Since it's time to make the sacrificial purchases required by Christmas, it's also tome to lessen the pain by supporting local artisans:

Salon des métiers d’art du Québecruns from from the 7th to the 22nd... it's huge, and you should be able to find something for just about everyone.

souk @ sat runs from the 14th to the 16th... it's young and hip and fun just to go.

I saw this in a Facebook comment, and I'm curious as to whether or not it's true:

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

I found this over on Ella's blog Cerrier. I hadn't seen it before so I thought I'd repost it:

Greetings and salutations!

Jason and I [Rene] (PONY TV) are curating 2 shows that open this week. Come and check them out! The videos are amazing, the photographs are delicious, and we've worked really hard to put them together.
We'll see you there!

Love,
Rene

PTV PRESENTS...
Gallerie Espace
4844 St. Laurent
February 28- March 13
Vernissage March 6, 7-11pm
(*PLUS* after-verni party at Boa Bar 5301 St. Laurent with the Shirtless DJ's and Prague City Love, video projections, and 'meet the artists' excitement)
http://artmatters.concordia.ca/show_07.html

PTV and Video Party Present... Old Gold
Storefront installation featuring video works by 12 different artists from Montreal, New York, Finland, Turkey, Serbia, UK and Mexico-
Old Gold Boutique
256 Mont Royal Est
http://artmatters.concordia.ca/event_10.html

PONY TV
http://www.ponytv.net
http://myspace.com/ponytv
pony.tv@gmail.com

Video Party
http://www.videoparty.info

I think there's going to have to be some new studies done adding the properties of crochet to the comparisons of carbon, aluminum, titanium, and steel as frame building materials (and techniques).

This photo came from jackrabbit.etsy.com's photoset on Flickr.

I found this on join-the-dots, but the photos are from jackrabbit.etsy.com on Flickr.

I wonder how hard it is to get crochet cartridges? For the more violent at heart, you should consider checking out the woven guns...

FYI I've been uploading some silly little videos to YouTube. There's nothing specacular there but...

Last Sat I went snowshoeing at the Park national du Mont-Orford, and it was a blast. It was the perfect day, with the perfect company, in a beautiful place. Well... perfect... with the exception of the $185 speeding ticket I got on my way out there. At any rate, snowshoeing is a lot easier than I remembered it being as a kid, but a good workout nonetheless. My guess is that it's a bit easier because the technology of it seems to have made leaps and bounds. When I was a kid I used snowshoes that were hand made for me by my great grandfather (tanned the hides and everything). At some point I'd like to try doing a fairly long run in snowshoes, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to it this winter.

Sat was a super fun but very long day. After getting back to Montreal we decided to check out the Festival MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE. It was worth checking out, but the DJ bubble got a little too boring a little too fast. After that, in an act of insanity, we decided to dance the night away at I LOVE NEON. Tiga's set was great, but we took off at around 1:45 because the techno was getting a little too hard and tiredness had set in with a vengeance.

Went to the Junction SM show for about 15 minutes or so; I left because I could tell that it wasn't really going to get going for at least another hour, and I felt sleep would be a better option than waiting around. Though it did look like it would get fun, and I'll definitely check out another Diskfunction production.

Skating on the Canal in Ottawa with my friends was fun. I'd like to go again before the winter ends.

Hmmm, the RSS feed icon on my toe is greyed out. Does that mean it's offline?

The Uncyclopedia entry for Montreal is hilarious. It's good to know I live in Supervillain territory.

I only found Uncyclopedia because Jeremy at Midnight Poutine writes about the amount of procrastination time it must take to create something like it.

I don't understand why someone would write a blog post trivializing such a great educational tool as no more than an act of procrastination. I mean Riverdance aside, without Uncyclopedia I'd never have learned to truth about Linux... or that running is the act of a racist.

Also sent by a friend... not sure what the original source was

Sent to me my a friend... not sure what the original source was.

Just a quick note to say that a new version of the Canada Food Guide has been released. It's available for free for download or delivery. I've also attached a PDF version of it to this post.

I just read a post in the Slowtwitch Triathlon Forum that points to this crazy story of a man who is going to try to swim 5,430 kms of the Amazon river in 70 days. Martin Strel plans to leave Atalaya (Peru) on Feb 1st , and swim all the way to the Atlantic Ocean at Belém (Brazil). The length is crazy enough, but I'd be terrified of the things lurking within the water. Hope he doesn't become piranha, alligator, crocodile, or anaconda bait.

But if you watch the video below (wanky voice over) you'll notice that he's pretty wacky and has pulled off some crazy swims. In fact he's a multiple Guinness World Record holder.

Fans of children and Hip Hop may wish to check out Literacy Through Hip Hop MTL. Since I'm not much into Hip Hop, I won't be involved, but a good friend of mine may be taking up the cause so... Their launch party is on right now at Blizzarts. I hope they manage to make a difference.

I just added 176 more photos of Mile-End specific graffiti to the Photos or if you prefer Flash Photos section of this site.

K sent me this, and I must say it's pretty cool:

If, for whatever reason, your a counter of calories, you should check out this "What Does 200 Calories Look Like" page. It's interesting to get a visual representation of calorie consumption. But then again I'm phasing into health mode and I'm becoming preoccupied with such things. I must credit Wil for pointing this page out at Through Th3 Wall.