We are ridding ourselves of a lot of stuff as part of the move from the little farmhouse on PEI. We have a van and a VW golf and that is it.  •  One ponderously large box still in the keeper pile is the hermetically sealed and archived wedding dress which had its day of use almost 12 years ago. I …

Last evening I burned Joseph Conrad. I burned Victory, Under Western Eyes and two Lord Jim's. I burned others. I burned Treasure Island, The Mayor of Casterbridge and the best of 17th and 18th century English literature anthologized.   I burned Brontes.  I burned them in a barrel. Out back of the …

Two cats.  1000 miles.  How many Tims?  •  [Sorry, Brazilian guy - that last bit won't make much sense to you.]

When looking through the web stats, I got to wondering why, outside of North America, Holland would be the hotbed of the greatest number of my readers when I realized it is the Google effect. Having used the word Nederlands and therefore been linked by a few Dutch blog trolling spiders or bots or …

I love web radio as I love radio. You don't get the romance of the signal fading in and out but crappy buffering almost makes up for it. I love media that let you know they are there. I have recently switched to using the Windows Media Player - and it's excellent listings pages - and so have had …

The good lads at silverorange, my pals, former clients, former employers, wise buyers of my furniture and...umm...oh, yea...award winning web designers have listed me on their new development web log. The referral logs here at GenX at 40 HQ are a buzzin'.  •  One point. Establishing their web log …

To see an amazing display of late Soviet era poster art created as part of the anti-alcohol efforts Gorby brought in, check out this site. One of the most interesting things about the selection is the absence of underlaying religious morality. The messages are stark and utilitarian but far more …

I watched some TV this week and I learned some things:  •  The second greatest Briton who ever lived, according to a BBC 2 vote held last November was Isambard Kingdom Brunel maker of bridges, ships and tunnels in the mid-1800's. His largest ship that saw service, the SS Great Eastern, laid the …

While I do not now go to Court, I have been known to see a rounder off to jail, joined a judge in a chambers chat, plea bargained. But don't know if I could do it all with a straight face before a very serious man in a very silly hat.  •  Not quite as funny are the ideas that go on beneath the …

A czar? An ombud? Is he an imperial dictator stumbling in a democractic technological world or a new nordic-style Enemy of the People raging at a storm? George Radwanski, Canada's Federal Privacy Commissioner, speaks of scary things. He has also ticked off parliamentarians over his travel …

Two little voices were on the phone at noon to wish me a happy Father's Day from PEI where they are helping get the house ready for sale. They gave their gift in calling after my morning nap, required after a visit from my pal, now a teacher in Scarborough, Arthur (aka Art, Uncle Artie, RTJ or …

I am listening to WBZ radio 1030 AM here on the east end of Lake Ontario with pretty much the same signal strength I had most nights in PEI. WBZ is the oldest licenced station in North America operating now for 83 years. They claim they are heard throughout the continent east of the Rockies …

I was checking the old referral log here at Genx40 HQ tonight before hitting the hay when I saw that there was someone out there at "mv.com" having a read.  •  A small side track for context. Referral logs - or refer logs (hence "refer madness" when you check too often) - are a place that note …

The site. The story. Interestingly, there was a related newsgroup started in the mid-1990's, now pretty much a spam bath.  Search the group for "1996 clotted" for the hardcore bun lovers.  •  Sometimes the web does not need to provide "powerful solutions" or greater community.   One aspect of …

The attentive reader will recall my passing reference to David Swick of last month. He is time and again amazing me with what one reporter can do with a thrice weekly column. His column today in the Halifax Daily News is local reporting at its best. A political blow hard opens his yap trap and …

Why are first things so interesting to us? I had no idea that hack was a 1920's invention at MIT for a gag or prank or that, as we learn in page 41 of the 9 June 2003 New Yorker, that hip-hoppy scratchity records was invented in 1975 by a guy, perhaps only later called Grandmaster Lester, trying …

Alone in the house for ten days what with my wife and kids starting the holiday out East early and all I can think of is making sure I don't start not talking out loud to the cats.

I like magazines. On the weekend, we took advantage of a Saturday morning with pocket change to troop down to the Market area to get supplies. There is a great newspaper and magazine shop on King Street East right behind the Town Hall called The Towne Crier which has, among other things, The New …

Aside from all the run-of-the-mill "surprises" about what has not been found in Iraq, what happened to all those virtually identical Saddams? I thought the place was rotten with them. If they found one, how would they know it wasn't Saddam? If they found one, wouldn't somebody squeal thinking they …

While I think writing on a weblog about others who do so is possibly the lamest thing I might do on a Sunday morning, I have to say that Ian Williams is on fire. His recent use of photos, his generous sharing of both personal political opinion and his prescriptions for meds on top of his daily …

The Webby Awards were awarded yesterday out of San Fran and CBC Radio 3 has won the Broadband category. You have to have broadband to get this service in both senses of the word "get". There is a lot coming at you in both sound and vision. Peter has called CBC Radio 3 and certain other CBC …

I was delayed on my drive to work this morning by a parade of soldiers in battle fatigue marching up Princess Street past Market Square here in Kingston. D-Day ceremonies. It reminded me that when I was a kid in the early 70's, Dad's church in the Annapolis Valley still had WWI vets. In Scotland I …

That's about all the Nederlands I can recall.  Probably spelled all wrong.  No...I can also recall weerserwachting: TV weather report.  Don't forget all the w's are v's and you have to to hork when you hit the "ch".  •  It was '86. It was spring and I worked in the burbs of Amsterdam.  Just me, my …

My buddy Jonny Archibald, MD sent me this picture he had found via the ISH today. In around 1986 or so Jon painted my Dad a picture of the same boat, The Doric, described on the postcard as twin screwed, in its later life as a frozen meat ship sailing out of Halifax harbour on a return run to the …

Some of the best writing I have ever read on the web is that of A.A. Gill, the restaurant reviewer in the Style section of the Sunday Times of London. I had stopped reading it for the last few years due to the paper's use of a survey blocking immediate access to their site. I found him again today …

This is my choice. The Law Reform Commission of BC decides to drive me to the opthamologist.   Go ahead click a few clicks and find the published report index built for the Six Million Dollar Man and his bionic eye!

If I were a prefix these days, it seems I would want to be meta-. It is everywhere. Every writer wants to use it, every nouns wants to be near it.  Trouble is I really don't know what it means when it shows up much of the time.   It is one of words and aspects to language that you drift past like …

We live a short walk from Lake Ontario Park. This afternoon, we walked over with the two kiddies to watch a magic show. It was bad but the vast majority of performance for the under kindergarten set is bad, unless you are a simpering ninny who likes, say, magic tricks with obvious gaps in their …

A few blog authors I am associated  - code named WARTAPEI - with have loosely begun to share some of what they have learned in small start-up business, and in web software development. If you have any questions about my part in the hand up project, the work in progress Contracting and IT, post here.