MODERN PROGRESS ??

The Swiss Army Knife

It has always been the ultimate survival tool. They hope to have a model available around September for under $3000 to bring their previous USB models up to 21st century standards with a one terabyte flash drive. For my low tech readers, one terabyte of storage is adequate for about 330,000 photos, 220 million pages of text, or two years of non-stop music – more than enough to survive any emergency situation.

Your data is safe from hackers with the drive’s AES256 technology and fingerprint security. And, to avoid heavy-handed attacks, it also has a self-destruct mechanism that burns the CPU and memory chip if there's any attempt to force the drive open.
An interesting addition to these drives is a small LCD display on the side probably for showing.

Zambonis

The 8.5 km ice trail on the Assiniboine and Red rivers in Winnipeg is maintained by a “Zamboni" (actually an Olympia) with a 6.5L turbo diesel engine fueled with used oil from cooking French Fries. It is reported to race at 80 km/hr when it is not cleaning the trail.
As an aside, both the Assiniboine River Trail and the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa are experiencing significantly shorter skating seasons. Also, people across Canada seem to be finding it impossible to maintain “back yard” skating rinks. A five year study at McGill and Concordia universities has found a “significant shortening of the out door skating season..

FYI – both Zamboni and Olympia have electric models of ice cleaners and they were used in the Vancouver Olympics.

 

MOBILE PHONE AS SELF PROTECTION (?)

You can now buy stun guns (tasers) disguised as cell phones for as little as $65.
It seems to be “common knowledge” that there are 4-shot  22 caliber cell phone guns available somewhere for the past 10 years. My research does not provide any site from which to purchase one. However, if someone points their cell phone at you, maybe you should look to see if there are four parallel holes in the end of it – they might be gun barrels.

If you aren’t concerned about getting through airport surveillance you might want to check out a gun disguised as a knife – maybe not the best way to disguise a gun.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JUSTIN BIEBER ON HIS 18th B.D.

                           (just one of our famous Canadian performers)

His Fisker Karma car (a gift from his manager) is expensive and fancy, and also tries to be environment friendly. It is a hybrid with solar panels, uses reclaimed, recycled and reusable materials throughout the interior cabin, and comes with either leather upholstery or with non-animal materials.
But if you are planning to buy me a car for my birthday, please consider the Telsa.  It does 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds,and goes 245 miles per charge. Any model would be fine but gull wing doors are always nice.