Time constraints equals higher prices

I think I know why so many things are becoming more expensive these days.

It is the old problem of supply and demand, but the supply in this case is time.

Basically imagine you are running a business that most people use on weekends - only two days per week. And those two days are really hot in demand so that you end up booked up for months in advance on weekends, but comparatively less on weekdays.

In theory the thing to do would be to raise your prices on the weekends so you are charging two prices, one for weekdays and another price for weekends.

Case in point:

CardioTrek.ca is a personal training company and most of their clients want weekend or evening time slots. So much that their weekend slots are prebooked 5 months in advance - but the owner won't raise prices because he believes that would be unfair to new clients - and he thinks prices are already pretty high.

Another possibility would be if you have too many clients and not enough time to serve them all - that would be a good time to raise your prices for any new clients.

Case in point:

Toronto website design company designSEO.ca recently raised their hourly rates for website design work to $30 per hour. The reason? Too many clients. (They could hire more junior website designers but maybe that would be more of a nuisance. I don't know.)

Another possibility is lets says you are semi retired and do consulting work. You enjoy your free time and you don't want to work very often. So you jack your consulting fee up to $100 per hour or $200 per hour. Some ridiculous rate that makes it clear you only work for people willing to pay big bucks.

And there you go, three examples of why prices for services can skyrocket in a hurry due to time constraints.

And the more specialized and skilled the desired service is the higher the prices can go. That is why plumbers charge so much.

Why are modern tvs so slow?

Have you ever noticed how modern TVs are so slow compared to TVs during the 1980s?

I am serious. TVs are now slower than they used to be because now they are digital and have to load a blue screen or some logo nonsense before loading the actual tv guide, list of channels or the channel that was last on before you turned off the tv.

And this is my beef with a lot of technology today... More technology is actually making things slower and more cumbersome.

Examples

ATMs and Credit Cards vs cash.

Downloading tv shows vs VCRs.

Text messaging vs just phoning the person.

Tablets vs pen and paper.

The internet vs the YellowPages and an encyclopedia set.

eReaders vs books.

Downloading a taxi app and figuring out how to use vs just calling a cab.

And the list goes on. Seriously, technology is actually making life more complicated than it needs to be.

Katy Perry on Sesame Street - too much?

Below is the video of Katy Perry with Elmo, a clip that was pulled after complaints from upset parents who felt Katy Perry showed too much skin.

Please note that these are the same kind of parents who complained that Bert and Ernie were homosexuals living together.

As opposed to what the rest of us have been thinking for many years, that Bert and Ernie are either brothers or just friends. Sounds perfectly reasonable right?

Well the fact is you can not make these right wing religious nutjobs happy. Take for example the HIV positive puppet Kami who was introduced in 2002 for the South African version of Sesame Street, known as Takalani Sesame. The character was designed to promote tolerance and understanding in South Africa (which has a huge HIV epidemic), but instead it became a magnet for homophobia in America and a horde of Republican congressmen all "warned" Sesame Street against introducing any gay or HIV positive characters into the American version of the show.

So basically it would not matter how much skin (or how little skin) Katy Perry shows in any clip with Elmo on Sesame Street - the religious nutjobs were always going to get offended anyway. Which is amusing because these same Christians presumably go to church every Sunday and worship a statue of a mostly naked Jesus - who is best described as the zombie son of god.

So mostly naked zombie Jesus is apparently okay, but a little bit of Katy Perry's skin is not. That frankly is hypocritical and sexism.

I can only imagine what they would think if Katy Perry did a version of "Madonna with Child", a very common theme in paintings within Catholicism. They would probably decry her about showing too much skin again - regardless of how much she actually showed. It would not matter how innocent or religious the image was, because Katy Perry is a pop singing sex symbol it would be seen as religious sacrilege.

Edward de Gale's List of Fun Things To Do In Vaughan

#1. Visit Canada's Wonderland, Canada's largest outdoor theme park.

#2. Go Shopping at the Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre, and check out the many fine stores - including hunting, fishing and archery store Bass Pro.

#3. Visit the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

#4. Go swimming at Splash Works.

#5. Take your cat for a walk!

#6. Explore some of Vaughan's many parks and wildlife areas, and take your camera to do some photography! Check out the Boyd Conservation Area, Mackenzie Glen District Park and the Kortright Centre for Conservation.

#7. Visit Reptilia - a zoo just for reptiles, over 200 different kinds.

#8. Go skiing at the Uplands Ski Centre or Uplands Golf Course.

#9. Visit the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.

#10. Go to LEGO LAND!

#11. Copper Creek Golf Club.

#12. Visit the IMAX theatre at the Colossus in Woodbridge.

#13. Go bowling at LUCKY STRIKE.

#14. Glow in the dark miniature golf at the PUTTING EDGE.

