon one device from one foreign company. As much as it pains me to admit it, in this circumstance I'd probably prefer them using Android tablets. Android isn't entirely free either, and the tablet hardware will be unabashedly and unashamedly cloning the iPad, but it's a start.

According to the Twitters, here in Australia Greens senator Scott Ludlum and Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull have started using iPads too, but more in a personal capacity.

By themselves these two interest rate stories about Australia and Canada wouldn't really be worth mentioning here, but when they appeared in my Twitter client together they made for an interesting contrast:

CBC News: Bank of Canada raises interest rate to 0.5% Read more:... http://bit.ly/cAB6Cx

SBS News: Reserve Bank of Australia keeps interest rates on hold at 4.5 per cent http://bit.ly/ag0E4B

WOW! I suppose I should move to Canada and buy an apartment, eh!