After getting the 25th Anniversary edition of London Calling I ordered this CD as well as a couple more of the Joe Strummer and Mescalaros CDs. Having listened to them all I am convinced that Joe Strummer played a significant role in my musical and political philosophy. I am not saying 75% of my …

From The New York Times this morning:  •  “You'd think that seeing Osama looking fit as a fiddle and ready for hate would spark anger at the Bush administration's cynical diversion of the war on Al Qaeda to the war on Saddam. It's absurd that we're mired in Iraq - an invasion the demented vice …

This word appears twice in common parlance, in The Lords Prayer and the name of today. At least in North America, if you referred to tomorrow as All Hallows you might be looked at as a bit of a weirdo.  •  “1. make holy, consecrate. 2. honour as holy.”  •  So tomorrow, we are supposed to be aware …

Any lurkers want to speak up? This is going to be another banner month here with about 9500 unique visitors and about 43,000 visits. About 26,000 of those visits are via RSS which I think means you are using an aggregator to read this - meaning you chose the site rather than stumbled on it. I …

NBC's Tom Brokaw is at it again, as INDC points out - as the only US TV broadcast news service without major Canadian ties, it is to be expected, of course...the panicy man worried that there are people on the internets talking to each other, sharing dissatisfaction with the state of political …

I am not a big anti-Bush hate hate kind of guy but would not likely vote for him if I had the  •  chance which I don't so it does not matter.  •  Yet...I find this  •  sort of thing very funny. Try the combover with the goatee and drunk eyes - I  •  know that guy and he rean for the NDP somewhere …

In a moment of the fantastical yet possible, the Votemaster pointed out this today:  •  “Even more unlikely news: A reader pointed this out to be. Suppose the EC is tied 269 to 269 and the House deadlocks 25 states to 25 states. This is exceedingly unlikely, but just suppose. Then the Senate gets …

We are facing a very real crisis. A crisis of content. Given my great track record of the El Predicto, it is time to put on the fez once again.  •  Here is the thing - with the impending US election not only coming but, with any luck, being actually conclusive the people of Pajamastan, the entire …

What a weird sports year. No NHL. Mickleson wins. US basketball sucked at the Olympics. Greece wins. The Olympics are about athletes. Europe beats the USA in the Ryder.  •  And now the team I have loved since a kid, who has found a way to blow it every year, who describe themselves as "idiots" …

Saturday at noon [3.3MB, 19 sec].

9:38 pm  •  10:12 pm

Exciting email from the dashing Nils Ling, bon vivant and Air Commander, a Ling among Lings but not of those Lings, who sent these lovely photos:  •  Here is the text of his email:  •  “Hey, Alan ...  •  Here are two Manitoba jetsicles ... the first, from Gimli, is dedicated to the (now closed …

Wuz or Wuss, it am me. I hate getting up and not getting java in my veins. Pop and son blood tests for me and the old man this mornning. He to have a look at how his recovery from the bypass is so amazing. Me to determine out if I can still lay claim to low-medium blood sugar with a figure like …

Some days I am right some jeesly glad we don't live any closer to this thing:  •  Photo from over here.

If you have ceased all reading of non-amateur reporting it will be of no interest to you to click over to the Christian Science Monitor's web site and its excellent canvassing of a large number of media outlets on this story about the missing 380 tons of explosives. Those both in pajamas and in …

While he did not create the music I have listened to most of my life, he did a great deal to determine who I heard and perhaps how I heard it. A moment for the life and work of BBC radio host John Peel who has died.

Just look at the results of Steve's magical touch over at the sister-station, A Good Beer Blog. Love it.

So much for the October surprise, the Bush administration was apparently to pull out of the hat just before the election.  •  “DAVENPORT, Iowa, Oct. 25 - The White House sought on Monday to explain the disappearance of 380 tons of high explosives in Iraq that American forces were supposed to …

For all the ninnyism of people in pajamas pretending they are journalists because they have a few hundred or thousand readers, it is refreshing to come across someone who has actually taken the time to use a blog to do real research or detailed investigative work. Living in Dryden has taken it …

“...Everybody wants a rock to wind a piece of string around...”  •  The weird thing about They Might Be Giants is their lyrics provide the comebacks you really want to say during contract negotiations. You don't really want to tell someone to go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks. You want to tell them …

This weekend I was thinking - as I lay around putting off the filing of my 2003 income tax moving expenses and writing out the letter explaining it all - how valuable it is to be a sports fan generally but how useful it is to have played when a lad the sports you follow as an older larger lump. I …

Happy birthday, United Nations.

