November 2009
Group Project: The '000's Biggest Moment In Pop Culture
Posted by on Monday, November 30, 2009 in - 7 comments
I think the truly biggest moment in pop culture waa that I got old. I mean I still buy CDs and am wary of giving in to the kids' desire to use iTunes. When I asked if you got a poster with the album they just stared and stared. Then... I bought a banjo. Which made me an old fart. So in one decade … read more »
Didn't You Just Ask How Biden's Doing?
Posted by on Sunday, November 29, 2009 in - leave a comment
An interesting article in this morning's New York Times on the role of Vice-President Joe Biden: • The difference between Biden’s role and Cheney’s has at least as much to do with the culture of the two administrations as it does with the men themselves. Bush’s discomfort with world affairs …
Friday Bullets For Black Friday
Posted by on Friday, November 27, 2009 in - 3 comments
Shopping. Can't imagine being in the crowds. My idea of shopping is a weeks groceries in 17 minutes. Standing outside a shoe store, seeing something through the window and showing "gimme that in a ten and a half" through the door. • May We See Your Notes Update: No comment what so ever on the …
Where Do They Eat The Candied Yams?
Posted by on Thursday, November 26, 2009 in - 11 comments
Great bit of mapping of information in the New York Times Times morning setting out regional Thanksgiving dinner preferences based on search engine results: • It is hard to draw very many conclusions based on search trends. The fact that cooks in the Southeast rarely look up crust recipes could …
Royal Commission Or MP Complaints Commission?
Posted by on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 in - 5 comments
Everyone's favorite retired member of the military, Lewis MacKenzie, has posted in column in this morning's Globe and Mail on how to deal with the Afghan prisoner scandal that is starting to stick despite the Harper government's seeming Teflon sheen: • In the wake of the Somalia inquiry and …
Where The Heck Did That Deer Come From?
Posted by on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 in - 1 comment
Nature can be surprising. • The animal will be watched over by veterinarians and then likely given to the Toronto Zoo, police said. Still, no one knows where it came from. "Obviously, it made its way from Rouge Valley, Humber Valley," said Supt. Hugh Ferguson. "How? God only knows ... GO Train …
Budd-esque Contemplation Post
Posted by on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 in - leave a comment
Does Hans shed a tear if there is no post? I was not going to pony up another 13.95 for a day's worth of wifi when I was booking out at 8:55 am. I have my limits. Plus I was late. Oddly, I could look out my bedroom window to see the hi-rise where I was supposed to already be. I was on the 20th …
Mmmmm... Acrid Hotel Room Coffee...
Posted by on Monday, November 23, 2009 in - 2 comments
Acrid. A bit of vinegar. A bit of dirt. Hotel coffee makes you want to get up and out the door early to find another cup of coffee. At least there is no milk powder. Seems like they took the powder, added water and put it into little creamer tubs. Tastes the same. A bigger surprise was finding out …
Friday Bullets For The Week We Finally Did It
Posted by on Friday, November 20, 2009 in - 2 comments
We did it, right? Must have done something. Well, we learned that one day not that far from now we will not have to deal with Oprah. Could Dr. Phil maybe take the hint, too? • Henry may be an admitted cheat but Roy Keen is still a big doofus.Don't tell them we ate pumpkin like fools six weeks … read more »
Hi-Jinx And Fun Times In Canada's Parliament
Posted by on Thursday, November 19, 2009 in - leave a comment
I had a sense that there was the word going out this week to raise little bubbles of discredit of the legislative process when young Tory Stephen Taylor¹ put out the message "did you know that 15 minutes in the House of Commons costs the taxpayer $75,000?" Makes sense. Dad's out of town. Juniors …
Group Project: The Decade Of Hits, Hits and More Hits
Posted by on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 in - leave a comment
Drilling down one little bit more, as the tenth anniversary of 2000 comes closer, it strikes me that one of the weird things about the decade, other than how the internet has come to rule our lives without a peep over the downsides, is that the West and the world world received a number of huge …
Now I Want The Toque Of My Dreams...
