Now THIS gets the point across!

From The BBC...

A woman sat in a bath of cold milk outside Parliament in protest at the price per litre dairy farmers are paid.

Isla Arendell, 39, a member of the Women's Institute from Tutshill, Gloucestershire, said her demonstration showed milk is now as cheap as water.

"British dairy farmers are paid 18p per litre, whereas 10 years ago they were paid 24.5p per litre," she said.

Click here for the rest of the article.

I gotta admire the intelligence behind this campaign... and the tolerance to cold that Ms. Arendell has. This truly gets her (and the The Women's Institute's) message across... and although it BASHES one over the head with the message, it's not truly aggressive... and yes, the point is taken by anyone who read/saw this campaign!

You gotta admire that!

I wish I could hire her (and whoever thought up the "demonstration" to come up with ideas to get the bus!

...and no, I don't think bathing would be appropriate for the bus.

...but to prove how effective this campaign was, even I now think that dairy farmers in Great Britain are getting a raw deal.

I've already done a "Half-Butt Posting" with a list of "favourites"... click here if you're interested... but allow me to share some LESSER KNOWN favourites of mine... and some other insignificant data.

Matthew's Favourite Roti Restaurant

Bacchus Roti on Queen St. West in Toronto is THE best in my estimation!

Coolest Historic Re-Enactor Uniforms

No offence to my friends at IMUC amongst others, the scarlet tunic is great, but for me, the green rifle jackets of The Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles is a hands-down winner.

Coolest War of 1812 Re-Enacting Event That I've Attended

When they do the one at Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake, it's usually an amazing time... but the evening battle at Fort Erie is a consistent winner.

Matthew's All-Time Favourite Hollywood Actress Based Solely on Aesthetics

There are many... and although a young Grace Kelly astounded me with her beauty, one held me spellbound... Veronica Lake.

Hmmm... come to think about it...

Errgh... tough choice...

*Sigh*... I was born too late.

Matthew's Favourite Wrestling Insect

Hands down... ULTRAMANTIS BLACK!!!! from ChikaraPro!

He won me over in an interview with Dr. Keith Lipinski... Click here to listen to said interview.

Y'know, between my recent (if much belated) discovery of Chikara and Hustle, my faith in grappling is being restored! One of my most hit "posts" is still the stuff about Haado Gei!

Matthew's Favourite Visited City

London... Kinda a no brainer, eh?

If I didn't live in Toronto (or Southern Ontario), where would I want to live?

Southern Kentucky (USA), Wiltshire (England), or Devon (England).

My Dream Job Would Be...

Lint picker in a tuxedo factory or pimento stuffer in an olive factory.

Okay, that's a joke... working for a historic site or a museum... either one.

I would go over Niagara Falls if...

...somebody threw me into the Niagara River just above the falls.

Matthew's Favourite Bond Villain

You'd think it might be Auric Golfinger... or perhaps Ernst Stavro Blofeld... and yeah, I love 'em... but for me, it was two henchmen... two assasins... I LOVED Mister Wint and Mister Kidd from Diamonds are Forever.

That's it for now... I may add more if the mood hits in another post.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Over the almost year of trying to reach out and have the good ol' dream come true, during the last few weeks, I've REALLY felt like I've been on the ropes with people taking shot after shot...

Let's just say, many of the e-mails I receive about the bus and our goal have been BEYOND negative... and despite the counters both through the blog software and the servers saying well over a thousand visitors per day even when Blogmad, BlogExplosion, and BlogSoldiers were running on fumes, only 14 people have bothered to click on the poll I set up on the ol' side bar. (Granted, ten very positive responses, one "kinda" positive, one "kinda" negative, and one absolutely negative.)

Now, don't get me wrong, it does seem that there are more people willing to publicly express support... but I continually get e-mails, message board postings, and side-comments about me being a "lousy cyber begger" or eluding to this being a "Get Rich Quick" scam. (If you really think this, please see the FAQ...)

To be honest, it CAN be rather disheartening... but I persevere... and the more nasty the comments/mailings, the more it actually spurs me to try harder and improve... because I do believe in what we're trying to do here... and I can think of no better (I hate to use this term, but...) revenge than to be able to change this ol' blog into a blog about our success in getting the bus... and our trials in getting it running again.

Still, it's pretty easy to lose faith when it seems about fifteen people are pulling for you... and dozens are telling you how you'll fail and accusing me of pretty much everything under the sun... and hundreds more are seemingly apathetic.

That said...

Response from my entry to BlogVillage's Blog Carnival (click here to read that) has been REALLY good! People seem to really like what we've done here!

Top that off with a few people through the Carnival giving me ideas, suggestions, and genuine help in getting the word out!

Even cooler is looking at the "Search Engine" key phrases and words that lead people to this blog... Matthew Dream Bus, Didier Family Bus, Progress With Family Dream Bus... it goes on. People from literally ALL OVER THE WORLD are SEARCHING GENUINELY FOR THIS BLOG AND IT'S RELATED SITES!

...and they're reading it too!

Now, this MIGHT make some of the more cynical say, "Big deal, it's not like you've succeeded! People are reading your blog! So what?" Well, that's the point... if they LIKE what they see and they're actually TRYING to find it... then they might tell a friend... who tells a friend... who IS in a position to help!

In other words, yes, I really feel we're making progress in the fact that, indeed, people LIKE (or at least are amused) by what we're doing...

Realistically, over the last five days, (LEGIT stats,) about 200 to 600 people PER DAY are now searching for and FINDING this blog and it's sites!

Now, I know that people love the comedy... loads of people seem to enjoy the commentary... and the dream is something that some folks really seem to be enjoying... in fact, I received THREE e-mails in the last seven days from people saying that "our" dream is something they're looking to as they have their OWN dreams and are considering how to make things happen!

Now, you can ask for a lot of things in life... but to be "inspirational" is about as good as it gets. I know, that sounds terribly egotistical, but it's what these three people told me... and I've had two or three different folks over the year we've been working on this say the same...

...but...

Over the last five days, interest AND positive stuff has really picked up!

Will this translate into success? We will see... but let's just say, my optimism is VERY high right now... and I have you guys to thank for it!

THANK YOU!!!

I'll keep pounding out HOPEFULLY entertaining, amusing, and thought-provoking posts... and I'm sure the folks that REALLY dislike this will continue to bombard me with rotten stuff... but it's pretty obvious, we're doing something okay... and the majority seems to feel this way... so perhaps, indeed, like it says on the top of this blog...

2007 WILL be the Year of the Bus!

Man, will it feel good to tell you guys that the bus is safe and en route to it's new loving home!

Speaking of friends and supporters of the dream, MsDemmie of Life At The Edge has put one of my posts up for her award for best blog post...

Ironically, it's my post ranting about "Blog Awards"...

Hmm... well, no one can say she don't have a sense of humour.

I don't have a chance, however, because my significant other, Sue, has a post up for the award too which blows mine away... click here to read that one.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Quick Note: As regular readers know, I've been having a "half war" on the PSICAN Message Board with someone who was using my efforts here as a "crutch" to say how rotten my other work is...

Well, I documented this person's attacks here in this post and this post...

Well, as proven, when you can't fight on the facts... it devolved and turned VERY ugly yesterday.

Click here to read what happened... If you're not already signed up, use the username blogusers and the password test.

After this rather tasteless attack, I locked the thread.

I thought you might "enjoy" the train wreck though... because it shows how bad people can and will "devolve" when they can't fight the facts and data.

Okay, MOST of us have heard technical support stories that make us giggle, laugh, or cringe... and many of them have basis in "real life", so to speak... but many are urban legends.

Well, good reader, allow me to introduce myself... I spent a few years "in the trenches" as an Internet Tech Support... er, "Customer Care" representative in the mid-1990's... and here's three of my FAVOURITE personal experiences... only one was "mine"... but the rest I was involved with... if nothing else, monitoring the calls and laughing like a madman.

CUSTOMER PROBLEM REPORTED: Why are you sending me all this porn?

The customer called and asked why our service provider was sending them tonnes of pornography through e-mail and "automatically" through their browser. This poor woman was most confused.

We explained to her that our company did not in fact spam porn to anyone and our homespages did not include "adult content".

She was adamant, however, that we were sending her smut... so we started diagnosing the problem.

She didn't surf adult websites. She didn't use adult newsgroups/NNTP servers. She didn't "purchase" adult anything online...

So, the next question was key...

"Is there anyone else who uses the computer and internet at your home?"

"Well, there's my husband, but he doesn't use the computer at all... and my son..."

...her voice trailed off...

Over the phone, we heard the woman "apparently" call her son to the computer... then, although the technician involved was trying to get her attention, the woman had put down the phone "off the hook"...

There was some intense conversation... followed by arguments... followed by a loud crash... then a young man's voice saying...

"Ahhhh, mom! Not the computer!?!"

The phone was then hung up and we never heard back from the customer.

SOLUTION: We believe the customer is no longer interested in being online... or owning a computer... on moral grounds.

Matthew's Notes: All computer problems can be rectified with the strategic use of a twenty-pound sledgehammer.

CUSTOMER PROBLEM REPORTED: My computer MUST crash.

The customer called to tell us that our CD ROM (with the internet service providers software) was faulty and couldn't be read by his machine.

Now, we had dealt with numerous people that, because this was in a day and age where computer CD ROM Drives were NOT standard on all systems, that people who received our package tried to "play" the CD through an audio system... so that was our first avenue... which wasn't the case.

Next, the technician asked the fellow to look at the "underside" of the actual CD for scratches or marks...

"Hang on..." the customer said... which was followed by a loud bang... and another... then the customer returned to the phone.

"It looks okay to me?" the customer said...

The technician asked what the loud bangs were... and the customer replied...

"Well, my CD ROM door sticks, so I need to drop my computer on the floor to get it to open."

The technician had to ask... how far was this drop?

"About three or four feet."

The technician then asked the customer to try ANY other CD in the drive... and after another series of crashes, they ascertained that the CD ROM drive was "inoperable" for all CDs.

SOLUTION: Customer needed to take his machine to place of origin and get CD ROM fixed.

Matthew's Notes: Folks, if you have ANY piece of electronics equipment that requires a three-foot drop onto a hard floor to "work", it probably isn't working... and it's a given that your warranty is going to be in question at the shop. Just a friendly reminder.

Quick Note About That Last One... Probably some of you read the "solution" and though I was going to the rather tired "joke" about taking it back to the store, getting a refund because the customer was "too stupid to own a computer".

The likelihood of that old joke being AT ALL true is minimal... although people say it DID happen at IBM, Xerox, Apple, and a plethora of other "computer help desks", it sounds more like something a tech support person WISHED they could have said... not what actually happened... because IF someone in any of the companies I worked for did that, they'd be escorted out of the building and their job VERY rapidly.

...moving on... best for last...

CUSTOMER PROBLEM REPORTED: When dialing into the internet, the police, fire department, and ambulance show up at my home.

...actually, I could also add this one... and this WAS how it was logged in fact...

CUSTOMER PROBLEM REPORTED: When dialing into the internet, the customer hears voices yelling at him to hang up from his computer.

Yes, the customer called us to report that they heard "voices".

Now, this MAY sound paranormal in nature... but good technical work proved this not to be so.

First off, the technician assumed that perhaps, the phone extension was "in use" and the callers were yelling and being detected by the modem's internal speaker... the customer said this was NOT the case.

Second was the idea that, perhaps, they were receiving incoming calls and the modem was "answering" the phone to dial out... again, this did not pan out.

Thirdly, the thought was that the modem was dialing the wrong number... so they looked into the "dialing properties"... the number was correct... but...

The customer had pointed out that the "number" was sadly long distance for them as they didn't have a local server to call into...

This led to the final and "problem solving" diagnostic... the dialing properties of the connection.

The customer had altered it for the long distance number... but made some other baffling changes as they felt one should make to make things "better"...

They had checked "DIAL 9 FOR AN OUTSIDE LINE".
Then they had checked "DIAL 1 FOR LONG DISTANCE".
Then they had manually entered the number... 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX

Ergo: The modem dialed 911-XXX-XXX-XXXX

(For our British friends, this is the equivalent of the modem dialing 999 before then dialing in the operator's ear the last of the number.)

Yes, the voices were emergency services... screaming that there was obviously a mistake... and probably worse.

It also should be mentioned that the customer tried "redialing" for literally hours over two days.

In essence, it was amazing the police hadn't ACTUALLY showed up to literally throttle this customer... but we got it sorted out.

Too bad, I was hoping the "voices" were more paranormal in nature! Oh well...

SOLUTION: Dialer errors fixed, fires put out, ambulatory patients tended to, police officer calmed situation... 911 operators talked out of strangling customer.

Matthew's Notes: Just because it SEEMS that a "box" on a computer needs to be checked, DON'T unless you really know why.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

I'm a pro-wrestling fan.

NOW, NON-SQUARED CIRCLE FANS, DON'T GIVE UP ON THIS POST! I promise it's not about grappling, but I needed a "for instance"... so bear with me...

One of the blogs I frequent is that of an announcer whom I greatly admire... a fellow named Jim Ross.

Much as I have a feeling he'd argue this, Jim Ross is arguably the wisest and most knowledgeable man in the realm of wrasslin'. He's currently the BEST announcer in the business on WWE's program RAW. The idea of watching RAW without "Good Ol' JR" calling the match is unfathomable... his voice and his ability to both "tell it like it is" and draw the viewer into a state of excitement is unmatched. J.R. is currently ONLY an announcer... but at one point, he was also head of "Talent Relations" meaning he had a lot of stroke in WWE's biz... but that was then... and now, he's strictly an "on-air personality" and seems to be pretty happy in that role.

That said...

Recently, Good Ol' JR started blogging... and yes, I read it regularly.