This is such a clear illustration of why the US Federal election is at risk, direct from the Votemaster:  •  “Here is an example of the kind of issue that might turn Ohio into Florida.. Take a look at the absentee ballot for Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located. Suppose you wanted to vote …

Last night, we stopped off at the student union center at Queens to drop in on the inaugural Kingston bloggers get together. As it is homecoming weekend, the city is littered with guys my age and older in their own undergrad leather jackets looking for a keg party to crash so it was easy to …

It will be good to get the US election behind us, whoever wins. Things are getting very weird. Apparently rational people believe that a movie is a cause of increased enemy military action rather than the admittedly insufficient war effort - even though it was so put on the ground for ideological …

I am not really anti-royalist so much as aroyal.  •  I wish they would just go away. Pack up their vestigal constitutional implications and funny hand waves and go to the cottage...or Finland...but just admit that they are irrelevant.  •  Why this outburst of 1640's furvor? Harry. Second in line …

I think I know I am a wuz. At least I am not the guy to go to the wall for little point. I might have made it into the lifeboats of the Titanic, maybe I would have found a way to avoid the draft...well, maybe that is all a bit severe but at 8°C at 7:30 pm on a Friday, I found an ankle rolled a …

Through the powers that be, I have created another blog called A Good Beer Blog where, for now, I  •  will mirror all the beery posts here abouts but which I hope will turn into a  •  multi-author site along the lines of Switching to Glide with its  •  focus on Canadian music.  •  Further reports …

Somedays the hopes and dreams of those who sell on eBay just amaze me. This is for sale at a starting price of 45 pounds:  •  Glentoran Football Club Signed Postcard 1980  •  Hey! It is signed. And...ummm...its 24 years old and...its from a club in Northern Ireland who "won the Cup" in 1980 …

Now that the Yankees are out of the playoffs, I can admit again to my enjoyment of things New York...more upstate than anything but, as the City and upstate have a mutually vestigal relationship, there is much of the City to be found upstate. One great thing is the New York Times, another is the …

I thought we gave up calling things "-otron". It's like science's version of "-arama". Anyway, Canada is unveiling its very own synchrotron tomorrow. I think its like a theramin but on a trolly sort of thing.  •  “Researchers in Saskatoon expect 2,000 colleagues from around the world to visit the …

The Canadian province of British Columbia is taking steps to isolate itself from the long arm of the Patriot Act by amending its protection of privacy legislation and:  •  Placing restrictions on public bodies and service providers storing, accessing or disclosing personal information outside …

So in my world the Red Sox do beat the Yankees and get to the World Series. They got there when I was 23 and when I was 12. Last time when the Mets beat them there was the Gary Carter consolation, the slight measure of a victoy for the Expos. Since then, however, it seems that every winnign team …

I don't talk about work much as I work for a government and get to go to meetings that you don't - so it would not be fair, loyal or smart. But I like what I do and I like it ever so much more when I see things like this in the paper - which is an good nosey paper by the way:  •  “  •  Have your …

Now that I have spent more than a year having made up with New Hampshire, I can enjoy Smuttynose as I should. These variety packs are great. They introduce you to a brewery's product for under 20 bucks Canadian, 14 US. Smart marketing. Good labels, too. The two old guys on lawn chairs on the IPA …

Good thing I had one 22 page document to draft today, straight through short break for lunch. Driving home it felt like mid-week halloween with the anticipation of big doin's tonight. I will try to stay tube-bound. I have a bad habit of making myself busy elsewhere during big moments in sporting …

Especially if it is a constitutional crisis. What happens when a bureaucracy fails to deliver a report properly commissioned by a legislative body and ready to go? The CIA is trying to find out.

