January 2007
Notre Dame Hammers The Orange
Posted by on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 in - 1 comment
It was grim. So grim I had to review with the lad in his orange hoodie the rule about being a good fan means watching them lose badly. But then we didn't really watch when they were losing by about 24 points. We did homework. The big news of the game? "Notre Dame became the first team to crack the …
Posted by on Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sports On Super Bowl Tuesday
Posted by on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 in - 8 comments
I am unaware if I should care and if I do what particular on the Tuesday? Do I lean more towards the Colts today and the Bears tomorrow? Or is this more the time for considering Super Bowls past? If these civic rituals are going to extend to longer and longer stretches, rivaling Ramadan, Advent or …
Fanness Goodness
Posted by on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 in - leave a comment
What makes you a fan? I just wrote somebody this: • “I actually like sports. I like watching good players play games well and a good game is a damn fine thing. In 2006, I cheered watching a Watertown baseball comeback, a Syracuse football romp over a weak team as well as got to shout "Yale …
Sick But Safe At Home
Posted by on Monday, January 29, 2007 in - 2 comments
What with colds of the head and stomach all around and sub-zero on either scale outside, what better than to read about baseball. The New York Times, as usual, has a great story this morning, today on the three Molina brothers who all catch: • “The three DiMaggio brothers had superb careers and …
How To Choke
Posted by on Sunday, January 28, 2007 in - 4 comments
Last night's Syracuse - Louisville game was on the wonderful cable TV sports package that has brought me more joy than any other electronic media or content ever ever has. I got my ugly brown Syracuse t-shirt on and little man got on his orange hoodie. It was great for 30 minutes and fifteen …
Big Teams Beating Little Teams
Posted by on Saturday, January 27, 2007 in - 2 comments
Fourth round of the FA Cup in England today with a bunch of big name teams beating a bunch of littler name teams - except Blackpool, in their Holland orange, tied a much mightier team, Norwich, who play in one league higher. I think the year long tournament in which every team in the land (almost …
Friday Bullets For Shane
Posted by on Friday, January 26, 2007 in - 13 comments
When I was seven, I had to go to the hospital in North Sydney. I had something but the doctors couldn't figure out for a week they poked around me, one day taking so many blood tests that they ended up having to hold me down. They ended up figuring it out and I was out in about ten days. Andrew …
Citizen Journalism Index
Posted by on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in - 2 comments
Seeing as - after a lot of bleating and ball going homery - Jay has pointed to a couple of blogs that may actually qualify as citizen journalists, I think an index needs to be kept. Send in links to sites where people are doing more than cutting and pasting like going to look see or reporting back …
My New Speed!
Posted by on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in - 4 comments
Wow. My pals and server lords at silverorange just relocated the blogs to a super-duper server. Check out the speed this thing is moving at now. Go ahead - feel free to browse the archives and have a look at pages filled with photos. • Zoom.
Weeks Away From Baseball
Posted by on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in - 1 comment
Baseball really never sleeps as it is always summer somewhere, where there is always hope and the prospect of a double play on a green lawn as quiet attention is paid from the stands. It is good then that the New York Times runs a major baseball story every day even when it is -1F outside with a …
Can I Have One? Today?
Posted by on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in - 11 comments
These sorts of passive weapons are always interesting. Mini-badman Noriega will be released this year and he was brought down by amplified heavy metal as much as anything...or was it Wham? But with it well below freezing out, I want the home edition of this puppy: • “The prototype weapon …
More Buying Truth And Ethics
Posted by on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in - 18 comments
Given all the fluidity and hype about what can be expected from the Internet, it is interesting to note that good old cash remains king. Even Gord indicates some sympathy for the question of whether the medium maximizes message or truth. Interesting to see the two concepts of ethics and Internet …
GP:¹ The US State Of The Union Speech
Posted by on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 in - 24 comments
We don't have these. We have the Speech from the Throne. We get to be told, not have an explanation given to us. Ours are never remembered as we know to expect them to be diverted from, losing their value faster than an new car driven off the lot. • But we Canadians watch these things southern …
Bernie William
Posted by on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 in - 1 comment
When I think of Bernie WIlliams I get all confused, forgetting that I am not supposed to like anyone who is a Yankee (pittuie!). His contribution to the team last year was far above expectation for a guy in his late 30s - a .281 average in 420 at-bats. The New York Times has an article today on …
Is Wikiality For Hire?