Posted by on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 in - leave a comment
I rarely remember dreams and if I do they are boring. But this morning I woke up laughing. I was at a 20th anniversary of something and my pal Chicken was there holding the hand of a chubby four year old who was packed into winter boots and a ski-doo suit. He starts laughing at me because I am …
Group Project: 2000's Tenth Anniversary Is Coming
Posted by on Monday, November 16, 2009 in - 26 comments
It has begun. Decade ending summations. Expect lists. Expect panels of talking heads. Rather than going to the Rick Mercer well one more time as The Globe did, Canadians deserve better. So we really should make our own lists. Today, we start with the general cultural trends of the decade …
Friday Bullets For Your Mid-November Joy
Posted by on Friday, November 13, 2009 in - leave a comment
Yippee! It's mid-November. The best time of the year. No sports of any consequence are being played, nature is slowly rotting all around you and the only thing to look forward to is sleet. CFL? What about the CFL? I haven't considered that a sport of consequence since the CFL let the Baltimore …
But What If I Am A Lazy CFL Fan Citizen
Posted by on Thursday, November 12, 2009 in - 16 comments
Committee girls. I am sure there were the committee boys, too, in junior high but in my life it was the committee girls had many colours of pen and used them to underline different sorts of significance in their homework. They wanted to organize you and improve you. I think the children of the …
Remembrance Day
Posted by on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 in - leave a comment
Remembering can also mean remembering what needs to be done today.
So How Much For Hallady From His Next Team
Posted by on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 in - 3 comments
There is little doubt that Mr. Halladay will never play for Toronto again. Perhaps the greatest pitcher to ever play in Canada is the best player out there this off season and who ever gets him moves to a new level given the chance on an even moderately well stocked team could see him winning 25 …
Why Is Sunday Night So Short?
Posted by on Monday, November 9, 2009 in - leave a comment
For some reason I stayed up to watch the Philadelphia Eagles lose. I wasn't even paying attention but it seemed important to me so I gave in and let me have my way. I blame Halloween candy. Occam's law as well because they are based on the principle that "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter …
Friday Bullets For The Beginning of the Off Season
Posted by on Friday, November 6, 2009 in - 3 comments
No baseball and no elections. It is that time of the year when you have to make do and you have to make do with a toque on your head. I don't know if I am ready. It got so long for summer to get going. Now we wait for our winter of discontent. I have to put away the garden hose and bring out the …
Big Easlakia Base Ball News Circa 1874
Posted by on Thursday, November 5, 2009 in - 1 comment
While I was over hobnobbing with the shaken and moved of the southern part of our Easlakian neighbo(u)rhood, I have actual stuff to do. Base ball stuff as I wanted to research the Watertown tournament of 1874 given that there were references to it in the Kingston papers of the time. I had thought …
The Last Time Someone Else Won, They Were Whigs
Posted by on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 in - 1 comment
That was the line of the night. Apparently, the last time portions of New York state's 23rd district of the US Congress were not represented by Republicans, they were represented by Whigs. It was the equivalent of a by-election for the House of Commons. But it had a very different feel. While … read more »
Now I Know Why US Elections Are On Tuesdays
Posted by on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 in - 1 comment
... and a Tuesday in November. It's like the day was picked by the "Tuesdays In November Shouldn't Suck So Much" League of Gentlemen. So far I have seen a TV ad for a candidate for roads supervisor for Rutland Township and I learned on Facebook that Ben voted at 6 am in his dressing gown. • I am …
Excuse Me... But Are You The Man From Prague?
Posted by on Monday, November 2, 2009 in - 6 comments
I got myself invited over the border for tomorrow night to witness the special election for the 23rd New York Congressional District... well, to witness the election night party actually. It was a tale of a three way race until the left-wing Republican dropped out Saturday and then on Sunday threw …
