The main thing I'm wondering about with the impending demise of the Canadian penny

In the Canadian federal government's most recent budget it was announced that the penny would soon be phased out, or at least that in the near future they would no longer be in production.  It was suggested that instead of using pennies transactions could be rounded to the nearest five cents when one needs to give change or pay.

My main question is who gets to decide when when the rounding rules are used and when exact change is given?  For instance, can a store opt not to give a customer a penny if they have one in the till and instead round down to the nearest nickel?  Can the customer pay only $0.40 even if the cashier can see that they have the two pennies that would be required to pay the $0.42 bill in full?

Presumably there isn't much that can be done about a customer deciding to pay with cash or electronic means of payment if one means of payment is more advantageous than the other.  But still, shouldn't we at least think about this issue?

I guess the point of all of this is that if hacking/digital heist movies (cf. Office Space) have taught us anything it's that if you skim pennies from millions of transactions you may eventually end up with millions of dollars.  Unfortunately I haven't yet heard how this problem will be resolved, or if it will be resolved, and which protections, if any, will be put in place for consumers and retailers (though I suspect that retailers are in a better position to make better use of these schemes than individual consumers).

Update:  The following quote from a Globe and Mail story doesn't give me much hope that the aforementioned problems will be adequately addressed prior to the demise of the penny.

Ottawa says it won’t be policing consumer-business transactions, but added that “businesses are expected to round prices in a fair, consistent and transparent manner.”

What did the world have against rabbit ears?

The switch from analog to digital TV transmission isn't something that I have spent much time thinking about over the past few years.  If memory serves me correctly, the most time I spent thinking about issues relating to the switch were associated with a digital antenna installation I assisted with a few years ago.

Of course when I purchased a device for a computer monitor that also has the capacity to be a TV and Jeannette decided to use it to watch this summer's Olympics the recent switch to digital suddenly became important.  Not only did we need to make sure that we had an appropriate antenna, but we also have started to have to contend with a few of the problems inherent to digital broadcasting.

Firstly, it seems that our neighbourhood's namesake, Sandy Hill, is itself something of a problem for digital transmission.  I gather that this hill blocks a good number of residents from receiving any of the channels that should be available in the area (when I was buying an antenna the salespeople were even kind enough to point this out).  I'm sure that the ever increasing number of tall buildings in the area aren't going to help either.

Secondly, my limited experience with this new transmission format seems to suggest that one either has a version of the channel or they don't, no longer is one able to accept fuzzy transmission if a clear version of the channel isn't available.  This is definitely a bit of a bummer.

Thirdly, though our experience is limited, it seems that channels intermittently appear and disappear.  For instance, just a few minutes ago Jeannette was watching Olympic coverage when all of a sudden the channel disappeared with no warning.  Despite the fact that we've moved the antenna around and reset the equipment we haven't been able to regain the transmission.  Back in the good old analog days I don't remember ever having such problems, unless, of course, someone bumped the antenna.

Given the cost incurred by broadcasters and consumers and the number of problems viewers are having with this new service I can't help but wonder why such a change was initiated?  Who are the beneficiaries of this change?

Anyway, I just hope we don't have too many more problems with this stuff.  We're less than a day into the two-week long Olympics and I'm already tired of fiddling with our antenna.

When time-lapse isn't quite the right way of capturing an event

A few days ago I paid a visit to Neil and Rebecca in Sackville, NB.  Throughout the visit I saw signs indicating that 2012 was the 250th anniversary of the founding of Sackville.  Not surprisingly, I didn't really pay much attention to these signs as I didn't have any plans to look into the associated events.

That being said, I was pretty impressed that Sackville was so old.  Though I'd been there 4 times previously, I had no idea that the town predated Confederation by 105 years.  (And it's not even on a river of significance).

Anyway, as the sun began to set on Friday evening Rebecca noticed that people began to gather on the lawn across the street.  She suggested that it looked as though people were gathering view something, maybe like a parade.

Of course it being 9:00 PM made it unlikely that people were gathering for a parade.  A little poking around the town's website allowed Rebecca to figure out that people were gathering for anniversary fireworks at 10:00 PM.

Despite the fact that the fireworks were to be set off almost immediately behind our base of operations none of us seemed particularly excited about the prospect of heading outside to see a small town fireworks show.  We didn't hold out much hope for it being much more than rinky-dink affair.

When at about 9:45 PM we heard a quick series of explosions and saw the reflection of these explosions on the building across the street we immediately raced to the building's back porch to check out the excitement.

The quick succession with which the fireworks seemed to be exploding caused us to wonder if we had a San Diego situation on our hands.



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We arrived just as these explosions came to an end and were left wondering if we'd just seen everything that was to be seen or if that first flourish was just some kind of test run.  A city worker we spoke to as the smoke cleared didn't do much to wash away these suspicions when he suggested that this was to be the first fireworks show in the town in about 20 years.

As the next fifteen minutes passed another one or two fireworks were launched, though if these were remnants of a botched show or additional practice runs was not the least bit clear.

Much to our surprise, at 10:00 PM the show proper started.

