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	<title>Brilang.comMiscellaneous | Brilang.com</title>
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	<link>http://www.brilang.com</link>
	<description>Stuff I do, or stuff I find interesting</description>
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		<title>Make Your Own Ice Cream Bars</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2011/06/make-your-own-ice-cream-bars/907</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2011/06/make-your-own-ice-cream-bars/907#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://brilang.tumblr.com/post/6072982792</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I ran across an article on how to Make Your Own Ice Cream Bars Everyone loves ice cream bars in the summer. Those you get from the grocery store leave a lot to be desired. This looks very tasty.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2011/05/crude-oil-and-total-petroleum-imports-top-15-countries/910</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2011/05/crude-oil-and-total-petroleum-imports-top-15-countries/910#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 2011 18:18:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://brilang.tumblr.com/post/6007411078</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Interesting statistics. Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries. The USA buys almost 1/4 of its crude oil from Canada and 1/8 each from Mexico &#38; Saudi Arabia.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>Seasons Do Not Start on the Solstices or Equinoxes</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2010/12/seasons-do-not-start-on-the-solstices-or-equinoxes/827</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2010/12/seasons-do-not-start-on-the-solstices-or-equinoxes/827#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:30:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outdoors]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brilang.com/?p=827</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By many ancient traditions, the solstices are the Middle of their respective seasons (as in Shakespeare&#8217;s play &#8220;A Midsummer Night&#8217;s Dream&#8221;). This is especially true in an agricultural society. It is our modern society that has renamed the solstices as the start of the seasons instead. In the Celtic tradition, the seasons were marked with special celebrations: * Samhain marks the beginning of winter and is celebrated at the end of October or beginning of November. * Imbolc marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated at the beginning of February. * Beltane marks the beginning of summer and is celebrated at the beginning of May. In much of the northern hemisphere, this is when crops can safely be planted as the danger of frost has largely passed. * Lughnasadh marks the beginning of autumn and is celebrated at the beginning of August. In much of the northern hemisphere, this is when the harvest begins, with most of it complete within 45 days (mid-September) to avoid the first frosts. These four dates are also known as cross-quarter dates and are approximately mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes. The solstices and equinoxes were also celebrated with festivals, but I don&#8217;t think [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Another iPad Giveaway</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2010/07/another-ipad-giveaway/810</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2010/07/another-ipad-giveaway/810#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:05:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brilang.com/?p=810</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I ran across an iPad giveaway today on Where Does All My Money Go. I really hope I win this time&#8230; seeing as I didn&#8217;t win last time]]></description>
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		<title>iPad Giveaway</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2010/05/ipad-giveaway/807</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2010/05/ipad-giveaway/807#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2010 20:57:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brilang.com/?p=807</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I ran across an iPad giveaway today on Where Does All My Money Go. I really hope I win! Now to start reading more of the blog to see if it&#8217;s worth adding to Google Reader or not&#8230;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Sunflowers and Morning Glories</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2009/04/sunflowers-and-morning-glories/320</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2009/04/sunflowers-and-morning-glories/320#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:56:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gardening]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brianlang.ca/?p=320</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Twenty one of the Sunflowers and 3 of the Morning Glories are so tall that I had to remove them from the plastic dome of my seedling greenhouse. I also have at least two tomatoes peeking out, and a bunch of marigolds.