Do I believe in Aliens?

This is not an easy question to answer. Because in one hand I do believe in aliens. In another hand I don't believe in aliens. How is this possible?

I believe that aliens can exist by using the definition "Can alien life exist on another planet?". But I don't believe in aliens in the manner that the general public does. Here are some questions that most people would answer differently.

1) Have aliens ever visited earth? No. Anyone who says otherwise isn't basing their conclusions on evidence, or practicality but rather on belief. Nothing wrong if you want to be believe in something but that doesn't make it true.

2) Isn't it a terrible waste of space if humans are the only living organisms in all of space? This argument doesn't have much levity in my mind. Saying that is almost like saying someone had a purpose for creating life. To believe that you need to believe in a higher power. Something that I can't do.

The reason I can't deny the possibility of life is because there is actually a lot of space out there. But I don't think aliens will come in the form that is perceived by the public. Very likely we will find some organisms on some planet the meet life in some level. Not the common expectation of an alien with a head, 2 arms, 2 legs and whatever other features make it convenient to live on our planet.

I'm also a little bit surprised on how humans came about. We didn't come about over night (unless you believe in the bible). It took us millions, nay billions of years to come to where we are now. When you think about all the coincidences it takes to create life the odds were against humans from existing in our current form. But some how over time we became an intelligence species that rose above the rest. Could it happen again? I'm not going to hold my breath to find out.

Are gas prices going down or is my mind playing tricks on me?

I've noticed lately that gas quality has been getting significantly better. Many places have started to offer '90 or '89 instead of '87 as a quality standard. I don't understand why? My car isn't deserving enough to get this better gas.

The only reason I can think of is that gas is started to drop in price. To ensure that gas prices don't drop that much they are just increasing the quality of gas.

All I can say is, thanks but not thanks. My car isn't worth the value of gas. I did try the better gas and I must admit what a change. There was an instant change in the car itself. Just see for yourself.

87' Gas Quality:


90' Gas Quality:
It's all a farce. I don't the better gas, I want the cheaper gas. Cheaper gas = happier Ilan.

What is the point of the skill testing question?

Ever wonder what the skill testing question is when you win a prize at McDonald's. Believe it or not it's a legal law specific to Canadians only. The law was put in place to stop profit organizations from creating a situation where you can gamble.

They implemented this law to ensure that you are actually earning the money. That's right. You aren't winning the money but rather earning it with the skill testing question.

Another work around to this law is "No Purchase Necessary". Therefore to enter this content you don't have to purchase the product. If you contact them, usually by snail mail, they will send you game piece.

I've always wondered about the "No Purchase Necessary" clause in most contests. But it has been answered. I received this information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill_testing_question. Feel free to take a peek at the document on Wikipedia.

The RIAA really sucks in the US.

I was reading this crazy article that a member from c-net published about the RIAA. It discusses a recent case about Jammie Thomas who was caught sharing files with a program. Specifically they claimed that she shared 24 songs with other people. The RIAA won the case.

It's good that the RIAA won the case. This person was breaking the law and deserves to be punished. The problem I have with the situation is the punishment. She was slapped with $220,000.00 worth of fines for the songs. What ever happened to the idea that the punishment fits the crime?

Rumor has it that if it doesn't get overturned that she will have to go bankrupt. Why should someone have to go bankrupt for committing a crime just a little worse then J-Walking. Their is a lot of mention the reason the RIAA did this is to make a point. I didn't realize that the law is place to crucify people just to make a point. The law is their to punish people. The Punishment should fit the crime.

For those who are interested in reading about it or even commenting on it check out http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9792175-38.html. Go through the comments. It's amazing how twisted some Americans can be about this issue.

How to convince someone to do their job

I have been given a job with my company. The job is to convince the people in my department to do more work. This additional work will yield no obvious reward nor will you be punished if you don't do any of the additional work.

But management wants this information. In addition the work is very simple. It should only add 10 seconds (at most) to a call that we receive. However people don't want to do it.

How can I convince them to do this additional work?

For Men only: The hooker Exchange

For the next 10 days the hooker exchange will be going on in the Higgins area. So if you guys want to try something a little bit different. For those of you who don't know what it is please continue reading.

The Hooker Exchange is something that the pimps of Canada thought of a while ago. As an incentive plan for their ladies they decided to push the hooker exchange. It's an incentive for the ladies of the night to work extra hard to become part of this program.

It's very simple actually. Every pimp that is part of this organization takes the best lady that they have and they give them an all expense paid trip to somewhere in Canada to educate others on what makes them so good at their job.