Almost immediately we knew that we were in for something special.

Not only were we close enough to feel each explosion, the fireworks themselves were quite impressive.

Of course, just before the show started I set up a time-lapse capture to record the event (if there was going to be an event).

While the event was progressing I could see that I was capturing a few of the explosions.  Of course it wasn't until after the event when I could see the full clip that I realized how bad my time-lapse set up was for capturing fireworks.



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Anyway, despite the fact that I didn't get to see a fireworks show where everything was released at once, I did get to see the best fireworks show of my life.  It turns out that our fears that Sackville's fireworks would be rink-dink were completely misplaced.

A Few Quick Notes 585

-Wow, today was another hot one.  According to Environment Canada it has been at least 30 since noon.  Though a few of the weeds have retained their colour, almost all of the grass around here appears to be a drought induced drab colour.  So unless you look up it doesn't even look all that beautiful around here these days.

-After a two week balcony garden update hiatus, I can proudly report that the tomatoes have finally started ripening.  Other than that most of the plants seem to be just chugging along unimpressively.

I think it's even fair to say that we have at least a real serving of tomatoes for Jeannette to eat when she sees fit.

-It always seem like something of a waste when I make a loaf of bread first thing in the morning and then don't get around to cracking into it until the next day.  Observers may start to think that I prefer stale bread, and that definitely isn't the case.

-I've recently become a big fan of tofu burgers.  While tofu burgers don't really taste or feel anything like traditional meat burgers they take only a fraction of the time to prepare and they can be consumed 'blue' or 'rare' at no risk to the consumer.

It's hot, humid, and dry in Ottawa

Some kind of heat warning has been issued for today and tomorrow in Ottawa.  I'm not exactly sure what this means, or how I will be behaving differently as a result of this warning, but I guess it's nice to know that I should expect it to be hot (and humid).

Actually, despite the fact that the warning is a 'heat warning,' my understanding of the situation is that the warning has actually been issued because the expected combination of heat and humidity.  We've had higher temperatures and not had such warnings issued, so I guess we're in for particularly high humidity.

This doesn't bode well for today being a pleasant or productive day.

The other weather weather related news that broke yesterday is that Ottawa is apparently in the midst of a 'level one' drought. Given the recent absence of rain I guess this makes sense.

I guess I find it funny despite the basis for the heat warning is the presence of high humidity, but at the same time the absence of 100% is causing another set of problems.

Get your listen on

A few of my favourite podcasts recently came out with episodes that I quite enjoyed.

This American Life's Switcheroo episode had a particularly engaging story about a new form of outsourced journalism.  Despite the fact that I've listened to the episode and also read a few follow-up stories on the profiled company I still don't know exactly how I should feel about the practice of outsourced context-free reporting.  Anyway, I'm definitely glad to know that this kind of thing is going on and that we're now talking about it a bit more than we were a few days ago.

Radiolab's remix contest episode was also pretty fun (though in a very different way than their content usually is).  The contest's winning entry really worked for me and reminded me of the great Idea's episode by Adam Goddard More About Henry (available here as an episode of Living Out Loud).

I write such posts because I realize I am the internet's #1 source of audio content reviews.  If it weren't for these occasionally posted reviews this place would surely be a ghost town.

Or maybe you're actually coming here for the great Leacockian flourishes?

A Few Quick Notes 584

-We are in the midst of another sunny day.  Presumably this also means that we will soon be in the midst of another hot and sticky day.

-Yesterday was Canada Day (or not) and as we are in downtown Ottawa we are, I think it is fair to say, near the epicentre of the annual Canada Day celebrations.  Through out the day we heard various celebration-related noises, but as evening approached the frequency with which we were hearing these noises really increased.

At one point we saw about 60 people in red unitards running along a near by street while being accompanied by an orchestra of car horns.

Fortunately we were able to take advantage of a dinner invitation and make our way to a more residential part of town for the heart of the evening.  Unfortunately, the fact that we left the downtown core meant that at some point we had to return to the downtown core.

While the bus we took for the first half of our trip was almost completely empty, the second bus was packed with a number of semi-intoxicated Canada Day celebrators. Fortunately this bus ride wasn't too long.  Then on the short walk back to our apartment we were able to see a number of attempted acts of vandalism and general drunken tomfoolery.  The general attitude on display seemed to be "Canada's great, so lets destroy it!"

-Somehow in recounting our recent bike ride in Gatineau I forgot to mention that as we were passing the Museum of Civilization I looked up and happened to see a few familiar parachutes.

As we rode a little further we approached the parachute landing site and were able to hear the announcement that we had just witnessed a SkyHawks practice jump.  In a matter of about 24 hours I not learned about the existence of the SkyHawks, but I also saw them perform twice (and they were did different material in each instance).

-My bread just came out of the oven so maybe that means that I really need to get down to work?

Doing the tourist thing

As you may recall, earlier this week I made my way to the daily Changing the Guard ceremony on Parliament Hill.

