September 2006
Promises For The Next Twelve Hours
Posted by on Saturday, September 30, 2006 in - leave a comment
I will not paint my face orange. I will not dye my hair orange. I will not spray paint the car orange. I will not lift my shirt on TV to reveal an orange belly. I will not end up at a frat kegger with my face orange, my hair orange, the car orange or my belly orange. • I shall, however, wear all …
My Nova Scotia Home
Posted by on Saturday, September 30, 2006 in - 2 comments
I am quite proud to say I grew up in Nova Scotia as often it seems like it lives in another world where you can do things that just make sense: • “Borrowing from a similar project started at the University of Toronto several years ago, the N.S. government wants its 10,000 employees to leave …
Friday PM Mapping
Posted by on Friday, September 29, 2006 in - leave a comment
What other than a neato map question could get me interested in posting after work on Friday? This map is facinating but it is fundamentally unreliable as explained by its makers: • “Important: this map is highly inaccurate and should be understood only as a demonstration, and not as any kind of …
Friday? What Do I Do On Friday?
Posted by on Friday, September 29, 2006 in - 10 comments
Bullet points. How utilitarian - yet how useful. Yet my head is a sack of • cardboard as I got in form work at eight and worst of all...I have somehow • managed to have a purposeful Friday. Don't get me wrong - I like what I get to • do - useful and interesting. But I also have great respect …
11+16+13=?
Posted by on Thursday, September 28, 2006 in - 4 comments
You do that next year and I rip out your guts!" • Runs against the Sox plus runs for the Yankees plus runs against the Mets. Forty runs all in the wrong direction. I never thought I would have a Pavlovian reaction of relief seeing that Tavarez is pitching tonight against Tampa, giving us some …
The Fear Of Iggy
Posted by on Thursday, September 28, 2006 in - 20 comments
Looks like the Tories have got the fear. I may not vote for the guy as that would mean voting in a way that my hand will not let me, but I would have thought Iggy was the one who could turn the boat around faster than any other contender for the Liberal leadership. Apparently the Tories agree …
What Is News?
Posted by on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 in - 6 comments
I seem to be playing the role of Hugh McQuestionmark, the Human Question Mark right now. So here is another: why is every product placement move by Tim Horton's a story worthy of making our news papers. Consider this from the Toronto Star: • “Canada's favourite coffee and doughnut chain has …
What Is A Citizen?
Posted by on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 in - 22 comments
I like to make fun of Conrad Black as much as the next guy but I find it odd to learn that Canadian citizenship is as fickle as his seems to be. I would have thought renouncing it would be as simple and as meaningless as a "screw you" sort of moment. I find it sad that something that is inherent …
Events In Hungary
Posted by on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 in - 3 comments
Speaking of the question of whose government is it anyway, don't forget to follow events in Hungary via The Internationalist. Video, first person descriptions, pamphlets and manifestos. How many of you have published a manifesto in the last ten years anyway?
Sign of the End Times
Posted by on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 in - 2 comments
The Jays are ahead of the Sox.
What Is A Government?
Posted by on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 in - 25 comments
Just to be clear, I don't think any of you have applied for or had your one application to the Court Challenges Program rejected for not being an application from a group just people - despite the fact that the cause won in the end. That being said, I find this quote from Treasury Board president …
Week Four With Brendan Carney
Posted by on Monday, September 25, 2006 in - 5 comments
OK, I have to admit I missed the game on TV as I was at the concert. And then I never got around to figuring out how Brendan did in the 34-14 win over Miami of Ohio. Our man does not appear in any of the reports I can find even though his performance was a notch above of last week. Most of the …
Mondayishness
Posted by on Monday, September 25, 2006 in - 7 comments
We really ought to be scientific about it. All we need to do is address what is wrong with the day and respond directly to that. Then we would be relieved of both the moany groanings of pop tunes about having to get up yet we would want to get up. • Whatever it is, whatever the condition, it …
Cheese 2020
Posted by on Monday, September 25, 2006 in - 14 comments
Just so we are clear, I am pro-cheese. I use these little observational techniques like what if it was like this and then - voom - nothing but emails from cheesemakers. But do they hold Cheese 2020 think tank get togethers, too? • “The internet will be a thriving, low-cost network of billions of …
Billy Bragg, Ottawa Concert
Posted by on Sunday, September 24, 2006 in - 5 comments
So we went to see Billy Bragg in Ottawa last night, eighteen years since the last time when I got the t-shirt and taught Bill suffleboard during a break in a sound check as I held the best table in the place all afternoon. I actually turned down free Sloan tickets a few days earlier as I learned …
I Am Sorry Mr. Tavarez
Posted by on Saturday, September 23, 2006 in - 3 comments
I am sorry, Julian. I have been rude about Julian Tavarez. He has been great since he was plunked in the starting rotation. Yesterday he smoked the Jays: • “But doing the heavy lifting was Tavarez, who needed just 99 pitches to finish this one out. The Red Sox are now 4-1 in his five starts, a …
My New KSPC Hat
Posted by on Friday, September 22, 2006 in - 7 comments
It came in the mail today. My 7-1/2 hand made wool 1950s Kansas City hat. This is one serious hat. Leather rim on the inside. Warm real wool on my head. All organic, it's like having something alive on your head, settling in and finding its place as it learns your real needs. • This is a fine …
Friday: Chat. Pleeeeeeeeeeese.
