One extraordinary thing about going to see Master and Commander last night at the downtown Paramount 7 multiplex on Princess Street is that I went at all. The last time I went to the movies at a multiplex was Good Will Hunting on its first run, what, about five years ago and the last movie I saw …

This is interesting. Steve has decided he can be a radio station. And why not. The licensing issues for  •  the music on the web are still being worked out between SOCAN representing the artists and the Copyright Board. I don't know where Steve will go with this but his cost for a license to …

Throughout my undergrad years, my friend Rob would take bets on the first snow day and write each year's guesses on the inside of his winter jacket as a record of both the accuracy of his pals' guessing capacities and the actual date of the first snow.  Kingston received its first couple of …

A good story in the Toronto Star this morning on the acceptance of the gay marriage and other aspects of the culture in Toronto since the ruling last summer requiring the issuance of marriage licenses. If there were ultimately a non-story about a non-crisis it is this. In the context of this moron …

If it weren't for knowing about the gays friends of my mother who were  •  separately killed - aka bashed - for being who they were, this story might be  •  just funny and an example of a moron. The opinions of the former Baptist  •  preacher Canadian Alliance MP should lead to his removal from …

I like this image. I think if I were ever to have an album cover, this would be it. Fish's big mitts, by the way - holding my child early 1999 but wanting to hold Rouge's Roost's finest.

Another old pal, aka wink martendale, by the seaside circa 1987. While this is a bit of a test of the new highspeed internet I just hooked up, some of you will recognize the leggy lad.

I gave a lecture this morning at Queens to an undergrad class on PIPEDA and GIS applications. It is was interesting, fairly off the cuff stuff but I came a way with a life principle: do not wear a dark shirt, use a chalkboard and cross your arms when someone is asking a question - you have just …

The Raes of Duns, North Britain - which was polite talk over 100 years ago for Scotland.  •  My children's great-great-granduncle was Rae Penny, brother in-law to the kickin' Evelyn Penny of Owen Sound. [Rae, jazzman, is shown my left (your right) after committing duckacide with his bro.]  •  Rae …

Someone is having a good Tuesday  •  Right now in Italy, Arsenal is halfway through the second half up 2-1 according to the BBC live goals ticker. No web audio makes following the game like following the Spanish American War from rural Saskatchewan. More snazzy photos during the game from the …

With the days tickling to a precious few in 2004, I am still backing the NS government's "rebate" of $155.00 per person as the worst fiscal decision of the year - given that they were in a deficit position. Here is an update, a crabby Federal Minister and comprehensive links on the story from CBC …

Apparently Hydro Quebec thinks it is possible:  •  “A CBC Ottawa unlinkable story Last Updated | Nov 24 2003 10:35 AM EST  •  Hydro-Québec to test internet over power lines  •  MONTREAL - Hydro-Québec is planning to offer high-speed internet service over its power lines to compete with similar …

I came across this essay summarizing certain ideas on where the web may go and why and I was struck how, on first review, it did not make any sense - not in the vision but the elements. There is a problem with people playing with the idea of the web which seems to be based on knowing more about …

"If we just run away do you think Al will catch us?"  •  My pals Mark and Katie 16 years ago. I met Kate after having invited myself to crash on Mark's sofa when job hunting in the UK. I never did get a job but learned much about ale and the British Museum and Bragg that trip. Missed the King's …

So I finally got well enough to put together the new computer. Shipped, taxed and warrantied, it totalled $680.00 CAN from Dell. That is nuts. The March 19, 1996 stickered Pentium 75, 16 Mb Ram that has been managing this site for seven months now cost me $2,900.00. The new box has 16 times the …

One of the unique thing about living in Kingston is the proximity of small town USA. Most border crossings in eastern Canada are either city to city like at Detroit or Buffalo, or they are into wilderness like Maine and New Brunswick. That part of the border between Ontario and New York State …

I sometimes wonder if I am more hesitant to discuss stats than you, the reader, might like. After all, they are about you not me. The odd thing is it may very well not be about me at all as yesterday saw a jump of 66% above average visits but not hits or total Kb flow, even though I was not …

Too sick to go to work, to open the new computer boxes from Dell, to get off my butt to make tea right now. So is herself. 442 visits yesterday - anyone want to head over to make tea? Milky, please.

I had a look at their site and its page of record covers and I immediately wanted socks and curtains by whoever designed their stuff. I see these thing so differently since I well spent time with Fontman.  •  Music. I had only seen passing reference to the band British Sea Power in an a recent …

Via Mike, Stuart McLean has a blog via his publisher. As with Nils, I wonder how the dynamic of the free blog and the professional "ain't life funny" kind of commentator will work out.   Will you sometimes pay when often get it for free?

