Four Portraits in Kingston City Hall. Click on image for larger scale, details on alt tag.  •  Not only is the building itself a work of art, but City Hall has a collection of around thirty or so portraits of past civic leaders of the City. The upper left of John Counter is interesting for a bunch …

So can you really sum up a year of me? I started writing this thing first of  •  all to force myself to write and also to record for myself what I think about. I  •  do not care care if it spelled well or interesting so much as that it is simply  •  done. I have a few short term diaries from my …

double domed because they could  •  In the second of a continuing series, I appear to be working out issues I have with domed buildings. This is the head of the Anglican Church in Ontario which sits a couple blocks west of work. There are two parts to it each under its own dome and the foreground …

Yesterday, Jason Kottke asked what magazines he should consider reading in 2004 and has 110 suggestions so far. A good list for anyone looking for new reading.  •  I am #67-ish, by the way.

It appears that Quebec may bring a court challenge against the new Federal privacy law, PIPEDA. This is the interesting thing for the average joe:  •  “The federal government has always argued it has the authority under the "trade and commerce" provisions of the Constitution on this matter because …

One of Canada's great remaining Victorian spaces  •  I work right under the great dome of the Kingston City Hall. This morning I looked up.

Its over a year now since Joe Strummer died at fifty. I got his last album with the band Mescaleros, Streetcore, for Christmas from bro' Iain and it has made its way into the car's CD player today. "Coma Girl", the first cut, bodes very well - nice drive the car to work music for someone who …

Logs, that is, not blogs. Researchers in the UK are studying climate change as recorded in ships logs of the British, Dutch and Spanish navies. Even though the records pre-date common use of scientific instruments,  •  “Dr Wheeler told BBC News Online, "We've verified that the data are highly …

For 2004, I know I need some new blogs to read. Right now my reads generally and quite happily fall into these categories:  •  People I have met or know people I have met;  •  People who are yapping about blogs and how they are the future and will have us all eating food from tubes someday …

60,000 BTUs of turkey cookin' power  •  We were down in southern south-west west central Ontario having dinner with about 17 of the Pennys of Owen Sound side of the family. Impressive was "the right to meat" campaign which not only saw this impressive meat cooking machine at work on Boxing Day but …

Wikipedia needs some cash.

I don't know if this will show well on the ISH, but coming back we saw smog from just east of Orangeville until about Trenton - a patch about 250 miles wide as we skirted north of much of Toronto (via 9 to 404 to 407 to 12 to 401)  •  Here is a detail of a picture of a slice of the horizon in …

Down in Wroxeter for a few days at family, not really looking at the web much  •  but noticed this morning the stats. What is interesting is not so much the  •  expected drop as the firm 167 unique visitors I never seem to go below even on the slowest  •  day. Are these just the bots or are there …

Happy kids asleep. A few good feeds in jammies, then new clothes. Choral music on CBC radio all day. Missed the Queen... but, really, she missed me as well, didn't she.    It has been unusually warm here and Saturday may hit a sunny ten above. I don't miss the snow - only wish I had a patch of …

Recreation Opportunities Abound!  •  With Santa's delivery of the Sony DSC-P32, the audio visual digital powers of GX40 HQ have been expanded dramatically. As a result we are able to do exciting things like show you a bit of the view.  •  Disneyland is the local name for the Collins Bay Pen, by …

I just noticed this over at the B'log. I am sure Ale-Fan would get a laugh despite his fuzzy heed. Apparently a guy in Owen Sound took a 2-4 back to exchange saying it was the wrong brand but in fact the box was full of recapped bottles containing water. It now appears that - after 24 Labatt Blue …

Well it is time for some kind of obligatory post for Yule from GX40 HQ. Signs of the season seen today:  •  LCBO line ups and emptying shelves. Panicy staff asking who had driven to the Bath and Gan stores looking for fluidy back-up.  Fortunately the Walnut Brown oloroso was there for grannie …

Just another reason to doubt the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Great Posters of Our Time #137  •  After last night's gig I was reminded that the Salvation Army is not the only good cause getting the tube amps glowing. On New Years Eve, the Tijuana Bibles are playing in support of fan dancing. God love 'em, every one.  •  This is a two or three stages of …

[What a dumb pun.]  •  So the Supreme Court spoke this morning in the case R. v. Clay and marijuana smoking is not a constitutional right - but only on a 6-3 split. Apart from the reassurance that the brewers and distillers of Canada were looking for, there is some very interesting language …

I can't believe I was in the same room as  •  the Chump. It's been a big rocking year for the old man. I saw Sarah Harmer in February  •  (opened by the CBC propped up and badly managed Nathan Wiley - needs to meet more kids  •  his own age who play instruments), then Elvis Costello in  •  summer …