Despite the fact that the aforementioned event is incredibly well known but still super boring, on Friday I talked Jeannette into attending another similarly well-known event - the RCMP's Musical Ride - hoping it would be a little more exciting (and because we were going to be attending the special Sunset Ceremony version of the event I was pretty sure it would be).

As soon as we arrived, which was a few minutes before the event was scheduled to start, we were able to catch the tail end of the pre-show riding competition.  Had I known that this was to take place before the start-time I would have made a point of arriving much earlier than we did.

We were incredibly surprised to learn that the show was to be kicked off with a parachuting demonstration team - the SkyHawks (a group I hadn't even heard about until they were jumping out of a plane overhead).

Thanks to brightly coloured parachutes it was pretty easy to follower the performers as they descended. As they descended the performers engaged in various formations and manoeuvres.

I was generally surprised to see how much the performers were in contact with one another with their parachutes out as part of their formations.

In some cases they didn't separate from one another until they were only moments away from landing.  And they did these things so nonchalantly that it was almost easy to forget that they were putting their lives on the line for the sake of our entertainment.  It was really kind of weird.

Anyway, the presence of a parachuting team was definitely an pleasant surprise and immediately made this event about 100 times more exciting than the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

 

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After the paratroopers we were treated to a pipe band and some dancing.  Unfortunately because they didn't have enough pipers (at least this is my diagnosis) the band wasn't quite as loud as I thought it should have been (what's the point of a pipe band if it's not loud enough to feel?).

The pipe band was followed by the only dud portion of the show, a Canadian boy band performing a few of their songs.  Not only did these guys not really fit the tone of the acts that had preceded them, or that were to follow, but they were seemingly unknown to just about everyone in the audience.  Despite the fact that these guys were really giving it there all, they just couldn't get the crowd to shake of their apathy (and to be fair to the crowd - I don't think any of us knew we would be in for a boy band).

Anyway, we were then on to the proper Musical Ride portion of the show.  As expected, the horses and riders seamlessly formed and transformed patterns for about 40 minutes.

Just a few minutes into the show I noticed that something that appeared to be a Mountie hat was in the performance area.  A few moments later I was able to spot the source of the hat, one of the riders was now without his famous headgear.

Despite the fact that the hat was resting in the performance area for most of the performance, I don't think it was stepped on by a horse a single time.  I just happened to be near the rider when the hat was returned and it seemed to be in perfect condition (and to think that all throughout the show I was wondering who would be responsible for paying for a replacement hat).  That the horses were able to avoid the had while continuing their routine is pretty impressive.

My only real complaint about the whole event (aside from the presence of an inappropriately booked boy band) is that the seating area isn't sufficiently large or well organized.  Firstly, the seating area just wasn't large enough to allow everyone to have a view of the performance area.  The embankments that they have created need to be elevated by at least a few feet.  If they had any extra money I would recommend that they then install bleachers so that people wouldn't have to bring chairs an so that everyone would be seated at the same level.  Presently too many people end up standing, and this forces other people to stand.  If everyone had a seat the the same height much of this could be avoided.

Secondly, despite the fact that the viewing area isn't huge, there are a number of items that obstruct views from large portions of the viewing area.  Given that this is a permanent performance venue there is no excuse for these obstructions.  These obstructions further constrain viewing options in a viewing facility that is already too small.

Anyway, complaints aside, if you are into seeing horses and riders perform a pattern making routine this event may be for you.  If you are ever in a situation  where you can attend either the Musical Ride or the Changing of the Guard my vote would definitely be to attend the former rather than the latter.

A Few Quick Notes 583

-Despite the fact that yesterday was not the hottest day we've experienced in Ottawa, it really felt particularly hot and stickily.  At times I felt as though I as though I was just wearing wet clothing for some unclear reason.  Anyway, despite the fact that today is a little more overcast, it's still on the muggy side of things.  Gross.

-Earlier today we were buzzed by a few jets.  I'm pretty sure these jets must have been Snowbirds and/or CF-18s as both plane types were set to fly over Parliament Hill as part of today's Canada Day celebrations.  I have to imagine that just being buzzed by these planes was a little less exciting than actually seeing them fly by at a low altitude.

-Yesterday while Jeannette and I were out on a bike ride in Gatineau we happened to be riding along the river when we saw a giant hovercraft doing its thing.

Just a few minutes later we rode around a bend in the path and found that the hovercraft had beached itself a few feet in from the edge of the rover.  I have no idea why it was out in the river or why it was beached where it was.

-Our balcony garden continues to grow, though I'm not sure if the plants are developing at the same rate they were just a few weeks ago.

The plant in the garden that seems to be developing the most quickly is the sweet pepper plant.  I can't help but hope that in maybe just a few more weeks we will have a few peppers to harvest.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on our growing bean collection (which now includes two pots of edamame soy beans).

A few days ago we were able to harvest a handful of beans.

Definitely exciting times in the world of our container garden.

-Oh, just a few minutes ago I learned that there is a webcam that broadcasts an image of Parliament Hill.  This might be useful if you wanted to see which protests are occurring on a daily basis, or if you wanted to say that you watched today's festivities but you don't actually want to hear them or see them in any detail.