My opposite

So melted_snowball asks What's your opposite, as in describe a person who is as unlike you as possible.

Let's see.. She lives on a farm in Southern Alberta and attends the local fundamentalist Protestant church. She votes Conservative but only because she can't vote Reform anymore. She thinks homosexual activity should be a crime and that Intelligent Design should be taught in schools. Despite having only a Grade 8 education she knows that evolution is wrong because her pastor told her so. She thinks sex is disgusting but has eight children.

ETA: On reflection not nearly opposite enough. She is organic, animate and on very much the same scale as myself. My opposite should have none of these qualities. A quantum of the cosmic background radiation or a neutron star perhaps?

Urban style

Walking from Kensington Market to chez chickenfeet2003 via Queen Street West can usually be guaranteed to provide a few thought provoking fashion statements. Today there were two such. The first we shall call the Muslim Ninja Backpacker. The MNB was dressed in black cargo pants and jacket with a black headscarf and sunglasses. He/she was proceeding northbound on Spadina at great speed wearing a very large leather (black, natch) backpack. The second person was a twentyish anorexic male with the sort of haircut that everybody had when I was at university. He was dressed in a tweed jacket, flannels, a white shirt and a tie. Despite his anorexia, the jacket was a size too small and tightly buttoned up. The flannels were about three inches too short and his shirt wasn't tucked in. WTF?

In other Queen West news, Le Select, The 360 and David Mason Books have all closed. No doubt they will be replaced by yet another Gap or Taco Bell.

Amazon back orders

Here's a shout out to people with more experience of Amazon than I do. I've been pretty successful with Amazon when they say they have a book that "usually ships in 24 hours" and much less if that is not the case. In the latter case they give an estimated delivery window which is never updated even when it is past nor do they appear to advise that a book is not, in fact, available. In short nothing happens until I cancel the order(1). Is my experience typical?

fn (1) I wondered in fact whether Amazon booked revenue at the time an order is placed and therefore can inflate reported sales by keeping essentially dead orders on the books. It's the sort of thing IBM would do.

Question for youse

Do you have musical tastes that your closest friends might not suspect? I suspect I do.

How come?

It's not much of a secret that my sympathies are left of centre. Nor is my interest in folk music particularly well hidden. So why has it taken me so long to discover Phil Ochs?