23Jan 2013 by R&O No Comments

Sugar Man Found

Music, People
Way back in 1970, before MTV and iTunes, Sixto Rodriguez recorded Cold Fact. It was a cool, trippy, hipster kind of folk-rock album with promises of a new and refreshing pop artist. But it was summarily ignored. He recorded his second studio album, Coming From Reality, in 1971 and his record company (A&M) waited in anticipation. Still no one bought his music. So he gave up. Rodriguez abandoned his recording aspirations shortly after and returned to his previous job of home renovation and labouring in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. But it didn't end there. Legend has it that a young American woman brought Cold Fact to her South African boyfriend who in turn shared the new discovery with his friends via cassette tapes. And from there it went viral.…
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20Jan 2013 by R&O 2 Comments

Not the face of hunger

First Nation, People, Politics, Rants
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence is in the news due to her recent 'hunger strike' in which she purportedly subsisted on a diet of fish broth, vitamins and tea. It amazes me that she's managed to maintain her round, blob-like features even though she has restricted her caloric intake to practically nil while living in a small tent until she secures a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston to discuss "treaty issues". But alas, our round, fat, well-fed chief was really 'freshening up' in a local hotel and sampling the local cuisine when she should have been squatting, drumming and annoying the very taxpayers who pay her salary, her bottom-feeding boyfriend's salary and most of the members of her Northern Ontario tribe of approximately 2800. These…
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07Jan 2013 by R&O No Comments

Banker Bailout

Animals, Of Interest
Joel Armstrong, a Spokane, Washington banker, spotted a mother duck and ducklings preparing to make a perilous leap from his office window so helped them make their way to water. It's stories like this that make you think there's hope for mankind after all. And one of the few stories where comments about the actions of a member of our financial community are wholly positive. Enjoy this little bit of duck love.
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08Nov 2012 by R&O No Comments

What I’d like to do

People, Technology
People on cell phones are annoying. Especially when they stand right beside you, well within your personal space, chatting blithely about all that is important in their lives. And you have to listen to it. All of it. Until now. So how to shut them up without backhanding the offender and screaming something like "Back off and shut the hell up!". May I suggest the tactic outlined in the video seen here in this post? It's easy, it's funny and it gets the point across without ending up in jail. But if you did, at least you wouldn't have someone standing in your cell and talking on a cellphone.
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