Hey, in fact, Sue and I HAVE even tried a couple of his barbecue sauces!

...moving on to my point...

J.R. does answer "readers questions"... and EVERY time, the same damn questions get asked and answered... to the point that you CAN sense his anger at having to address and redress questions again and again...

• Dear So-and-so, if you want to be hired by the WWE, don't write to me, write to human resources.

• Dear So-and-so, yes, Macho Man Randy Savage should be in the hall of fame, but I don't make those decisions.

• Dear So-and-so, yes, 'X' wrestler is very talented and he will do well, but I don't get to say who moves up the ladder.

...ad nauseam.

Well, who knew that I, a lowly mark fan would have something in common with Good Ol' JR...

...and without much adieu, allow me to answer the most often tossed at me things that ARE covered in the "FAQ" of this blog, but perhaps I can make it clearer... I don't own a "Resistol" hat, and I've never called a wrestling match... I have made a good homemade BBQ sauce, but beyond that, this is all I got...

So, here's my "Top Five" most repeated comments and questions I consistently have to answer...

First of all this isn't a weird "cash grab". I'm honestly hoping that either through sales of advertising spaces or the like we can gather the $20,000.00 American needed to rescue/buy the old bus. Sure, we offer a "donate" button and we're not stupid enough to say "no thank you" if someone offered to help us out, but in honesty, I'd prefer to give something back... but, as the saying goes, any port in a storm... and time is of the essence. If this TRULY was a "con" or "cash grab", one would hope I'd aim higher than $20k... and wouldn't pick such a tangible thing as the bus that you would all notice if I didn't make a "play" to own her.

Second of all it's true... if we "achieve" the $20k, we'd stop asking for money. Yup, that's ALL this blog and site are about as is. The blog itself, if we're successful, would still exist, but hopefully as our diary of ownership and sort-of a "road to recovery" for the old bus. If by December 26th, 2007 we haven't succeeded, we're shutting down this blog and the sites (although the ad site WILL be online until 2009) to concentrate on other projects... and the bus' safety will be placed (hopefully) in the hands of a "car club" or museum... who, with any luck, will keep her from being scrapped.

Third of all, and again, this blog has NOTHING to do with my other studies. Period. We have no plans to use the bus for "ghost hunting" or the like and if we don't succeed, it's not like I'm going to stop my paranormal work.
(We also will not be using the bus as a "tour bus", for those wondering.)

Fourth of all is the "Do It Without Help" stuff. Many people wonder why we ARE here... Are we THAT poor? If so, how can we take care of the bus? Well, we ARE that poor... but things have been improving... but sadly, not to the point where we can drop $20k... nor enough to save $20k before the bus will be scrapped or otherwise unable to be preserved. Actually, we have TWO kind souls who've offered us FREE storage and a host of mechanics and experts who've offered assistance getting her going. So, THAT'S why we're here ONLY for the initial $20k to get things going.

Fifth of all, no, we won't sell our puppies for the bus.

So, there you go... the top five... well, except that last one. No one's asked that... but still, I felt it was best to answer it ahead of time...

Now, to be TOTALLY honest, most of the time people ask me these things, it ain't a "pleasant" comment or question... usually, it's laced with much bitterness and even anger.

I cannot say this STRONGLY enough... if this site and our goal/dream ain't for you, amazingly enough, you don't have to read it or pay any attention to it whatsoever! Yup, you can surf away now! The Interweb (that series of tubes that Al Gore invented,) is an amazingly BIG place with LOADS of other things... and you can look at many of 'em without setting pixel-one on this blog!

For those that are enjoying this and do like the idea/goal/dream... or perhaps, those that are only interested in the "other writing" I do here... then I'm glad to be here for ya and do hope (if nothing else,) we're amusing you!

As for the "negative folks", I'd remind you that I'm as tough as a two-dollar steak and will whoop this challenge like a government mule... our efforts will be a real slobberknocker and I'm sure that before "D-Day" (December 26th), you'll be runnin' like a scalded dog because business is about to pick up!

...and it won't be brown bowling shoe ugly!

BOOMER SOONER~!

Addendum: While doing this entry, I found my fave picture of the boys with Sue... at least, the fave so far...

...and a better shot of me "in uniform"...

...well, this one's more flattering...

I do like the one of Sue and the boys though!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

I am shamed.

Well, actually I'm not.

Not at all, in fact.

...and it has nothing to do with the "boob" stuff from yesterday's post.

I should 'splain...

On the PSICAN Message Board, I posted a bit of comedy. To be honest, it was comedy with an edge... and a lot of truth.

CSICOP (or "The Committee for Scientific Investigations of Claims of The Paranormal") has gone through a name change to "Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry"... and want to be called CSI... yes, just like the VERY popular TV show, Crime Scene Investigations.

Now, I admit... I was "mean"... because one can't help but wonder if this "name change" was for several good reasons... not the least of which is FINALLY removing "Science" from their name. (Science allows for hypothesis... and you can't have that when you're knee-jerk denying.)

The other... well... I'd have to say "Brand Name Recognition". You see, CSICOP (now Crime Scene Investigations) often schills for cash... to the point where they will be happy to send out one of their lawyers to help you "donate posthumously" in your last will and testament!

If you're interested, click here to read my missive(s)... you'll need to be a member, but don't panic... we run the board and DON'T spam or sell to spammers... we make you register (it's free) to avoid abuse of the board.

Anyway, one fellow came runnin' to CSICOP's (now Crime Scene Investigations') defence...

...but his approach was interesting...

...and I quote...

Considering the source, after reading a little more through your website, the integrity of PSICAN I.F. should be questioned, since you, the director, panhandles online in order to buy a double decker bus. I'm sure if you tried that on the street of your home city you would get odd looks.

I responded... and was honest about this... it all seemed vaguely familiar...

...so I went to a Ufologists website and checked...

"If one can't attack the data, attack the people. It is easier."
- Stan Friedman (about CSICOP's method of "argument".)

I brought up this quote in the post... and the response was...

I challenged your "integrity" because it is a public image. Many will share my perspective because, yo you have an online image - arguably public, and you have to understand that all information regarding you is going to be shown. It was not a personal attack it was me stating one of those "inconvenient facts."

My comment was and still is...

WHAT THE HECK HAS ONE GOT TO DO WITH THE OTHER?

"Your information and notes about your study in paranormal phenomena MUST be questioned because your family is trying to raise money to rescue an old, historic double-decker bus."

Gotcha.

Well, maybe he meant...

"I saw you're trying to sell adspace online in order to try and rescue an old bus. How can I trust your notes about your studies in areas of the paranormal?"

Either way, HUNH!?!

...but that was the argument.

Apparently, this blog and the attached website(s) are RUINING MY CREDIBILITY in a study that is COMPLETELY REMOVED from them.

Gotcha!

I guess I'm ruined... it's all over... I only have TWO options...

#1: Give up this blog, the site, and my family's dream to allow this fellow to "like and trust" my work.

#2: Continue and lose this fellow's respect.

Hmmm...

Let me think...

Well, I'll miss this fellow... like I miss my last kidney stone.

Perhaps I should RE-iterate this point that I made a while back...

If someone offered me the FULL amount to purchase the bus PROVIDED that I "hoax" or make a statement about my studies that I know to be incorrect... I'd say no thank you.

I know this to be true because WE did turn down a lucrative media job because they wanted Sue and I to "play act" and "play up" things... and we said no... loudly... and meanly.

Believe it or not... or think us weird... but our efforts, studies, and genuine interest to us is VERY important. Far more important than many other things... including this dream of ours. We believe in what we're doing and it's importance.

I have this site and the blog... and they're honest and real. This is a dream... a "fantasy" that has a chance to come true... that my whole family has adopted... but we can't make it happen without help.

I have my life... it's real... and I've worked VERY long and VERY hard to produce what some think is excellent work. It has nothing to do with the dream above.

...and rarely do the twain meet... I can't say "NEVER" because I do comment on the paranormal here on occasion... and I did do a bit on the Paranormal Blog about phantom double-decker buses... and my personal signature files do contain links to this blog and site.

Otherwise, there's very little if any crossover...

...so you'll forgive me if I have decided to CONTINUE TO DO BOTH.

After all, it is MY integrity to lose, right?

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Forgive the pun.

Many people may (or may not) be aware that in Ontario (my home province,) it is completely legal for a woman to go "topless" wherever they'd like.

The OLD law was challenged by a young woman named Gwen Jacobs who, quite rightly, pointed out that a MAN can go topless in the Summer heat, but a woman can't because, quite honestly, society had "sexualised" the mammary gland.

Now, as a "guy", of course you would assume that I was completely with Ms. Jacob's thoughts... and I was! The law NEEDED amending... to ensure ALL people wore tops in public was my thought.

(Yeah, I was never a subscriber to "Jugs" magazine in my youth.)

Let's face it, it's RARE that the average topless guy wandering the streets was a dead ringer for Adonis... most of the fellows I noted going sans shirt were in desperate need of a "manzier" and a wax treatment for their back!

Still, one had to realise that there was a social inequity and indeed, the law was changed and now, SHOULD they want to, both sexes CAN go topless.

'Nuff said, right?

WRONG!

Although men and women CAN go topless here, there are certain situations, shirts are required... "No Shirt No Service" so to speak.

Now, leave it to the politicians of our fair city and province to ACTUALLY forget something in this vein...

So, KEEPING IN MIND that women and men can go topless in the streets...

...but breastfeeding in public is banned.

Yup! You can sun 'em, just not USE 'em!

Now, there's OBVIOUSLY discussion to loosen this ban... and it recently made the media rounds... again.

On that media driven note, I was listening to some comments on the idea via a local talk radio station that leans to the right shall we say. Said comments were quite amazing... One man called up IN HORROR about this saying that, and I paraphrase...

"If I can't take a leak (urinate) in public and it's a natural function, why should a woman be allowed to breastfeed?"

Man, that comment didn't deserve the DIGNITY of a response! One is "expelling waste" from a body... the other is nourishing an infant.

Oh yeah... that's the same thing, right?

Anyway, with only ONE exception, the men calling in to comment on the radio (all but one woman caller thought the ban was ultra-silly,) really were amazing... I'd say "Straight from the Victorian era", but as a historian, this wouldn't be accurate... the Victorian's were far more accepting of certain things.

Let's face it... not long ago, our lawmakers decide (rightly) that "breasts" aren't really a sexual object... but apparently, they MUST NOT BE what they really are for either... and apparently some people are okay with this.

Sillier yet, how much do you want to bet that these idiots are the FIRST to complain when someone's baby is crying at a mall, bus, or airport?

HEY IDIOTS! Guess WHY the baby is probably crying!?!

"Excuse me, miss, but if you're not going to smear sunblock on those and you're considering letting that child feed, you'll have to put them away."

I love this town and my home... but sometimes, the pundits and politicos really make me think about starting my own country.

Oh, and don't be too outraged by this... it's a given that there will be eventual resolution to this... with the hungry babies winning. The idea of banning feeding a hungry baby regardless of setting -legally- would be about as successful as an attempt to get The Vatican to canonize Britney Spears. The majority, I'm sure, really DON'T have a problem with the idea... and the nay-sayers really are a small, silly, not-even-too-vocal minority...

...who probably look at a lot of internet porn and pray that the "hot neighbour" next door decides to sunbathe nude this year...

...and provided that neighbour doesn't try to feed a baby, they're all for it!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Sharing Thoughts, Experiences & Fun!!!!

This is the second time that it has been our pleasure to feature Sunflower as our roomie of the week. Welcome back Sunflower!

Sunflower is a fellow Canadian blogger that promotes healthy lifestyle choices through her interests in tennis, cycling, swimming, yoga, gardening, and reading. There is a little something for everyone over at Sunflower's!

I don't know about you, but aside from yoga and walking the dogs I could use a little inspiration through creative writing to get more fit!

So lace up your tennis shoes, and surf on over to Sunflower's and see how many minutes you can get her to exercise. Got to love the bravery of a woman who will exercise for comments. Knowing my friends they would comment enough times just to see if I'd drop from exhaustion! Nasty bit of friends I've got....yeah stop your snickering YOU know who YOU are ....

Cheers!

From The I Better Start Getting Fit Cause I Ate Too Much Decadent Chocolate Birthday Cake On Tuesday Desk Of Sue

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Okay... I'm gonna be taking some blogging time-off... and it's because of January 23rd...

You see, on that day in 1967, the sky was a little weirder... there was something in the air... a sense of importance... and the "big cat" population rose by exactly "one".

...well, "one" important one...

You see, it was THE birthday of my favourite cougar. (She's older than me right now... and until May 31st remains so...)

My partner, my significant other... the person without whom life would not be so complete...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SUE!

...that said, and in order to fete properly, I'm gonna take a day or two off... we'll be back for "Helping Hand Thursday" and my usual rants, raves, thoughts, and all for the rest of the week and thereafter... and I've got a few waiting to be "expressed"...

BUT FOR NOW...

...from me and the boys...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SUE!

...who hits the big four-oh!

...while I'm still but a boy of three-nine!

Je t'aime, mon cher!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Some have let me know that they feel that the "poll" I have on the blog (see the side-bar... just below the fund-raising thermometer...) was a VERY bad idea because I allow for extremely negative responses.

Basically, you CAN answer to the question, "Do you think that we will be successful in getting the bus?" with the option of "Not a chance, nitwit!"

...and as of writing this, yes, one person has responded with this.

...another has responded with the option "Not likely."

...two have said "Perhaps. It's a good bet."

...and SIX have said "Yes! Think positive!"

...oddly enough, no one has used the "Maybe. I'm not sure." which is ACTUALLY positive!

I'd rather be eliciting SOME reaction than none.