Posted by on Friday, September 22, 2006 in - 27 comments
Is it summer or fall? I have no idea. I put the furnace on last evening as much to deal with the damp from the rain. It worked. It worked without making a clang, a thump or a low grinding noise of any sort. • This will likely be the news of the day as reported in the Times of India …
Trying to Recall Cafe Wim
Posted by on Thursday, September 21, 2006 in - 11 comments
I don't know why I woke up and asked myself what it was I liked to order at the long shut Cafe Wim on Sussex near the market in Ottawa in the mid-90s. I was awake the best part of an hour involuntarily trying to remember. There are enough references on the internet but I can't find a picture of …
Factions In Afghanistan
Posted by on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 in - 3 comments
A brief but clear description of the factions being faced in Afghanistan in today's briefing by top NATO fella for that country, US Gen. James L. Jones [Ed,: no, no, no...Darth Vader is James Earl Jones]: • “Jones said it is unclear how quickly the Taliban dead will be replaced with fresh …
Simpson on Iran
Posted by on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 in - 1 comment
Yet more cut and paste this morning but I have to say that I have always like John Simpson since he liberated Kabul for the BBC on live TV, racing ahead of the troops, down the road freed by the Northern Alliance, caught in the moment, giddy like a child. He had to say sorry. This article he has …
Fish For Peace
Posted by on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 in - 4 comments
I am glad they are on our side: • “Washington and New York are using bluegills - also known as sunfish - to safeguard their public drinking water. A small number of fish are kept in tanks which are constantly filled with water from the municipal supply. The computerised system registers changes …
Confidence High
Posted by on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 in - 2 comments
When did we enter this period of political doubt? When did we decide it was good to be unsure about where we wanted to go and who we wanted to lead us? • “The Tories also dropped to third place in Quebec when respondents were asked about their voting intentions. Sixteen per cent said they'd vote …
Branding Mastered VIII
Posted by on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 in - 4 comments
Even the Swedes display the mastery over branding. Tastes like candle wax. Why am I reminded of Caddy Shack?
Reply All
Posted by on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 in - 2 comments
Who exactly created the "reply all" function anyway? I know at least one scientist is asking the question: • “Okulitch admits that pressing the "reply all" button on his e-mail was probably unwise, especially as a clarification came from the ministry shortly afterwards explaining that the new …
Mets Clinch
Posted by on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 in - 4 comments
Good to see the Mets win their division. If we are not going to see a repeat of the evisceration of the Yankees that was the Sox comeback of 2004 (not quite on point but satisfying photo here), seeing them lose in a subway series to the Mets is the next best thing. Delgado made an amazing …
Mr. Hitchens on Mr. Ratzinger
Posted by on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 in - 4 comments
A little birdie gave me a heads up to this article in Slate. I think it is quite a bit broader than any observations I may have made about the man called Joe and now called Benny as my observations turn mainly on that one qualifying word "erudite". But it is interesting and starts out with this …
Arar Report Released
Posted by on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 in - 1 comment
What can be done given what we know now? • “Maher Arar is an innocent victim of inaccurate RCMP intelligence reports and deliberate smears by Canadian officials, a commission of inquiry says in a report that also recommends the federal government pay him compensation. Mr. Arar, a Canadian …
New Brunswick Election
Posted by on Monday, September 18, 2006 in - 5 comments
I am sorry. I have been unkind to New Brunswick. My coverage here is far too thin. When people say it is the highway to Maine, I laugh a little. When CBC held a late '70s Canada Day broadcast from every one of Canada's nine provincial capitals...because someone in Toronto forgot New Bunswick, I …
Three of Four
Posted by on Monday, September 18, 2006 in - 1 comment
Well, even with the Boston massacre of about a month ago when the Yankees took all five games at Fenway, it is good to see the Sox play so well in New York. And even if they lost those five at home, it's the six games they lost against Tampa and the three at Kansas City that have them 7.5 back in …
Week Three With Brendan Carney
Posted by on Sunday, September 17, 2006 in - leave a comment
Well, there is not much better than a win after eleven losses - unless it is an Arsenal win over Man U. Again the game was on "the Megaplex in Manland" - and was even followed while a 13 child birthday party flowed, screamed, ran and cried all around it. In a game that was really a show of skills …
YouTubian Reality
Posted by on Sunday, September 17, 2006 in - leave a comment
Even though YouTube is drawing all the kids away from bloggging and into gawking, I like it. It is simple to use, provides me with access to most every video I can think of from my university days and even some sports events that I enjoy remembering. Its days, however, may be numbered …
iPod Questions
Posted by on Saturday, September 16, 2006 in - 13 comments
Seeing as I have only see one person ever in my life using an iPod, I seriously discount claims to their importance. Yet, while this is not in the range of those two-wheel human transporter system thingies from 2002 - as gratuitously illustrated - I am still concerned as to their effect …
Good Sports Day So Far...