#15. The Kleinburg Golf Club - seriously, how many golf clubs does Vaughan have???

#16. Falls Lake Provincial Park.

#17. Play laser tag at Planet Play.

#18. Try your hands at piloting a plane at PrecisePilot Flight Simulations.

#19. Get shot with paint at Vaughan Paintball.

#20. Go bowfishing for carp in one of Vaughan regions many fine lakes and rivers. You just need your fishing license, a bow and bowfishing kit.

Necklace turns hearing aids into a fashion accessory

Call it my ongoing struggle with my own hearing loss, but I find any tech gadgets that help to improve the hearing of people suffering from hearing loss WONDERFUL.

Technological advances over the years have made hearing aids smaller, more fashionable, but rarely have they been made more powerful.

The problem is you can only fit so much power into a hearing aid. It has to take sounds from the outside of your ear, amplify them and then broadcast the sound into your ear so that you can hear them better - without creating an audio feedback loop between the speakers and the microphone inside the hearing aid.

But what if the microphone wasn't inside your ears and only the speakers were there instead?

New hearing aids devices are now on the market wherein the microphone part of the hearing aid is worn around your neck, and the hearing aids contain just the speakers - which means the speakers can be more powerful, smaller (thanks to the lack of a microphone) and even cheaper.

Hearing aids are often uncomfortable and too conspicuous for their owners, but by making them smaller, the device become less powerful.

Another problem with trying to make hearing aids smaller is that they also go way up in price - so you end up getting less quality sound, but paying way more. It just doesn't add up.

Hearing aid manufacturer "Wear" however has chosen to make their products more into decorations which complement a person's appearance, while simultaneously providing higher quality sound at a lower price.

The device itself is a circular disc, available in dark red plastic or a wood and metal finish and worn on a chain around the neck like a necklace. Its stylish design means it can complement outfits and stop wearers from feeling embarrassed by their medical device.

Developed by music producers Michelle Temple and the president of audio and video tech company Creative Technology, Eric Rosenthal, the device is not only an amplifier like many older hearing aids, but is a collection of high-fidelity directional microphones that can be controlled by the user depending on their situation. "Wear" uses analog rather than digital signal processing to avoid the problems involved with audio delays and to take advantage of its abilities with near-field signals: nearer sounds are amplified while others are diminished. Although not designed to completely replace the traditional hearing aid, "Wear" performs better in noisy environments where picking out individual signals is often difficult - this way you could have a conversation in a crowded bar room setting, but without the extra distractions from noisy people at the opposite end of the bar. Users can also simply hold the device towards the person speaking in order to hear them better.

I have similar devices using BlueTooth earbuds and a person's smartphone as the microphone, but such devices are not designed specifically for people who have difficulty hearing - the technology is dumbed down and doesn't have the level of quality in either the sounds being reproduced, nor in the software designed to pick out individual sounds that are closer to you and give them more importance.

Although the current "Wear" model uses 3.5mm headphones, the team hopes to investigate the potential of bone conduction in later versions.

If you live in Vaughan I recommend the Omni Hearing Clinic, which is where I go for all my hearing aids.

Heavy Metal on the Piano

Who says Heavy Metal isn't a great musical genre?

The problem with Heavy Metal is that people often confuse it with punk, electronica and other types of music. Heavy Metal isn't that loud, it has just been misunderstood.

The truth is Heavy Metal musicians are often also huge fans of classical music. Indeed I would argue that "Heavy Metal" shouldn't even be called by that name, it should more accurately be called "Rock Opera". It would be a more apt description in my opinion. Heavy Metal is very misunderstood by non-metal fans.

FACT - 90% of Heavy Metal musicians studied classical music in university.

Below are examples of Heavy Metal songs being played on piano and keyboards.

10 Photos of Cats and Kittens on Pianos

Cats and music, my two loves. Together at last.

Okay one of them is a painting, but the rest are photos. :)

Cute and Cuddly Kittens!

Please Rob Ford, don't eat me!

Rob Ford Eats Baby Kitten

So I was looking for kitten photos and found this.

So yeah, one more post about Rob Ford. I promise no more!!!

Attack of the Kittens

Okay I admit it, I only posted this because it is so adorable. Kittens are awesome!

Rob Ford compilation video

Oh what the heck. Here is a Rob Ford compilation video. A collection of the funniest. Maybe now I won't have to post any more about Rob Ford. If you really want to view funny stuff about Rob Ford, I recommend the blog F*** Rob Ford.

Five of the Best Rob Ford Videos

I haven't talked about Rob Ford much on my blog and I frankly prefer not to. But sometimes even I can not help myself. If you want to view more things about Rob Ford I recommend the blog F*** Rob Ford.

Below are my favourite five Rob Ford videos so far.