The BBC reports  •  on a new study showing that computers are bunging up the work place due to  •  lack of proper implementation. Here is the  •  executive summary of the report, which includes the following:  •  “The problem lies with people rather than the systems themselves,  •  concludes the …

As I wrote about over at STG, I am reading Nick Hornby's Songbook, which is essentially a non-linear autobiography in the guise of a discussion of some of his favorite pop music. I don't know if I would be so interested if it was in the guise of a discussion of some of his favorite cricket players …

Other than the evidence of the empty bag before me, does anyone need the 115g Mega Grab-Sac of Doritos "Fromage Nacho Cheese" flavoured Tortilla Chips? That is a quarter pound of the things.   It's not food - it's things.   It's also the smallest size bag at the Macs next door to the office …

Don't forget the  •  second leg of Scotland v. Holland this afternoon in Amsterdam - text scores  •  here.  •  Coverage on BBC Five Live Extra appears only to be of the Wales match against  •  Russia being played at the same time in Cardiff.

Summer of 2001, I travelled with the SOBs to Connecticut to conclude a bit of business, travelling in a camper van borrowed from this guys which I think had the license plate "DOT COM" or some such thing. I was reminded of that trip after 9/11 when I wrote at Steve's site on the 17th:  •  “...I …

It is interesting to watch who is referred to which page from time to time. This morning posts with my comments on beer and beer books were sought more than once by readers from both the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary as well as The Social Market Foundation in London …

There is an interesting moment in any infatuation when you have the  •  opportunity how you will come to hate the thing now beloved. John Doyle, last  •  Saturday in The Globe and Mail, did a pretty good job identifying one way  •  the wheels might come off the Paul Martin red wagon …

Here is a very good breakdown of what I am seeing in my referral logs as of the last few days.  •  Add that to reply spam.

Is it time for Conrad to select a new toothbrush for the big house?  Via Dean, a Canadian in France, comes the link to a report on the departure of Mr. Black from the head of his corporation...  •  “...after admitting he and other executives had received unauthorised secret payments totalling £19m …

I am listening to the The Connection on North Country Public Radio this morning and their phone-in/interview of Roy Moore, the former Alabama Chief Justice who placed a block of stone with the Ten Commandments on it in a courthouse.   During one call, I heard a most extraordinary statement, that …

Hunting around for apple information on the variety Ambrosia, I came across this great quotation from 1922:  •  “Why do we need so many different kinds of apples? Because there are so many different kinds of folks. A person has a right to gratify his legitimate tastes. If he wants 20 or 40 kinds …

It is late in the third quarter of the Grey Cup. For US readers, that is the final in the oldest football championship in North America - 91 years. Sure our players are not as good as NFL players but the rules...rule. Big, big field. NFL gives the team in possession 4 chances to get the ball …

I wrote this over at Reinvented just now:  •  “How could you miss the nuclear fear? Terrorism has nothing on the propect of Leonid unleashing the 17 warheads aimed at your home town and making it a plateau of black glass to the horizon. Folks have been blowing up stuff and civilians since at least …

Billy Campbell and Jimmy Cowan are having a wee nip in heaven tonight because we won 1-0 over Holland today. #58 beating #5 in the world. Magic.  •  “Scotland manager Berti Vogts was very proud of his players and hailed the level of commitment shown by everyone in a blue shirt at Hampden. "The …

“I live right inside radio when I listen...  •  “  •  “Marshall McLuhan, 1964 ”  •  ”  •  ”  •  Radio,  •  like beer and soccer, is totally immersive. As Ian illustrates this  •  morning, the seduction of the immersive can lead to strange places and  •  thoughts. Indeed, as M.McL. went on to say …

Here's a good link to the BBC's web broadcasts of soccer.  •  Tomorrow is the big Scotland v. Holland match played at Hampden Park where Dad played in the national schoolboy championships in 1946 at 16. He missed a wide open chance at goal. He's still mortified about it.

Sometimes acts of atonement for historic events are not just asked of or offered by the western world: the story.

Watching the 'ti' Jean tribute on Newsworld this evening, I am struck by a number of things:  •  The Barra MacNeils kick Rankin arse anyday. My buddy Gary once said he wouldn't cross his lawn to see the Rankins and he was right;  •  Jean kept us in the war on terror and out of the farce in Iraq …

The BBC reports on the changes to email and document handling that will be found in Office 2003:  •  “"Forwarding is obviously the key issue," said Mr Pryke-Smith. "This puts control into the hands of the person sending the e-mail, as opposed to allowing the proliferation of messages." In Office …

In my continuing series of foreseeing the demise of things about which I really have no idea, it is Google's turn:  •  Dave "I had no idea he was that hairy" Winer is creating a directory tree which includes directory space above himself. The rest of us go there.  •  The structure of the directory …

