Wrath of Lamb June 14/10

In 1951, ``Univac,'' the world's first commercial computer, was unveiled. Boy, have we ever come a long way. 'Univac' stood for 'UNIVersal Automatic Computer' The UNIVAC I used 5,200 vacuum tubes, weighed 13 metric tons, consumed 125 kW, and could perform about 1,905 operations per second running on a 2.25 MHz clock. The complete system occupied more than 35.5 m² of floor space. Unbelievable. The first computer I ever remember seeing was the Commodore VIC-20. That was the first compuer to sell more than a million units. It came with 5 KB of RAM. Five. Kilo. Bytes. It was soon surpassed by the Commodore 64, which had, you guessed it... 64 kilobytes of RAM. My wife and I recently bought a new i-Mac. It has 8 gigabytes of RAM. The first computer, the UNIVAC, would take up our entire house. Now our computer, which takes up the space of a few books, can do the job of about a million UNIVACS.

What a world.

Wrath of Lamb June 10/10

I just want to say welcome to Victoria to the thousands of sailors from all over the world who have landed on our shores. And of course, a salute to our Canadian navy, for celebrating their centennial.

Here are a few cool facts about our navy...

The Canadian Navy came into existence on May 4, 1910, when the Naval Service Act became law. Permission to add the prefix 'Royal' was granted by King George V in 1911. When the Second World War broke out, Canada had just 13 vessels: six destroyers four minesweepers, and three auxiliaries. By the end of the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy had grown to become one of the largest Allied navies with 434 commissioned vessels including cruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes and auxiliaries. Cadets attending the Royal Canadian Naval College at HMCS Royal Roads in Victoria, British Columbia, faced a mandatory plunge in the frigid ocean each morning. Up until the late 60's, women were forced to leave the service when they got married, and when they got pregnant until the mid-1970s.

We've come a long way since then... so, if you get a chance this weekend, head down to some of the celebrations happening around town for the Pacific Fleet Review and say thanks to a sailor.

Wrath of Lamb June 08/10

So, it looks like the anti-HST people are humming along quite nicely. They've got 15-percent of registered voters signed up in nearly all the ridings in BC. I've finally been noticing them around town alot more lately. They were set up outside the Save-On Foods Centre for the ZZ Top concert the other night. I hope they keep getting signatures right up until the deadline, in about a month. It will really be interesting to see what the provincial government does. Because, really, they don't have to do anything. But it seems to me if 15+ percent of registered voters sign the petition, it would be very foolish for the Liberals to ignore it.

It sure would be nice for once, to see the efforts of the people conquer the intentions of the government.

Wrath of Lamb June 07/10

There seems to be an awful lot of stabbings happening in our province lately. And alot of them involve young people. A girl was stabbed to death at a house part in Vancouver last month, then last week another teenage girl was killed at a party in Peachland. And then that 15-year old boy was stabbed to death on Douglas street on Thursday night.

That one is the most disturbing of all.

It looks like the culprit is a 39-year old man with mental health issues. And although the details are still coming out, it looks to be quite random. This is the kind of news story that really sends chills up your spine. And it makes you realize how precious life is. If, indeed, this poor kid was just waiting for the bus, and some guy who was having an 'episode' decided to kill him... well, that's about the scariest thing in the world. I mean, it was 8 o'clock at night, not the time you're usually ultra-aware of the people around you... not like 3 in the morning or something. My heart truly goes out to this young boy's family... it must be so hard to accept something like this, when there just isn't an explanation. We need better services for people with mental illness, but horrible things like this will still unfortunately happen.

Maybe just give your loved ones an extra long hug tonight.

Wrath of Lamb June 03/10

Okay, I've been putting this off for awhile, but it's self-promotion time. About three months ago, I got an email from this guy Sean, who owns IT Groove, a web company here in Victoria. He said he was a fan of the morning show, and he had seen me do comedy a couple times, but he couldn't find much about me online. He asked if I was interested in getting my own website. It's something I've been thinking about doing for years, but never got around to. So, now I have my own website. It's at www.jasonlamb.ca and I think you should give it a gander. There's some video clips of my comedy, some photos, and a link to my 'Wrath of Lamb' blog, and other stuff. It's a work in progress, and there will be much more stuff on there in the future. I can't thank Sean and Darren at IT Groove enough, they really helped me with this thing, and were very patient with my endless questions and ineptitude. So, go to jasonlamb.ca... it's the new Facebook.

Wrath of Lamb June 02/10

Gary Coleman's family are trying to decide whether to hold a public or a private memorial service for him this weekend. He's the former child star who died last Friday after a brain hemorrhage. I have found myself strangely sad over his death. I think it's because he led such a tragic life, but one with so much potential. He was born with a congenital kidney disease, that kept him from growing at a normal rate. This is why he looked like a cute little kid, even into his adulthood. He was adopted at birth, and then became a huge child star in the very successful show 'Different Strokes'. He made millions, but his parents squandered it all. He ended up working as a security guard on film lots, and was the butt of many jokes along the way.

The man battled health problems all his life, and never got past his image as cute little Arnold Jackson. He became a tragic figure. In his prime, Gary Coleman was actually a really good comic actor, and I know he played a big part in my childhood, and other people my age. In fact, I have an autographed photo of him from 1981 somewhere. I should dig that up and keep it somewhere safe.

So, rest in peace, Gary Coleman. You deserved better.

Wrath of Lamb June 01/10

If you have ever bought canned corned beef, you will have noticed something weird. For some reason, it comes with a little key that you need to open the can. It's the same with Spam or Spork. Why is canned meat the only thing that requires a key? And you can't use a regular can opener on it, because they make the can a square shape. So, why a key? Why does corned beef need a key? It's like you need some special privilege to enter the kingdom of processed meat. And sometimes, if you're not paying attention in the grocery store, you'll get a can that is missing the key. That is the worst. It's like buying Kraft Dinner with no cheese powder. It's useless. You can bash it, stab it, pry it, doesn't matter. You're not getting that corned beef-y goodness without a key. That's why I save my corned beef keys. I have them in a drawer, in case I come home with a keyless can. Because, God knows, I need my canned meat.