Isn't New Year's Eve the day the anti-blink rules don't apply?  •  Update: I had to shoot the blinky marquee. Couldn't help myself.  •  Maybe tomorrow I will look back but I got up this morning and realized that '07 - '007 no less - was less than 18 hours away already. I had though that the …

Just missing the bartender's guide  •  We had a pre-emptive New Years party last night which means a couple of bunches of kids in the choir and related big people get together to, them, gawk at a DVD between screaming sessions while Yahtzee is played by we upstairs. And the dice did fly. I am not …

Leadership.  •  “"The jackasses at Elections Canada are out of control," Harper wrote in a 2001 letter to raise funds for Paul Bryan of B.C. who was fined for posting election results on the Internet. "This is not the first attack on freedom by Elections Canada. Its heavy-handed chief, Jean-Pierre …

It's here. The last Friday of 2006. Like most, I hate New Year's Eve due to one or two nights of the bad party. Now I plan nothing and always get my way. Once many years ago - for reasons I can't get into and I can't really recall - I ate about five servings of fried clams and shot plastic dart …

Oddly, Barry Zito, whose best years were now three or four years ago, has been much discussed in the media this Yule - at least the media I am following. The interesting thing is that he has become sort of a benchmark for the end of value or perhaps overvalue. This has been something of a mad …

Sticking with the NYT's cutting and pasting, I was thinking about wind power the other day. People go on about the operational costs and Albertans tremble before the prospect of a viable source of energy that will lower the price of the windfall they sit upon. But has not there been a history in …

Hard to believe I am only now seeing the last bit of Lord of the Rings care of the state arm of the pro-orc-killing forces amongst us. Last night in the first period of LOTR part III, there was some orc slaughtery but too much gooey doe eyed lovey-dovey. Not much chance of figuring out who is …

Seems like one day cannot go by without us getting mixed signals about the Postal Unionists approach to Canada as a nation. Whereas it seems like only yesterday that it was let my people be when Lower Canada or Westbertia is in question, today it seems that inter-meddling with the affairs of a …

The garden needs to be improved, made more foody. Good to see that there are a variety of fig trees to be had at Grimno Nut down at Niagara-on-the-Lake. We have a south facing brick wall and that should do the trick with some potted plants. Chiltern in England has olive seeds - could one actually …

Slowest. News. Day. Ever.  •  On the upside, I gave the gift of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and immediately remembered all the David Bowie guitar that I learned in high school. "Five Years" flew off my fingers like it was 1979 once again.  •  We have decided to focus on knucklehead rock as …

An new view and plenty to check out. The narrow bit of Wolfe Island allows for a view of the US channel and the lakers. Plus, there is a view to the east of Wolfe Island over Fort Henry that I think is the US shore but I have to figure that out. Neatest of all is a layer of horizon (B) that fades …

I got:  •  A 1979-ish Coleco Power Play table hockey set with the Winnipeg Jets among other teams - in the original box!.A Red Sox Santa hat and a white Red Sox jersey.A quarter share of a real wooden toboggan.Jammies.  •  43? 8? 43? 8? I can't quite recall.

While I have my doubts that the internet has changed very much at all, million channel cable TV sure has changed Christmas holidays. Unlike the early 90's when you were stuck in a living hell of black and white morality plays like the fantastically awful It's A Wonderful Life or that thing by …

Being no fan of tipping points or telling events, I still find the slow but steadily increasing disutility of email interesting:  •  “The holiday season brings festive parties, family gatherings -- and a deluge of spam. Unsolicited messages, or spam, which account for nine out of 10 e-mails, fill …

I was confused a little when I looked at the Toronto Star this morning and not just by the recent change in web layout. I was clicking on this story about hockey and about Stephen Harper when it dawned on me that it was a story about hockey by Stephen Harper, the leader of the land. We are told in …

What is wrong with inordinately large bells?  •  The trouble with Christmas on a Monday is that there is two extra days of lead up. Traditionally, the 22nd is nothing but day for pagans to think about what might have been for the winter solstice. But tonight on the local PBS we have bell ringer …

That is what I wish for you all. The gift of fabulousness. This season brings out the fabulousness in all of us and lets us witness the fabulousness in each other - in friends, family as well as strangers. Be fabulous to each other and to yourself. That is the true meaning of the season.  •  One …

You'd think that there was only one blog I wrote. But you must remember, there are universal themes in every tale of Christmas, in every gift that is opened - even one to oneself.