Speaking of Half Life, it was weird when the cops came out during game six, after the players left the field, after the shower of trash from the Yankee Stadium crowd, after the call reversal, after A-Rod did the grade four cheater pants move of all time. This loverly photo from MLB* captures the …

Appparently it is coming out in a month. I had a weird experience with my glacial attempt at the original Half Life. I was half way down the collapsed building fighting evil things when 9/11 happened. I just couldn't pick it up after. Maybe now I will be ready to beat shin-high brain/chicken …

“Doug Bennett, the lead singer of the Canadian indie band Doug and the Slugs, died Saturday following an undisclosed lengthy illness. He was 52.”  •  1984 with Renouf and Fishhead at the Misty Moon, I was leaning against a post during "Too Bad" looking around and when I looked at the stage the …

Last night they were just so happy to please portland and me.  •  I am exhausted already. An 8 am to 8 pm workday ends with another baseball game that may well end tomorrow when another game begins. It is like being in the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray wakes up to the same morning and the …

Six judges act as official pall bearers for an elderly homeless man.

Go get it. Via Craig, the humble one, comes a recommendation for Spybot Search & Destroy. I loaded and dated it immediately (I deem "down" and "up" being redundant in the same sentence now) and found 43 little spy bot bastards on the hard drive. It has been moving slowly for some time and …

Don't forget to get some picks in for the elction pool. I know I said there was a deadline but seeing as the web is full of rightists and I am picking Kerry - and - as it looks like Kerry may actually win...well, I am just looking forward to the gnashing of teeth, the neo-con v. Tory accusations …

Mr. Lovely  •  Best game I have ever seen? I can remember pitching duels with Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Carlton on TV. I saw the Dennis Martinez perfect game again on TV. I saw Luis Tiant and the Sox beat the Yankees in 10 when I was ten from the bleachers in Fenway. But that game tonight was …

Who can resist when one reviewer says: " Very possibly the darkest beer in the world." Well...I suppose lots of people who do not like dark or black beer. But for people who understand that Guinness is actually red, this kind of line makes an ale very attractive.  •  Freeminer Brewery is one of …

Without naming names...or nick-names...isn't it getting a little rude around here? I have had to change a false identifier's nickname and hide a conversation for tedious going-on-ery. I like a debate as much as the next person but how about some guidelines...not rules, just suggestions:  •  Unless …

The Beauty  •  I am getting a life-size statute of Ortiz for my living room and one for portland, too, to stand next to the illuminated full-size goose. I was all prepared for a black bordered bosox cap on the front page of this organ when I heard that in fact we won in the 12th. OK- I fell asleep …

Daniel reports on medieval pumpkin hurling. Enlightened. I saw one of these in the Kitchener area last fall at a U-pick farm that was raising funds for a food bank. Some good gents in PEI a couple of years ago picked up the torch and built one themselves and set up a very useful photo gallery to …

Just to prove the point that you don't have to be a small jurisdiction to me a misfit of governance, it is interesting to follow the sufferings of NYCO as she follows the pork-barrelling and legislative vote bartering that is government at the state capital in Albany, New York. Nice to see a good …

I have not had a flu shot but will likely get one this year. Why? It is free in Ontario. Plus, the nearby USA is short and, depending on whether it is a the flop or flip that Dubya is spouting on a given day, may want our stash and/or create a bigger outbreak through bad luck. Besides, Health …

...'cause Dick Cheney tells me so...  •  Again, some months ago, I wrote about a PBS Frontline piece on the use of Biblical language by President Bush. Apparently the sublty of the implication of his speechification style has now been found lacking and, now, it has been confirmed that if you vote …

It was supposed to be more fun, certainly more fun that 19-8. My four year old is saying good things about the Yankees. It was never supposed to be like this...never like this.