Posted by on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 in - 5 comments
Keenly aware that I can't handle the truth, there is some comfort in knowing that the powers that be are at play in the land of wikiality: • “Brooker said Microsoft and the writer, Rick Jelliffe, had not determined a price and no money had changed hands — but they had agreed that the company …
Of Course There Is Magic
Posted by on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 3 comments
In terms of inner reality, science basically sucks anyway so why wouldn't we rely on what we understand. And what is the difference between "hard-wired in the brain" and "natural" anyway? • “It is no coincidence, some social scientists believe, that youngsters begin learning about faith around …
Becoming A Toddler
Posted by on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 in - 24 comments
I went to high school with a noted volcanologist and then I went to undergrad with political scientist Heather MacIvor, a regular Toronto media quote and often quite a good one - like this: • “With a full year of Conservative rule behind them, Canadians now want to see the Tories start taking …
How To Be A Journalist These Days
Posted by on Monday, January 22, 2007 in - 85 comments
An interesting column by the BBC's Bill Thompson but one which makes me wonder how the conversation got so skewed away from what really is to what is claimed to be. Thompson talks about what a journalism student today is to do given new media: • “Unfortunately for those already working as …
Pick Your Week's Group Project
Posted by on Monday, January 22, 2007 in - 3 comments
How about this? How about on Mondays I post three choices of the Tuesday Group Project topic? • Consider the environment as a national issue. For me this just isn't a pull and, given the obvious rehashing of ideas, not one that should excite the imagination. Can a Federal election actually be …
One New Yorker Views The Blue Jays
Posted by on Monday, January 22, 2007 in - 5 comments
I suppose my interest this morning in an article about the Yankees v. the Jays this morning indicates my real depth of interest in the NFL. I would be concerned that the AL East might be entering into a three way era but it appears that Toronto's GM thinks his pitching rotation is weak: • “Roy …
Communal Boogie Curse Generating Post
Posted by on Sunday, January 21, 2007 in - 7 comments
It's not that I hate the Indianapolis Colts like I dislike the Habs, Man U and the Yankees but there is something really appealing about someone being labeled as a top notch loser, the guys who can win, should win but just doesn't win. Especially when he doesn't win against the same guy. It's like …
Stirling Crushed!
Posted by on Sunday, January 21, 2007 in - 3 comments
Beauty. I trust you have all aching heads after celebrating the most important sporting event of 2007, Morton's victory yesterday over Stirling in Scottish League Second Division play: • “Morton extended their lead at the top of the Second Division to 12 points with a convincing victory. The …
The Curling Liberation Army
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2007 in - 1 comment
This is how dopey the all-fear-all-the-time set can be. Apparently the recently rounded up included a "leader" - quotation marks required - who was going to set El Norte ablaze: • “A Toronto man who infiltrated a group accused of plotting terror attacks on Canadian targets, including Parliament …
Excellent Satellite Smoking Action
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2007 in - 6 comments
I have to admit, I like China's style. What other nation would spend a bazillion dollars to smash its own lo-fi satellite out of the sky with a lo-fi ICM with its steering wheel removed, aimed only up. • “China’s apparent success in destroying one of its own orbiting satellites with a ballistic …
I Am So Clever
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2007 in - 22 comments
News from The Lancet, the British medical journal, that folic acid is good for you: • “The folic acid group had significantly better memories and were faster at processing information, the researchers found. Both abilities are known to decline with age, and loss of performance in these areas has …
Friday The Bulletteenth
Posted by on Friday, January 19, 2007 in - 13 comments
Friday is the new Saturday in the work world. Remembering working Saturdays in the years of schlepverk, retail wages funding weekends reminds me of dressdowns and finishing the afternoon ending with the Beat Authority: • Make a flake. Go ahead. You know you want to. Post them on the fridge in …
No News Thursday
Posted by on Thursday, January 18, 2007 in - 44 comments