Still, I am not a fan of the idea of ONLY assuming the positive. Realistically, we need to be as realistic as possible... and that means using a neutral but upbeat mindset... the hope of success... the will to succeed... but the knowledge that it MAY not happen.

I also believe... no, strike that... I KNOW there are people out there literally hoping for our failure! For one reason or another (usually involving much cynicism,) they have issues with our goal... and how we're hoping someone might help us achieve it. Heck, I had a newspaper reporter shred me in a national publication once as this being a "place where you can throw away your money"... Personally, I don't FEEL that making a whole family's dream come true and saving a historic vehicle is a "throw-away"... but I recognise that this is in the eye of the beholder.

Truth to tell, the VAST majority of people ARE behind us and at least wishing us well... and a very small vocal minority are not happy with the idea.

To them I say this... you don't have to help, you don't have to support... we AREN'T forcing you to... but you know what? I don't mind hearing from you at all!

You see, I'm (in my hobby,) a scientist... and in order to do proper science and observation, you MUST remain neutral... and you must listen to the critics of what you're attempting. After all, if THEY give you information about what they dislike or don't see working, you can adapt your efforts and produce a better quality of work!

If "X" isn't enough evidence for you, what DO you NEED? What evidence can I produce and with what controls?

If I can and it's reasonable and still allows me to stay within the original criteria of my efforts, I am always willing to evolve my thinking and even my efforts.

Well, in the context of this, if our dream, this blog, and our efforts don't work for you, what would? (...or would nothing?)

Again, within reason, we WOULD evolve here too!

To those that assume this is some kind of quasi-cash grab, I point out something that is in our FAQ... which is if I wanted to do a "con", I hope I'd shoot for more than $20,000.00... and I would NOT use something so tangible that you WILL know if I get the money and don't move with it. (Let's face it... if we got $20k and within a few months there isn't a picture on the ol' blog of us with the bus, you know sumthin' funny's goin' on!)

Ergo: I do hope you know this blog, this site, this dream IS on the level...

The other "I hate you because..." we've seen and gotten is the old "Money For Nothing" complaint. To answer this, the "goal" is time sensitive... eventually the bus will be scrapped or worse... and no, in that time, we WON'T be able to save for it... which is why we're here... and we AREN'T only saying "throw money at us!", we're trying AND WORKING towards the dream as we can. We're just honest... it can't be done without help.

So, with these two important "negative" thoughts hopefully answered, what can those who of you who STILL (and for different reasons) feel that we're gonna be sorely disappointed suggest for us?

Within reason, we're open to almost any suggestions!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Many people have suggested that I join a "club" or "group" to try and make our dream come true...

Usually suggested are car clubs or the like.

Well, believe it or not, I am a "member" of the Yahoo! newsgroup, British Buses Abroad in North America, which really is the premier "club" of it's type online... and is populated with the best and brightest (in terms of knowledge) on the subject of British buses from both sides of the Atlantic and all points otherwise...

However, it is also populated by a small, but very vocal group of people whom, if they had it their way, no British bus (especially one like our dear RLH 3) would ever touch shore anywhere apart from Britain.

You see, they see "us", the enthusiasts and present/future(?) owners of these vehicles as destroying their heritage and their goal is to "re-patriate" all older buses back to the U.K.

Now, in honesty, I do understand this... to a degree.

In my eyes, there should be AT LEAST two or three of each model kept in preservation so that the people where they originally ran can enjoy them... but all of them? That's silly... the "fleet" of preserved buses would greatly outnumber the actual "functional" public transport fleets!

Granted, I do realise that SOME owners, especially in North America, who buy these old buses don't foresee the expense and difficulty of maintaining such a vehicle do let them go to "pot", so to speak... They buy the bus for tours or for "cheap advertising" and then find out that parts are difficult in the extreme to get a hold of... and that tour buses are not a "million dollar maker" and a large expense... and the buses end up like the ones below...

RLH 2 in New Jersey and RLH 18 in Salt Lake...

...but what about those of us who HAVE done our homework? What about the plethora of buses running in good shape in North America?

Well, to this group of preservationists, they MUST all be sent back... and never to be considered again.

Here is a letter I posted to the group about these folks... allow me to share it with you.

I've built a website and information devoted to my family's (hopeful) ownership and plans for a British bus and have received many e-mails of support... and several bordering on threats and imprecations as we're (apparently) sullying these wonderful vehicles by suggesting using them for something other than a rolling museum piece.

Although I admire the preservationists and really respect their work and efforts, I don't truly see the harm in using the vehicles for work and/or pleasure and NOT as perfectly preserved machines.

Provided the buses are cared for and future preservation could be done, what's the harm? Are these vehicles not supposed to be running? Aren't they supposed to be productive? Shouldn't they give someone other than a pure preservationist joy?

The way some folks behave, I'd liken it to Bedouins suddenly demanding that all Arabian breed horses be returned the their homeland as that is where they originated and the "rest of us" are using them in the wrong fashion.

Sadly, as someone who's a true enthusiast/fan of these vehicles, I do have to sadly note how many of the old buses are in scrap yards across the UK... so one can't really say things are "better" there in my humble opinion... they may be a touch better on their native soil, but to cast dispersions on those of us who simply enjoy the aesthetic of these vehicles and see them for possible personal enjoyment and wish to keep them rolling (wherever on the globe that may be,) seems to be the order of the day with many preservationists. If the "pure preservationists" feel so strongly, why not work with those who wish to use them for personal use to ensure that they WILL be cared for and they WILL be ready for a possible future of being restored to the n'th degree? This might help those that DO end up in the scrap... or in rust-piles in someone's field.

Education and sharing of information might really go a long way to keeping these buses in tip-top shape... and may secure their future in any capacity.

Another thing I'd liken this to... I'm a former War of 1812 re-enactor... they go out in early nineteenth century clothes and fight "mock" battles (with all due safety) at historic sites in and around my home province, the states, and Europe... There are some in THAT hobby that feel that unless a person is 100% accurate, they should not be allowed in the field... meaning I, who sports a neat beard, should NOT be allowed to participate despite my (past) financial, time and genuine study commitment... not to mention my love of brining history to the masses.

We, the re-enactors, often point out that should we go 100% historically accurate, health and safety would take a beating AND about 70% of those who do take the field (and entertain and educate the masses) would have to leave the hobby.

Well, if we limit these vehicles to the use that a small but vocal minority seem to feel is proper, it seems to me most of them would be off the road entirely and no one could enjoy them except for a "favoured few".

Anyway, I'm just saying I'd rather see some in private hands being converted to a lesser degree than rusting away to nothing waiting for those who feel they are bastions of the 'pure' to run to the rescue...

It didn't matter... to these folks, better to be rusting in a scrap yard then working in another country... which I find both weird and sad.

Click here to see a photo-site about buses in scrapyards in the UK.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

From the CBC...

French priest Abbé Pierre dies at 94

Abbé Pierre, a French priest praised as a living legend for devoting his life to helping the homeless, using prayer and provocation to tackle misery, died Monday, his foundation said. He was 94.

One of France's most beloved public figures, Abbé Pierre died at Val de Grace military hospital in Paris, his foundation said. He had been admitted with a lung infection Jan. 14.

The founder of the international Emmaus Community for the poor, Abbé Pierre served as a spokesman for France's conscience since the 1950s when he persuaded parliament to pass a law — still on the books — forbidding landlords to expel tenants during winter months.

President Jacques Chirac said in a statement, "We have lost a great figure, a conscience, an incarnation of goodness."

A former monk, resistance fighter and parliamentarian, Abbé Pierre long remained spry and determined despite the infirmities of old age. Last year, he spoke to parliament from his wheelchair, urging lawmakers not to reform a law on low-income housing.

Often donning a beret and cape, Abbé Pierre — a code name from his Second World War days — topped polls as France's most beloved public figure almost every year. He had the ear of French leaders for decades.

Born Henry Groues, on Aug. 5, 1912, one of eight children in a well-heeled Lyon family, he exchanged comfort for a monk's cell for six years, before joining the priesthood in 1938.

He entered the resistance in the Second World War, taking the name Abbé Pierre in 1942 as a cover for his work manufacturing fake identity papers and helping Jews cross the border to Switzerland.

Elected to parliament after the war, in 1945, his devotion to the "street sleepers" was awakened. A lawmaker for seven years, until 1951, he occasionally begged alms while organizing rag pickers among the homeless so they could fend for themselves.

With the help of an ex-convict and his lawmaker's salary, the first Emmaus Community house was born in 1949 in Neuilly-Plaisance, northeast of Paris. Emmaus, which helps the disenfranchised to help themselves, is now present in many countries.

In France, he created his own Abbé Pierre Foundation in 1992.

I have to be honest... I'd never REALLY heard about Abbé Pierre (other than he was a "great man" who worked with the poor) until reading the obit above... and wow.

Very sad that he's gone... but at 94, he deserved the rest...

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Consider this an open letter to my friends across the Atlantic...

Dear England,

I know it's been a while since I wrote... and I never call... but I thought I should take a moment to apologise.

You see, way back in the fall of 1995 (the last time I visited,) there was a "storm"... according to the BBC news I watched, it was a "terrible and bad rain storm" with thunder and lightning. It caused many car crashes and some people stayed in their offices for hours to avoid travelling in it.

Now, as a Canucklehead, I watched the news reports with almost wide-eyed amusement...

"If this is a bad storm," I thought to myself, "I'd hate to see what would happen if these people had to go through the woppers we get in Ontario in September and early October! They'd probably keel over and faint dead away!"

This was born out by talking to "ex-pats" once I got home and hearing of their first encounter with a Canadian Fall thunder-banger. Apparently, to some of them, they truly thought the Apolalypse was upon them...

You see, this "storm" in 1995 on the sceptre'd isles would be considered "showers" in Toronto... not even worthy of more mention from the weather folks than, "Take and umbrella with you!"

To be honest, I thought the complaints about "wild weather" were quaint... almost silly...

...then there was this year...

Let's see, a tornado in London... and then, Thursday you had this...

...and I now eat my words.

That was a VERY horrible bit of weather... and I do apologise for thinking that your "bad storms" were Mickey Mouse...

I know that all my friends over there weathered the storm (literally)... but my gosh! That was horrible! Needless to say, we're ALL pulling for ya on this side of the pond!

Weird weather, eh?

Next thing you know, they'll have snow in Malibu!

Oh... nevermind.

Sincerest apologies again... Your pal, Matthew

P.S. - One day, remind me to tell you about being in Williamsburg, Kentucky when I was young and they got a WHOLE 1/2 INCH of snow on the ground that lasted more than an hour... listening to folks there, you'd think the world was coming to an end! I kid you not!

Dry out, oh friends across the big water!

Oh, and if you're wondering what spurred this rather late apology and post... call it a "Blog About Your Blessings" post for a Sunday like MsDemmie does... We're blessed because, as we said, all our friends are safe and sound... just a little rattled by the storm. We are blessed to have gotten to know new friends like MsDemmie and Andy... and are blessed by our long-time friends IRL there as well. (Aidan, amongst others, expect us for a visit in fall 2009 - FIRM! ...and you had better have done something about these storms by then! I mean, that CAN'T happen while WE'RE there!)

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Get ready for a shock... brace yourself...

I was reading my usually blogs and came across a blog posting that was a RANT!

I know... shocking.

Imagine someone complaining to the cyber-universe about things in a blog! I mean, the idea!

Well, far be it from me to not jump on a bandwagon of sorts... and despite it not being a very good rant, it did get me to thinking...

What makes me mad?

Realistically, what really gets my goat? What frosts my pumpkin? What burns my britches? What makes my spew quaint clichés a lot?

...and then I realise that only THREE things make me honestly mad.

Intolerance, Incompetence, and Inconsideration.

That's it.

Intolerance in any form... be it racial, spiritual, philosophical, or really anything bothers me to the point of anger. To listen to some braying jackass spew nonsense about how "X" isn't good enough for them or how (general statement) "X" is no good at all really ticks me off. That's an easy one.

Incompetence which is not ignorance. When someone tells me they can't do something because they don't know how, I have few complaints... but when someone makes themselves appear competent and they're not OR when someone SHOULD know something and doesn't appear to be capable of it, yeah, I get grumpy.

Inconsideration sounds like I made it up... I didn't. It's the "act" of being "inconsiderate". I can't tolerate people who don't notice their fellow humans (or whom/whatever) and are so self absorbed that they truly would step on a drowning persons head to avoid getting a shoe wet.

Well, that last one's a bit strong... but allow me to vent the three "things" matched with the above that yes, I'm grumpy about.

Intolerance: There are many more HARSH instances I've been sadly all-too-aware of... but for my purposes here, allow me to re-address the type I've been coming across most often online.

During my BlogMad/BlogSoldiers/BlogExplosion surfing, I come across what I'm sure you all do... usually political blogs that literally slam and defame the "opposite number". I can understand a tiny rivalry and not agreeing with someone, but there are entire blogs devoted to telling us, the reader, how awful, terrible, stupid, rotten, and a few other words not usable on this family-safe blog people that don't agree with THEM are. It's kinda spooky, really... to think that these people have THIS much time and enmity to sit down and write-up such loathsome hatred. Seems like a waste of energy to me... and does NOT convey their message at all and most certainly does NOT convert me to their way of thinking. If anyone is reading this and perhaps recognises themselves in this bit... here's a tip... calling people "scumbags" is not really a sign of someone with a great intellect.

Incompetence: The following is a REAL conversation I had with my internet service's technical support...

As a preface, I knew what the problem was but needed confirmation. For noobs, all internet sites have an I.P. number... all of 'em... for example, this blog is NOT really on DoubleDeckerBuses.Org... it's on 72.29.74.31... but thanks to a "domain name", we get to whack in DoubleDeckerBuses.Org and a magic machine (the Domain Name Server or DNS) says, "AHA! That name belongs to this I.P. address!" and sends you to the right place!

