Climate Change

An interesting article.

Linux

I'm thinking that I'll upgrade the version of Linux that I have installed on my desktop. I was using Fedora Core 2, but I haven't been impressed with it (or Fedora Core 1). They lack "polish" and seem to be beta-quality. So I'm pondering trying out a different distribution (e.g. SuSe, Slackware, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, etc.). I'm looking for something that is stable, mainstream, easy to upgrade, and come with a reasonable set of packages/software (that is fairly up to date). Does anyone have any suggestions (or an opinion about Fedora Core)?

Hockey

Canada destroyed Russia 6-1, winning the World Junior Championship. :-)

Canada totally owned the tournament. In 6 games Canada outscored their opponents 41 to 7 (outshooting them 259 to 105).

Canada is now the reigning champion in all the major international hockey tournaments: Men's Olympic Champions (2002), World Cup Champions (2004), World Junior Champions (2005), Men's World Champions (2004), Women's Olympic Champions (2002), Women's World Champions (2004).

Random

Canada won 3-1. :-)

100 things we didn't know this time last year is an interesting article from the BBC. Some highlights:

2. Farmers plant their crops up to three weeks earlier than 15 years ago. In the 1960s, temperatures from January to March averaged 4.2C; it rose to 5.6C in the 1990s.

This is a little distrubing. Especially since some people (e.g. George Bush) are Global Warming deniers.

19. The collective noun for rhinos is "crash".

Better store that one away for future use during Trivial Pursuit.

62. The founder of the Natural History Museum, Sir Richard Owen, was the man we have to thank for the word "dinosaur", literally meaning "terrible lizard".

The Natural History Museum is cool. I was there in May.

68. Bill Clinton revealed in his autobiography that he didn't learn to ride a bike properly until he was 22.

That's just plain funny.

70. And reports of UFOs have dwindled since the late 1990s. In the UK, sightings have gone from about 30 a week to almost zero; it's a trend echoed in the US and Norway.

Whom do you report a UFO siting to, exactly?

No Hockey

The Canada - Russia game is not on TV here. :-( For reference, ESPN is showing billiards, ESPN2 is showing "classic" boxing (aka Mike Tyson from the 1980s), and Classic ESPN has a documentary on about the USS Cole bombing (I have no idea what this has to do with sports; and no I don't have the channel wrong, it has an ESPN in the corner). That's a pretty lame sport lineup.

TSN's website says the score is 1-0 Canada after the first period though. :-)

World Juniors

I'm back in Seattle. I was home for Christmas visiting my family and friends and watching the World Junior Hockey Championship. Canada is having a very good tournament, destroying every team they've meet so far. (7 - 3 over Slovakia, 8 - 1 over Sweden, 9 - 0 over Germany, and 8 - 1 over Finland). They play the Czech Republic tomorrow in the semi-finals.

Sadly, American TV is very lame and it doesn't look like the World Juniors be available on ESPN. It seems they only show occasional games where Team USA is playing. However, the American team is bad and unlikely to advance far enough to meet Canada. :-(