While Pr0n may have created the internet as we know it, there is no way I am going to let someone's errant .jpeg on a non-flagged "not safe for work" blog posting eat my hard drive. I just removed the IE explorer icon from the desk top and created the Foxfire one.  •  Update: then I realize - is …

Seeing as I have right of UK abode and can get citizenship based on where the folks were born, you can file this under "it's about time":  •  “Gurkhas who have served in the British Army are to be allowed to apply to settle in the UK and gain British citizenship. The announcement made by Tony …

As I walk through this troubled world hunched over starting at my feet I sometimes wonder things. Things like why do the Red Ensign bloggers let me hang out when we don't believe in too much in common. Things like why golf is. Things like why can't Canada make good beer like the British and …

Update: The deadline is being pushed back so keep getting in those picks. The game is on, people!!!  •  OK...I am going to extend the picks to Sunday [a date to be fixed...kinda like Florida] at which time the voting extension committee will meet...[did meet...couldn't agree...it's a madhouse of …

Major League Baseball is set today to announce the move of the New York Mets to Quebec City and the Minnesota Twins to the small eastern Quebec community of Gaspé as well as a 99 year lease on Olympic Stadium for the Montreal Expos. In its pending announcement, which we have been able to receive …

I don't like scary movies. I have this feeling that if I expose myself to scariness I will develop a creeping subliminal fear. I recall that Plato didn't think plays were good for the the community but he was pretty much a fascist...really. I often wonder where people get the ideas upon which they …

Oh, goodie! They are back:  •  Not often you get to see a snazzy plaque to a Victoria Cross Winner. Here is a short description of the events leading to the award of the medal to Robert Hampton Gray:  •  “The war was nearly over, but the Fleet Air Arm still had business to do. On a clear and sunny …

In an effort to find meaning other than "evil bad guys not on our side", which has been apparently assigned to the word "terrorist", I thought I would look up the definition of "insurgent". It is an interesting word given its apparent etymological physicality of "surging into". Here is the Free …

Finally, the truth - care of Arseblog:  •  “Finally, I promised you an RSS feed, and lo, here it is. Just post this URL into your news reader thingy and off you go. If you have no idea what an RSS feed is then don't worry about, you most likely don't need it.”  •  Exactly.

David has big news about the new upgrades to Jäger, the fancy dancy aggregator of my dreams. We have also confirmed that you no longer have to say "download an upgrade". The opposing directions defeat each other leaving "load a grade".  •  So if you have Jägerific love already, go load the grade …

Amazing. Twenty two years after I saw them at the then recently relocated Misty Moon on Barrington Street in Halifax, "Nova Heart" is still pretty good. Are they the best thing ever to come out of Burlington, Ontario?  •  Now when I say good, come to think of it, I don't mean I would advocate …

Not that I would feel really guilty, but good to hear that Judy is a millionaire.

I don't now why I think this might be of any interest to anyone but you are each authorized to save a copy of one of the images under the thumbnail below, print it off as an iron-on image, transfer it on to a t-shirt and proclaim your allegiance. Essentially, I see no reason not to be on the …

A clear night tonight. I really need a zoom as with the binoculars you can see separate lights of Watertown, NY. That's the orange-ish blog to the left of the base of the three whites one above each other next to the eight red lights in a grid seen in the detail below. Both sides of the St …

This post at The Politburo Diktat is both an indictment and a call to arms for Pajamastan. Given the gigawatts of personal energy aimed at discussions about the state of affairs in Iraq, no one as far as I can find out had suggested a mapping response until this fellow started sticking pins into …

With all the discussions of ales and ribs hereabouts and with the new season's crop of apple findings soon approaching, I am reminded that all is not staples. We have to remember that after the necessities are taken care of we have to take care of ourselves. To that end, I suggest that McVitties …

I like to read Living in Dryden but had thought it was the work of a crazy old guy sitting on a sofa screaming at the authorities alone in the room dressed in what he is comfortable calling his pajamas. I have found I was wrong as I have come across this explanation of its focus on a small …

Steve is such a brain. Things are going well and people write things like this about him. I am proud to have bought Steve sensible muffins to make him feel good when others gorged on chocolate dips and crullers. Steve also rocks.  Steve has shot me during Counter Strike many more times than I have …

“Note added 20 Oct.: I am getting a lot of hits to this page during the Sox-Yankees ALCS series. Here is the link to MLB you are looking for to get this web radio service. If you are in eastern North America get out the transistor you have laying around and check out 880 WCBS AM out of New York …