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Micro-hypermiling</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2008/08/micro-hypermiling/201</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2008/08/micro-hypermiling/201#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:38:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hypermiling]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brianlang.ca/?p=201</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over on TreeHugger, Sami Grover has suggested a new term: micro-hypermiling. Micro-hypermiling is hypermiling on a pre-defined route with which the drive is intimately familiar. Sami writes: So I’ve started memorizing the cycle at the two stop lights between my house and town, figuring out how long it takes for a red to turn green – that way I’m able to judge better when to lift the foot off the pedal when I see a red up ahead, and when to keep motoring in the anticipation that it’ll soon be green again. I’ve also learned just how far from the turn off for my house I can lift my foot off the gas, to decelerate to an appropriate speed to take the corner without using the brakes (I only do this when nobody is behind me!). On hot days I’ve started turning the AC off a few miles from home, so the remains of my journey are still cool, but I don’t crank out the cold air till the last minute. I&#8217;ve been doing this same kind of thing on my commute. Fortunately, on my 33 km commute, I only have two traffic lights, and 5 stop signs. There is [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>iPhone &#8211; Ruined?</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2008/06/iphone-ruined/163</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2008/06/iphone-ruined/163#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:24:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brianlang.ca/?p=163</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you believe that Rogers pricing plan for the iPhone has ruined the iPhone experience for you, and you live in Canada, please check out www.ruinediphone.com and sign the petition. The lowest cost voice and data plan for the iPhone is $60 and it is feature poor. I&#8217;m not going to go into details right now, but I&#8217;m completely disgusted with Rogers, and after being a customer of theirs for over 7 years, I&#8217;m sorely tempted to cancel my plan. Unfortunately, I&#8217;m in a contract for another 4 months and I&#8217;m not willing to pay the cancellation fees&#8230;Otherwise I would.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Download DVD movies from Apple&#8217;s iTunes?</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2008/05/download-dvd-movies-from-apples-itunes/161</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2008/05/download-dvd-movies-from-apples-itunes/161#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2008 04:55:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brianlang.ca/2008/05/01/download-dvd-movies-from-apples-itunes/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Apple announced today the ability to purchase movies from iTunes in the US (I&#8217;m sure it will spread worldwide in time). Now, the news release doesn&#8217;t mention what file size the movie downloads are, but I think it&#8217;s ridiculous that anyone would consider this for standard viewing. Here&#8217;s why. Standard DVD is 4.7 GB. Double sided is 9.4 GB. (Wikipedia: DVD). If we start considering the remaining High Definition format (Blu-ray), we&#8217;re looking at 25 GB (standard) or 50 GB (double sided). The average download speed in the US is 5288 kbps and 4066 kbps in Canada (from Speedtest.net May 1, 2008 21:30 PDT). Plugging these numbers into a Download Calculator gives these results: File Size Download Time (Days:Hours:Min:Sec) @ 1.5Mbps-DSL/Cable @ 3.0Mbps-DSL/Cable @ 6.0Mbps-DSL/Cable 4.7 GB 0:06:47:59 0:03:28:53 0:01:44:26 9.4 GB 0:13:35:58 0:06:57:46 0:03:28:53 25 GB 1:12:10:08 0:18:31:06 0:09:15:33 50 GB 3:00:20:16 1:13:02:13 0:18:31:06 The download file size of a movie through iTunes is not available to me at present. Nor is the pixel count to be able to properly compare these maximum DVD and Blu-ray file sizes with iTunes. I would hazard a guess that if you buy a movie from iTunes, you will get lower quality than [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Purolator Sucks &#8211; AGAIN!</title>
		<link>http://www.brilang.com/2008/03/purolator-sucks-again/160</link>
		<comments>http://www.brilang.com/2008/03/purolator-sucks-again/160#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:26:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian Lang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brianlang.ca/2008/03/28/purolator-sucks-again/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My XBox 360 died a while back &#8211; unplayable disc errors &#8211; basically the DVD drive stopped working. The unit is still under warranty, so microsoft offered a free repair. Microsoft sent me a box (coffin) to ship the box along with a return shipping label. The first red flag! It was from Purolator. &#8220;Uh oh&#8221;, I thought. Anyway, Purolator did their thing, and the XBox did get to Toronto (or wherever) and got fixed or replaced. I don&#8217;t know which yet. Then Microsoft shipped it back to me. Purolator attempted to deliver it today around lunch time, but no one was home. That&#8217;s fine. But the stupid driver was unable to drive across Abbotsford (about a five minute drive) to drop my package off at the local depot. So now I am forced to wait until Monday afternoon to pick up my parcel because the driver was too lazy to do his/her job. Once Again, I am asking you to not use Purolator for any reason. They are lazy and incompetent. Again.]]></description>
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