Category Archives: But I Digress

Rants, ravings, complaints and commentary.

But I Digress

How to Waste 100 Million Dollars

In the town where I live there are several places to buy coffee. The one closest to me, the Lucky Bean Cafe, which does happen to be by far my favourite, is a locally owned independent shop in a heritage building. The place is less than a year old, and the owner is working hard to succeed. It’s not easy in a smaller market where there are other coffee shops owned by either well established regional chains or large multinational corporations. Offering better coffee, better food, better decor, better atmosphere, and at reasonable prices, is an excellent start.

One small but significant promotional thing that the Lucky Bean offers is a loyalty card. Seven stamps and you get a free hot beverage of your choice. It’s not flashy, it’s simple and effective. McDonald’s, a fast food chain which you may have heard of, has been doing much the same thing for years.

Continue reading How to Waste 100 Million Dollars →
Amusing Images, But I Digress

Over Your Shoulder

By this time tomorrow, we’ll know the result of the 2015 PEI provincial election. It’s a few months ahead of schedule, but scheduled election date legislation is a fairly new thing to us here in PEI. We’re more used to the element of surprise.

We’re also used to the signs. Oh, the signs, signs, sings. A good friend of mine had been working at a sign shop until a few months ago, after the election was called I asked him how glad he was to no longer be working there. The answer was of course very.

I’m not sure if there are more signs this time around, or if there are always this many, but it seems that every street corner with anything resembling public property has been decorated with signage.  Continue reading Over Your Shoulder →

But I Digress

Magnetism, Diplomacy, and Disclaimers

Ever since I was a child, I have enjoyed geography. I studied maps, learned from maps, and even drew my own maps of imaginary worlds.  Globes were another thing altogether. While a map is useful for gathering information, and figuring out how to get from point A to point B, there’s nothing like a globe to get a true picture of the shape of the world.

It might be a coincidence that my wife majored in geography at school. It probably is, in fact, but knowing that, I bought her a geography-related gift the first Christmas we were together.  It was a magnetic floating globe. It’s a globe that hangs in the air, suspended by magnetic force. A mere four inches in diameter, it’s the sort of thing that can only be a gift, because it serves no practical purpose, apart from looking nifty.

My wife was mildly amused by the globe, and as she was teaching at the time, she set it up in her classroom for the rest of the year. But before long it ended up packed away, as it doesn’t really serve much purpose, and it takes up desk space.

Right now, it spends most of its time on top of the bookshelf in my office. We take it down every so often to amuse the kids, as they are of course fascinated by something that works seemingly by magic.

We don’t take it down for geography purposes, though. While a globe is far superior than a map for looking at how the earth is actually shaped, and how the continents and oceans actually relate to each other in terms of size and position, this one is not. It’s only four inches across, and there are metal caps covering both of the poles. The scale is 1:120,000,000. It’s a novelty more than anything.

But it does feature the best disclaimer anyone has ever seen on any product.  Here is a closeup of the text in question.floating-globe-disclaimer-cThat’s right, it says “Not for Disputing the Boundaries” right under the explanation that it’s only for toy and Ornament only.  Can’t have someone showing up to the United Nations armed with a four-inch magnetic globe to argue about where Russia begins and Ukraine ends.

Of course, given some of what takes place at the UN, it would hardly be the most ridiculous speech ever delivered to the general assembly.

But I Digress

As Found in Nature

The other day  we picked up a new bottle of chewable multivitamins for the kids. It was a different brand than we’ve bought in the past, and it happened to be on half-price clearance, which is almost always a win in my books.  While I’m not entirely convinced that these, or really, any vitamin pills, make a significant difference in the kids’ health, a few more vitamins and minerals are probably better than less. In the middle of winter, with the quality and availability of fresh fruit and vegetables being somewhat less than optimal, a little bit of nutritional supplement is a  help. Continue reading As Found in Nature →