There are a few girls in the Higgins area that seem new and they are looking pretty good. So now is your change to experience something different. I know I will.

Reviews for game consoles suck!!!

I have a really gripe about game reviewers. I see the same thing time and time again and it just makes me feel terrible about my purchase. Let me explain why.

I just recently purchased a Nintendo Wii. I've been searching for some cool games that I could play on it. One of my biggest sources for determining good games are at gaming websites where people post their reviews. These days when I read reviews it just makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me think that I chose the wrong gaming console.

Just about every review claims that the graphics are terrible when compared to the current generation of gaming platforms out there. I don't care about other gaming platforms. If I wanted the best graphics then I would have purchased a Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The only comparison in graphics should be comparing one wii game to another wii game. That's it. I'm surprised these reviewers don't say "If you could ignore the fact that it's not a $50,000 computer then the graphics are pretty good on the Wii."

I don't know if these people feel horrible about their decision for purchasing a Wii but their is no need to try to bring me down about my purchase. I personally feel great about the purchase of the Wii and believe that all the games that I have purchased look amazing. Maybe I can't zoom in 15x to the dandriff on someones hair. But that's not why I bought this platform.

I just wanna have fun.

Turn Off Your Cell Phone

I'm at home enjoying a good horror movie. It's 100 minutes long. It is full of suspense, drama, gore and tension. Every moment in this movie brings the level of intensity up. This is only with the first 50 minutes of the movie.

Somehow this movie lasts 150 minutes. What accounts for the additional 50 minutes of the movie? It included 3 phone calls, a coffee break, and a washroom break. This has the potential to ruin any movie. It is so frustrating to watch a movie with my family. I wonder if anyone else goes through this?

Why plug the toilets?

I work for a very well respected company. The company pays it's employees well above the provincial average for technical support. The company does its best to respect its workers no matter what area you work in.

But for some reason some people think it's funny to flood the toilets. What they do is they fill the toilet with so much toilet paper it simply can't take it anymore. So the next person to flush it will flood the toilet.

We only have two washrooms for men making both of them very important. Yet every couple of days someone intentionally floods it. Why would someone do this? What if they have to go to the washroom again? Even they would be forced to wait for the one remaining washroom if they needed to go to the washroom again.

Note: I believe this should be a offence where the company should be able to fire you if they found out about.

When to use your car horn

I'm in Vancouver, BC and even though I vowed to not use my computer while on vacation I found I had to write something. This article will educate you on when to use your car horn. It's something that many people don't know. Read on to find out when to use your horn.

I have decided that their is only one good reason to use your car horn. To inform another vehicle of a possible hazard. It's a bad situation that could be avoided with the sound of your horn.

I'm going to list off a few possible reasons why you would want to use your horn. This is not a complete list but will give you a good starting point on why you should use your horn.

1) To warn a pedestrian not to cross the road as they have a no walking sign and could put themselves in harm ways.
2) To warn a car not to switch into your lane because you are in it and could risk a collision.
3) To warn a car that is about to go the wrong way down a one way street.

Now that you know a few reasons why to use the car horn, here are a few times when it's not useful to use a horn.

1) To grab someones attention (Ex. To let someone know that you are waiting outside there home. Ex2. To let a friend know that you are driving next to him).
2) To honk your horn at a biker because the biker is in your lane (Bikers have a right to the road. In some areas it is even illegal for them to ride on the sidewalk).
3) To vent anger.

Number 3 is the most crucial because most of the time when someone is using there horn it's out of anger. Angry because someone is doing something that they don't like and the only way to alert the world is to honk your horn. Their are alternate solutions to honking your horn in anger. I Would suggest people try them, because it's frustrating to see people abuse this potentially life saving device for their own pleasure.

Let's not assume the impossible

Everyday I come across people who make incorrect assumptions. Some of the assumptions are foolishly based on immediate impressions of the situations. Others can be drawn from past experiences that you may have had in similar situations. But that doesn't change that fact that most of the time they are wrong.

I myself am guilty of making incorrect assumptions. I have even taken it to the next level and taken these assumptions and made them factual. This is when I take one of my assumptions and use them as a comparison. This usually leads to some very stupid remarks by yours truly.

I guess it would come as no surprise if we were all guilty of this prowess. It's one of those horrible traits that I have picked up and am sure many other people have picked up. I would just like to say "thank you for being human".