Posted by on Saturday, September 16, 2006 in - leave a comment
And in what I call the real news, Boston won in New York, Syracuse won for the first time in 12 games, Morton tied but lead the league, Arsenal plays Man U (pttui!) tomorrow and the Leafs just started rookie camp. • Things could be worse.
And Furthermore...
Posted by on Saturday, September 16, 2006 in - 4 comments
Not to be an utter crank who can't spell today, but shouldn't major sports teams have their own separate jersey designs? This picture from the English Premiership is rather CFL circa 1994, a la Shreveport Pirates v. Las Vegas Posse, no?
Poor Measuring Stick
Posted by on Saturday, September 16, 2006 in - 18 comments
As is usual now, there is outrage at the outrage. • We are now to the point that backlash about anything western from anyone in the Islamic world means we have to reject that backlash and hug the offending words, acts or things tight as a cornerstone of the western world. Pope Benny's gaff was …
The Day of Fri Is When There Is Chat
Posted by on Friday, September 15, 2006 in - 20 comments
What a week - a blur. I swear I was 27 when it started and now I have kids • and a mortgage. Thing I learned? Buying gifts for a kids party was easier when • they were two. You can buy an old shoe and stick some red masking tape on it and • a two-year old would be happy. Now they have taste …
Help A Blogger Out
Posted by on Thursday, September 14, 2006 in - 17 comments
Ian asks an interesting question: • “I am not out to solicit praise. Someone please tell me how I can do this blog differently, or what they would do with this space. Dialogue is all but dead, and the rest is gossip. If this is merely a place to put photos, I could do it on Flickr. Are blogs …
I Never Liked Starbucks
Posted by on Thursday, September 14, 2006 in - 18 comments
I went once in Vancouver, paid waaaaay too much for essentially a 25 cent product and never went back. But apparently some people want their Starbucks coffee quite badly: • “A Starbucks customer in the US who was told her free drink voucher was worthless is launching a $114m (£60m) lawsuit …
There Is A Club For Everything
Posted by on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 in - 6 comments
Some days you just don't know what to write. There is nothing decent to steal off of other bloggers, the news is the same or worse and its a rainy cold evening that feels so much like the fall that it could be Newfoundland in July. Then think of the seach you have never searched before in 15 years …
Lovefest
Posted by on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 in - 2 comments
How better to introduce one of the most powerful people in the world to Canada than taking her to a Tim Horton's in Stellerton, Pictou Co.: • “At Tim Hortons, Peter MacKay and Condoleezza Rice playfully argued over who should pick up the tab for his tea and her half-regular-half-decaf coffee …
Bad Fish
Posted by on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in - 6 comments
What next? "Family of man killed in hiking fall blow up hill"? • “Dead stingrays with their tails cut off have been found in Australia, sparking concern that fans of naturalist Steve Irwin may be avenging his death.”
Isn't It Just Called Lying?
