Category Archives: Miscellaneous

General stuff that doesn’t really belong in any category.

Herman Miller Fabric Comparison – Balance vs Rhythm

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I recently received the opportunity to work from home for a couple of months. As a result, I’ve been spending a lot more time in my office chair at home, which was already in need of replacing (something I gauge by the amount of duct tape on the chair).

After being unable to find any chairs designed for a human being at the local “big box” office supply stores (i.e. Staples), I decided that maybe it was time to invest in a real office chair. So, I looked up some more professional, dedicated office furniture stores and tried out some higher-end chairs.

I was very impressed with how I was treated by every place I went, especially by Jason Mills at COI Smart Furniture on King Edward St. I went to COI Smart Furniture to check out their selection of Herman Miller chairs, the best of which, IMHO, ended up being the SAYL and the Embody chairs.

Herman Miller Embody chair

Herman Miller Embody chair

I had an Embody chair delivered to my house — for free — to try out for a week or so, to see if it suited my needs. After sitting in it for a few minutes at home (after having spent a few hours in my existing chair), I could literally feel the relief in my back. It was great. The Herman Miller Embody chair has improved my posture, and I have yet to feel any aches or pains after sitting in it for an extended period of time. Contrast that to my current office chair (a $200 generic chair from Staples) in which I am constantly adjusting my sitting position and feeling aches and pains here and there.

In doing some research on the chair before officially ordering one (I’ll not mention the exact price, but I will say it was in the four-digit range) I learned that there are two fabric options for the Herman Miller Embody chair. What little information I could find on the differences in fabrics, besides price, was either unclear or contradictory.

Thankfully, Jason Mills from COI Smart Furniture dropped off some fabric samples at my house while I was out doing some other business in the middle of the day. For the benefit of anyone else who might care, here are some comparative photos of the two fabric types: Balance and Rhythm:

A brief comparison:

Balance fabric

  • two layers of very thin fabric with a thicker, cushiony fabric in between. Approximately three times thicker, in total, than the Rhythm Fabric
  • the cushiony layer in between has holes through it to allow air to breath through the very thin top and bottom layers of fabric.
  • softer of the two fabrics

Rhythm fabric

  • single-layer of thicker fabric (but still much thinner than the combined layers of the Balance fabric)
  • stronger of the two fabrics

There’s not really much of a different feel between the two fabrics, that is, one doesn’t provide noticeably more friction than the other. The only reasons, IMO, to go with the rhythm fabric would be a) to save $150, and b) cosmetic preference.

For me, it’s really the extra padding that comes with the Balance fabric that does it; because of the fantastic level of support the chair provides, there is less softness in the seat and back, and the extra padding that comes with the Balance fabric is nice.

So, there you have it: a proper comparison between the Balance and Rhythm fabrics for the Hermal Miller Embody chair.  Why HM can’t put a simple photo on their website showing the differences between the two I don’t understand.

RC Plane With Real “Rockets”

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My parents had their annual Canada Day party on Friday.  As part of the festivities that afternoon, my brother taped two fireworks onto his remote-controlled model A-10 airplane.

Model RC A-10 with Rockets

Let’s watch…

Future plans for the plane include installing an electric ignition system using the radio channel originally meant for raising and lowering the plane’s landing gear.  That should be interesting.

Custom Vinyl Decals

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My brother and one of his friends have started up a small side business creating custom vinyl decals.  They’ll do any custom image you want in a variety of colors.  If you’re in the market for inexpensive custom vinyl decals — whether for your car, gaming machine, or whatever — check out impossibledecals.com.

Impossible Decals

Here are some sample images of decals they’ve made:




Things That Should Have Been

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Sometimes things that are meant to happen, don’t.  While I can’t prove that meddling time travellers are responsible for some of these things not happening, I am almost certain that the following mundane things should have happened:

Fallout 3 (Van Buren)

What was it?

Fallout 3 was to be the third in a highly praised series of tactical, squad-based combat/adventure games set in post-apocalyptic U.S.A. Following in the isometric footsteps of the utterly fantastic PC games Fallout and Fallout 2, Black Isle Studio’s third installment of the Fallout series (codenamed Van Buren) would likely have been equally awesome.

What happened?

