As many of you who read this webspace may or may not know, there is a complex underbelly that occurs in its development. A nifty little system called Blogger (recently sold to Google) forms the essence of my ability to post quickly and frequently here in this part of the net-i-verse. You can take that as a “good” or a “bad” or however you will, but the point is, without this little tool, I would still be hacking together websites with poor efficiency.

One of those aforementioned “nifty” tools, is found right on Blogger’s front porch, a side bar listing all the recently updated websites — live — in real time — so much so that if you hit the refresh button you will not see the same list of pages there. (Wow. Modern gizmo-tech, I know!) I couldn’t really care less about this — it’s a list of links, hooray, right? Normally I scan this for pure novelty. Yesterday, however, I noted one particular blog at the top of the list. In other words, the author of this particular self-named blog had just — JUST — written this here, and his link being at the top of the “recently updated blogs” list, I was technically among the first to read his idle thoughts just seconds after he had written them. No doubt that others were racing there right behind me, but being a fan of his books I thought it amusing that I had become part of his instant audience and — like I said before — had front row seats at the unveiling of another grain of davebarryesque wisdom. [tongue.in.cheek.ahem.cough.cough]

Food for thought… or not.

olympic.fever.grips.vancouver

Yes or no? That is the question. But even Hamlet didn’t have it this bad. For those of you living outside of the city, you may or may not know that Vancouver is in the icy grips of political mayhem surrounding the 2010 Olympic bid, an element of the sad state of this community that should climax tomorrow as voters go to the polls to decide in a “non-binding plebiscite” whether hosting a world-class major sporting event would be a good or a bad thing for the city. I was reminded of this as — wearing my yes button — I was accosted by a “no” lady outside of the skytrain station this morning. What this forced me to notice, however — to compile in my wee brain as the bus carried me to work — is that most of the people who are protesting the bid are from the lower scratches of society. No offence intended, but every “no” voter I’ve encountered is suggesting that the money be spent (now) on social programs that will benefit themselves — and people in those situations. What I would like any Vancouverite reading this to remember as they go to the polls tomorrow is this: the “no” side is basing their argument purely on economics — costs to the city and alternative for short term spending of the money that will be used for the bid — but these words are coming from people with so little skill in money, investing, and long-term financial planning that their battle cry is “feed us, we’re poor and starving…” The yes side: well, the business leaders of the community (Jimmy P, and his pals who otherwise run the city) may have a little more foresight than Bobbie-Sue Whitetrash and her cousin Billy-Bill who are just bored of working and figure the government should be feeding them and paying their bingo expenses.

Vote yes. It will make the city interesting and fun. And you’re deluding yourself if you think putting up a short-stack of investment money won’t come back at us 100-fold.

and.speaking.of.whitetrash

My train ride home from work last night was delayed as some moron climbed into the tracks at the next station. What, did you drop a quarter, buddy?