I am sure what this means yet but it is cool. If you load your URL into the TouchGraph widget, it creates a graphical representation of your links universe. It is also dynamic so if you click on your link, more pings go out, adding to the complexity of information represented. If you click on the …

The exceptionally well-named Yates on the States, the tale of a family man from Manchester, England living in Minnesota, has raised this banner. It leads to an interesting consideration of the global brewing industry.  •  Yates's complaint is that cask conditioned Boddington's ale will no longer …

In the email this evening was this crisis of the soul:  •  “ I'm participating in a disc golf tournament tomorrow at Jacques  •  Cartier Park in Gatineau and one of the side contests is a closest to the pin contest. Since disc golf is for hippies and hooligans who don't like the cost and snobbery …

Things seen and heard in the ICU:  •  Visitor:"How will it be when he wakes"  •  Nurse: "Is he a smoker?"  •  Visitor: "No"  •  Nurse: "Then he'll be fine."  •  It is a little odd to see your Dad happily snoozing on morphine. All non-emerg and going well, thanks.  •  After seeing cops and …

I was pissed off when rock music started getting sucked into sports shows and ads in the late 70s. Now we have Franz Ferdinand as ad intro music for ABC Monday Night Football. I was even more ticked when it started being co-opted in to politics with songs having only passing connection to the …

Here we are 40 days from the US election...or so CNN said tonight so if I am wrong do a Rather-lather on them not me.  •  So we need a pool. What rules?  •  Electoral College overall: 50 points for being spot on, one point lost for every electoral college vote off +/- for the winner. No points for …

For all my moaning and groaning about Google's fundamental uselessness, they have now actually added an element...one single element...of practical relevance to a search - geography - at least in the US and Canada for now. You can now hunt for things in your town or another town that you want to …

Are we getting close to the "have you no shame" moment what with Cat Stevens [Ed.: bad 70s folk pop is indictment enought, surely!] being banished to Bangor, Maine. From the BBC:  •  “The refusal to allow him into the US was described by the Muslim Council of Britain as a "slap in the face of …

I placed the image on the left I guess for a reason. Via Boing, here is a gallery of great 1940s war effort posters reworked by neutral objective political observers anti-Bush activists. My pal to the left being shut up is from the freedom of thought related section. This one is very effective. I …

A family member goes for a fairly routine by-pass, meaning non-emergency with little down-side potential, this morning and it has raised an odd story out of fifty years. Apparently my father's aunt in the 50s was facing a diagnosis of blocked up arteries and was told there was nothing to be done …

Its kooky - like something out of a cartoon. Hurricane Jeanne has pulled a 360 turn is heading towards land again.

One of the things I have been up to lately is trying to find decent bloggers in areas nearby which we might like to visit, hoping to get some ideas and a tip or two. Nothing dramatic but what I thought would be a useful and seemingly obvious use of blogs. Any mother lodes in the ore I do find get …

After catching one cut from the 25th anniversary issue of London Calling on Brent's show this afternoon, I thought I better get another copy so I ordered it from Amazon. I still have my double lp from the spring of grade eleven in 1980. Just the one as so many people had extra copies I never …

[Ed.: It was either that title or "A Store is Born".]  •  Deep in the heart of England, a blogger lives out the dream of offering fine ales and a few select lagers to the thirsty hordes. Congratulations!

Another day, another announcement about the selling of Federal assets. Did anyone hear about a plan to do this during the last election? I don't recall this being part of the Liberal platform.

In the wake of the Sid the Slug anti-fact brigade nonsense, I am struck by the need to wallow in the actual. So...why is this not true:  •  “Mr. Bush hopes that by pretending that Mr. Allawi is a real leader of a real government, he can conceal the fact that he has led America into a major …

*  •  No one talks about great urban sunsets. Why? There's even a farm in that there link if you know what you are looking for.  •  *[Ed: My wife want you to know that she took this]

You do not need to be dealing with anti-evolutionists to be facing attempts to unravel simple knowledge for the all important, glorious cause of private interest. From the BBC today comes backlash against that well-known falsifier "Sid the Slug":  •  “The Salt Manufacturers' Association has …

From the July/August 2004 issue of Rural Delivery, Canada's best small magazine published out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia:  •  Thanks, Mom.