Now, I connected to the dreaded Interweb (y'know, that series of tubes that Al Gore invented,) and COULD use I.P. addresses to get to things (I use I.P. addresses for file transfers and whatnot) but could not "surf" domain names... so typing into the browser 72.29.74.31 worked... but DoubleDeckerBuses.Org didn't. Savy? Pretty cut-and-dry... I just needed to know... was my service provider's DNS (Domain Name Server) down... or was I having a whacky problem on my end.

...so I called...

Me: "Hello, tech support? Yeah, I can't surf to any webpages, but I am able to ping through to I.P. numbers. Is your DNS server down?"

Them: "I'd love to help you sir, please give me your name, phone number, address, account number, shoe size, blood type, credit card numbers, first-born child, pet feces sample, and underwear waste size."

Me: "Um... well, my number is 416-XXX-XXXX..."

Them: "Ah! Mister Diddeear! Are you still living at XXX?"

Me: "Either that or I've stepped through a hole in the time-space continuum into an alternate universe and the address has changed here... and my name's pronounced Didd-Ee-Ay."

Them: "So I should change your address?"

Me: "No. It was a joke."

Them: "Are you sure?"

Me: "I'm pretty sure."

Them: "But we have the wrong name."

Me: "No, you're simply mispronouncing it."

Them: "So it's pronounced Didd-Ee-Er."

Me: "No, it's pronounced Didd-Ee-Ay... it's French."

Them: "Oh! Would you prefer to speak to one of our French representatives?"

Me: "No. My name is French... but I am English."

Them: "So do you want me to change your name in our database?"

Me: "No. It's fine. Look, I need to know if your DNS server is down because I..."

Them: "Before that sir, do you have your account number?"

Me: "Yes. It's XXXXX"

Them: "So it's XXXXX and under the name Diddeear, right?"

Me: "Yes... can I just know if the DNS server is down?"

Them: "I thought the name had changed?"

Me: "No, it's Diddeear. You and I already worked that out. Obviously, my dad lied to me but it's okay. Can we carry on please?"

Them: "Okay. What seems to be the problem?"

Me: "When I'm trying to surf, I can't get to any web servers but I can ping I.P. addresses... Is your DNS server down?"

Them: "So this is about our internet service?"

Me: "(Said with a giggle) Well, it's not about my voicemail if it's internet protocol numbers and web pages causing me issues."

Them: "We don't service voicemail issues sir, we're internet support. If you're having trouble with your voicemail, please call 1-800-XXX-XXXX"

Me: "I'm not calling about my voicemail... I was only making a joke about it... I am having trouble with my Internet connection."

Them: "So this is about using the internet with your voicemail?"

Me: "No... I'm sorry, it has nothing to do with my voicemail... it's just about the internet."

Them: "If you are having trouble with your voicemail, I can give you the number for that service."

Me: "No, it's my internet connection. My voicemail is fine... I'm not calling about that and I am sorry I brought it up."

Them: "Are you using a computer?"

Me: "Yes... but I have to ask, what are my other options???"

Them: "You could be using a cell phone for mobile internet or possibly one of the internet ready computer games."

Me: "Ah, okay... but since I told you I pinged I.P.s, it's a safe bet I'm using a computer."

Them: "Are you using a computer?"

Me: "I believe so, yes."

Them: "Are you sure?"

Me: "Well, it's running Microsoft Windows 2000... I don't think it's a toaster oven."

Them: "Did you want to check?"

Me: "Check what?"

Them: "That you are using a computer."

Me: "I am using a computer. I'm sure of that."

Them: "Okay, what operating system are you using."

Me: "Oddly enough, I'm still using Windows 2000. I haven't changed it since I just mentioned it a few seconds ago."

Them: "Are you sure?"

Me: "I am sure. It's Windows 2000."

Them: "And what seems to be the problem?"

Me: "I can't see any webpage addresses through my browser but I can get through to I.P. addresses... Is your DNS server down?"

Them: "So this is about our internet service?"

...at this point, and after almost completely losing all my patience, I managed to finish the DUMB questions (no more sly asides as I found this simply confused the poor fellow...) he transferred me to a "Level 2" technician... who had me literally tear apart the networking bits of my computer... to no avail.

They transferred me to a "Level 3" technician... who informed me immediately that their DNS server was down.

Total Time for Call: Well over three hours.

...and I'm still officially an unemployed computer technician...

...and these idiots have a job.

Inconsideration : ATTENTION SHOPPERS! Want to make friends with your fellow shoppers? Here's a thought... while walking down a sidewalk, store aisle, or even mall pathway, stop to have a chat with a buddy in the MIDDLE OF SAID AISLE OR PATH effectively blocking everyone in both directions!

We love this as it gives us time to contemplate life, the universe, and everything... and the number 42... while we wait for you to finish you chat.

Also, sudden stops in these places for no particular reason making those of us behind you have to quickly halt is also great! It really keeps us on our toes!

If you have a stroller... preferably a BIG one, also consider stopping in the middle of a sidewalk or path! (Bonus points for taking up MORE of the sidewalk by working on the stroller thereby adding one crouched adult human to the space the stroller is using!) I mean, watching for humans keeps us on our toes, but to realise a baby or toddler's involved makes it even more reflex testing for those of us other pedestrians avoiding a collision!

This is really a sampling... I am an angry, angry man about a lot of things... but I've already ranted a few times here... the most popular was my "How To Make a Great Blog" rant... but the one about the people just "stopping" and "blocking"... ARRGH!

...I have a feeling that tomorrow's post won't quite be so grumpy!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

For those regular readers, this post is all about the dream... from it's origins to now... (with an update from June of 2008 - scroll down to see that)...

I know, you already know it... but some don't... and I'm going to TRY to be concise... Wish me luck.

About four years ago, I had a decent job that I'd been at for seven years without issue. It was a solid company and I was doing very well there both career wise and financially.

Then, in head office's wisdom, they closed down my office to move it to another city... far, far away... leaving me unemployed.

First, thanks to a generous severance package, I had some health matters cleared up (I have very bad kidney problems and I was diagnosed during these "treatments" with hypertension... high blood pressure... and yeah, I'm now on pills for the rest of my life.)

Once my health was attended to, I hunted diligently in my field (IT - Desktop Support) for work... and failed horribly. I took occasional quick contract work, but nothing covered the bills... and my family suffered horribly for my failures. Our debts mounted, things went unpaid and I felt like a "Class A" loser.

I had the occasional "temp" position which helped... but nothing of note and couldn't find anything permanent. We were just keeping our heads slightly below water...

My wife worked and did okay, but her paycheque barely covered the bare necessities. Worse was to come when her company slashed their payroll by decreasing everyone's (including her's) salary.

...so we were hurting. We were hurting bad. We even were several months behind on rent and faced an eviction notice.

Debt collectors (from those incurred during the "good times") were at the door (still are... but I'll get to that...) and we were in a very bad way.

Now, from what I read and understand, it's moments like these (that lasted three years!) that cause families to dissolve... our's didn't. In fact, we were a great strength to each other in various ways.

During these times, with limited "entertainment budgets" (read: Non-existent) and a young "tween" in the house, we sat and discussed our dreams and what we'd do when "things would turn around" for us.

Often, we'd talk about trips... vacations... something none of us have had in years. Sue and I, being "Anglophiles", often talked about going to England... a place I've been to a few times in my youth but Sue nor our little one have ever been to, and where, while there, we'd visit and what we'd do there.

Our little one just wanted a puppy to play with... I'll come back to that one...

One day, while reading the news, I came across an item that saddened me personally...

You see, one of the pure joys I experienced as a kid was riding the double-decker buses in London... the venerable old Routemasters and RTs were my favourite... memories of my "first family vacation" in 1976.

Well, the news item was London Transport's removal of the Routemasters from service.

I had often said that I looked forward to taking Sue and our little one on one of these wonderful old buses... and now, this was not to be.

Now, in all honesty, at that point, things were still fiscally awful... so it's not like this was a "burning concern" really... I often equate the feeling to one that a person might get finding out a favourite restaurant as a child was being torn down and converted into a parking lot.

None-the-less, it set me to "surfing" out of boredom to look at old bus photos... and that's when I came across this one...

Now, don't ask me why... because I honestly don't know... but this bus became a "focus".

It's story, from what I initially learned, was that it was "abandoned" in Santa Rosa, California by two women who were taking it back home to Oregon when it broke down. It had been in "storage" without signs of it's original owners for years outside a furniture shop.

For some VERY odd reason, this bus became "my dream". I wanted to own and save this bus.

Luckily, the weird dream wasn't mine alone... after looking at the photo and hearing the story, both my wife and little one kind of adopted the bus too... without a struggle... which in itself is a bit odd. They both fell in love with the bus and my little one dubbed it "Chitty-Chitty-Wump-Wump" for the movie and the sound she felt the engine would make. (She denies saying it now... but she's MUCH older than she was WAY back then... two whole years older now!)

Those evenings after a meagre dinner we would discuss what "WE" would do with our bus... basically, talking about trips and how we would use the bus...

My wife had visions of taking it to the beach. I had visions of taking it on small road trips. Our little one wanted simply for me to put a sofa, a television and her GameCube in the top deck to play. (No, we don't have a Wii... yet...)

I dug and found out more about the bus... everything I could...

It's an AEC Regent Low Height... of which only 76 were ever built in the early 1950's. It's #3 of those 76 buses.

It's indeed in Santa Rosa, but ownership is a little convoluted... it's "REAL" owner is still a fellow who's last known whereabouts were in Roswell, New Mexico, but he apparently sold the bus to the women... but they never took legal ownership and abandoned it. Now, the fellow where they abandoned it DID claim ownership after a few years for "storage fees"... but instead of trying to sell it, he moved it into a barn nearby and now it's in the hands of another fellow.

Right now (this moment), the bus is in the barn (at least it's covered) near Santa Rosa and is honestly being used as a very large garbage can. It's most likely going to be sold for scrap at some point if we fail to raise the money.

...anyway...

Our dream never faded with the bus...

After a time, things got better for us... rent was ironed out, I found a long-term contract position that pays okay (not as good as I used to be paid and not in my field, but it's honest work), through a series of contacts and work with animal rescues, we found our little one her puppy, and in general things have improved...

...but not enough to even consider trying to buy the bus and have it sent to Toronto (where we live) which, thanks to some contacts I made, I found would be about a $20,000.00 (American dollars) enterprise.

Thanks to the aforementioned "debts" (most of which are still being paid down let alone paid off...) that were incurred during my unemployment, we wouldn't be able to get a loan to do the deal and no one we know is in a position to "lend" us the money... and to be honest, ensuring our lives are secure is our first priority... the dream, sadly, needed to take a back seat when it came to the real "nuts-and-bolts" of our lives.

...but the nagging thought that this wonderful old bus would be scrapped was a bit overwhelming.

So, how to earn $20,000.00 American while ensuring our debts were being tended to and our life was "okay"?

Well, this is what this is... We set up this blog... the site... and all.

Call it desperation... call it trying to make the dream come true... call it simply not willing to give up on something that, in absentia, pulled us through some very bad times as we discussed our plans and dreams to take the sting off the blues... so to speak.

So, here's this blog and site... trying to find a way to earn $20,000.00 USD to see it through... to make a dream come true... and make a whole family happy... and yes, believe.

Now, through the good graces of friends and contacts, we DO have storage spaces for the bus (two to choose from!) while we work on getting it back to health... so it REALLY is only...

• Purchasing the bus...

• Having it shipped to Toronto...

...and that's it.

We even have friends who are mechanics who are willing to assist and have a contact in England who is THE authority on this type of bus.

We're willing to do the work to get her going... and do it slowly and properly... and earn the right to call it "Our Bus" legitimately.

The "plan" if we're successful in getting the dream to come true is to outfit her as a "day-tripper" for those "day trips" I mentioned... but keep ALL her original parts... once we're too old to do the trips and maintain her, restoring her to her former London Transport glory would be a "retirement task"... then we would donate her (once restored) to one of the museums Sue and I have been fortunate to volunteer for over our years.

So, there you have it... the WHOLE story... minus some "weird stuff" that you can read about by clicking here.

...and if anyone's thinking that the names sound familiar (Sue's and Mine)... well... click here to find out about us.

So, that's it... I have skipped quite a bit... but to many, this is probably REALLY redundant.

A few people seem to loath and hate what we're up to here... and have let us know in no uncertain terms... some feel we're "making it up" and it's some kind of weird "cash grab" (to which I always answer that if THAT was true, I'd like to think I'd aim higher than $20k USD!) but thankfully, the majority have truly wished us well... and some have been very helpful in our quest.

Update: March 2008: Good news and bad news should be added to this post...

The good news is that I finally found work in my field! I'm FULL TIME EMPLOYED and working in computers... and with an okay salary. Basically, it's still not enough to make ALL ends meet, but it's better... and we're doing okay and getting those debts paid down a little faster.

The bad news... but not really... is there's a chance that RLH 3 may have a buyer who will beat us to the punch. They asked for my contact information for the owner and, because they are wanting to restore her, I gave it to them. Better to see "our bus" restored and in good shape then the danger of being carved up or scrapped waiting for us... which at the rate we were going, even with my new salary, could take two or three years to get there..

Basically, since the buyer has not, to our knowledge, purchased the bus... we still have a chance... but time is SERIOUSLY running short!

The only way we have a chance right now to raise the funds to make this dream come true is through something like a corporate sponsorship or to find a kind benefactor who wants to see our kooky dream come true.

To everyone who's been along on this ride of ours trying to get our "Old Green Bus", we all DO thank you... we're not giving up.

