Twenty four years since high school ended and undergrad began. I sometimes wonder that, with the passing of time, that moment in my life is as distant as 1957 was to it. Ancient history I would have said then.  •  Anyway, someone has created a internet meme-thingie about the songs in the top 100 …

I can't be bothered registering to comment sometimes. It's not the effort to do it but to remember passwords user names and other codes so thanks to those who don't impose it. For those I do obey and register, it is respect. But then there is wee BB. I want to comment but I just don't get the …

Lech. In Poland you would know that there were two Lechs - some sort of mythical hero founder of the country as well as a ciggie smoking ship builder who led the freeing of the nation, won the Nobel and then made them cringe a little with his rough manners when they made him President. A little …

Just rain here now, no wind...but plenty of that rain. Like a Halifax fall storm. Which were pretty much hurricane tails.

I wonder how long it will be before it can be understood what help could be offered or even received? Time, however, to let them know we will:  •  The US Red Cross is receiving targeted donation now. The Canadian Red Cross has a 2005 Hurricane relief fund. Here is the website of the Mennonite …

I read this quote at Johnny G's excellent site which is featuring his part in the morality play known as the CBC lockout these days. DJ JG Jr. quotes from (and links to so I won't - because HTML is sooooo 2003) an op-ed in the Globe this morning by CBC pres Robert Rabinovitch:  •  “Taken together …

While it won't pack the punch of a hurricane it is disconcerting to see that Katrina is coming right at us. Masses of rain expected. The US weather service says for neighbouring Jefferson Co. NY:  •  “Tonight...Rain...Becoming heavy at Times after midnight. Lows in the upper 60s. South winds 10 …

This is good. I follow Arsenal. I love Mighty Morton. But I have a soft spot for Newcastle so reading this morning that Michael Owen, formerly of Liverpool, formerly of the Real Madrid bench, is joining them is cause for a little excitement. He might actually recall how to put the ball in the back …

Will the hike in gas prices keep me from the State Fair and a fishy feed at Rudy's this long weekend? Our 9.5 hours on the road this weekend pretty much ate 80 bucks. It used to be, say, $45 or $50 and I never noticed it. I notice 80 bucks.  •  The upside is that a round trip to the Fair is only 4 …

I am not a java junkie but I do need half a bucket as I write this stuff first thing in the morning every day. I am as delighted as Mike, then, to read about these crazy health benefits:  •  “ Coffee might soon be considered a health drink following a study showing it is a surprisingly rich source …

In a moment wherein I realized understanding the Canadian constitutional amendment process is actually useful knowledge, it was interesting to read this fact in a BBC item this morning about the process of ratification of the draft Iraqi constitution:  •  “To be ratified, the constitution has to …

Michael posts a very interesting storm surge map about the hurricane about to hit New Orleans and also takes a brief moment to make a really bad 80s joke. Ian posts a photoshopped picture of one of his favorite streets and asks us to pray for his dives.  •  Here is an Army Corps of Engineers …

...not everyone who professes to love freedom likes the actual exercise of freedom. For instance, the American Legion has called for the end to anti-war protests and something that looks like the end of all questioning of policy through exercise of the right of assembly:  •  “"The American Legion …

People are largely wrong about a lot of stuff - even on both sides of any discussion. We are creatures of comfort in that way. One biggies in this respect is the perceptions we have of places we have never been. Maritimers like me disliking what is still called "Upper Canada", Canadians thinking …

The internets are slow this morning as am I from an achy soccer-wracked corps. Why does the web slog sometimes so that my high-speed is like ice station #17 bad dial-up? Radio silence much of the day as we are off to the 3rd and 1st birthdays party of the neices.

Here is an interesting couple of paragraphs from a US Court of Appeals case, Douglas v. Dobbs, Key, And District Attorney's Office For The Twelfth Judicial District (US CA, 10th),  •  on privacy in relation to health care records:  •  “ The scope of personal matters protected by a right to privacy …

Do the kids today with their internets and 1,000 channel universe even know what reruns are? Do they have a clue about the sweaty anticipation that existed mid-September every year (mid-October in Canada) when there would actually be something you have not seen on TV before. Well, Nils (an …

Someone some where took offense at this inordinately good blog posting from Adrienne Arsenault, CBC-TV's locked out Middle East bureau chief. The taking of offense was so...err...thoughtfully done I can't even recall who wrote it. No nevermind. Here's a game. Please find things to take offense …

I don't concern myself too much with scaremongery and I am greatly relieved to see that Mike in Halifax does not either:  •  “...Venezuela would not be holding back its US oil from the market, it would be selling it to China. Couldn't the oil that had otherwise been sold to China be then sold to …

Myrick, our Newf in Shanghai sent me trinkets! Quidi Vidi Brewery swag of the tiny sort - a key chain and fridge magnet. That is gold. Thanks.

