If you are a proud Canadian, like me, you will enjoy these video clips taken from Rick Mercer’s “Talking to Americans” series, in which he poses facetious questions to notable Americans, to see what kind of reactions he can get.

Personally, I think this is the best TV Canada has ever produced, aside from any televised hockey game.

Check out this online creativity quiz that purports to tell you how effective you are or would be as a manager. What I like about it is that it tells you the “right” answers at the end. I suggest not trying to figure out what the correct answer is, but just answer truthfully. Since it gives you the “correct” answers at the end, you really have only one chance at an unbiased go at it.

This is another entry that I had previously blogged on jasonclarke.net, but I think it’s worth re-posting. This woman rides her motorcycle through Chernobyl, and takes photos. Reading her site is spooky; she writes in a narrative style with tons of photos. It’s very difficult to describe, but definitely worth your time.

This kicks SO MUCH ASS! As a kid, I was a die-hard Lego fan. I still have a huge box of Lego somewhere (I think under my parents’ house) just waiting for my son Josh to get old enough to use it. Of course I’ll have to “help” him, and try to refrain from stealing all the good pieces when I do so. Ahem. Anyway, check out this Lego robot someone built that can solve a Rubik’s Cube. If that isn’t cool, I don’t know what is.

I first mentioned the Chillow on the old JasonClarke.net site, before the server exploded into flying chunks of worthlessness. Anyhow, it’s a soft device that you put inside your pillowcase nearest to your head, and it stays at room temperature all night. I can’t count how many times I’ve vowed to invent a device that will keep my pillow cool throughout the night, and as we move into the warmer weather, I thought it was appropriate to link back to it.

Anyone that decides that they absolutely must get me a present should seriously consider one of these. Or a mansion… I’m flexible.

This is the story of a guy who figured out he was being scammed by a buyer on eBay, and went to great lengths to turn the table on him. He creates a fake powerbook, and ships it to him. The incredible thing about all of this is that the whole thing was documented in real time in a forum at somethingawful.com (note you have to scroll down to see the posts), with an “undercover agent” watching and listening and posting in real time (scroll down to the post by “rhig”.

Don’t you just love the internet?

Canucks Corner’s weblog has a very solid point about what the impact of the new “no touch” goalie rule in the NHL will have. Make sure to read the second comment, which outlines an example of how this rule will truly add offense to the game.

I, for one, am glad that the NHL isn’t mucking around with trying it in the AHL first. I think the game is broken, and needs fixing. Let’s get started on that now.

Yesterday my car started to make a ticking noise that I was not very happy to hear. The car was a gift from my wife’s uncle, and the reason he was giving it away was that it needed new lifters. Since he had another vehicle, he didn’t need to go to the expense of having this one fixed. The garage bill to fix the lifters wasn’t cheap, but it was a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a car, so it was a great deal for us.

The ticking made me really nervous because it sounded like it was coming from the lifters again. For some reason, when I left work yesterday, I thought “maybe the noise is because the engine is short on oil?” I check my car’s fluids quite regularly, so I thought there was no way that this could be the case.

Well, I stopped and got a fill of psycho-expensive gas (grrr), then checked my oil. Sure enough, it was low. So I bought a litre of oil, and put it in. This time when I checked, no oil registered on the dip-stick at all. Huh? It seems that it was taking some time for the oil to drip down, so when I was checking the oil and it looked like it was OK, or only needed one litre, it was actually much lower. So I added another litre - and now the oil was up to the fill line, meaning I still had one more litre to go.

So after putting the third litre of oil in, I was ready to be on my way. I was hoping that as soon as I started the engine, the loud ticking sound would go away. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Visions of another trip to the garage to fix the lifters yet again flashed through my mind.

But about 5 minutes down the road, the engine quieted down, and has stayed that way. So, hopefully I’ve narrowly missed needing another visit to the garage. Who knows, of course, how much damage was done while the oil was so low… Time for an oil change, I think.

So what have I learned? Take more time and be more careful when checking an engine’s oil… things may not be as they appear.

Paranoia, paranoia
Everybody’s comin’ to get me
Just say you never met me
I’m runnin’ underground with the moles
Diggin’ in holes
Hear the voices in my head
I swear to God it sounds like they’re snoring
But if you’re bored then you’re boring
The agony and the irony, they’re killing me, whoa!
Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

If you ever wondered why teachers try to hammer home the idea of proofreading what you write, check out this Gallery of Bad Sentences by Real Students. Okay, I’m full of crap. I never really wondered why teachers hammer home proofreading… I’m just a word geek.

This is really cool. A company in Toronto called Cribwin Trading Cards makes custom sets of old-time hockey cards, and they look great! I don’t care what it costs, my team is going to get this done next season!

In this case, a really small helicopter. This is so amazing it almost doesn’t look real, but I think it is. Check out what this guy can do with his remote control helicopter. Makes me want one!