Here's a handy tip to carry in your wallet: if you are chosen 1343rd for anything, you are not a "budding star" in that field.  Anyway, the guilty Mr. 1343 got 45 days in the hoosgow. The old "not really wrong" argument didn't seem to help:  •  “Rhynes testified that he made a moral mistake, but …

One of my favorite people on earth is my buddy Michael Crystal, a criminal defence lawyer in Ottawa, the kind of guy who takes the toughest cases, cases I would not touch knowing the limits of my skill. He has recently launched a new website for his law office which is, to say the least …

Creature from the Deep  •  Now that I have an Ikea desk and a sufficiently powerful power bar empowering my computer, I can actually hook everything up including the $129.99 Dell scanner printer and inundate you with old family photos. This particular leg is attached to my first cousin, aka the …

The warnings are out there. Even Dave3 is saying that you have to expect the oxygen levels on your aggregator to thin out.  As so much of what is written on blogs is the same six stories being passed around like a party platter of dried marble cheese and curling crackers softened by gherkin juice …

Nominations are being accepted for the Genx40 Best of 2003 Awards in the categories of music, books, TV, the web, ale and cheese. No movies please as I saw one this year and it was good.

This is good news. Libya has announced it is packing away the evil - just in time for Christmas. George looked just a little uncomfortable from the White House press room putting Libya with the glad tidings merry merry happy happy stuff. With luck, he'll get used to these announcements.  •  Me and …

When I was a kid, it always seemed we were coming home from places in the dark of the evening. Sitting in a summer 401 traffic jam at the end of a long weekend next to a refinery, gawking with the brothers at the burn-off flame lighting up miles. Crossing back over the border after station wagon …

Interesting. I never thought about the fact that while you cannot build a pipe to the States to move masses of water or fill container ships full of it in bulk for the Paraguyan market, if you put it in 500 ml plastic bottles, put 24 bottles in a box, put 144 boxes on a pallet and fill a truck …

Are the NDP on a national rebound? Or is it a really slow dead cat bounce? Who knows but all of a sudden Broadbent is back in town.  •  The biggest problem they have faced is the lack of credible leadership. Libertarians and evangelicals will gnash and wail that it is the wacky Volvo in cords …

The sense that 2004 is the year the Yankees get pounded by the Red Sox is like spreading like blood in water. We got Curt Schilling; A decent guy at second base. I would like to see Vladdy a Bosock (singular?) as well.  •  I just, however, don't get the move to get A-Rod and trade Nomah …

Will this be on Santa's naughty or nice list?  •  From the Traditional Arts in Upstate New York Christmas fundraiser.

At work at 70...and at home at 43  •  It has not always been the public eye for Donnie Rumsfeld. Earlier in his life, he led more secretive life, honing his skills, planning his day on centre stage. Preparing to crush a really big head.

More recent comment by Dave Winer on the issue of RSS overwhelming the internet if the so-called standard of checking no more than once an hour is not honoured.  •  I wonder...if there is no general acceptance of his late in the day plea for using these apps no more than once an hour, isn't the …

In perhaps a related story indicative of what constitutes a crime now that Saddam is behind bars, the RCMP have declared spit a weapon and the saying that you will spit on the PM a threat to the nation. A Halifax woman sent this email and received this treatment. Nice to see that the RCMP listens …

From  •  Rob, the  •  Queen is not amused with the state of her gardens after Mr. Bush's recent  •  visit.

The other day I got an email returned with a reply. Except it was a handwritten reply and the answerer had printed off my email, written his answer on it and faxed it back. It's folks like that who are ensuring that fax machines continue to clog our lives - pushing up usage 40% in the last year …

Mount Thom a little east of Truro, looking ugly  •  I was reminded of the old home town when I saw this picture on the NS government highway web cam page. I piled pulpwood in the forest south of this road back in the summer of 1980, with the diminutive crew chief Brian Matatall flipping quarters …

This will be the news for months. But should Saddam get a fair trial? What  •  defines a fair trial? When I was in grade eleven, our history class ran the  •  Nuremburg trials and I was Goebbels. I got myself off but my good pal Bruce,  •  mock chief justice and now head of social studies for the …

Mom always said bright colours would help me get noticed  •  We have been lucky around here watching lake effects hammer Central New Yourk State to the south and nor'easters riding up the coast burying Maine and the Maritimes. It has been a long and late fall around here. Ended today with the …

...what do you do if your job title is "Saddam Double". I have pondered about these guys  •  before and Steve and I were  •  wondering about them this morning and have come up with some ideas:  •  The travelling roadshow "One Hundred Saddams" playing casinos and lounges  •  world-wide, managed by …