In a recent thread, I considered another blogger's suggested evaluation of the war on terror and asked "what would a balanced approach look like?" after determining that the one I had read was incomplete. In an effort to determine what the issues are, proposed that the following categories must be …

More ribtastic explorations. Just to be clear, these are visual notes for myself more than food advocacy or pretense that I have mastered anything about this.  •  A work in progress.  •  This week's rendition of ribs were played out upon two sides of baby back ribs from the Hind Quarter which came …

Talking about the Ryder Cup is not really talking about golf because somehow  •  it is a different thing. It looks like the USA is in for a whuppin' as Europe  •  goes into the last day up 11-5 needing only 3  •  wins to retain the Cup. Here are the pairings and my guesstimations as to  •  how it …

I mented in a post below how I am amazed how the LCBO - Liquor Control Board of Ontario - cannot stock shelves better than a decent corner store in the USA. With the monopoly of 12 million people behind it, the LCBO is the greatest buyer of beer, wine and spirits in the world. The biggest used to …

How odd to wake up on a Saturday not wracked stiff with pain from Friday night soccer. I took a pass on it as I got about 3 hours sleep the night before what with drippy nosed kids and a 4:00 am false fire alarm. Amazing what a lack of exercise can do for you. Big day planned. Another Sox win, a …

In the spirit of the post that had to end, I picked up two world classy pale ales from Engherlant - Charles Wells Bombardier and Shepherd Neame Spitfire, both bought at the main LCBO in downtown Kingston. Bombardier is pretty much available year round now while the Spitfire is part of a seasonal …

I came across an interesting case on defamation and the internet today in a newsletter passed around the office. On 4 June 2004, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in the case Barrick Gold Corp. v. Lopehandia, the key facts of which are set out in paragraph 12:  •  “Mr. Lopehandia embarked upon an …

Red Sox v. Yankees, Red Sox v. Yankees:  •  Tonight - 7pm on WWTI channel 9 out of Watertown, NY, Yankee broadcast but they are extremely fair. If it is going sideways or I get ticked, I can go to WTIC 1080 AM Hartford audio which comes in clear with 50,000 night time clear channel watts …

Another gone and all of the core given the three drummers who backed them through the years they played, 1974 to 1996. I suppose I started listening to their records in 1981, my first year of undergrad when I played "Blitzkrieg Bop" or "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" on our show Bob the Dog on CKDU …

I entirely agree  •  with Michael - but only because I am his favorite blogger of any kind...in...the...world. Down with the awful and humourless term "blogosphere", its wacked out connotations  •  and its foul sound. Up with the delightful Pajamastan!  •  From this day forth I am Pajamastanian. I …

Here is an attempt at an evaluation of the war on terror to date. Before going all "ZZZZbbbrt...DING!...my...brain...stopped...so...write...about...right/left" on the findings, I am more interested in:  •  Are the evaluation standards fair?Are the assessments fair?Is the exercise useful?  •  A …

So there will be no top-level NHL play this year. League Pres Bettman made the call  •  to lock-out the players yesterday:  •  “Bettman painted a picture of an intransigent union  •  and a league hemorrhaging red ink. Twenty clubs are losing money, he said.  •  "There have been too many …

Pray for the land of good BBQ.  •  It is looking like Ivan is not going to take off into the north just dumping it all right there. Consider New Orleans which is in bits about 6.5 feet under sea level and is facing a sea wall of raised water of 10 to 15 feet above sea level to be followed by a …

Apparently the British Tories have chosen a new logo and are getting a bad reaction causing them to have to deny "any resemblance to communist iconography".  •  I think they would be lucky to get away with communist iconography as at least that would be like a political party - it really looks to …

Lana makes an excellent observation that the new pay-per-view Globe and Mail on-line actually expects you to pay to read Russell Smith and Leah McLaren and their other tedious "lite" columnists. I think of it more as a kindness so that I cannot stumble upon them by accident.  •  It's a good thing …

I have just never understood this "we win riot" thing as opposed to the "fill the streets and wave flags and kiss police" thing... from today's Toronto Star:  •  “Confrontations between rowdy hockey fans and police last night following Canada's 3-2 victory over Finland in the final of the World …

It's all so Bobby Bittman around here tonight what with my favorite right-wing blogger telling the world I'm his favorite left-wing blogger.

Granted the images are not the greatest but I see a lot of Captain Scarlet (left) in the World Hockey Championship 2004 logo (right). Captain Scarlet? Captain Canada? Never to die? Clearly a subliminal message being set up.  •  Update: We beat a very good side from Finland 3-2. Their tying goal at …

There are weeks in the calander I can pretty much guess the bugs get into the house - the first thaw, whenever I plan a winter holiday and right after school begins. Things done:  •  Found 1240 WATN AM Watertown which seems to be an unaffilliated talk station with the Mayor of Watertown as noon …

This is just me parking a link for a thread on upstate NY diners. Some pretty fierce debate on the Dino BBQ but I am liking the sound of Johnny's Hot Truck and its grilled pizza on bread.  •  “  •  On West campus there was Johnny’s hot truck. Johnny’s only (or at least used to) sells french bread …

Hurricane Ivan and Me  •  Looks like a soaker next Sunday or Monday. Francis dropped 4 or 5 inches here last week but this one looks like it may be even worse.