Evil walks up the earth and it sticks to city streets it seems. Nova Scotia, land of my upbringing if not my birth, has rejected Sunday shopping, with Halifax being overwhelmingly in favour and the country and towns saying no. This would drive me mental. I go to church. I go to Sobeys. What is the …

India Pale Ale did not originate in from Scotland, though the Scots brewers were early adopters of most English styles as a matter of survival. This very light ale for an IPA has something of the Scots roast barley bite and a slight smokey yeast there as well as a very nice bright orangy flavour …

The pre-Flea me wrote a bit about fear, including:  •  Comparing FearsWhere On The Fear Scale Are You?Nuclear Fear Nostalgia  •  Today in his weekly update on things war on terror, the Mighty Flea, who I greatly respect but often disagree with in matters political, growls at the prospect of "the …

My interest in canals has been stoked this week with the delivery of Carol Sheriff's book The Artificial River, about the socio-economic effects of the building and rebuilding Erie Canal from 1817 to 1862. Under a search for "canal blog" I found this wonderful site, Ship's Blog.  •  There is …

Is this the most uninteresting news story of the day?

Just watched John Stewart be the guest on CNN's Crossfire. As opposed to the advertised plan he did not "offer his quirky take on the upcoming election" - he was actually kinda grumpy and got right into challenging the two hosts about what the hell they were doing with their show. Asked why he was …

My father noticed this obituary in yesterday's Globe and Mail for Keith Miller, the great Australian cricketer, and was reminded that he had seen him in 1946 in his hometown when a tour brought them to place a Scotland select team. Apparently the grounds in Greenock were a little small so to make …

...is my favorite toy car in the image:  •  Just in case you think you need more, of course there is an entire site dedicated to this hobby world wide. Go find the one at the Taj Mahal.

Below is a portion of today's discussion from the Votemaster. Whoever this guy is he has taking on and suceeded in a real public service task of explaining not just the "what" of the US Presidential election polling but also the "how" and "why". You will recall we are up on How and Why in these …

Was there ever a cheerier vision planned to met your eye upon the opening of your first case? Congratulations Cooperstown Brewing Company of Milford, New York.

Nothing but an ale most masterful could claim this name. 7.7%. Light wine. It smells like opening a bag of hops pellets and tastes like licking one out. This is a BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEG brew and meant to be. If you do not like hops this is not the beer for you. If you can not contemplate beauty in the …

London and the North's autumn posts are wonderful.

Many years ago I was driving out of Halifax with a geologist who said out of the blue "wow, 50 million years ago that was the place to be - big beach". Now, my point is not to offend the large creationist readship group I know I attract. It is to introduce the following pictures:  •  A view east …

Apparently a little unpleasantness has broken out and lawyers are being consulted within the Canadian Pajamastani Community (the "CPC"). Since I have not witnessed either side of the communications in question, I am in no place to comment upon either side. Since I am a member of the Law Society of …

Last winter I was wondering about ambient sound recordings and blogs. At that time, I made the noted short short film Snow Sound with the Sony DSC-P32 as I was thinking about sound but today I bought a Sony ICD-ST10, a dedicated digital IC recorder. Essentially it is a digital camera for noise …

My post below and a call to a pal has got me thinking. As I am off work this week these are the sorts of things that go through my head as opposed to ensuring contract liability meets error and omission insurance goverage. Today I am thinking about a smarter internet.  •  For some time, I have …

Canada's nicest and smallest futurist, Tod Maffin, has been hovering around Steve again and talked about his AOV radio as a podcast. Apparently Tod has been right some jesus into podcasting since last Wednesday according to his new blog about it. Anyway, Steve was on Maffin's weekly CBC spot this …

A fuzzy shot off to the east of I-81: a sign for a departed diner alone in a field.

Sad but perhaps expected news from the operator of the Electoral Vote Predictor 2004, the much relied upon hereabouts service for gleaning the wheat from the chaff:  •  “The site has had technical problems repeatedly in the past several days and has been down several times. I didn't want to …

A week off and I wanted to do another run into Syracuse for some important research. My inquiries with the Homebrewers Digest had let me know that the two spots to check out for micro-brew selection were the Galeville Grocery and Party Source. Both are located on decent strips, the Old Liverpool …

During my weekend newspaper and magazine reading, I kept coming across references to politicial blogging and its new found effectiveness or perhaps just acknowledgement. KOS was referenced somewhere in the New York Times without much explanation of what he was. The latest issue of maissonneuve had …

Canada is doing great!    Amongst all the hardships of our lives - such as they are - and the real tragic news that touches us all from time to time, it is good once in a while to remember that this is a good time in a great nation.  With the dollar hitting 80 cents USD for the first time since I …

In an update on one of the on-going projects around here, collecting construction dates carved in stone, Mike in Halifax has posted a 1632 he photographed in Winchester, England. All others are most welcome add to the collection similarly. Thanks Mike.