Yesterday's Canadian Copyright Board ruling on the payment of fees on new  •  blank media such as iPods and blank CD as got some notice on some popular  •  US blogs. There  •  are two separate cases at play, the ruling of yesterday by the Copyright Board  •  as well as another from 1999 which has …

One of my favorite parts of the BBC - and a fantasy employer from my teen radio nerd days - is  •  the Monitoring Service:  •  “BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 …

Mike perpetuates a myth:  •  “By moving to the political center he broke ideologically with his mentor, Pierre Trudeau, the hero and symbol of Canadian left-liberalism whose legacy was a phenomenal debt burden, high tax rates and an omnipresent public sector.”  •  Most of the current Canadian debt …

Just in case thee are a few people out there slower on the uptake than me, via CBC's DNTO, the 365 Days Project has a few weeks to go during which a new wacko song a day is added. I woke up from my mid-day Saturday snooze to William Shatner singing croaking "Rocket Man".

Thanks to the magical stylings of my web lords, I have added an "Other Links" Function which you can see to the upper right of the screen. It will provide topical links of interest without all the yappetry from me you ususally have to wade through. It will be completely fabulous and, soon, the …

The Seven Chairs: The Fifth One Ended Up in France  •  Mella told Daniel that Harris is like Sam.

A classic ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada this morning in R. v. Taillefer; R. v. Duguay. A teen is murdered. The prosecution failed to disclose necessary information to the defence. One accused gets a new trial, the prosecution is stayed for the other.  •  “As Spence J. observed in his …

Among the many pleasures high speed brings is proper web radio. One of  my favorite listening times is before 7:30 am when I get to hear Halifax Information Morning, surely the best CBC morning show in the country. Don Connelly has both the best voice and the best interviewing skills I ever have …

This was on MetaFilter just now: a University of Toronto's massive collection of Arctic records, including photos, from the late 1800's.

A package of Tijuana Bible goodness arrived in the mail today: a t-shirt, four posters, two stickers and their 2000 CD Apartment Wrestling with its 11 tracks and five Quicktime movies. Surely a $586.00 value all for 15 bucks. Super Destroyer, the band's business side, who was too kind to correct …

Canada is quite right to pull funding for Iraq restoration if the US actually goes ahead and refuses contracts to any but deemed allies. The US government's attitude to other nations which may be happy to assist according to their own national standards is a joke, potentially against trade laws …

I don't know what to make of these kinda wacky new bringin' it to the people ideas announced today by the young Ontario government. Sounds too much like a Maritime province mid-term opposition party plan gleaned from doctor's office reading materials. Do you really want to vote for your government …

The animated version of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs was on CBC tonight, narrated by David Bowie with his unfortunate early 80's yellow hair of the Let's Dance era. Finally, a second Christmas cartoon that does not give a tooth ache. A Charlie Brown Christmas has been my favorite Christmas …

Dave is freakin' because the limitations he sees in the RSS system are not seen by others. Either the limits don't exist and Dave doesn't understand or he does and no one will see them until a crash. He may be in part right but this is never the answer to anything:  •  “...should an aggregator be …

How many is too many? The BBC reports on the UN's predictions for population growth to 2300. I trust Dick Van Patten was consulted.  •  23833 times the current population is where we would be if current population growth continued. I think that this would attract the attention of the brain-sucking …

I got a couple of really helpful emails from Keith at Electron about recording sound. He pointed out that he, like Steve, also has a shows in his web page and, like Steve, he is a webbie - systems programmer. He wrote:  •  “I don't know if you noticed, but I make 45 minute long 'radio' shows (as …

My inquiries into the world of portable digital audio recording have returned odd results. Either you are led to birdwatching sites like this one from Cornell or freaky eavesdropping surveillance guy sites. With my interest in the dangers of surveillance, this is no idle thing but you would think …

In a news item which brought back shades of the Cold War era, it turns out the Russians are rigging elections to a greater degree than perhaps since the Soviet era. We have been told that the strongman is the natural state of affairs over there and, given the choice between criminal oligarchs and …

View from our robot sneaking up on a planet  •  Planets are easy to like. So far none of them have invaded us, their insect-like populations sucking our brains from our skulls with brain-sucking tubes. No, planets keep pretty much to themselves. But we just can't seem to leave them alone. Cassini …

I need help - in many ways. Tonight's question is triggered by Steve's move into radio. I think this is neat. Neat is a word I have used since I was five in 1968 and I think it covers a range of good things. But I don't want to be just like Steve...at least that is my story in public and I am …

Before I went to Ontario a courtin' in '92, I had to gather cash fast. I made  •  about a few grand thanks in large part to the lovely yet nerdy collection of  •  hockey cards which I could not now think to afford to replace - Dryden rookies,  •  LaFleur rookies, entire 1970-71, 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee …

I wonder why I keep my mail email address and when I will sto it, turn it off? Currently, I have a few - work, web, and a few orphans out there related to former jobs, home, ISPs. I have a phone, ICQ, cell phone, this blog, a postal address, work phone, work fax, work address. In the last few …

You will have guessed I am fascinated by being so close to the states as to follow local media. I'd be reading the Watertown newspaper on-line every day if you didn't have to give them over $100.00 CAN for the pleasure.  •  This morning I am reminded that it is Pearl Harbor Day and that at the …

It didn't totally suck.   Sitting in a suburban Baptist church  •  for an hour and a half listening to 43 kids pick out something on the piano and  •  bang the tamborine is not necessarily the way I want to spend a Saturday  •  afternoon - especially when there is college football to watch and …

This morning the Supreme Court of Canada recognized a new tort: the tort of misfeasance in public office. We, the robed, forget that most people haven't got a clue what a tort is: a civil wrong. You sue people for hitting you, wrecking your stuff, industrial negligence in making stuff - those are …

I am enjoying reading and chatting at Seb's site. He has written a very thorough and plain articles on personal web publishing which can be found here. I believe he works at this location of the National Research Council in New Brunswick so his job is the hobby of many of us. During the Harvard …

David thinks him scum. Damian thinks it is strange, that something does not sit right. Here is the story from TorStar, brother's yellow press.  •  The thing which strikes me at first as interesting is what the hell people expect from lawyers. We of the trade are considered useless, parasites …

One of my favorite stories in the Bush/Iraq tales of obfuscations going around is this one about the surprise Thanksgiving visit. Via Stallman. It is a bit odd that no one noticed all these soldiers just happened to be up before dawn ready for a big Thanksgiving dinner at exactly the time …

Just listened to and mIRCed the Thursday meeting held at Harvard this evening: Aaron was there physically as was Dave and Andrew while Robert and Steve and Peter the Ruk were on the chatty IRC listening in.   Lots of interesting talk about where he thinks blogs are going; how you pay for copyright …

Looking at your reading patterns it is clear we do not have enough insomniacs among us. To over come that weakness, I am launching a campaign to include more items of interest to our pals down under: Kiwis, Aussie, Micronesians, the lot. Trouble is I have no idea what would possibly be of interest.

I was very pleased to receive this note in my email this morning:  •  “I am delighted to tell you that Beer: The Story of the Pint was awarded the gold tankard for best beer book 2003 at the British Guild of Beer Writers annual awards last night.  •  Martyn Cornell  •  ”  •  You will recall that …

Should my post about Tolman Sweets be number 7 on searches for software fixes?

I got the White Stripes last CD Elephant the other day. It kind of sounds like Led Zep meets Springsteen's Nebraska, homemade, but loud buzzy guitars, Robert Plant Houses of the Holy trembly "ahhhh, oooh, yeah baby" kind of singing in the choruses. I wonder what Ogg, child of the '60's London …

Via the Newf of Atlanta, Halifax  •  Mike tells of his love of Yule. With the recent cold snap here in Kingston,  •  I am getting all Christmassy myself. Good thing I have a stock of Lustau's finest for Elmo aka Granny,  •  the matrilineal.

As Dave points out there is a meeting Friday at Harvard Law School called "Development of an Alternate Compensation System for Digital Media in a Global Environment". Interestingly, Canada's Supreme Court is having a meeting today pretty much on the same subject. Brought by SOCAN,  •  “the …

Apparently the Central American country of Belize still has an appeal to the British Pricy Council, the highest court of appeal in the Commonwealth. Canada ditched its links there before WWII, sometime after it declared women persons. Sensible lot.   We now know Belize retains that path of appeal …

Speaking of radio, Doc has an extended post about what radio in the US is and ought to be. Worth reading whether you agree with it or not - I think he is cliché about NPR. You yankee imperialist capitalist running dogs (sorry - too many North Korean press clippings) don't know how good you got it …

It is possible to get the latest from the Government of North Korea via a website, a little oddly, with a  •  Japanese URL. In the good old days of the Cold War, stations like Radio Moscow or Radio Berlin  •  International; jamming; and the number  •  stations sending coded messages brought the …

Unbeknownst to me last Saturday night, I ate at one of the favourite spots of Ra McGuire, the lead singer from Trooper. It's information like that that doesn't change your life but might lead one to pause over one's Phanaeng Goong (spicy shrimp in basil peanut coconut sauce). [If I see him, there …

The downfall of the internet is its failure to know what it contains and  •  provide it back to humans in an organized fashion. Its successes include the  •  ability to perform to the level of its failure to any degree at all. In 1998, only 3% to 34% of the  •  indexable Web was indexed. In 1999 …