I think the more I read the less I understand. The CBC ran these paragraphs in a story on the situation in Iraq today:  •  “On Sunday, U.S. forces were also presiding over the opening of a new state-of-the-art clinic in a poorer section of the city. A gift to Iraqis, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers …

So far me, Jason and Michael. Wouldn't it be nice if the power of this medium, such as it is, was used for something other than running after the orchestrated sideshow distractions like greyhounds chasing the electric bunny at a dog track.  •  Sign up and fight the power, baby.

Why is it that even though it is a matter of immense importance, involving the health of all citizens over which the next national and a few provincial elections will turn...I find that the national health conference starting today is to news as curling is to sports.

All the fuss about the CBS story on Bush's service memos and the blogosphere's capacity to find conspiracy anywhere...and then to give itself the blue ribbon first prize in the journalism category at the fair...is a matter of one fact. Did IBM make a version of a font ball, like those illustrated …

The annual tournament was today. Held every year in honour of a local soccer star who passed too early, eight teams from Toronto to Chelsea, Quebec in the 35 and older category showed for two pools of three games each. I was picked as our keeper. We scored 1-1, 2-0 and then lost 0-5. Funny enough …

I know it is all deadly serious whether the CBS memos about Bush are fake or not but I think it is hilarious when any major news item attracts this kind of reporting:  •  “Some former engineers who worked in the typewriter division said they were not aware of a standard typewriter that could have …

A very unexpected and gracious tribute to Romeo Dallaire, my personal greatest Canadian, was entered this evening as a reply to a post I made on my blog last January. Please go read it.  •  Update: these two articles in French indicate that there was a Senegalese intellegence officer by the name …

I wrote this at Steve's  •  blog three years ago in the replies to his post:  •  “Alan McLeod  •  [7:48 AM September 17,  •  2001]  •  elal@pei.sympatico.ca  •  I have found myself, like everyone else, having been staring at the TV in a  •  daze for days. I was in the middle of a presentation at …

I saw this on Boing and wondered what are we waiting for? A zippy machine that drinks split water and runs by reforming it and doesn't make you look like a dork like the mythical but seemingly world-winning and innovative except if you want to do something other than drive it around a parking lot …

Just when things in Canada were looking boring, the right-wingers, the left-wingers and the separatists have joined together to take control of the nation's Parliment in which they hold more than half the seats but do not govern.  •  “Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, New Democratic Leader Jack …

I too have been wondering about the expansion of the word "terrorist"¹ a lot lately and words which have fallen away...but not quite this much.  •  “¹Note: cogent discourse of the etymology of said word welcomed. Partisan pasting to be deleted or defaced with funny looking fonts which will dispell …

So, now that we know that...  •  Russia reserves the right to go after the terrorists where ever they areChechen leader Basayev's right hand man is in Boston, USAChechen Maskhadov's right hand man is in London, England  •  ...surely, no one is going to mind when flashbangs and machine gun spray …

Did anyone else notice that a space craft smashed into the planet today introducing space dust that has never entered the atmosphere since the atmosphere begain.  •  Cue the theramins!!!

On one hand I tire of the banality and yahooism of the US election, as a perusal of recent posts and comments here and elsewhere might suggest, yet - perhaps like the building of fire - one is drawn the the effect of it all. Look at today's Electoral Vote Predictor. Lots of movement since July. 52 …

Here is a blast from the past from a CBC playlist from five years ago:  •  “The Russia military's brutal campaign against Chechen rebels raised the ire of the international community this week, especially after the Russians told civilians to leave Grozny by Saturday before the Russians bombed the …

This is ominous. Russia may want to run its own international war on terror outside of international law. What if half a dozen countries come to do this and they start disagreeing who is who? Does, say, Georgia or Armenia or Azerbaijan get to do this, too? They will have to figure out rules …

For a guy who first had to put up with the wacky Iranians he gets a difficult ride but even though he is a nice old guy doing good things...but he still has the time to tell off that wacko Zell Miller who had new batteries put in just before going splat on Kerry during his speech at the Republican …

I usually avoid discussing golf for fear of a Wayne-splosion of correction but couldn't help noting this at the foot of the New York Times article on Singh passing Woods as number one ranked player:  •  “After making the cut for the first time in 15 months, David Duval finished tied for 13th for a …

Magic. Mike has located the great CFL in the USA moment when the Canadian national anthem was sung to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree." When was it that Rosanne Barr destroyed the US anthem at the all-star game?