Sad day when there is nothing in the first three news sites that remotely triggers the desire to cut and paste. Thankfully, when in doubt, there are the futurists and panicky fears of LUDDITES!!!: • “The internet will be a thriving, low-cost network of billions of devices by 2020, says a major …
Doom Is Back In Style
Posted by on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 in - 6 comments
Nice to see a bit of nostalgia coming back as the doomsday clock makes the news for the first time since my voice finally stopped breaking at unfortunate moments as The Star reports: • “For the first time in five years, the elite board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the …
Posted by on Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Science Revealed
Posted by on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 in - 7 comments
My health is in their hands: • “"We have got a problem and we don't know what to do about it. We hit on the idea of a chewing gum because obese people like chewing."” • While they are at it, why not create a sofa that acts like a big medication patch through which anti-eating drugs are fed …
Is It Us?
Posted by on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 in - leave a comment
Even though the new poll from the Strategic Counsel fails to mention the relevant consideration, what the Rest of Canada - Alberta (ROC-A) thinks, this poll is bad news for a bunch of people, including...err...Canadians. Right now, the ROC is this: • “Conservative: 36% • Liberal: 38% • NDP …
Posted by on Tuesday, January 16, 2007
CBC One To Be All-Sports
Posted by on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 in - 25 comments
That's the word on the street, anyway. I understand "Freestyle" will be replaced by a two hour hockey and lacrosse call-in show called "Brian Williams Don't Live Here Anymore" hosted by "Sounds Like Canada"'s Shelagh Rogers or someone who looks and sounds like her. Then it will be repeated in a …
GP: Provincial Symmetry
Posted by on Monday, January 15, 2007 in - 16 comments
Symmetry. It was all the rage in rejecting the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords. Things had to be the same for me and the same for them or the nation was at risk...or did we just all vote against Mr. Lip Luck, Brian Mulroney? The idea was no province can be treated differently than the next so …
Ice Storm Day
Posted by on Monday, January 15, 2007 in - 22 comments
In the good old days of high density high altitude living I had a sense of what the storm was doing by looking down from my perch. Now I know the fear that living in the suburbs brings, crouched in the cellar surrounded by concrete and brick. What will the trip to work hold? Where are my boots? Do …
Just The Legalese
Posted by on Monday, January 15, 2007 in - 1 comment
This is great. Four years of war and thousands dead to create a democratic foothold - and this happens: • “Giovanni De Stefano, a member of the men's defence team, said he heard the news from a colleague in Baghdad. "I was stunned because we were assured there would be no executions until at …
Nine Points Up
Posted by on Sunday, January 14, 2007 in - 2 comments
Still a ways to go but three games worth of points is a good thing. If we just pray together weekly for the further collapse of Stirling this can happen. It hasn't happened for four years since they got oot of the cellar division but it could happen - even though it has not before. The insight …
Integrity And The Hall Of Fame
Posted by on Saturday, January 13, 2007 in - leave a comment
The post Hall of Fame election belly button examinations are mystifying: • “For sheer high moral dudgeon, it is likely no one topped Gwen Knapp of The San Francisco Chronicle. "People who voted for McGwire have a moral code, too," she observed, "one that reveres what happens on the field …
The House Of Many Mouths And Many Short Sleeps
Posted by on Saturday, January 13, 2007 in - 4 comments
Some days I realize I don't have to wonder what it was like to keep watch on a ship in the British navy in around 1815. There was a period of about one hour last night when all were snoozing. On the upside, I got to watch Craig Ferguson. • Where is Mike "the Sandman" Campbell when you need him …
The Friday Chat That Made The Internet What It Is
Posted by on Friday, January 12, 2007 in - 33 comments
If I didn't do Friday chat, the Internet would stop. That is what the voices tell me. • How Canadian are you? What a dumb question to pose in relation to immigration? What is the benchmark? If they asked a group of Haligonians when I was young the answer would be "not much". We didn't think much …
Calvin And Hobbes
Posted by on Thursday, January 11, 2007 in - 7 comments
Like John where you can find more, I miss Calvin and Hobbes, which in my mind tussles only with Peanuts for the title of the greatest strip cartoon ever. Look at that above - if I have to give a review, it is that it is pure brilliance.