I am cross posting this story today as it is pretty cool. My kind beer blog sponsors at Worthington's White Shield have a fascinating contest going on right now:  •  “Worthington White Shield has have launched a national search together with the Campaign for Real Ale to find Britain's oldest …

Busy morning at the beer blog. Dealing with a sponsor and helping a foreign brewery understand the Ontario marketplace not to mention editing a piece from Knut of Norway.  •  So, while I slave digitally (note that pun!!!) and especially after yesterday's debacle, we'll have a test to see if you …

[Ed.: I now have to unhide the post held in reserve.]  •  This is inspiring:  •  “Former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney recently warned that the Tories must not cede leadership of the environment file to rivals on the political battlefield, and yesterday Mr. Harper …

Oh, for the days of being a street performing environmentalist. I still do this sort of thing in the backyard just to keep my skills sharp.

Out with work until the wee hours, I have a deficit of cleverness this morning. Yet through the foggy haze I can still see that this would irritate to no end if I could remember where that end is that gets irritated:  •  “Following months of speculation, the iPhone has finally arrived. But after …

So as we are implicitly move to the creation of the national myth of the state of Ontarianada within the Postal Union of Canada, it is important to get onto the iconographic bandwagon and here is one of my favorites. A grand old flag located on a great public service, the Highway 33 ferry from …

Remember all that secret agenda stuff that was thrown about the Harper campaign? It was supposed to be that we would all be living la vita 1947 by the time it was done. Well, I am not sure if that is a fair judgment sitting here a year after the campaign that led to the election but this stuff is …

So the juleglogg experiment worked out well. Just straight frozen berries filling 80% of a couple of half-litre mason jars filled up with 22 buck Polish vodka and left for three weeks in the cold room. Polish vodka is made of rye, not spuds or whatever else other folk make the vodka out of these …

Pure Stuff in its Elemental Form  •  Once again, the Flea has confessed as to my brilliance on the question of stuff which has led me to the realization that there is a vast opportunity to supply the stuff that one needs but does not get in this digital world. It seems also to me that there is …

The Toronto Star has an update on the slow but now steady recovery of Trevor Greene, my fellow Kingsman, who was seriously injured in Afghanistan last spring. Best wishes for him and his family are being posted here. My thoughts are certainly with him and his family at this time of gathering and …

Is this the ides of Yule? Hard to tell with mid-December temperatures in the 10C/50F range. 55F in Watertown, NY today. It is slowing down around town - the university emptying out, folks daydreaming of Christmas cake soon to come, people writing Christmas cards instead of clamouring in the …

I give up. It is nutty news day:  •  “The world's tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards. Mongolian herdsman Bao Xishun was called in after the dolphins swallowed plastic used around their pool at an aquarium in …

Sometimes life does mirror really bad 1980s movies of the week:  •  “Myriam Bédard, a one-time Canadian Olympic hero, is now a fugitive wanted by police for parental abduction. Quebec City police have issued an arrest warrant for Ms. Bédard, who left for the United States this fall with her spouse …

I guess socialism is a-ok when it is rural socialism:  •  “The Conservative government is ordering Canada Post to protect rural mail delivery and maintain a fund that subsidizes postage for Canadian magazines. Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced Wednesday that he has directed the Crown …

Gary's legion of pigs advancing across the sward in front of a briefly deactivated blue screen have got me both a'feared and anxious to see Attack of the Pig Banks!!!

Vroom!  •  This winter solstice thing is really hitting me hard this year. Sure I could set the alarm but wouldn't that mean I am ignoring my natural rhythms? I mean I have to respect my natural rhythms, right?

Hmmm...I take it no one involved has had a brief look at the bits between...err...Genesis and The Book of Revelations:  •  “Targeted largely at conservative Christians, it's a violent video game with a difference: Combatants on one side pause for prayer, and their favoured interjection is "Praise …

Anyone who can insult me, inform me, confirm my fears, correct me, and create a new icon for the 21st century - the crazed angry chemist - is all right by me.  •  Best. Comment. Ever.

It is good to speak up if a matter is truly misguided. It is not good to speak up if it needs all our support. So either the Bloc is doing a very difficult, good and brave thing or a very easy, foolish and bad thing.  •  Oddly, days ago people were convinced they would not try to force any issue …

Mets!!! I got the news in my Baseball Hall of Fame newsletter by email today. Excellent but this may make for a more difficult ticket to compared to last year. Gary may have to do a service to the good of GX40:  •  “The 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame Game will feature a flashback to the 1969 World …

Reading the NYT this morning, I came across this odd passage in a story about a chef who was given some basic cooking tasks but had to use other oils:  •  “Mr. Schwartz, a chef who has worked in some of the city’s most celebrated restaurants, including Le Cirque and Osteria del Circo, agreed to …

Something reminded me of the shanty today - sometimes the chanty - fishermen's songs that sound like those Gaelic cloth beating work songs of Cape Breton: pounding rhythms, repetitious lines, huge numbers of verses and variations. But what of the office worker? The only folk song I know of …

And here I thought I was being somewhere between stunned and brave getting the kids out on their bikes this morning. But winter surfing on Lake Erie beats that out. Apparently it is done on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, too.

