A fabulous day is here. The Friday that begins the great final melt, the weekend the rains come. Soon we will be smelling things, things that have been out there under the snow and ice for months. Soon car windows will be down, we will notice sounds from a distance as we sit in our houses, dogs a few streets over will interrupt our thoughts, the neighbours fights will introduce new words to the kids. Tra-la!

• Update: Did you know that Kingston has the lowest unemployment between Halifax and Winnipeg? 5.0% percent.
• Update: I had never heard the phrase "pimp my Zamboni" until I heard this story.
• I am a broken record, I know, but sometimes you still here the music between the skips and so it is with great pleasure that I give you the greatest conversation of the week making fun of Web 2.0. An argument between people who want pornier porn and those who can advocate this with a straight face - "beware the coming misappropriation of the phrase 'social software'." Fabulous in its meaninglessness.
• Indeed - what has Ghana done anyway?
• Here is new information I did not know before. With all the talk of hands off our resources, the right way is the only way, and Alberta is taking the lead...now they are begging to not have their special case Federal tax break taken away:

  Alberta Finance Minister Lyle Oberg warned Thursday against any move by Ottawa to scrap a special tax break for the oil sands, saying it would be the final punch in a triple whammy blow to the energy sector. The Harper government, which needs Opposition party support to pass its March 19 budget, is reviewing an NDP call to scrap what's called the accelerated capital cost allowance program for oil sands...tax expert Jack Mintz of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management estimates that oil sands projects would pay $165-million more in federal and provincial corporate income tax a year if the income tax rules applied to them were the same as conventional oil and gas investments. But, he adds, if oil sands investments were treated the same as Alberta's non-energy projects, the additional tax would be $440-million a year.

  Maybe we can have these bonuses put on the table when we have to deal with the insufferable self-promoters of the West that lies between BC and Sask next time. Nice to have been pulling their weight so they can tell us how self-sufficient they are.
• Speaking of meaninglessness, apparently Red Sox veteran pitcher Curt Schilling is blogging.
• A couple of travelers sent me nine photos of their trip to Belgium. I like their travel planning.