Syracuse Finding Its Form
Posted by on Thursday, January 11, 2007 in - leave a comment
See, if I just don't reference a single player, I do not run into that Brendon Carney thing, the need to reference every game in overly wrought detail. But this, after a win over #15 Marquette (aka "The Catholic, Jesuit University in Milwaukee") is noteworthy. And a valuable lesson for us all …
You Be The President
Posted by on Thursday, January 11, 2007 in - 53 comments
Tough to decide four years in to embrace your inner Powell and grasp the importance of civil order but maybe it is not too late: • “President Bush embraced a major tactical shift on Wednesday evening in the war in Iraq when he declared that the only way to quell sectarian violence there was to …
Complete Baseball Hall of Fame Results
Posted by on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 in - 9 comments
The 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame election results are in. I think this all turned out well except for Jim Rice. Rice has only two more years and next year's crop of other eligible players looks weak. Here are the full results: • “Relief pitcher Rich "Goose" Gossage fell 21 votes shy of election …
Real Future Phones
Posted by on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 in - 7 comments
“Here we are now, • Entertain us!” • More news out of some trade show that the world demands to replicate kids copying the deaf dumb and blind kid playing pinball from Tommy even though we all know the kids are really like the kids in Quadrophenia: • “The head of the world's biggest maker of …
From The Archives - The Next Wayne And Shuster
Posted by on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 in - leave a comment
Should you care to dip into the past, I moved the content of the soon to die blog Shadow Cabinet over to the articles section last night. You can now read the posts here. I won't name names but it was an attempt to create a political humour group blog around the last election. It joins the more …
We're #2, We're #2
Posted by on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 in - 15 comments
Seeing as Ohio State and Michigan basically got smoked in their respective bowls, I say Florida is the #1 and undefeated blue turfers Boise State should be #2. • If the teams had any guts they would organize their own scrimmage in two weeks and to heck with the NCAA. Go State!
GP: That Senate Thing
Posted by on Monday, January 8, 2007 in - 48 comments
GP = Group Project = collaborative blogging. More here. • Last week, the group project was about the general feeling we each have for the Canadian Federal government and expressing the level of interest we have in its future. This week's group project is far more specific. As befits a group …
January Free For Al!
Posted by on Monday, January 8, 2007 in - 39 comments
This is my mulligan. • By the way, I know where the term mulligan comes from. If I didn't wake up at 7:45 for the best of reasons I would tell you why. • Only two rules on a free for Al day: good manners and not frikkin' Entertainment Tonight stuff.
Futurism Of The Clock At Work
Posted by on Sunday, January 7, 2007 in - 7 comments
You have to suspect any article that includes quotes like this: • “I don't think people will recognize the work force between today and 10 years from now in terms of...the way we work, the people who are engaged in the work force and the work that people are doing.” • You can replace work and …
Morton's Global Domination Continues
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2007 in - 8 comments
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooootttt!!! • Click the image for the whole story.
Good Baseball News!