It's a beautiful bus... and VERY special... and deserves a good fate... hopefully with us... but if not, provided she's not scrapped, we'll be fine.

For more information (if it's needed,) click here to read our frequently asked questions.

Thanks for reading this entry... I hope it explains everything about us, about the bus, and about our dream.

UPDATE: AUGUST 2008 - Well, the "new buyer" hasn't (as far as we know,) done the deal... so we're still POSSIBLY in the running

That said, a while back, we reported that the proverbial fat lady was hitting the crescendo... that our dream was slipping on it's swan costume... it was slipping this mortal coil off to join the choir invisible...

...at least, that's what it SEEMED like it was doing...

Basically, because of the limited success we had, the several "near misses" that led to let downs... and a few other things in life, we decided to "pack it in", so to speak... keep the blog alive as a commentary site, but stop asking for help online.

We took the money we had raised and equally distributed it to several charities and basically decided to keep trying, but without asking for help so loudly online... things like find a corporate sponsor or the like...

To be truthful, one of the MAIN reasons for us kicking around this dream was because, yeah, I really was hoping for success to show my little one that if you try, dreams could come true.

Well, three years makes a BIG difference... and the wide eyed nine-year old has become a "tweenager" with all the sad cynicism that entails...

No longer was it "cool" or "neat" to get a bus... it was kind of embarrassing to her... if we didn't succeed, she'd be ridiculed as the step-daughter of the bus loons and if we now succeeded, she might be (*gasp! horror!*) SEEN in an old bus!!!

So, with a small heavy heart... and as stated, with the realization of the lack of success, the nasty comments about our goal, even the reception from Oprah Winfrey's people and the denizens of Craigslist not to mention The Toronto Star (I won't repost their article,) and even some would-be sceptics... it just seemed that enough was enough, time to call it a day.

Of course, I should have realised that more than a few people would shout NOT SO FAST!!!

I won't go into the ins-and-outs of the matter, but allow me to specify this...

First off, the kiddollo has made it clear that the quest AND the bus are not a TOTAL embarrassment to her and the social stature she has at her school remains unaffected... Sue and I STILL really hold on to the dream... and would LOVE to save our bus... but are now being a touch more realistic (take that as you will,) and might happily settle on any old double-decker to look after... of course, the "eye on the prize" if still Regent Low Height Three... but with the near-buy from the other possible owner, we talked and gave it some thought... and yeah, we'd be happy regardless...

THIS ALL SAID, we will STILL not be "begging" online for either money or help... we will simply keep the dream simmering on a back burner... and if an idea or some possible interest arises...

So the DREAM LIVES... but it is still toned down a whack...

Thanks to everyone for their support and help... and keep the ideas and thoughts rolling in!

She's only twelve... I got six years until she's an adult... I might just be able to still make a little "magic" before it's too late!

...and yeah, Sue and I still want to save our old green bus.

....Money!

Please help us welcome this week's roomie at Ye Ol' Bus Blog. My Quest To Make Money On The Internet is a blog thats title is self explanatory. Very similar to my own Nuttin' But Pimp blog, My Quest To Make Money On The Internet has been around far longer and has been quite a bit more successful at this point. Updated regularly and filled with helpful advice and useful articles on how you too gentle reader can start producing an income from the internet. Definitely a worthwhile read, and one that I personally will not only be bookmarking, but will be asking for a link exchange with as I know this blog will assist in enhancing my own quest. So what are you waiting for? Most of us dream of an online income or at least some extra spending cash...go visit our roomie and let him know the bus folks drove you over.

Cheers!

From The Desk Of The Hopefully Soon-To-Be-Ex Queen of the Paupers H. R. H Sue

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Welcome to the next of our ongoing "Helping Hand Thursday" entries... in which we want to say thanks to those who help this site and our dream of rescuing the bus along... either directly or indirectly (through things like sponsorship with ads and posts and the like...)

In this post, a big "Thank You!" to the fine folks at GUARANTEEDblinds.com!

Window coverings can make or break a decor. Don't believe me? Look it up with ANY home decorating magazine... or think about the last time you heard a sit-com character make a joke about someone's drapes.

For ease, style, and genuine aesthetics, I'm a "blinds guy" myself, so it was nice to discover GUARANTEEDblinds.com... the leading Internet retailer of high quality custom blinds, discount blinds, and specialty window coverings. Their window blind & shade products include wood blinds, faux wood blinds, mini blinds, and vertical blinds. Our window shades includes roman shades, cellular shades, pleated shades, roller shades, and woven wood bamboo shades.

Basically, it's a cornucopia of blinds and shades with a great website that gives you all you need to make a great purchase for your window coverings.

Like me, are you a trifle "style challenged" or just have some questions you need answered? Get tips and advice on window blind treatments from the experts through their site, or take advantage of our free blind and shade samples to determine the right fabric or texture for your living room, bedroom, kitchen or anywhere in your home... you should have a boo at their sunlight blocking cellular shades for darkening a room! Impressive!

Great customer service, help with measurements and styles online... if you're looking for great window coverings at a great price, check out GUARANTEEDblinds.com!

We would like to thank the folks above, because through their sponsorship of this post, we are working to make our dream come true!

If you're interested in this blogs policy on sponsored posts, please click here.

Again, thanks to the sponsor above... with help like theirs, this family will make our dream come true!

Welcome to the next of our ongoing "Helping Hand Thursday" entries... in which we want to say thanks to those who help this site and our dream of rescuing the bus along... either directly or indirectly (through things like sponsorship with ads and posts and the like...)

In this post, a big "Thank You!" to the fine folks at Language Trainers Business Language Courses!

Communications are the most important part of any business dealing. Period.

To be competitive, you need to be able to get your point across as best you can... and even better. That's why course like those offered by Language Trainers are vital in today's business world.

They offer all types of language training from General Survival Courses (for people with no previous knowledge traveling to a country for the first time) to Technical Courses (for doctors or engineers, for example, who need very specialised language), Exam Preparation Courses (for people who need to pass a particular exam to enter university or to apply for a particular job), to Business Courses for people who need to learn the language of work.

If you're thinking about expanding your business to a new area or applying for a position within another country... or even adding a great skill to your current resume to impress your boss, consider taking one or more of the offered business language courses...

I'm certain that you'll be glad you did!

We would like to thank the folks above, because through their sponsorship of this post, we are working to make our dream come true!

If you're interested in this blogs policy on sponsored posts, please click here.

Again, thanks to the sponsor above... with help like theirs, this family will make our dream come true!

"...the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!"

...but they broke the chalice from the palace... and replaced it with a flagon... with the image of a dragon.

...so the pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon, the vessel with the pestle had the brew that was true.

Get it? Got it. Good!

There are two things Sue and I love... bargains and classic films. Thankfully, the two usually go hand in hand.

In fact, in the "El Cheapo" bin at a local video store, we found the DVD for Danny Kaye's The Court Jester!

One of our "things" is trying to introduce our little one to movies that, although not "modern", meant a great deal to us as children... and this was one of them.

Of course, everyone has the movies that are "staples"... like The Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life... and most parents own a plethora of Disney DVDs... but we love the "harder to find" ones... ones that many folks wouldn't own because... well, mostly because they're often on TV for free...

We, on the other hand, have gone out of our way to own them.

Things like Don Knotts' classic like The Reluctant Astronaut and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken... (yeah, I know... that last one's a natural for us...)

(Go on, click the image above...)

The one's I'm now gunning for are...

• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

• Wonder Man

• Hans Christian Andersen

• The Incredible Mr. Limpit

• (Only One Disney Classic in this List) Bedknobs and Broomsticks

• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (not the new one... we have that... yuch...)

Oh, we already have The Inspector General and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (of course)... and several Laurel and Hardy movies (although that collection's growing all the time too... and I'll be bringing in some of my favourite Marx Brother's films shortly too.

You gotta love today... thanks to a plethora of DVDs, you can grab classic movies for usually around $10 to $15... and even cheaper if you hunt!

For example, we picked up the original animated Charlotte's Web, Mary Poppins, and for when she's a bit older... okay, for Sue and myself BOTH Dr. Phibes movies on VHS (the local video stores are getting rid of them in favour of DVDs) for a GRAND TOTAL of $2.00 each!

Anyone who "threw out" or "got rid of" their VCR (tape player/recorder) in the mad switch to DVDs... FOOLS! The bargoons to be had on old tapes is AMAZING!!!

Meanwhile, back at The Court Jester...

In watching these classics, I usually confine myself to my desk (within viewing range of the TV) and look up tasty tidbits of trivia about the films in question.

Using The Court Jester as a "for instance"...

Did you know that The Court Jester was a flop at the box office? It made only $2.2 million... but cost $4 million to make? However it did make up for the shortfall when they sold the rights to broadcast it on television.

Did you know that Danny Kaye won a Golden Globe award for his part in the movie?

Did you know that, according to Kaye's daughter Dena, when people spotted Danny in public, they would often approach him and recite the "Pellet with the poison" speech that I used as my title of this post?

Did you know that Angela Lansbury turned thirty-one years old during the making of the film? (Think about THAT!)

Did you know Basil Rathbone, the villain in the film and most synonymous with playing Sherlock Holmes, was a world class fencer and Danny only had about three weeks worth of lessons... but because of his ability to mime, Kaye literally out-fenced Rathbone who found that Kaye's quick reflexes were a little dangerous to him... so in the "snap-fencing" scene, you only see Rathbone from the back during the fights... and only from the front when he's getting ready to "en guard". This is because the fight choreographer had to take his place...
Remember: Basil was in his sixties when the movie was filmed!

Did you know that because he had "chicken legs", the producers made Danny wear "leg falsies" to look more buff in his tights.

(Believe it or not, the photo above is Danny Kaye in make-up for one part of The Court Jester!)

Of course, I could TOUCH on the fact that, although Kaye was married to Sylvia Fine until he died, he MAY (most likely) had one long-term affair... with (of all people) Laurence Olivier when he was married to Vivien Leigh... granted, these are rumours and Larry, as he preferred to be called, said of them they were "unforgivable garbage".

Granted, there is some truth the Sylvia Fine may have helped "progress" the demise of a young Barbara Bates, the actress playing opposite Danny in The Inspector General... According to the book, Hollywood Babylon, Bates' best work in the film (which some thought could catapult her career) was edited out with the "suggestion" of Mrs. Fine who truly thought she upstaged Danny! Bates had a "decent" career, but not a great one, and in 1968 killed herself via carbon monoxide poisoning in her mother's garage.

How salacious...

To be honest, blaming Mrs. Fine for Bates' death would be like blaming the Wright Brothers for 9/11 as Ms. Bates had a lot of personal demons...

...but hey, it makes for a good yarn, no?

So anyway, my point... SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CLASSIC (and not-so-classic) MOVIES! You'll save money, have GREAT entertainment, loads of memories that you can share... and find out nifty tidbits in the process!

I mean, don't even get me started about what happened to Dick Van Dyke's career when he said that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang would "out Disney Disney"!

...and did you know that Lionel Jeffries, the fellow who played Grandpa in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is six months YOUNGER than Van Dyke and is still very much with us? (God bless him!)

Oh the posh posh traveling life, the traveling life for me!
First cabin and captain's table regal company!
Whenever I'm bored I travel abroad but ever so properly...
Port out, starboard home, posh with a capital P-O-S-H, posh!

If you haven't yet, TURN UP that PC Speaker and click "Play" on the "Flash Player" on the sidebar here... near the top...

What a WONDERFUL song and singer! (If the poor man knew how often as a kid I brutalised the lyrics and his "style" in attempts to belt out the tune, I'm sure he'd be horrified!)

...and what great movies and great memories and how great it is to share them... and find they MORE than stand the test of time!

Just so everyone knows, this was probably my favourite post I've written EVER on this blog! I had fun writing it!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

After mucking about and even "blogging" about it, I MANAGED TO GET THE THERMOMETER UP AND RUNNING!!!

I know, I said I was going to go easy and only post a static image I'd change now and again, but remember... I got this...

Yup, the "Y" chromosome.

It's the same thingy that...

• Blocks my ability to admit that I'm lost.

• Blocks my ability to ask for directions when the above is happening.

• Removes social graces during sporting matches of any sort that have my attention.

• Makes me assume that I am capable of most small, medium, and large repairs to anything.

• Ensures that, for some reason, I'm responsible for the most awful of tasks at home.

• Enables me to spot a comely lass at 400 yards... but unfortunately, be so obvious about this to ensure the gentle wrath of my significant other.

• Feel that I am capable of defeating any technological shortcoming regardless of the complexity.

Well, that latter one finally paid off and if you scroll down and look at the sidebar, you'll see the NEW thermometer and you'll know the ACTUAL progress we're making towards getting the dream!

WHEEEE~!

Currently, out of $20,000.00 USD, we've managed to obtain a whopping $197.00! (Hey, every little bit helps!)

...and yes, I'll be adding the thermometer to the "HelpCoverTheBus.Com" pages so people there will know how much they're helping too!

I'm SO pleased with my manly-self right now! I just feel like drinking beer and watching a bug-zapper and hooting like an urban savage while watching cheerleaders during an NFL game!

...or, continue my morning, go to work, come home and help Sue make dinner, help with dishes, sit down later and have a long talk about something most likely paranormal in nature... or about our pets... or the little one... and end the evening cuddling up in bed.

Call it a hunch, "Y" chromosome or no, it'll be the latter.

But "Yay Me!" still for sorting out the code! I'll take that technical victory!

Heck, I'm so pleased, I added a "poll" too... you'll find it near the thermometer on the sidebar!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

From the "Okay, this is silly!" files...

As Reported by the CBC...