Speaking of CBC radio, when do you turn it off in the morning? Sounds Like Canada loses me within minutes. All that smiley-faced federalist unitarian back-slappery clap-trap. It is like eating maple sugar for two hours - causing decay and weakness under the guide of good feeling. Thank God for …

I caught Information Morning this morning on 1070 AM out of CBC Moncton. We think of AM radio as what you play in the car now when you run out of tapes or CDs when you are far from town but, like longwave airline beacons, they can still guide through the night. Fewer and fewer AM CBC signals are …

The day before Remembrance Day, sadly no longer a public holiday in Ontario, CBC NS reports that the list of WWI vets now contains only ten names with the death of Harold Radford at 106:  •  “He was part of a Canadian campaign to Siberia in 1918, serving with the Nova Scotia Regiment in …

My pals at silverorange had a great time with Sloan on the weekend in Toronto all arranged by Chip. I saw this picture in green this morning and was pretty envious but watching a lunar eclipse with my kids was a close second for a weekend night.  •  Chip is in the back left not on skateboard …

My mother has always said I knew how to take care of myself. This weekend has been a fine example.  •  11th anniversary dinner with the kids out at Gusto at Princess and Division. Friendly to the 3 and 5 year olds. Lamb shanks on cheesy risotto. Good wine by the glass. Dandy.  •  Saturday morning …

Midtown Tavern, R.I.P.  •  David Swick has the whole story in Halifax Daily News:  •  “  •  A city that prides itself on its heritage, and a legendary tavern whose days are numbered. Sounds like a match made in tippling heaven. Operators of the Midtown Tavern in downtown Halifax have applied to …

A cheery thing to read when you are off to the pub at the end of a week's work.

This is not good in a number of ways.

Do your own play-by-play of next week's near destruction of your home planet  •  with this handy Java tool from our pals at NASA's toys on the web department.  •  Apparently the rock known as "1990 OS" passes the earth just nine widths of  •  the moon's orbit next Wednesday. It'll be a magnitude …

It looks like someone is going to do the right thing in the Arar case: Colin Powell. Meanwhile, our men who know men in shades continues to stall:  •  “Solicitor General Wayne Easter refused again Wednesday to give "operational details" of RCMP or CSIS actions at the time. Chretien has rejected a …

All my best ideas are thought of by someone else first. Dave3 uses the term Tree of Knowledge this morning like I did on Halloween. He ties it to distributed directories as is picked up as MetaDirectories at WIFIblog. I think this is great but there is one problem. They appear to be talking in the …

"You pay less 'cause  •  we break laws"?

Damn good thing we gave up sun worship in our house recently. We'd be under the sofa with flares like this. Space Weather reports:  •  “  •  SUPERFLARE:Giant sunspot 486 unleashed another powerful solar flare on Nov. 4th (1950 UT). Ionizing radiation hit Earth's atmosphere soon after the explosion …

Mike in Halifax tells the tale of his St FX "80 yard run" or his equivalent of whatever we put up with from the Burlington Bull back in undergrad. He comments on the great season:  •  “I think we won the games 9-2 and 10-3 or something. But, like I said, it was glorious. The MacPherson House …

I am very uncomfortable with the Arar matter and I think that it speaks to something very wrong in Canada. Maybe its because I am of a non-visible minority, the kid of immigrants from one of the founding nation (forgetting the fact that Scotland was not one of the founding nations of Canada except …

End of month passed, weekend away, payday a couple of days away - the cupboard is bare.   Why do I balk at taking cheerios for lunch?   Given the options are dehydrated borsche, wasabi-covered chickpeas, a kilo of saurkraut and a tablespoon of blue cheese, you'd think I'd be going with the cheerios.

I have a little problem with fitba jerseys. I got a short sleeve one of these in the mail today - Torquay United from 2001. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift. Well, it still is. Well, a wee giftie anyway.  •  If you want to feel the love, go to this site run by my main source in Oldham …

I was disappointed by last week's decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case R. v. S.A.B., 2003 SCC 60 and the point of my disappointment sits right at the outset of the ruling. In paragraph 1 of the ruling for the entire Court by Arbour J,. she of the Former Yugoslavia war crimes …

"How Many is Blue?" is a variant of the question I put at the end of  •  every test I gave in Poland when I taught high school English in 1991. It  •  ensured no one got 100% and also made sure that they worked on the test for the  •  full length of the class.  •  "How many is 600,000?" is about …

Just to prove I needed to fit more 401 time into my life, we paid a surprise trip to my little sister-in-law's place for her mid-late twenties birthday who lives in Wroxeter about 100 km or so northwest of Kitchener. Observations:  •  Watching your Leafs get smoked by the Flyers on a TV set that …