Thanks for the jesture Ngz,

But I'd have to give the ol' ney-no to keira. I was actually a little disappointed/dissappointed... however you spell the damn word.

Anyone have any suggestions as to a Hanson vs. ? mashup... I've got some ideas, but more is appreciated.

Alison, that sounds like a lot is screwed up with your computer. The easy route would be to wipe it and start over. The other easy route would be to complain to the people you bought it from.

And, for the record (not because I have a problem being wrong (I'm wrong often (like when I mistakenly disregarded Dana's Budweiser answer)), but because English trivia guy annoyed me with this), since the North Stars moved to Dallas, the Stars have only won the Cup 1 (one) time. At least, so claims the omniscient entity of the universe.

and... does anyone know any magical trick that will make my computer recognize the things I've plugged into it? I've added my usb key and my camera in separate attempts to look at pictures... and nothing... no recognition... NOTHING

help, please!

and... do y'all still go to chili's on wednesday, or has some other ritual taken over? subtle hint... i would like to see some of you before I disappear...

bloody hell... does anyone know any tricks for getting the sound card or sound apparatus, or sound driver or whatever the hell it is that makes your computer have sound, work? we sent it in to have it disinfected of viruses, and lo and behold, upon return, the compy is mute... anyone?

yeah, Jon's psyched about going to see Andy Smith. And as for Projektor, I've been seriously thinking about checking that show out. They don't roll through town too often unfortunately.

Well, not quite "go USA"; I believe MADM (aka melissa auf der maur) is Canadian (from Montreal if I'm not mistaken). Not to mention that her new single is fucking awesome. Plus, I heard that she agreed to do a reunion with the Smashing Pumpkins when Corgan recently asked her if she would.

The details remain to be worked out, but it looks like Premier Klein has decided we'll all get $400, just in time for Christmas. Assuming a population of three million residents, that's roughly $1.2 billion. (Granted, the population is slightly higher than that, but there are certain residency requirements that may lower the number, and there's cost of administration of a cash return program, so 1.2 is a guesstimate at best. CFRN claims it could be 1.4)

Normally, I use "Premier Klein" as an avatar for the entire provincial government. Not so with this decision. They made the call at a cabinet retreat in Lethbridge, and going into the meeting, it was already well known that the Premier wanted to use surplus monies in such a manner.

$1.2 billion dollars. One-point-two billion dollars.

Of course, this good fortune is inarguably the result of a boom of non-renewable resource revenue. Non-renewable as in "we've extracted from our limited supply of resources, sold it, and will never see the resource again."

And, bursting with nearly $7 billion in extra revenue, obtained from a source that we will never be able to exploit again, what do we do with it? We piss it away.

I mean, hey, I want $400 as much as the next guy. I admit that there are a few things I wouldn't mind spending $400 on.

But isn't there anything else on which we can spend a billion dollars in revenue we'll never see again?

And if this Premier, who's said he won't be contesting another election, is unable to come up with anything better than riding around like the Lone Ranger pissing away money we'll never come upon again, then it's time he retired (rode off into the sunset?) and let someone else come up with a productive way to spend our good fortune.

Hell, I'm a horrible visionary, and even I could think of at least four better ideas:

• replenish the Heritage Fund as a government revenue buffer against fluctuations in resource prices
• capital projects around the province to restore infrastructure and make a permanent investment in the province (I hear there's a capital city that needs a decent light rail transit)
• invest in research for alternative energy, so the province can be on the cutting edge of the next energy revolution.
• build a big fucking monument: a giant hand giving the finger to the rest of the country. Make it so big, people would flock to Alberta just to see, in person, how magnificently we were flipping them off. Make millions off of "My Parents went to see Alberta flip us off and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" shirts

I will not editorialize. Business owners return to New Orleans:

The Wal-Mart store in uptown New Orleans, built within the last year, survived the storm but was destroyed by looters.

“They took everything – all the electronics, the food, the bikes,” said John Stonaker, a Wal-Mart security officer. “People left their old clothes on the floor when they took new ones. The only thing left are the country-and-western CDs. You can still get a Shania Twain album.”