Sheila's back to work:  •  “Canada's Auditor General Sheila Fraser is set to testify today in the latest investigation into the $250 million sponsorship scandal. A judicial inquiry, lead by Justice John Gomery, will pore through documents and interview witnesses in Ottawa and Montreal over the …

PA's Tröegs Hopback, southwest NY's Southern Tier, Ithaca's Flower Power and Maine's Shipyard.  •  Porter lost out to India Pale Ale somewhere in the mid-1800s. The style came out of the export trade to the British soldiers in the Empire - by brewing double strength and double hopped, the ale …

In the aftermath of the tragic events in Russian brought on by wacko Chechyn separatists, the collective need to connect the dots and find evidence of a central control of all the world's terrorist wacko ills runs rampant. It is in this light that we are reminded of the 1980s concerns that the …

When I woke I knew there was something wrong - there were no pork ribs marinading in the fridge overnight. Action had to be taken. A quick trip at 9:18 am to Loblaws - aka that slob Bob Loblaw's - and found a side of baby backs for under 12 bucks. It was with double suspicion that I eyed the side …

In the fall of 1991 I was teaching in a city on the Baltic Coast of Poland, a few hours on the train from Gdansk. In early November, there was what was then described as the first Polish national holiday our from under the yoke of some other power or another. These working lads - no doubt pals of …

As we wake in our homes made safe by the building code, in our planned communities, sipping a well regulated glass of water, assured by the nearness of universal and excellent hospital care, let us recall those who went before in the cause of a healthy happy community respectful of the workers …

No one told me about The Politburo Diktat until Myrick today. Either everyone who linked has been rounded up and the evidence deleted or I am on that shining path after all.  •  So in honour of Labour Day, I make move the Kommissar wins for best use of Soviet graphics and theme since last year's …

Summer evening in Gananoque. Pizza and mini-putt. Dig the big fish.  •  This has been a long summer since the first of May at the beach in Maine and there is every chance it will last until the fall - five months of warm. No sign of leaves turning and no nights in single digits yet. Must be a …

Here some recent shots from around the downtown of Kingston. The plaque is from the picture to its left and sets out the history of the structure as a bank under four companies since 1876. The bank is in the back of this shot from a post about its neighbours. The domed building is the back of this …

Noticed this the other day: "Brock Bowling Alleys". It is just to the right of the lowest picture here. A third story bowling alley locked away above two renovated floors.

Friday night soccer is usually followed by Saturday recover. Aches and pains and getting up at the crack on noon. It means I get to clean the house and make supper but I like it. Here are some observations for this afternoon:  •  My buddy Nate has a good post on the CBC's selection of a single …

Michael writes a good essay about Bill and the by-pass. We have a by-pass coming up in our family and it does all sound routine. Our guy has got 16 years on Bill mind you. Odd to think that someone whose presidency ended almost four years ago is only 58 now. With a little luck and a few fewer …

Two for now sparked by Dubya's assertion that 3/4 of Al Queda is dead or in jail - leaving aside whether he included these guys in that count:  •  How long will the war on terror take and how will we know that it is over?  •  By what standards will the US federal government's efforts in the war on …

George just said he was going "to bring hope and work to all of America." This is the nub of why these conventions in US politics should be considered ridiculous by the US electorate - they are non-stop spouting the fanciful, Christmas wish lists which float in space and will drift away forgotten …

Three New Yorkers and one each from England, Quebec and Ontario  •  Here are six dark ales which I have stuck away over the last while to describe some of the differences. This is a special message to Nils who I think can start his hunt for a beer he likes with some of these.  •  If you were …

I do not usually go for the Quizilla thing but Clansman Mike (my middle name is Campbell) and El Miestro Flea both coaxed me and I found the results entirely culturally correct.  •  “Claymore, power and strength rule your fighting, these swords were only used by the non faint of heart and were …

Yankees lose 22-0. Boston is now only 3.5 back. Here is the report from the NY Times.

What does it really mean?  •  no kids soccer after supper on Wed's and Thur's for the first time since May  •  another claim to uncledom - my fifth...I think...  •  getting dropped off at work every day because it is school day every day for the first time  •  daydreaming about what to do with ten …