The game was nearly completed when the publisher inexplicably decided to cancel it in favor of focusing on console game development.  Black Isle Studios was shut down, and the rights to the game sold off.  Soon afterward, the publisher, Interplay, was shut down (though it re-emerged four years later).

What did we get instead?

Yet another First-Person Shooter.

The rights to the Fallout name were sold to Bethesda Softworks, who later released a Fallout 3 game using the same engine as their more recent Elder Scrolls RPG games.  The industry’s thirst for isometric, turn-based tactical games continued to go unquenched.

Pontiac Rageous

What was it?

The Pontiac Rageous was Pontiac’s quad-coupe concept car.  It had enough room to carry 4′x8′ sheets of plywood in the back.  It doubled as a race car.  And it looked like this:

What happened?

I’m not sure, but I believe copious quantities of crack were involved.

What did we get instead?

This:

That’s right.  We got the Pontiac Aztec instead of the Pontiac Rageous.

Instead of doubling as a race car, it doubled as a tent.

Star Trek: Phase II

What was it?

Star Trek: Phase II was to be a new Star Trek series in the late 70s with most of the original crew, plus some new characters.  It was set to air on a proposed new major network: Paramount Television Service.

What happened?

The new network the show was to run on didn’t pan out and the show was scrapped.

What did we get instead?

Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Some of the sets, costumes, and characters were later re-used in this movie.

It would have really been cool to have had a second “original” Star Trek series in the late 70s/early 80s.  I wonder, though, if Star Trek: The Next Generation (and all subsequent ‘trek’ shows) would ever have happened had Star Trek: Phase II made it to air?…

Your Rights When Dealing With Police

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With the number of news stories about police abusing their authority seemingly increasing every year, I though it might be a good idea to do a little research to discover what your rights are when you are stopped by the cops. Most of the information I’m posting here is from settlement.org‘s FAQ on The Police and You:

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects your rights if the police stop you and want to question you or if they arrest you.

  • The police cannot stop you, search you, or arrest you without a good reason.
  • The police must say who they are and show identification.
  • Police cannot enter your home unless they have your permission, a warrant to arrest someone or do a search, or unless they are responding to an emergency. You have to go to the police station only if you are under arrest.
  • The police must tell you that you are being arrested and why; and they must be sure you understand them. You have the right to an interpreter when you are dealing with the law.
  • If you are arrested, the police must tell you at once that you have the right to a lawyer. You have the right to choose your lawyer, and to call and talk to your lawyer in private. If you can’t afford a lawyer, the police will give you the toll-free 24-hour number for Legal Aid (a service provided by the government).
  • The police must bring you to a justice of the peace or a bail hearing to set the terms for your release as soon as possible after your arrest, usually within 24 hours.
  • The police may touch you, but not harm you or use unnecessary force.

Special Cases:

  • If you are under 18 years of age, you have other rights under the Youth Offenders Act. A younger person who is accused or convicted is not treated the same way as an adult.
  • If you are stopped while driving, you must show your driver’s licence, car registration and insurance certificate. If you don’t, you may be charged under the Highway Traffic Act.
  • If they believe you have been drinking alcohol before or during driving, the police can insist you take a roadside breath test. If they ask you to take this test, you don’t have the right to call your lawyer first.
  • If the police have reason to believe you can’t drive correctly because you drank alcohol or took drugs, they can ask for a blood or urine test. If they ask for another test, you do have the right to speak to a lawyer. If you refuse to take the tests, the police will charge you.

If the police suspect you have committed a crime, you should tell them your name, address, and date of birth. If these prove that the police have the wrong person, then you won’t be arrested. If the police think you have committed only a minor crime, and you have identified yourself, they may not arrest you. Instead, they will give you a paper telling you when to go to court. If you don’t identify yourself, the police can hold you until they find out who you are.

You do not have to answer any other questions; Just ask to speak to a lawyer and the police must stop asking questions. Do not resist the police. Usually, things go better if you are polite with the police. You are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

If you decide to talk to the police, anything you say can be used as evidence in court.

So, it looks like your best bet is to not tell the cops anything beyond your identification and ask to see a lawyer first.  I’ve heard that the police can also lie to your about your legal rights, and basically try to trick you into confessing a crime.  I don’t know if that’s just in the US or if it applies to Canada, too.

I guess the best thing to keep in mind when dealing with the police in situations like this is that the police are not your friends.  They are out looking for criminals and will bust you if they think you are one.