I have a week off. I have a week off with nothing planned. I will probably go to the Pan Chancho Bakery a few times during the week.  •  City Hall, left, and Pan Chancho Bakery, right.  •  My problem with Pan Chancho is based largely on the fact that I work in the big building to the left while …

In a recent New Yorker there was passing reference to a person making a killing and then suffering financial collapse as a participant in the pneumatic mailing tube industry. I am familiar from 1940's movies with the sending of mail in tubes within a building but apparently there were schemes to …

Let's have an internationally sanctioned war, sweep away the fascist tyrants, bring together factions which never spoke to each other, instill peace and create constitutional democracy on a local model...and then use Welch's grape juice instead of proper voters' ink:  •  “Afghanistan's first-ever …

50. portland asked me to. And worst of all, this is actually a case...which I can never remember what they call in Ontario where a case is really a two-four. In Halifax, a case was 12. I don't know what I will do with the other eleven. A slice of lime won't even make it a Molrona as this is from …

The Ghost of a Flea has posted his 14th in a series of positive posts on efforts in the war on terror which has led me to ask what must be done to win. I think a wee bit differently from the goodly Flea, that what is being done now is both the good fight but also a side-track to the real goal of …

The extraordinary fall continues with temperatures in the 20s C or 70s F, no killing frost yet and lots of leaves still on the trees. This was the start of the walk to work yesterday. I played soccer last evening under lights, the turf softer than summer but just as lush. Magic.

Here is a wicked thought. Kerry wins electoral college and loses the popular vote. Because the President is so heavily supported in many states but each state is won on a first past the post system, the extra extra votes are useless. They do not make him win anymore. Here is the percentage lead …

Great news this morning as Rogers Sportsnet has ponied up the fee and provided Canada with this game, a World Cup qualifier, for free boradcast rather than pay per view. 36 minutes to go. Wales is in very good shape to take the game to its bigger neighbour with a true golden generation of players …

Still a tie the next morning. KOS has a certain sort of round up. Best line so far from him:  •  “Two words for President Bush: anger management.”  •  The Kommisar blogged the town hall and came up with another sort of view. His best line?  •  “The nature of the human spirit is to harvest other …

Brian has an excellent post on contracting out and the US military.

Tie with a nod to Kerry. Why? Kerry explained why he would not accept a late abortion ban because it required a raped child to inform the rapist...parent. [The incestuous rapist parent was granted rights by Bush is what he was saying.] Bush then said he did not understand Kerry and that the ban …

This eBay seller's notice is funny and  •  odd and a little pathetic:  •  “Canadian buyer IS NOT WELCOME until they send the draft dodgers back to the USA to be prosecuted!”  •  So...what  •  are we supposed to do? Round them up and cattle-drive them back over the border?  •  Via Metafilter.

Here is the text of the amendments over which we almost had a collapse of the federal government yesterday. The original amendment to the speech from the throne said:  •  “"... and we ask your excellency's advisers to ensure that all measures brought forward to implement the Speech from the Throne …

Here's a quote to start your day:  •  “Milne told the paper: "It just seems to me that the television service has largely been run by women for the last four to five years and they don't seem to have done a great job of work." Describing a discussion over lunch with new BBC chairman Michael Grade …

The new Red Ensign Standard is up. It is one of the better round-ups of similarly themed blogs out there - even thought for the most part I am not similar to much of what is written. I am accepted, I suppose, based on my approval of flags, my respect for the history of things and a certain respect …

Don't make me vote again this year. I heard Harper say that his agenda was "frankly supported by the majority of Canadians" even though he got 29% of the vote in June. Nothing has changed. If you make us vote for you before the Liberals have done anything, you will see 5 seats in Quebec go to the …

“Flu & Pneumonia Clinic in Heuvelton  •  09:30 am - 11:30 am  •  At Heuvelton Meadowview Apartments  •  Ogdensburg, NY”  •  From the NCPR Community Calendar for next Tuesday. I have next week off and am considering a drive to Syracuse to check out a few things to do and that is a good place to …