A U.S. defence report claiming Canadian coins were used as surveillance devices has raised security concerns and a few eyebrows since it became public knowledge this week.

The report, entitled Technology Collection Trends in the U.S. Defence Industry, listed the use of Canadian currency in an appendix on recent cases.

"On at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006, cleared defence contractors' employees travelling through Canada have discovered radio frequency transmitters embedded in Canadian coins placed on their persons," reads the brief explanation in the U.S. Defence Security Service report.

The story of the coins was little more than an appendix in the recently declassified report until a U.S. newspaper picked it up.

Jeff Richelson, a researcher and author of books about the CIA, was skeptical of the incident, saying coins would be a poor choice as a tracking device because of their high turnover rate.

"It wouldn't seem to be the best place to put something like that; you'd want to put it in something that wouldn't be left behind or spent," said Richelson.

"It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense."

An unnamed U.S. official also told the Globe and Mail the incidents have been blown out of proportion, saying odd-looking Canadian coins triggered suspicions but that the fears were groundless.

(-- Snip! --)

A RFID tag or chip small enough to hide in a coin would likely not have its own power source and would likely have a limited range, making its use as a tracking tool questionable.

EGADS! The Yanks have found us out!

They now know our simple, endearing, non-threatening Looney is actually an insidious device!

...and don't even get me started on what a Tooney can do!

Yes, these DIABOLICAL bits of loose change allows us to know EXACTLY how many candy bars and cans of Coca-Cola are purchased at the Pentagon!

...and you know what THAT kind of information could lead to, don't you...?

ABSO-DIDDLY-SQUAT!

Note To The CIA, FBI, and any Other Security Bureaus in The United States of America: If you REALLY believe that Canada is spying on you using coins and teeny-tiny radio tags embedded therein... then the terrorists have truly won, you've been reading too many "True Spy" novels, you need to realise that James Bond (as in double-o seven) is fictional, and most importantly, answer this question... WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE DEVIL DO YOU SUPPOSE CANADA WOULD WANT TO SPY ON YOU FOR???

Perhaps we think that we can find out what The Colonel's secret blend of seven herbs and spices are? Maybe what's REALLY in the "Mac Sauce" in a Big Mac?

...next thing you know, you, my American friends, will find out the REAL mechanics behind the TimBit! EGADS! THEN WHAT!?!?

Sorry about this, but as someone with a little military experience, this just struck me as REALLY funny... and incredibly paranoid and stupid.

..wait a second... why is that American quarter in my pocket now vibrating???

Addendum: Immediately after posting this, I may have been put on the "No-Fly" list.

Addendum: January 20th, 2007 - They decided the claim was unfounded. Imagine that.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Hmmm... that title sounds naughty...

...especially for a Sunday post, eh?

In circumspect, it sounds more like the title of a "spam mail"...

...moving on...

Basically, since I've given this blog (as it is) a death sentence... either it changes to "Our Adventures with Our Double-Decker Bus" or we shut the blog down on December 26th, 2007... I've been looking for ways to "jazz things up" and let everyone know how we're doing with our dream.

One of the ways we're trying to draw some attention (and hopefully help) is to spiff things up (but not eat too much bandwidth) with some things... and a big one is a "Fund Raising Thermometer".

Now, this SEEMS like a pretty simple thing... until you have a clod like me trying to implement it.

You see, initially I thought...

Just get a good picture of a thermometer that I can muddle with to "increase" when money comes in... say a "once-a-week update" with a new image (if necessary) showing how we're doing!

...but I have that danged "Y" chromosome... and in my travels I found "several" self-updating thermometers... using things like Flash, Shockwave, and Java...

Woo-hoo! TOYS!

So, I start monkeying... and monkeying... and toying...

...and, like all males who are messing about with things they probably shouldn't be, I took the blog offline about one-thousand and seventy-two times.

Luckily, being a former tech, I do backups so chances are, you didn't notice...

I'd fail - I'd restore!

Total downtime: Usually about 10 seconds.

Well, wouldn't you know it... a few nights back, I'm "re-vamping" my BlogMad stuff and they have a fehclempt image/thumbnail of my blog.

Now, they take "snapshots" seemingly once per week... and they managed to "snapshot" at one of our downtimes...

Incredible.

The odds are staggering.

As for my foray into trying to "code" a thermometer... DON'T send me links or whatnot to one you're "sure will work", I'm a beaten man... I'm going back to plan "A"...

Now, we (Sue and meself) are going through some of the EXCELLENT suggestions we've received on the thread about the upcoming changes here to see what we can do... I am going to TRY and whip up something amusing in Flash to get some "viral attention"...

The re-structuring of "HelpCoverTheBus.Com" isn't a biggy... and may need loads of extra time to figure out how to accomplish the task while preserving the $20,000.00 "ability" of the pages.

I'm also getting a NEW press release ready... hopefully one that MIGHT spark some interest.

Other than that, it's SSDD here at the palatial Didier/Darroch Compound... and it's Sunday... our day of rest (BWAHAHAHAHAHA! More like our day of laundry, housecleaning, and general chores!)

So, happy Sunday... and I'm going back to my rest (BWAHAHAHAHAHA!) now...

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Football comes to North America... again... but THIS TIME will likely survive and thrive.

BBC News reported on Thursday that David Beckham has signed with the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer here in North America.

Now, that is HUGE news here in Toronto, really, as we're getting our own and PROPERLY NAMED football club... named, as stated, appropriately, The Toronto Football Club.

Now, if you're wondering WHY I say it's a good name for our town... well, our ridiculous and BAD basketball team was named after Jurassic Park was through the theatres and the brain trust (ha-ha-ha) in charge went...

Well, Toronto's home to the current world's tallest freestanding structure, The CN Tower... and Canada and Ontario is home to the United Empire Loyalists... and the TWO most popular names with the people that will be buying tickets is "The Toronto Towers" and "The Toronto Loyalists"...

...SO LET'S NAME THEM THE TORONTO RAPTORS!

...AND THE CROWD WENT mild.

If you're thinking that was THE lamest name in the world, about two-million people agree with you in this city.

...needless to say, it wasn't long before everyone here referred to them as The Toronto Craptors. They aren't a "bad" team... well... at the moment... but MAN, the name just SUCKS!

We do have the much vaunted and venerated Toronto Maple Leafs... which. although their uniform is traditionally blue and white, is about our nations emblem... The "Buds" (as they're sometimes called) are a staple and tradition in this town.

We got used to - and as a town seem to like The Toronto Blue Jays baseball logo and name... mostly because the "blue and white" is a reminder of the aforementioned and venerated Leafs.

We also have another blue-and-white in The Toronto Argonauts Canadian football team... or The Argos as we call 'em. A great team and Toronto is REALLY proud of 'em... but when they suck, it's not unusual to hear them called "The Argue Nots"... They're "nickname" is The Boatmen.

More recently (especially during an extended NHL Hockey Lock-Out,) sports mad Torontonians got to know their lacrosse team a little better... The Toronto Rock... a name no one REALLY has a problem with...

But in a town with The Craptors that named their new and innovative (at the time) domed stadium "The Skydome" - now the Roger's Centre (Skydome... that took about three seconds to come up with!), GOOD ON THE TORONTO FOOTBALL CLUB for using a traditional name and a traditional emblem.

Heck, I'm gonna support this team simply because it LOOKS good and SOUNDS good!

...and now, it's league has David Beckham...

Wayne Rooney... YOU'RE NEXT! Muahahahaha!

In all seriousness though, I do hope ONE "rumour" I heard about TFC happens... and that is Toronto to lure Ian Dowie out here to coach/manage the team.

I'd be in heaven...

...especially since my SOON-TO-BE-EX-BELOVED EAGLES just suck a big knob right now.

Will footie survive in Toronto?

With the way they're shaping up the new league... and our new stadium... I'd say YES!

Sure, it ain't The Premiership... but hey, it's what we've got... and it's looking better!

Now, since this is a NEW club, we need some good chants and songs!

Fellow Torontonians, GET ON THIS RIGHT AWAY!

...before some nitwit in their marketing department decides to change the name to The Toronto Shreks... or The Toronto Paris Hiltons... or The Toronto Rosie and Donald War.

...don't laugh... in this burgh, it could happen.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

According to most, the phrase "You Can't Polish a Turd" originated with U.S. president Harry S. Truman... seems possible, but I'm sure it was uttered long before he said it.

Well, poor ol' Andy at The Spicy Cauldron has had to knock the comments off one of his posts... because someone was indeed trying to polish a turd... and having about as much success as one can imagine with such an endeavour.

Every so often, a group rears it's head up from the muck and mire of intolerance and tries to shine itself up and present itself as so much more than it really is... which is, effectively, a turd.

Meet The British National Party (no link given as I won't promote them) who, of course, are just a touch right-wing and ever so well meaning. Oh, certainly they CAME from Neo-Nazi roots... and they do have SOME agendas that SOUND like Neo-Nazism... polished, of course... but they have a whopping TWO token minority members in their party and a some "-Z" list celebs taking up their cause...

They're group supports arts... yup, they support an organisation that is responsible for "good, wholesome CELTIC TRADITONAL music"... nothing else.

Now there's nothing wrong with this, really, if it was almost anywhere else.

As a musician and music lover, I doubt I would feel all that comfy with my "product" being promoted by someone who's past is... and present is... well... iffy.

These wonderful folks are all for the expulsion of non-Europeans cleansing the land undesirables taking a firm stand on illegal immigration.

Effectively, it is facism with a more euphemistic face to it.

It's really quite amazing... how people wrap up their intolerance and racism in words like "patriotic" and "loyal"... in order to seem more... pleasant?

I'm a proud Canadian... but folks like these have sullied the word "patriotism".

The long and the short of it is, and the BNP is certainly not the only "party" that this is true about in the world, but I do find a certain irony that the system of civilization and freedom that allows them to exist and "polish their turd" is something that, if God forbid, they gained control would be most likely abolished for others.

Y'know, while reading (mostly American) political blogs where "X" party line thinks "Y" party line is treasonous, treacherous dirtbags deserving death... I can't help but think of the BNP... and groups like The Heritage Front (in Canada)... and think do these people know who the REAL enemy of their freedoms, rights, and social status are? They may think that it's a "Republican" or a "Democrat"... but they're obviously wrong.

In my opinion, could the BNP or groups like them ever grab more than a tentative foot-hold in British, American, or Canadian politics? Not likely...

...but man, it's scary...

"Politically Correct Bigotry"...

...a turd polished...

...and people defend it.

Who'd 'ave thunk it?

Sometimes, the line "mis-attributed" to Voltaire about "defending your right to say it" scares me... I guess my question is, "Say it to whom?"

People really get confused over the right to free speech... it's one thing to criticize your government for their processes and platforms... it's another to be an ignorant nitwit running into a synagog and proclaim the Holocaust a hoax. The first is free speech, the second is hate.

With the recent "unrest" on the planet, I think Queen Rania of Jordan said it best... and if I may paraphrase a little...

The recent turmoil is not a war of Arabs vs. Jews... Islam vs. Christianity... East vs. West... it's about Extremists vs. Moderates... and the Extremists on both sides must not win.

Amen.

Intolerance, oddly enough, should not be tolerated.

Let's hope that in my lifetime I'm not having to sit with my little one and explain why "X" place is getting rid of "Y" people... because a vocal minority overshadowed an apathetic majority for a short time.

So, kudos to Andy... and those like him that have said they WILL NOT help "publicise" intolerance to any degree...

After all, the surest way of gaining folks like the BNP some interested recruits is to help them "get their name out there".

Perhaps I've done so here... but I hope not... and I won't be addressing this again... at least, I certainly hope not.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Filling in for the "Sunny-But-Too-Busy" Desk of Sue, allow me to welcome this weeks renter!

Share thoughts, experience, and fun with Sunflower! A fun little blog with a healthy blogger pledge and loads of fun stuff!

I wish I could write more, but the eclectic posts and interesting images kinda throw me. (Now I know why Sue usually writes these things!)

Sorry, Sunflower, you deserve better... but with the Sue-Meister so tied up, you're stuck with me! Promise it'll be better next time!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

I'm really hoping most of you readers of this here "web-log thingy" on the Interweb (y'know, that series of tubes that Al Gore invented,) know that there's a little bit o' weirdness between me and the bus we're after, RLH 3, such as...

• The bus and I share a birthday... May 31st... RLH 3 in 1951, me in 1967.

• When running, it's most "common route" within the City of London (the one it was assigned to... it was a "country bus" but did come into London proper) was a favourite walk of mine during my last stay in 1995... long before I ever saw or knew about the bus.

• It's former (possibly current?) owner is/was residing in Roswell, New Mexico... and with my lady love an ardent Ufologist, that's pretty kooky...

• While "Googling" and looking for information on RLH 3, I came across this link to a book named "Battlegrounds of Freedom" which, according to the table of contents, RLH-3 of this book is entitled "Re-enacting, family activities, children and cooking."... Sue and myself have been War of 1812 re-enactors (who do "live" in the encampments with the little one) long before I knew about the bus' existence.

• Sue and I have always loved our neighbourhood, and moved in to an affordable apartment on our favourite street the minute one was available... as weirdness would have it, the Toronto Transit Commission did run double-deckers once... and on one route only... the street where we live was part of that route. We didn't know this until long after this blog was started... let alone the whole fixation on buses.

...there are even more "weird coincidences" but the above are the ones I find more interesting... but I'd like to share two for the first time publicly here that may or may not "play" into this...

In 1976 (during the miserable heatwave) when I was all of nine-years old, my family took me on my first vacation outside Ontario, Canada... to London, England... Now, aside from some moments my "middle sister" won't let me forget (my over-interest in Lord Nelson after seeing his statue in Trafalgar Sqaure,) my mother noted one other curious situation... I seemed to know my way around the city a little too well.