Posted by on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in - 5 comments
I love the English language and how you can use it to explain anything, spell with it in any way you like and twist it to make up new concepts like "pretexting": • “ Earlier in the day, the Congressional committee asked HP to turn over "records and information related to the company's reported …
If Trucks Had Wings
Posted by on Monday, September 11, 2006 in - 3 comments
Traditionally, the celebration of our jetsicle heritage has been about jets and the need to protect our jetsicle heritage from those who would take them off their crumbling concrete pedestals and house them in climate controlled museums with curators and a gift shop and stuff. But from time to …
Five Years On
Posted by on Monday, September 11, 2006 in - 34 comments
I suppose many of us thought at the time that we would not get to this point in the way that we have. We thought the world had changed and that things like irony and division were finished. When I go in to the archives of this blog and search for "9/11", I find a lot I have written and you have …
Week Two With Brendan Carney
Posted by on Sunday, September 10, 2006 in - 1 comment
A bit of good luck yesterday with the Syracuse v. Iowa game as it was shown from the Carrier Dome on ABC. In the end Syracuse lost 20 to 13 but did so in double overtime after Iowa made a heroic defensive stand at the end zone which, through a series of penalties, gave Syracuse about 27 chances to …
Project #1 - Hoist The Flag
Posted by on Saturday, September 9, 2006 in - 10 comments
It is a full life here at the new place. My goal today was learning to bore into brick and I did a job that I suspect will hold for the reasonably foreseeable future. That, with things handy, is usually as far as I get to go. Now, all shall hail Louisiana. • Next task, caulking the leaky tub …
Never Was A Friday Chat So Richly Deserved
Posted by on Friday, September 8, 2006 in - 40 comments
The whole concept of TGIF has been laid aside somewhat since the disco era. Something happened around the time the Smashing Pumpkins were being miserable. I think it was then because when the Smiths were miserable at least you could still dance to it even if you had to try a little too hard …
I Was <i>This</i> Close To The Stage
Posted by on Thursday, September 7, 2006 in - 4 comments
As time passes and you get older you forget you laughed a lot over bands like Foreigner and so you now think it is kind of cool to walk around the New York State Fair and listen to them. Apparently a lot of people are of the same mind. They were tight and from 500 feet looked pretty good …
My Vote
Posted by on Thursday, September 7, 2006 in - 12 comments
My vote is something I think about from time to time and for the most part in my lfe I've voted to the left of the general scheme of things - Green and NDP and even Independent Liberal once. These, however, are interesting times for a rightist blog reading light leftie like me. • First, Stephen …
Hey Gary!
Posted by on Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Better September
Posted by on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 in - 11 comments
The injuries are over and the winning ways begin again. There is time but not much chance given the quality ahead of the Sox. • And I have to admit a moment of weakness. I bought a Mets hat. Not like a fitted one or anything. Did you know that the Mets colours are a mix of the New York Giants …
Kings Of Rome...Or Utica
Posted by on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 in - 1 comment
In part, my reaction to Garnet Roger's version of "King of Rome" has led me over the years to leave pigeon racing and showing to others. • What a revelation, then, last Sunday when I realized this was the sport for me. I was familiar with many of the breeds already...although more their human …
These Things I Have Seen
Posted by on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 in - 4 comments
Is it just that time of year or do I pass by these things daily. That ice sure tastes funny and I have not even tried any. I am not sure why I needed to buy four tickets for Norm.
Triats Of Others
Posted by on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 in - leave a comment
This is a great characteristic for private life: • “this is coming to be seen as one of Harper's signature traits — viewing communication as a one-way exercise: telling, not explaining or persuading or listening. Prime ministerial communication, as this current office-holder describes it, is all …
NY State Fair 2006: The Butter Sculpture Question
Posted by on Monday, September 4, 2006 in - 17 comments
When we got to out hotel around 7 pm last night in a town an hour from the New York State Fair we were asked by the good folk at Ithaca's Holiday Inn how our travel had been and I mentioned that we had gotten a little damp at the fair but all had gone really well otherwise. I then hear: • “"I …
Week One With Brendan Carney
Posted by on Sunday, September 3, 2006 in - 7 comments
Studious readers will recall that we have adopted Syracuse Orange kick-off kicker #47 Brendan Carney as our NCAA player of the season. Well, last night was the first game of the season and while Syracuse lost 20-10 to Wake Forest - and who the hell could like a football team named after trees - it …
Sunday Fair
Posted by on Sunday, September 3, 2006 - 4 comments
Off to see the hall of cheese and the cow racing. It's like another country down there.
They Blog!
Posted by on Saturday, September 2, 2006 in - 13 comments
Who knew? Dynamic and an honest name, too: Plenty of Nothing. A stark, disconcerting absence of baseball related yappetry to date, though someone is reading Koppett. • Entirely Unrelated Update: This is today's task. • Not Entirely Unrelated To The Entirely Unrelated Update Update: It is a …
Weather Forecast Dexterity
Posted by on Friday, September 1, 2006 in - 12 comments
Like I am going to post on a Friday evening about something other than how great the weather service is. This bit from the "Forecast Discussion" on the neighbouring Jefferson County forecast is gold: • “Issued at: 1005 PM EDT FRI SEP 1 2006 Issued by: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO …
Friday Chat, Bad Day Chat
Posted by on Friday, September 1, 2006 in - 10 comments
I can hear them even now - whiff, whiff, whiff. The sound of my new back to school cords, junior high late 70s. Crisp now, they would weigh me down in that cold October rain waiting for the bus, absorbing like a new sponge technology. This is the first bad day in the calendar since February …
