Where were we? Ah, yes. The great explosion of 1840:

Another huge fire erupted on 18 April 1840, this time on Counter’s wharf and, aided by the explosion of gunpowder stored in one of the warehouses, spread across much of the waterfront area. Strong winds helped it extend to the whole of the north block of the Market Square, and to most of the next block up to Store Street (now Princess Street)

Never heard of it until a month or so ago. You would think that the destruction of much of the town would be a folk tale, collective memory. Never understood why Ontario is not interested in its own past like other parts of Canada, the English speaking world.

♦ Saturday night update: The Flea, mon cher, teaches how to KooDon't.
♦ Best thing ever on the internet: what is brown and sticky?
♦ I had no idea that, besides interest on debt, Italy was actually in the black. Canadian Conservatives everywhere must be hailing it as solvency as they do with Mulroney's terms.
♦ Really? Do you think? Do you think a cabinet member gets attention from "foreign lady reporters" from nations run by totalitarian regimes because they find Tories hot?
♦ I had no idea that Harper has expanded the Federal public service by 13%. No wonder they think that Mulroney got us to solvency.
♦ What is it with all these odd Tory stories? I mean if they are going to be doing all the social engineering I really hope they know how to plug in the toaster first.
♦ Finally - a break from Ottawa's amateur hour. A great story from Humblebub.

That's enough of that. Check out the great series at NCPR on the state of the nations on the two sides of the Great Lakes.

Yulesight. You can see the holidays coming but you are not quite connected emotionally yet. It was an interesting week. I was slagged in the British media. Beer magazine columnist with a chip on his tiny shoulders. Wrote a complaint to the publisher whose response was that they did not feel, that I in fact had been called a Nazi sympathizer. They did remove the article from the web but you can see it in Google cache all the same. Other than that, it snowed for the first time this winter.

♦ Love the Starbucks coffee cup. We may not be the 1% but we do like 1% partly skimmed milk foam.
♦ The caribou were right where they were told they would be.
♦ EU officials apparently had declared that you could not claim water helped with dehydration: "The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water..."
♦ Sadly, more than enough bad to go around.
♦ Hey - there's another bit of Canada's national administration being dumped by the Feds - immigration policy: “While other provinces have fully embraced their provincial constitutional responsibility of selecting immigrants … Ontario has effectively abdicated its ability to engage in the immigration dossier in a serious way.”

There. Weekend. Scooby-Doo on the TV. Bailey's in the coffee.

... I have no idea what the fuss about "Black Friday" signs showing up in Canada is about.

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and marks the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season there. Stores offer enticing deals in hopes of attracting Americans who - after a relaxing day of turkey and football - realize they only have about a month left to shop before Christmas. Canadian retailers, in recent years, have become increasingly aware that Canadians have been taking notice of the Black Friday hoopla. Many of them cross the border to take advantage of deals offered in the U.S.

I have noticed something about the US border, here living in a town where you can see the next country from our rooftops. It can be crossed both ways. "Black Friday" boo hoos? Why the heck are we not selling Canada to our neighbours at the very moment when they are wanting to spend some significant hard earned chunks of cash?

I'll cross this weekend - not to buy a TV but to buy un-surcharged aged cheddar. Maybe socks. Definitely beer. Those not in the NWT or Newfoundland might consider the flip over, too. While you are there, mention that they might want to come to our towns, too.

This bug goes on. Sputter and wheeze was this week's treat. Got X-rays shot through my chest. Never speak of X-ray. X-rays. They are many. I am now off speaking. Hard to do with five kids in the house. Lots of arm motions required. But an 8 month old is not strong on responding to arm motions. Oddly neither is the 13 year old. I had a 50 year old maple killed this week. Suspicious crack on the side facing the house. I now have an excellent set of skittle logs. A friend has a cord of hardwood to age. Ordered "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn" from Amazon. The front lawn shall be filled with Blue Hubbard come September 2012.

♦ Not sure how Lieutenant David Jones qualifies the the hero, but what a strange sad story from our Loyalist past.
♦ Would this not have been one of the easiest ways to undermine the tyrant? By turning off his government's websites? Way to be on the ball, Feds.
♦ How can blue beer not be wrong?
♦ Sad, pathetic, weird story. I had no idea either the Angles or the Saxons did that with an oboe.
♦ How do you issue mass warnings in an age of peer to peer fragmented media?
♦ Even if Dad wasn't from Greenock, I would find the fact that Jame's Watt's study has been perfectly preserved for 0ver 190 years amazing.