Very sad news with the loss of one of the submariners, Lieutenant Chris Saunders, fighting the fire on board the HMCS Chicoutimi adrift off of Ireland. We knew someone back in Halifax who married one of the submariners so know there will be much sadness there tonight. There has been much …

I just got back from a presentation by a lawyer.  "Yawn" is usually what I feel right about now but when the presentation is by a guy named Rusty Russell, a lawyer from Orillia, you are always left happy.   Why is this guy so good?   It is not particularly the subject matter.   Last time I saw him …

William Safire  •  has a good op-ed on the upcoming Afghan election. People  •  lining up to vote is a good thing     People lining up in  •  Cambodian and South Africa after long horror was a good thing. This  •  is good, too. Canadians will be  •  protecting voters there. This is also good. We …

I didn't watch the Vice-Presidential debate. I can't imagine the equivalent being done in Canada or even proposed as these guys are picked to a certain extent for having some dud characteristic that leaves them as no challenge to the primary candidate - less charm or brains or, even, too much …

If it is true, it is funny because even wired, he is a really bad public speaker. If it is not true, it's still funny as it is so paranoid. Can you tell? Is Bush wired?  •  Later: The site lined above at http://www.isbushwired.com now appears down. Likely it was all airbrush, like most of human …

While reviewing my spelling issues in relation to the Washington Greys Grays post, I discovered the loveliness of this jersey for the Pittsburgh Keystones, a Negro League baseball team from the era of segregation of sports in the US. I am sure you will agree I deserve one - in XXL, please. They …

This morning's New York Times poll confirms yesterday's from CNN:  •  “Four weeks from Election Day, the presidential race is again a dead heat, with Mr. Bush having given up the gains he enjoyed for the last month after the Republican convention in New York, the poll found. In both a head-to-head …

"Paaaul, Paaauuul - do you hear me?" [Ed.: insert your own scary ghost sounds here]  •  The CBC's web site is running the most unattractive rather toady picture of the man who would be Prime Minister, minority leader Paul Martin this morning. He looks haunted by something...or someone. Could it be …

While it is stupendously whacked that the mostestly freeest country in the world goes through a pre-registration of the prime freedom, the right to vote, it is heartening to find out there is a rush to register giving hope for a huge turnout that might actually reach the point of the majority of …

More than a year ago I wrote about this, Dave Winer's køøkey rule of linking, called rather magnificently The Rule of Linking,the self-proclamation that one must link as thoroughly as you can anticipate the reader might like. If you look at this post of earlier today you will see the lack of …

Ed could take Ralph sooooo easily. He  •  goes crazy when he gets mad. Ralph better watch it.

80s joke. Rosanne Rosannadanna: "never mind".  •  Anyway, being couch bound with an unending cold recently, I have watched more TV than usual and have noticed an amazing increase, at least for me, in the violence on TV dramas. I suppose a bit part of it is that the violence is in the present. For …

Was it because they were measured in troy ounces before?

From the New York Times, 2 October 2004, B18.  •  While I was catching up on my newspapers, I noticed this excellent map from the Weather Report section of the New York Times yesterday. Notice a couple of things. Those little brown patches to the south of Kingston on the US side on Lake Ontario …

Is Canada in a national rut?

There was a time I would have never dreamed to be able to get this as a morning's viewing selection:  •  8:55 am - AC Milan vs Reggina (Italy)9:00 am - Bayer Leverkusen vs Hamburg (Germany)11:00 am - Udinese vs Juventus (Italy) 11:00 am - Chelsea vs Liverpool (England) 2:00 pm - Manchester United …

Wellington Special Pale Ale or SPA. At the Beer Store for $10.50. From Guelph, Ontario. Can't say there are bad tastes in this brew. Then again, I can't say there is much taste at all. Not thin, no, it's got a medium-light body and the colour of light maple syrup and...that is about it on first …

I have written about the great portrait collection at work before. I have a hard time keeping my eyes off this particular painting when I am in a meeting in a certain room and especially the detail over the shoulder of the Mayor for 1898, Charles Livingston:  •  What a merry little steam ship. I …