"I hope I make Al proud...the Hoogervorst twins, too..."  •  I trust we are all watching Sportsnet this evening in a properly dignified attitude of deep adoration and gratitude as the Soxs take on the lowly Royals. Nice to see Mr. Lima pitching opposite who I think was in the playoffs last year …

A man of unusual dynamism in matters beyond his jurisdiction, Pat Binns - leader of North America's tiniest semi-sovereign almost principality - hath spake and spake thusly upon the CBC lockout:  •  “CBC, through its radio, television and web programming, is an important part of Island life by …

This is an interesting twist in the CBC lockout. According to The Globe CBC staff are organizing an alternative service:  •  “On Tuesday at midday, around 150 CBC writers, producers and announcers from the broadcasters' TV, radio and web-based services, English and French, met in a room in …

With the coming of corduroy season, thoughts return to the Dr. Who revival and there is news. The fairly useless doggy sidekick K-9 - of the 1978 to 1981 era - is back. I would have preferred if Tom Baker's long scarf would have returned but beggers can't be choosers.

It must be a blast around chez Doctorow when Cory gets takes last slice of bread or puts an empty milk carton back in the fridge. It is like listening to an early teen:  •  “It doesn't matter how strong or weak the DRM is on the copy that I choose not to buy -- all that matters is how much …

John Stewart, the show that is too late for people with kids - which is part of the conspiracy - is interviewed in Wired:  •  “Stewart: The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom. That's all it is. All those media companies say, "We're going to make a killing here." You won't …

Keep reading John Gushue's blog if you want to keep up with the CBC lockout. It's been a regular morning visit for me for a good while now. John is a Corp. employee who is taking a fairly neutral if active stance in his blogging while out of the office. John and I have never met but have one of …

...ketchup, grilled hot, clam fritters, plain ice tea, shrimp, flounder sandwich, clam bellies...  •  I am in the start of a clam shack flame war over at Blork's place. The Sea Swirl at Mystic, CT - makers of the fine fried food above - is my candidate for best clams. Astoundingly, it is food that …

Good deal for Ottawa and Ben now gets to explain why it is a good deal for Atlanta.

Our bloggy man Ben in Ottawa gets a dream job. Michael in Atlanta may want to contact Ben for free tickets around, oh, 21 September.

I saw a Conservative Party TV ad this morning, during Sportsdesk, Sportsdesk or Desk of Sports or whatever its called, on child care policy and thought: "that was a good ad." I even knew what I was doing when I did it - with both brains even. Wow. Does this mean Stephen Taylor, Canada's nicest …

Who knew we each have a second brain? So sayeth The New York Times this morning. What else is big oil and the music industry keeping from us in these troubled times? Anyway, it appears that that at the bottom of the spine things are going on not unlike at the top:  •  “Dr. Gershon, who coined the …

Being brought up a minister's kid means sometimes, like me, you do not go to church as often as I should - I brace for personal references in the sermons still - but in the last few one of our local Uniteds has seen my face a few more times than I might have guessed. Having an inclusive attitude …

Also on the weekend, I finished Origins of the Bill of Rights by Leonard W. Levy, first published in 1999, which I had been dipping into a chapter here or there when not reading about baseball or beer. I would recommend it to anyone interested in discussing the nature of rights whether in the US …

These things I noticed yesterday:  •  I bought at 1.03 a litre yesterday. I drove to Ottawa and back wich is 350 km on the highway and say another 25 in the city. I put 25 bucks on a dryish tank first thing and put another 20 in it with 50 km to go coming back. So lets say my 25 bucks or 24.25 …

I am actually going to travel in Canada today, off to Ottawa to see the Lynx play the Syracuse Sky Chiefs in Triple A baseball. The Orioles farm team against Toronto's farm team. Sure it's no Watertown Wizards game...but what is? Syracuse won the game last night 3-2. Hey - Tim Raines Jr. is …

Sure this is infantile but I know there was a face I was thinking of when I saw wee Benny smile that smile. It's Mr. Bean! Even the hair is the same.  •  Previous deep thoughts of this sort can be found here and here.

Now that I have seen it and heard Craig was barred from it as a youff, though reviewers debate, I want to stay at this hotel. Warning: Hawaii 5-0 alert.