You know how people perpetuate that myth about blogs being written by men in pajamas in their basements?

Funny how these things turn around so quickly:

She said they talked about the Keystone pipeline a little, but only in terms of Canada's energy strategy to build international markets. She said they "didn't disagree on anything" and instead talked about how Alberta could help Ontario develop its interest in renewable power. "I think as (McGuinty) moves forward with his plans around renewables that there's opportunity for technical partnerships, academic exchanges and for private sector partnerships," she told reporters. "And that was one of the things that I left him with at the end of the meeting-- let's see if we can pursue some of those possibilities." Redford said her mission is not to "sell" the oilsands, but unlike her predecessors she is prepared to engage in a rational conversation with critics to work out their concerns.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I mean what is the point of having four borders and the blessing of being gifted a massively valuable resource if you can't move it past your borders and make something of it. Takes good relations and those take good neighbourliness. Lack of that placed Newfoundland behind the 8 ball for decades... until it found its own second windfall.

Just a residual cold now. Nine hours of over the counter cold medication induced sleep. Scooby-Doo is on for the four year old. The big kid is off playing sports. A Saturday where there is a reasonable prospect of maintaining consciousness and actually doing something lays before me. I will be in the sun by 10: 23 am. Pneumonia sucks. Not sure I ever said I loved it. But just to be clear, it sucks.

⇒ Spitfire guns a blazin'!!!
⇒ Sign them up. I like the way the US gives citizenships out for military service. Way better than Canada's own den of corruption PEI giving them out for envelopes stuffed with cash.
⇒ If there were still Front Page Challenge and I ran it, Steve Maher would be on it in the role of Betty Kennedy.
⇒ I thought the entire internet existed to sell you crap... and big boxes and downtowns and...

That's enough of that. Just one last thing. Don't give any money to those door to door pro-pneumonia lobbyists. Don't listen to them.

Is this really the worst thing a candidate can do in a debate?

“And I will tell you, it is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone,” he said. “Commerce, education, and the — what's the third one there? Let's see .... OK. Commerce, education, and the —” He looked helplessly toward the elderly Ron Paul, standing next to him on the stage, who added helpfully: “The EPA?” Mr. Perry replied: “EPA, there you go.” The moderator pressed on, asking if, indeed, he was proposing to cut the Environmental Protection Agency. He said no, but admitted he could not name the third agency. “The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops.”

I haven't seen the video but surely this was an opportunity to make a joke or at least a chance to give a guy a break for a brain fart. Nothing more. Or is it a case of kicking the candidate to make sure a dead campaign is really dead. Shouldn't "oops" come with a little dignity, the waving of a small white flag? Otherwise, isn't it a bit like kicking the dog that only did what a dog does? Shouldn't recourse to "oops" mean witness ye all the human condition, judge not lest ye, too, be judged?

That cold I mentioned? Coughing for four weeks? Turned into pneumonia. Unlike Greece, however, there was a known accepted cure. Horse pills. Halfway through the great pharmaceutical experiment, I like big drug a little better. Even in my drugged haze, I found the choices for the best Canadian song a little weird. Like the Nickleback argument. But is "1-2-3-4" really a "best song" of anytime? Made iPhone ad = legitimacy. I need a tag for "why I stopped listening to the CBC."

⇒ Nice to see John Crosby is as warmly bluntly thoughtless as always. Nice guy. Met him once on a joint retreat of the law firm yoinks ago. Occasional foot in mouth disease meets boot to the arse tendencies.

⇒ Hazel! Always been a favorite even though you know the 27 year old single me could have never got a date with her due to her knowing waay more than me about sports.

⇒ Pushed Canadian brewing back five years yesterday afternoon. Made the Washington Post this week, too. Good week for beer thought.

⇒ "Eating like the English could save 4,000 lives a year in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland..." Great claims to fame of our times. Time for the oats and neeps.

Two people have left good beer at the front door in the last 24 hours. This sickness stuff ain't all bad.