Remember when TV was new and it was supposed to be a classroom in every home? Remember when the web was new and it was supposed to make us all citizen journalists? Well, I am holding to that dream and making it come true with my move in to citizen weatherpersonship.  •  In this installment, I give …

Hitting the road today to have lunch with Gary in Ithaca and do some Christmas shopping. SO i have to make this quick.  •  First, there is a bloggers bash in Toronto tonight. I am not going but these people have no idea what I look like so if you are in Toronto go the party and say you are me …

For anyone who missed it, the big red pencil came out and established a line that we do not cross, established that we do not go backwards no matter how much some feel they are entitled to tell other people what to do with their personal dignity in relation to love. That would be the legislature …

More later but note this ruling out of the Supreme Court of Canada today and study it...all of you! From the headnote:  •  “A practice undertaken for survival purposes can be considered integral to an aboriginal community’s distinctive culture. The nature of the practice which founds an aboriginal …

OK, to be fair, the crazy thing is not that the Yankees are trying to sign Andy Pettitte. It is that they let him go in the first place. And I don't want to see Clemens in pin stripes again:  •  “ The Yankees’ solution for their immediate future may come from their recent past. Andy Pettitte is …

Funny how there has been less and less talk of a new e-world order in the latter half of 2006. I wonder why? Have people just remembered that the law is your friend and creators have the right to their creation? The UK seems to have.  •  “Copyright criminals must face far tougher regulation to …

Brother Iain points out a truth related to the Dion doltosity and the rush to shout "Jack Hughes!" that also points out many things about the GOTCHA! world of both politics and internet discourse: Turner was a Brit.  •  “Not the words one would expect to hear from a former company director on the …

Like me and a large number of Canadians, Stephan Dion has a dual citizenship. I think this is a weird non-issue. There are rumours that the government is planning changes to citizenship - like it is planning changes to the constitution - based on its solid 29% support outside of Alberta and the …

Let's consider the infield, outfield, pitching and batting over the next wee while. First the infield.  •  So we now have Lugo.  •  The question is this: is Lowell, Lugo, Pedroia and Youkilis better than Lowell, Loretta, Gonzalez, Youkilis. I am not pleased that Mark Loretta was not taken up for …

I think those two post below are the two most boring things I have ever written. Combined they are fantastically boring. Tedious. I think I should declare that the day you give an opinion on the acting prowess of Albert Schultz is the day you have to admit the tap is a wee bit dry. Got up too …

I caught bits of this last night. I think it was awful. Did I ever mention that listening to actors talk about what they do is stimulating of the brain?  •  “"My job then is, I’ll put the human being out there. The facts are on the page, so all I can do is try to bring some flesh and blood to …

We seem to be getting the lake effect this morning but only a couple of inches. Watertown NY, forty miles or so to the southeast, got eight to ten inches overnight according to the local morning TV show. Less than three weeks before Christmas is not bad at all. Still seems odd to have a local …

I want to make one thing clear - we are a nation of ingrates. Just look at this:  •  “When Mr. Dion entered the Liberal leadership race, critics scoffed that the decision underscored a foolish and typically stubborn refusal to accept his limitations. How could a Quebec candidate, intoned the good …

In the good old days, Real Madrid won Spanish championships because dictator Franco's thugs made it so. In the good old days Red Army had the best hockey team because the hand picked players were held at a camp in the woods. So there are relatively less fair situations out there in sporting …

That is what happens I guess. You watch a little baseball then a little football and then some hockey and, WHAMMO, you don't notice that it's cricket tour season until it's the third day of the second test between England and Australia. Here is your update from today's play:  •  “1256: Harmison …

In February 2005, I came across reference for CBC Radio to expand into the Kingston market at some point. There still seems to be interest in this as the Corporate Plan 2006-2007 indicates at page 32 - warning .pdf!  •  I think this would be good as the south-east Ontario region, aka north …

The New York Times Sunday magazine has a long article this morning on US spying and their computer systems entitled "Open Source Spying". While it speaks to how the 1995 systems still in place in 2004, the next generation of systems also have issues. This post is just notes as I was going along …

This is the day. These are the hours. Let us all consider these few months of the governing party out of power and how they, those lucky few, will decide how to return to that happy happy place. Live blog. Now. All of you. This is a 24 hour blog-o-rama. Is Iggy done? Can Ken surge? Who knows? A …

I remember like it was yesterday that it was recently not now but that was a lot longer ago than I recall.  •  What is going on? It is a moving day for someone I know and I am lending a hand so a half day. It is also a double party evening. It's been so long since one of them came a long I can't …

An odd bit of public welfare notification giving from the PEI Liquor Commission, an organization I recall as lacking a strong leadership role in public awareness on the risks associated with the product:  •  “The 24-page guide, released in time for the holidays, gives tips on planning a party …