In fact, when we were off to a smaller museum from our suite at The Grosvenor House, while my mother was frantically trying to discover the route to take via the bus, I was able to say that it could be reached on foot rapidly. After a little "discussion" with her son about his "knowledge" of this (and why I was wrong,) my mother "tried" the route I suggested and whammo, I was right.

It's weird that I have only ever been "lost in London" once... in 1995... and that lasted about fifteen minutes... without help of map or asking for help.

I always seem to be aware of the location of major landmarks and The Thames when I'm in London... no matter where I am... it's weird, but it's true... and it started LONG before I saw a map, before Al Gore invented The Interweb (that series of tubes...) and long, long before the concept of trying to own an old London Transport bus had ever crossed my mind.

...granted, it was the beginning of my "fleet" of toy Routemaster buses... every time I've gone to London, I always buy one or two "tourist trap" toy buses... it's a "thing".

When I was somewhere between three and four, my mother, while driving up to our family cottage, she decided to ask me "where I came from" to see what my answer would be.

I had, more-or-less, just started talking so my response surprised my mother...

"I flew into your mouth while you were driving a green car." I said, rather matter-of-factly.

This made my mother feel a little odd... she did indeed have a green car at one point... but had gotten rid of it just before I was born.

She always told me that story... and often would ask if I remembered it... which I didn't and don't.

Granted, she never tried to draw anything from this brief conversation... she'd always tell it, and then simply end the story with, "That was weird." and nothing more.

So, there you go... you now know a little more "weirdness" about your's truly...

I think even more odd is that... and I admit this half-heartedly... that I'm not (even with this) completely sold on reincarnation. Honest!

I really, honestly don't know what to make of all this... there's obvious "leading" things here... but I don't know... I need better evidence and proof.

I once joked that the acquisition of RLH 3 was more for Sue to do the "investigative thing" with my interaction with the bus as she knows all this... and assumes that I *must* be a reincarnated bus driver and that when/if I'm around the bus, SOMETHING will cave in on me like a house of cards...

...could be...

I dunno...

Like I've been saying, I hope that I find out this year... but who knows... Perhaps something will happen... or perhaps nothing...

Either way, even more oddly enough, we had decided to get RLH 3 long before all these "pieces of a possible puzzle?" were assembled.

If something does happen, however, please ensure that you rescue me from Sue... she will most likely be prodding and poking me and trying to hook me up to machines to "test" me...

...I am relying on you guys to save me...

She may love me, but in a choice between a free and happy love... or a guinea-pig who's experience MUST be examined and measured thereby needing said "love" to be kept hooked up to machines... I fear for my safety.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Before I get started, I need to tell you all I've changed my mind.

No, not about "shutting down" on December 26h, 2007 if we don't have any success in getting the bus, that's still a "go"... but regular readers may remember when I blogged about getting a Decepticon sticker for the bus... which I thought was cute (making the bus "appear" -ha ha- as an evil robot in disguise...) but I've changed my mind... Oh, I'd still get that sticker...

..but..

THIS ONE is a must!

With THIS sticker, we could park the bus ANYWHERE and have an entire re-enactment of a Civil War battle with MONKEYS!!!

Confused? Click here!

...and now onto the post I had already written for today...

I'm fighting a troll of sorts...

...on the PSICAN message board...

...who's gone on about this blog and what I'm trying to do.

For those unfamiliar, a "troll" is indeed a fairytale character who lives under a bridge and eats goats... or a poster to a message board hell bent on getting a reaction to or from someone or everyone.

As for "ridding oneself of a troll", there's three options...

#1: Kill and smite the troll with a mighty sword.

That's fine... if indeed, the creature is living under a bridge and eating your goats. This, unfortunately, is not a good method for the online form of "troll" and not at all recommended.

#2: Win the troll over to your side.

Believe it or not, I have had SOME limited success with this... but usually, the troll hits below the belt... and is after a "flame" response and nothing more. Some of them might even agree with your thoughts and ideas... but need to scream ME! ME! ME! and trying hard to get attention using nasty little comments legitimate or not.

#3: Starve the troll.

This works for both types of trolls... either keeping your goats away from the bridge will force the real troll to move on to "greener pastures"... with the online flavour, like a screaming bully in an empty schoolyard, when they realise they're not getting a reaction and no one is listening to them, they too usually move on to greener pastures.

Therefore, the most effective remedy for trolls is... Don't Feed The Trolls.

But I couldn't help it...

If I may share...

The fellow was on the message board complaining that I made "fun" of The Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal... or CSICOP. CSICOP had recently changed and was under a "banner" of another group, CFI (Centre for Inquiry) which had an overt atheist agenda... or, the more euphemistic, "Secular Humanist" agenda.

Even more recently, for no better reason than "Just 'Cuz", CSICOP changed it's name to Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (which, yes, they now want us to call them CSI... as in CSI Miami or any of those series...)

Now, credit where credit is due... they FINALLY removed "science" from their name... which is accurate because science is not a strong suit with them. CSICOP (or Crime Scene Investigations as they are now known,) is not really "scientific" as they are deniers and auto-debunkers of things... Effectively, you say "YES", they will say "NO" and claim that no real person of science would agree with your stance. In other words, unlike real science which works from a neutral, agnostic stance, (less the observations be corrupted,) CSICOP (Crime Scene Investigations) works from the negative immediately.

To quote Stanton Friedman, "Why investigate? CSICOP has proclaimed!"

Now, I have to point out one other thing... CSICOP (Crime Scene Investigations) has also been merciless schills to fill their coffers... they need funding and bad. How bad, you may ask? So bad, apparently, that they have lawyers available to GO OVER YOUR LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT so that you can ensure the you MAKE A GRACIOUS POST-MORTEM DONATION TO THEIR CAUSE.

That's not a joke, above.

Ergo: No, I'm not a fan of CSICOP (Crime Scene Investigations) and I wondered aloud (on the message board) if their "name change" is to give them "greater brand recognition" that will generate more "donations"... (post-mortem or other.) In other words, will the wanna-be intellectual-by-laughing-at-the-woo-woos, while trying to pretend we understand things scientific marks throw even MORE money at them because, now, their name is cool.

Wanna see what I mean? Click here.

I also wondered how CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Alliance Atlantis felt about their "name" (CSI) being usurped... and yes, they HAVE trademarked that name.

Well, lo and behold...

On the PSICAN message board, I got this...

Considering the source, after reading a little more through your website, the integrity of PSICAN I.F. should be questioned, since you, the director, panhandles online in order to buy a double decker bus. I'm sure if you tried that on the street of your home city you would get odd looks.

The above was the comment I got.

...my response...

You're correct... which is why I'm trying online.

Trust me, if I thought I would have success without any help, you wouldn't hear about it... I'd just do it. I need help... but again, I'm doing it privately.

Had you read through the whole thing, you'd have noticed that I don't "sell" my studies for money... I also don't say "Give to PSICAN and I'll get a bus"... I also don't offer to have my attorneys look through your will to get me a bus...

Question: How can PSICAN be questioned if in my personal life, I'm trying to save an antique bus?

Should they be concerned as I'm a War of 1812 re-enactor as well and occasionally, the groups I "work" with make and/or ask for money?

Perhaps they should be very worried as I work for a mortgage company?

Oh, I've given donations to the following groups from my paychques (I don't collect on from PSICAN, Torontoghosts, Ontarioghosts, GHRS, or any of the "paranormal" sites or groups) to The United Way, The Canadian Cancer Society, The Heart and Stroke Foundation, Crohns and Colitis, and The Toronto Humane Society... should they be worried that I put my money toward that?

OH! There are banner ads to The Canadian Cancer Society and The Crohns and Colitis Society on the main page of the Torontoghosts and Ontarioghosts sites... should we be concerned?

Also, why a personal attack? Are the facts and information not enough?

...wait a second with all this... can't fight the facts so...

...where have I heard this before...

"If one can't attack the data, attack the people. It is easier."
- Stan Friedman (about CSICOP's method of "argument".)

Look, if I said, ANYWHERE that helping me save an old bus IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO PSICAN (other than a thwarted attempt to grab one FOR the group a while back... and even then, nope,) then I'd agree... but even then, that was CLEARLY marked as a personal endeavour...

You want to think I'm a little crazy for this bus stuff... go right ahead! You certainly wouldn't be alone.

...and again, no where in my PERSONAL bus endeavours did I say, "WRITE ME INTO YOUR WILL!" or "SEND US MONEY FOR THIS OR WE WON'T BE ABLE TO DO OUR WORK!"

...can CSICOP (Crime Scene Investigations) say the same?

Yup, I fed the troll.

So far, the troll hasn't responded... they might... considering the above is only about 30% of the conversation, there's a chance that there may not be a comment... or, considering I mentioned that I do praise REAL sceptics and even sceptical groups... but had a low tolerance for pseudo-sceptics who are nothing but armchair deniers.

On the post, I also shared this "sound byte"... it's Ufological in it's base... Dr. J. Allen Hynek commenting on dealing with Dr. Carl Sagan... and Sagan's "take" on UFOs... I really suggest listening to it...

Click here to hear it... it's an MP3.

I guess what bothered me is that I realise that this whole enterprise is... well... a little kooky.

I can also, honestly, say that I never expected a character assassination based on my efforts when it came to my other work in the paranormal combined with the bus dream.

I always saw these things as different entities...

Sure, like this, I do comment on the paranormal here on the blog... but beyond that?

I guess it was a case of any port in a storm and the troll needed SOMETHING to "bolster" his attack.

Perhaps, and many do, the “troll” assumed that Sue and I made our living with our paranormal work… which is not true.

Am I a little nuts? Quite possibly... but considering I've had kudos for my efforts in the paranormal from everyone to sceptical (REAL sceptical) groups and those who would be considered by some to be overly credulous types alike...

...and not until now was one attacked using the other.

Did it bother me?

Not really... actually, not at all... in fact, I do recognise what the person was doing...

They couldn't "defend" the efforts of CSICOP (Crime Scene Investigations) so they went for a "sore spot" here...

Did it work?

No...

I know I've spilled more "digital ink" right now on this then perhaps warranted... but hey, it's a blog... and this is what it's for... expressing what's on my mind.

...and yeah, that was what was on my mind.

If you want to see the whole thing, and I do invite you... please click here... you WILL need to be a "member"... but don't sweat it... the board is run by Sue and myself... and we honestly DON'T "spam" or sell your information... it's safe and registration is FREE.

...in fact, ALL the information we do for our efforts with paranormal studies is free...

...but hey, I am trying to rescue a bus... and make a dream come true... so my work must be pointless, right?

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Evil Blogger Update: (August 2007) Just FYI... I ended up going back on my word on this one... not because "time ran out", but because the blog and it's goals have kinda taken on a deeper meaning with some folks... we actually have loads of visitors who are checking in to "see how we're doing" and are hoping almost more than we are for success... so we will keep going... see the FAQ for details...

I know I promised no whining and whatnot on the plight of our attempts to acquire the dream... owning RLH 3... but I'm really, REALLY in a state of anguish right now.

What's bugging me... gnawing at me... is that I know that the new HelpCoverTheBus site is a winner... I really, REALLY believe it could "take off"... and if less than 1/4 of the visitors this blog sees every month went, "Y'know what, I'll drop $10 on that!", we'd see our dream happen. That's all it would take.

Not just that, BUT if we got word out to the masses, how many companies/organisations/whatever/whoever that DON'T normally cruise this blog would feel that the $10 was really a fraction of the vapour that's given off from the drip as it enters the bucket... and say, "Why not?"

Heck, there's probably SOMEONE OUT THERE on the planet that would love to make our family's dream come true with more than one $10 ad thingie... but they don't know we exist...

...but how to reach them?

Realistically, how do I reach you?

Right now, with the beginning of a new year, I honestly would LIKE to see this be the "Year of the Bus"... so much so that to those people (and I know you're out there...) that dislike/hate/are annoyed by this blog, I make this promise...

Either we have success and get the $20k USD we need to get the bus this year... or I will shut this blog down on Boxing Day (Dec. 26th), 2007... never to resurrect it. If we don't have any luck, you won't hear about it again (from us) starting in 2008 and onward.

Yup. I mean it.

For friends, don't worry... the Paranormal Blog and Nuttin' But Pimp will still exist... but this puppy here has only TWO possible fates....

#1: On December 26th, it goes cold... I won't be updating it or adding... and I'll let the "Blog Soldiers"/"BlogMad"/"BlogExplosion" accounts dry up... and concentrate on my other efforts nary to mention the bus again. (I'll leave RLH 3's fate to those museums, car collectors, and whatnot that will HOPEFULLY, before it's too late, rescue her.)

#2: Before December 26th, the blog will change to "One Family's Work On Their Double-Decker Bus" where it'll be the same, without the begging for fiscal and publicity help, but about not only life, the universe, and everything... about our work on getting good ol' "Chitty-Chitty-Wump-Wump" working and all.

I really hope it's the latter.

This isn't really a "threat" as it were... or even a "I better have better luck OR ELSE!"... it's me setting a goal... and saying that by "X" point, there will either be movement with that goal, or I must concentrate on my old strengths and move on.

OH, and for those wondering, "HelpCoverTheBus", regardless, will be around until January 2009... so no worries there if I fail.

So, there's my target...

December 26th, 2007... or bust.

So, with this in mind, HOW do I get the dream and the sites "out there"? How do I get our hopes out to (hopefully) the right people?

Hmmm...

I have about 300 days to think about it... come up with ideas... try my hardest... make things happen.

That's about $67.00 USD per day over 300 days...

Wish me luck... and if you can think of ANYTHING, please let me know.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

So, there I am... innocently cruising eBay, when I come across this...

It's a vinyl car sticker/transfer...