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2007 in - 5 comments
Why talk about baseball in January? If you ask such a question I can only pity you. Pity you in that thin watery gruel pity sort of pity. Pity you like one pities a dog with three legs or, better, Blue Jay fans who believe they are fans even though they are not. • But who wants to be pitied? You …
Hall of Fame Game Announced...Again
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2007 in - leave a comment
Big Crowds Expected For Jay's Game • Sad news. Apparently the Mets are no longer playing in the Hall of Fame game at Cooperstown this year as Associated Press reports in the NYT this morning (at the end of the story): • “The Toronto Blue Jays will replace the Mets as Baltimore’s opponent in …
Conrad Black Apparently Human
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2007 in - leave a comment
Interesting to read in the Toronto Star that Conrad Black - a man of many troubles including some not of his own making - has actually made a very honest apology: • “In a letter to the editor of the respected literary publication, Black confesses: "On re-reading my review ... I find that …
Friday The First Chat Of 2007
Posted by on Friday, January 5, 2007 in - 21 comments
Like you, I measure out the days in Friday chats now. If I can just make it to Friday chat without emptying another jar of ginger marmalade, I say to my self, I will be OK. • The first group project is going well. I think this one is a high level starter discussion. Next I am going to post one …
Wikipedia v. Qatar
Posted by on Thursday, January 4, 2007 in - leave a comment
We can't have just anyone messing around with the truth you know: • “Web encyclopaedia Wikipedia temporarily banned anonymous posts to its site from people in Qatar after repeated reports of net vandalism. The 12-hour ban hit large numbers of people in the country because all web traffic in …
When Scientists Write The Headlines
Posted by on Thursday, January 4, 2007 in - 3 comments
Nothing gives me faith in the reliability of a source of information than solid technical descriptions of things. Hope it wasn't Whoville. In other news: • “Celebrities have been asked to check their facts before lending support to scientific research and campaigns, rather than risk misleading …
Group Project Work
Posted by on Thursday, January 4, 2007 in - leave a comment
In an effort to obtain for each of you your "plays well with others" badges, please be advised that the anti-anti-Federalist v. anti-Federalist discussion should hopefully be something of an regular thing from now on. Not debates but projects.
GP: That Anti-Anti-Federalism Thing
Posted by on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 in - 69 comments
Jay has asked for it so we are going to talk about the new anti-Federalism. If you read that thing in The Star over the weekend that I can't quite find my link for, you will have a sense that Stephen Harper is going to be positioned not just as an anti-Liberal, anti-big-government person but an …
Morton To Rule All Sport In 2007
Posted by on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 in - 3 comments
The call came loud and clear: "Mair fitba." And so shall there be. • Morton concludes its the holiday season a full six points up on Stirling in the SFA's Second Division which, as things go, is the third best division of fitba in the wrrrrrrrrldah (all other nations playing football of one form …
Remember Snow?
Posted by on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 in - 4 comments
With temperatures to stay above freezing for the next week and a half, this could be the shortest winter I can remember. The NYT has an article on snows past.
No Twenty Game Winners
Posted by on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 in - 1 comment
Had I noticed this? Obviously not. • “For the first time in a complete, uninterrupted season, no pitcher won 20 games. The absence of 20-game winners is all the more remarkable considering that last season featured 27 pitchers who had won 20 a total of 45 times. The group included Roger Clemens …
Kingston Fireworks From Fort Henry
Posted by on Monday, January 1, 2007 in - leave a comment
Update: Three more. Please click.
GX40 Membership Drive 2007
Posted by on Monday, January 1, 2007 in - 14 comments
Checking through the archives and I realized it's membership drive time. Last year's was an utter failure as January 2006's daily visits of 7472 turned into an incredible 4614 for December. This despite stable hits and uniques through 2006 - but total visits in 2006 were down at 2,115,297 from …
Good Things in 2006
Posted by on Monday, January 1, 2007 in - 17 comments
Let's see. What was the big news of 2006? In no particular order: • New house. Rec room: aka manland, aka the manhole.House didn't leak or flood.Beer blog and extra writing. I've written four things for pay this year.Kids with teeth falling out. They talk back, too.Baseball. Watched a bunch live …