Gathering ones thoughts is hard to do

I have now been trying to write something on my blog for 40 minutes and nothing is coming out. It's not that I don't have anything to write but I can't seem to gather my thoughts. Every time I come up with a good article to write I get discouraged a few lines in and erase it.

Something starts off as a good idea but the more I think about it the more I get discouraged. Or perhaps it's a bunch of scrambled thoughts thoughts that I can't properly put on the page. Or in some cases I can't properly describe my thoughts or feelings on a subject. Or I realize how un-interesting the idea was and send it back to oblivion with my delete key. Or I reread the article and realize that's not where I intended it to go.

I really lack courage and confidence when writing. It's probably because I have never been a very good writer. I even remember back in school I never got any encouragement to write. I would pour my heart into an article on to get it back receiving a bad mark. All my writers seem to follow this very article where it's a bunch of ideas that are just cluttered up that don't make sense.

I'll stop writing now because with every word I write I make less sense.

A convesation I had

Anonymous Person: Hey Ilan, should I buy a card with the gift for ...
Me: Yes.
Anonymous Person: But I don't want to buy a card.
Me: You're probably right, you shouldn't buy a gift card.
Anonymous Person: I don't think I will buy a card then.

Was this one of those rhetorical questions I keep hearing about? I've actually been thinking about giving this very instance a word for the dictionary.

Word Definition: When someone asks you a questions and already knows the answer. You are either wrong if you disagree with that person or you are right if you agree with them.
It's not a rhetorical question because this question does not have an obvious solution.

I just need to give this instance a word. Anyone have any suggestions for a new word that will fit this definition?

Irony at it best

I just finished a conversation with a buddy of mine about a internet service called 1&1.com. This conversation occurred at 11:55 on April 9th, 2007. By the end of the conversation I was really sold on their service. I was truly hoping that I could try the service to see what they really offer. So I wrote them a big e-mail asking them a few basic questions about their service.

After I wrote the e-mail I checked my inbox and I found this e-mail from 1&1.com. The letter is posted below.

Dear Ilan Silver,

After well over 3 years, the 1&1 Professional Preview Package is being
phased out at the end of this month. We would like to sincerely thank
you for being a part of putting 1&1 Internet on the web hosting map
in North America.

We started in September 2003 with a lot of enthusiasm, great ideas and
the desire to change the web hosting landscape in North America by
offering reliable web hosting at affordable prices.

If you would like to continue to be a part of the 1&1 family PLEASE
ACT NOW! For example, you can switch to a Professional Package,
which costs just $3.99 per month and includes all the same great features
and tools that are currently included in your package. This package is
only available to our Professional Preview Package customers.


Or log in to your Control Panel and upgrade to one of our many
competitively priced hosting packages. The process is easy and quick.
For detailed instructions on how to upgrade and to answer any questions
you may have about your package please visit our special FAQ at
http://faq.1and1.com/ppp

Your package will automatically deactivate on or after 04/10/07. At
this time your web space will no longer be accessible along with any
e-mail addresses and nameserver entries you may have set up. Additionally
we will delete ALL files from our systems and backup systems.

Please note that once the data is deleted it will be irrevocably lost!

We thank you for your trust and your support over three years and
invite you to extend this relationship indefinitely by upgrading NOW!

If you have any questions please contact our representatives at

ppp@1and1.com  (E-mail)
1-866-258-5299 (Phone)

Sincerely,

1&1 Internet Inc.

1and1.com

I tried to log in at 12:30 on April 10th, 2007 but my account was already deleted. I do remember just for the hell of it signing up for a free account 3 years ago. It was a special promotion that they had going on. Unfortunately I had completely forgotten about it.

If my friend told me about it just 24 hours earlier I could have previewed the service. Talk about ironic or what?

Award shows are such a joke

I just recently went to see the 2007 Cannes Lions award show. The Cannes awards deal with advertising. If you have done anything in the advertising world then you might find yourself holding one of these beautiful awards. They range anywhere from bronze, silver, gold or the Grad Prix.

Normally an award like this would mean a great deal to most people, however it has no meaning to me. Why? Because they only looking at advertisements that were submitted by other people. What does this mean?

This means that instead of looking at every commercial and rating them they only look at the a small percentage of all commercials. So even if you win the a Cannes Lions award doesn't mean you have the best commercial or you are best advertiser. All it means is that within the submissions you were the best. For all we know there were only 20 submissions and they took the top 19 out of 10,000 possibilities.

I guess what I am saying when it comes to awards you should really read the fine print because the award may not mean what you think it means.