...and the FIRST thought that went through my mind...

If I get the bus, this MUST be the first thing I get for it!

...all the geeks at my office approved as well.... with much enthusiasm.

Yes, I am a geek... but this sticker somewhere on an old double-decker bus would just be so... so... so... wonderfully geeky.

Of course, however, there were other options...

Like this...
...or this...
...or this...
...or this.

Oh yeah, I'm lovin' the idea...

Brief Update: Dita, baby, it's too late... I'm happily ensconced with Sue now and not at all interested... I mean, a decade back, perhaps... but no, not now... my hair's back to normal, I don't do the clubs, and YES, I'm happy...

Think about this... because THIS isn't going to help at all... and I hate knowing I'm the likely cause.

Honestly, Sue and I are very much in love... and you can't change my mind... that ship sailed... and reached the other port to boot.

My advice... Rethink THIS. All I can do is quote Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young... If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

C'mon now... Big Bri isn't TOO bad... sure, he needs a good meal... and a little sun... but if you're leaving him for me, don't do it.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

CURSES! After a marvellous posting about General Zod's presidential hopes earlier today, I am honour bound to answer a DREADED TAG!

The evil, wicked, and naughty MsDemmie is the culprit... and the tag, in her own words, is the "dreaded christmas present meme"

The Rules:

1. Players start by listing three things he/she got for Christmas.

2. Then they list three things he/she definitely did not want to get for Christmas.

3. Then he/she tags five friends and lists their names.

4. The ones who get tagged write on their blogs about their Christmas wishes, and state the rules clearly.

5. Then tag five more victims. The tagger needs to leave the taggees a comment that says you have been Christmas tagged! and tell them to read the tagger’s blog.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

So, on that note... on to my duty...

My Dreaded Christmas Present Meme

Three gifts I received were...

#1: The Book of Lists (which I blogged about).

#2: A gift certificate for The Royal Ontario Museum.

#3: A bottle of nice German wine... and despite being teetotalers, we appreciate it for having something to serve visiting friends.

Three Gifts I Did NOT Want to Receive

As it was a lean Christmas for us "adults" here, realistically, what you see above (other than some nice gifts from my mother, one stepling, and two friends...) there wasn't anything else (literally) to write about... so here's a list of three things that I was glad WEREN'T under the tree...

#1: A vial of the Ebola virus (open).

#2: A "Get-A-Free-Root-Canal" gift certificate.

#3: A recipe book... 1001 Interesting Things to do with Brussel Sprouts.

Special Bonus: A heavy four-by-four cube of black and green metal... yup, to receive RLH 3 post-scrapping would be crushing (forgive the pun).

My Five Victims Blogs which I've Tagged

- Sue on Nuttin' But Pimp.
- Candy Minx
- ThreeCollie
- Maritza
- CyberCelt

I apologise to the above victims bloggers for this intrustion... but like I said, I'm honour bound...

Please scroll down and read my entry on ZOD! (Wheee~!)

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Thanks to Stu on the PSICAN message board for finding this...

We at The Old Green Bus blog were pleased as punch to see that a new runner has tossed his hat into the ol' presidential campaign with our friends South of the Border... Yup, General Zod is running for president of The United States of America in 2008...

Unlike other "third party" candidates, I believe that Terence Stamp General Zod stands a good chance!

I mean, how can you NOT like a candidate who answers MOST of his questions with "SILENCE FOOL!"?

I mean, look at his opening statement from his website...

When I first came to your planet and demanded your homes, property and very lives, I didn't know you were already doing so, willingly, with your own government. I can win no tribute from a bankrupted nation populated by feeble flag-waving plebians. In 2008 I shall restore your dignity and make you servants worthy of my rule. This new government shall become a tool of my oppression. Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty. I only ask for your tribute, your lives, and your vote.

What's not to like?

So, in 2008, to our American neighbours, when you're looking at the ballot thinking, "Four More Years of Republicans? New Government with The Democrats?", consider that THIRD OPTION!

ALL HAIL ZOD!

...and if he doesn't manage to win, perhaps I can hire him and his "political partners" as fund raisers for the bus!

Give or else it'll hurt.

Betcha that would work!

Oh, and when thinking of Zod, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

Pretender!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

I'm guilty of it... to a much lesser degree in more recent times (I’ll explain later)...

Some aren't guilty of it at all...

Sue wasn't guilty of it... but broke down the other day...

Internet Rubber Necking.

Lemme 'splain...

For those not familiar with the term "Rubber Necking", it's when drivers slow down (usually dangerously) to look at the remnants of a road accident on the side of the road as they go by... thus slowing traffic needlessly and really, proving the sad fact that the VAST majority of people will look at things that really, they don't need to look at.

Heck, more often than not, they normally wouldn't WANT to look at.

...but... driving by, they do look.

Lately, the dreaded Interweb (that series of tubes that Al Gore invented) has presented MANY opportunities to look at things that... well...

Panty-less Britney Spears being one... Michael Richards (Kramer) having a racist rant is another...

Of course, there was things like the beheading videos from Iraq and the really awful images from 9/11...

I'm not going to lie... and I'm VERY guilty AND guilt-ridden... and a trifle scarred... because at my old office, someone sent me a link and yes, I watched the beheading video of Nick Berg.

In my defense, I am an admitted thanatologist... and made a critical error...

You see, if you said I was to be executed by ANY method of my choosing, but it was going to happen, I'd (oddly enough) choose the guillotine. Think about it... It's quick, it's sure, and because it would sever the brain-stem at the spine first, it would be very painless... (Trust me, I've done my homework... it's safer, surer, and less "issuey" than even a bullet to the head.)

With this in mind, I got the link via e-mail and thought, foolishly, Well, you've always thought this would be the best way to go by someone else's hand... so why not watch?

I knew they wouldn't use a guillotine... but I figured it would be a quick sword slash or the like... so close enough to see what happens.

I was wrong... and ended up being VERY disturbed... and sickened... and still very much am at the memory of the images.

I won't go into details, but they used a bowie-knife/hunting knife... and sawed through the neck from side-to-side in a slow process.

I wasn't able to watch it to completion... and my days of gruesome "Internet Rubber Necking" were over right there... and I still feel awful for seeing it... and it haunts me.

I shed no tears when they killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi... I can't imagine a human being being able to do what I saw to another human being... regardless of the circumstances.

...moving on...

The Interweb has sadly exposed too many... tempting(?) images and salacious reports that we really didn't need to see... but apparently, many of us did.

Like a good train wreck, "we" (the sheeple) just can't keep our eyes off it.

The latest example is the cell-phone video of Saddam Hussein execution... According to "sources", it's being downloaded in one form or another at a rate of about 10,000 users per HOUR currently.

All this new technology and the images/videos/etc. that are now "available" to us users... the act of watching or looking at these things NEEDS a word...

So, I leave it to you and place the morality of everything aside... What's a "good word" for "Rubber Necking on the Internet"...

Quick Update: What does this say about the planet and us humans?

There's so many levels of "wrong" with this...

Why didn't the parents shield an impressionable kid from the videos?

Why, if they couldn't stop him from watching, did the parents not explain things in detail to prevent "curiosity"?

Why did the damned thing have to air anyway? What purpose or function did it serve?

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Please join us in welcoming our very first renter of 2007, Dorene M. Lorenz! A personal blog of a former Revlon girl, now artist living in Seward Alaska.

I chose Dorene's blog because it seemed inviting and compelling to read. Recent entries include a road trip through Tennessee where we are introduced to a very cute family member by the name of Moondoggy.

So go on over and say hi to Dorene and let her know the peeps at One Old Green Bus sent ya!

From the not quite Alaskan-like Desk of Sue

Yeah, it's Spring in Toronto these days with a balmy 8 degrees Celsius and sunshine already this am. No winter coats today ... if this keeps up I'm unpacking the shorts!

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

Geez, looking at my last post, you'd think the one below AND yesterday's were "Pay-Per-Bloggies"... but... believe it or not...

THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED POST... Honest!

I'm usually too tired to listen to Coast to Coast Radio (Art Bell & George Noory's platform on late-night radio) but I do check out the website for the program often enough... mostly for the news... and this news item (found via the site) was very cool...

Meet The Seabreacher... a £40,000.00 ($80,000.00) boat which "can jump 10 feet in the air and even perform acrobatic tricks... and yes, it's dolphin shaped.

From the original article from The Daily Mail...

Created by two water sport fanatics, New Zealander Rob Innes, 33, and Californian Dan Piazza, the Seabreacher is made of out of fibre glass, stainless steel and aluminium and uses the discarded canopies of US fighter jets.

The two-seater craft can submerge 2 ft underwater for around 20 seconds at a time creating the dolphin-like dive effect.

Now, something I've never shared here is that in my youth, up at my former family cottage, I was a boater... and was fortunate enough to be able to drive both a ski boat and owned a Seafire (a great little "deep V hulled launch that went like spit!) and bombed about the lake at my cottage like no tomorrow... so cool boats intrigue me.

Trouble is, as a forty-year old man, I have to say it would take a LOT of convincing to try one of the Seabreachers... I'm not good with the whole up, down, high "G"s, low "G"s, possible upside-down stuff...

...but man, I'd love to watch one of these suckers roll.

Click here to read the official site for the Seabreacher... Very cool... if a little scary for someone like me.

I know, I'm a wimp... but on water, I prefer to stay above the water line (and not ten-feet above it unless the craft I'm in has wings and I'm heading very high up) and wider than average turns.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

I was ten years old... maybe eleven...

My parents books, luckily not off limits to us kids, were usually fodder for reading up North at our "since-taken-out-of-the-family cottage" in Haliburton while waiting out rainy days and the like.

To be honest, this is how I first learned about my friend, John Robert Colombo reading his first Colombo's Book of Canadian Quotations... who, much later on, ended up dedicating a book to me - True Canadian Ghost Stories (bragging time)... but that's a different post for another day.

One of my favourite books was "The Book of Lists".

Call we weird, but I really love non-fiction... and this book was WONDERFULLY full of tasty little tidbits of trivia and factoids... and I read this cover-to-cover... filling my young brain with such IMPORTANT things like lists of famous people who died during sex and worst places to hitchhike...

Now, aside from the original "Incomplete Book of Failures", it was a book that I've truly hunted for as an adult...

Well, imagine my surprise when a few months ago I saw ads for a NEW "Book of Lists"... WHEEE~!

Now I have all new lists! I mean, how much more annoying will I be armed with knowledge like ten afflictions and their patron saints and eight great sausage events!

Allow me to share one with you...

#6: Insolent Sausage

In October 1981, Joseph Guillou, an engineer on the Moroccan tanker Al Ghassani, was arrested, fined £50 and sentenced to two years in jail for insulting Morocco's King Hassan. Guillou's offence was hanging a sausage on a hook normally reserved for a portrait of the monarch. A sausage, said Guillou, was "more useful than a picture of the king."

Wheee~!

Yeah, I'm likin' my goodly lists! Sue's Christmas gift to me is much goodly!

Who doesn't like odd, weird, and occasionally useful tidbits of info!

A strong recommendation for ANY of the "Books of Lists"...

Say, didn't I say something about a contest?

I did!

As regular readers know, I've "re-vamped" and "re-launched" HelpCoverTheBus.Com and in the next few weeks, I'll be promoting it heavily "off blog", so to speak...

So, in honour of my fine achievment (and hopefully to drum up a little grass roots support for the project,) I'm going to GIVE AWAY FIVE SPACES FOR MINI-BANNERS AND LINKS ON THE PAGE to the first five people that hit the ol' "Comment" link below this post and answer the following correctly...

What is the model and number of the "dream" bus we're trying to acquire?

Yup, just comment and answer the question and VOILA! The space and link are yours for TWO YEARS free of charge!

...and in this case, if you need some help "developing a graphic" for it, I'll help as I can if you need...

Have a "boo" at the site (click here - opens a new browser) and if you think a little space there for you is goodly, then comment away and answer the question correctly! (Hint - The answer IS in this blog several times.)

Before I go...

I thought I'd disturb some of you...

Click here...

I dunno about you, but seeing that picture... well... I know that would wake ME up from the dead... and I'd be a running... fast and far.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...

First off, HAPPY TWO-AUGHT-AUGHT-SEVEN!

I think it should be a good year for all... Call it my psychic impression... well, one of 'em.

For the record, I usually bat about 20% in the accuracy of my predictions... which isn't great... but not bad.

Anyway, for the "New Year", I did re-vamp the main page of this blog's website... DoubleDeckerBuses.Org... I think it looks okay, but since the graphics are kind of... large... I wish I could test it with a "Dial-Up" connection for speed.

The "New and Improved" HelpCoverTheBus.Com is getting good reviews... and I think you'll see some of it being "populated" by month's end. I have a CUNNING PLAN which might REALLY ignite HelpCoverTheBus.Com... but we'll see...

Now that I've dispensed with bizness... or bidness... or whatever's popular with you young folks now-a-days, I'd like to thank EACH and EVERY one of the ONE-THOUSAND PEOPLE PER DAY that visit this blog... I hope I've got the "mix right"... just enough "busly whining" combined with decent reasons to read my missives in terms of entertaining or educational content...

I love "blogging"... it's a great outlet... and I'm glad those "complainers" convinced me to vent my missives and other stuff here... It's been most therapeutic.

I've made some great "online friends"... some of whom I hope will be "offline friends" as well shortly.

I hope everyone has had a great evening last night... and you're suitebly recovering... and that today is a day of rest...

I'll be posting again within 24 hours, no doubt... and we, (Sue, Our Little One, Kipling, Max, Sam, Sunny, Baby, Elizabeth, Mary, and Annie,) wish you ALL a great, prosperous, healthy, and happy New Year.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...