I have posted a heck of a lot of stuff here - lots of it is of little note or at best a matter of the day it was posted and nothing more. That being said, I am incredibly grateful for my friends and blogmasters at silverorange who allow me to post and store on their fantastically intelligent …

I feel that I am not doing something right as I do not care much about the CBC lockout either way. Coming on the heels of the boring NHL lockout and my indifference as to the appointment of the next Governor General as well as not a blip in my life when the Canadian Medical Association supports …

You know how we all now know that Johnny Depp paid 2 million dollars to create a 150 foot tower to shoot the ashes of Hunter S. Thompson (who killed himself six months ago in a somewhat notorious manner) out of a cannon in a big kaboom? The BBC writes this morning:  •  “  •  The writer's friend …

The wheels of justice grind slowly but they grind nonetheless, boy do they grind. And if you are charged with 32 million in fraud and indicate an intention to plead guilty at the first hearing, that is not good news for your old pals:  •  “Radler was the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, and was …

My alumni mag came yesterday and I made it to the "does anyone know who the hell these people are" picture...except its was on the cover this time. Not a big thing as it was not a big school but odd to see me there at a reception in my grad week, skinny and young in the back next to my then beardy …

You have to love Alaskans. Not only do that have a dreamy flag, they love their privacy. Somewhere around here I have written about their 1970s court case that found that the right to privacy extended to your personal appearance so the state can't tell you how to dress. Now a bunch of upright …

Is this the Sunday mid-afternoon of summer? Knowing that the end is coming, the crazy party time is past? It felt nippy this evening...meaning it was as warm as a month ago on the coast. Sleeping weather. Planning activities in a few weeks that will require pants and socks getting packed. Dreaming …

Here is a very neat and tidy example from England of the possibility of laying a charge of sedition rather than treason. Here is a recent post on the law of sedition in Canada while treason is discussed here and here:  •  “MPs are calling on the government to close down a London-based radio …

Under a near full moon, looking south across the beginning of the St. Lawrence to Simcoe Island. Waiting for Vicki Keith to finish her 78 km swim for the YMCA - all butterfly - someone was setting off fireworks down at the shore. She's been swimming for over 48 hours. I'd say she comes from very …

“Questioning Guru: What country has a tizzy crisis over the rumoured past of the nominee for a powerless office of little consequence?  •  Answering Student: I know, I know. The one Stompin' Tom sings about?  •  Questioning Guru: That's right, little hypothetical answering student: the one that …

I like the six to nine morning show on CBC Lockout Radio. Its announcers have bland voices, they play If I Had A Million Dollars at 7:21 am every day and no one is saying anything that makes me think in the slightest.  •  You know, for all the axe grinding that you see in blogs about the …

This strikes me as a telling indicator that I am getting to be an old fart. The BBC has a story up about the people in 1990s Britpop bands and where they are now. I never even had CDs of many of these bands being even then cranky that the stuff the kids were listening to was nothing like The Clash …

If you are interested in nerds deciding to take on a dream, check out the blog at Route 2, a small group creating wireless interent on PEI on hill at a time.

Two years ago I got my new wagon, aka Laura Carr...drink some rum and say "little red car"...see? Yes, a 2003 Ford Focus Wagon. 0% interest deal and lots of dealing got me a very good rate. All in for $315.00 per month. 47,000 km. It has a year to go on warranty, three on payment. It has done …

Something to think about when you look out the window on a Tuesday afternoon wondering why, why we Canadians are kept from Argentinian TV by the all seeing eye of the CRTC:  •  “Maradona and Pele, who have rarely seen eye-to-eye, swapped national shirts and headed a football to each other as …

I was struck by this passage from today's Globe and Mail on the murder of Canadian Zaid Meerwali in Iraq:  •  “Mr. Meerwali was targeted because he was a Shia Kurd, his brother said. "We are Shia. Shia believe in democratic society." Munir blamed former Baath officials and Sunni insurgents for the …

There are days - often called Monday - when you wake up wondering why you wrote that two years ago, what you are going to say at the seminar and why you never followed up on that dream you had at 21 to mow Fenway. Then...you find out the noisy neighbours have moved out and that what you wrote is …

I remember when Boris Yeltsin's final defeat of the communists was about to begin, when the old guard attempted a coup back in, what, August 1991, Radio Moscow played classical music non-stop until the likely victors were apparent and sides could be taken.  •  This morning it is non-stop MOR hits …

It is a great year for away strips with Michty Morton sporting the blue tartan classic and now I see Arsenal in burgundy in their 2-0 defeat of Newcastle, as exemplified by Mr. Loverly above seen scoring a penalty in the 81st minute.  •  Update: I tell a lie. Arsenal is in burgundy as their home …

Part of their website reads:  •  “Insight Sports holds equity positions in several Canadian specialty television services including The NHL Network and The Score Media. In the Fall of 2005, Insight Sports will be launching two new television networks, The Global Fishing Network and Goltv Canada …

We were sitting around yesterday talking. I blame the holiday as all this talking and thinking stuff is generally a source of nothing but trouble. You sit on a beach contemplating the sand, then clams to come, then the sound of the waves though the sand and then you don't really think about any …

Up way too late on a Saturday night and I notice that a bunch of blogs I had to the right as favorites have gone dead. Johnny G in St.John's has noticed something of the same thing. All deleted.  •  Any new good blog recommendations?

The Rukster has excellent advice on the benefits of Firefox and its ability to bar externally sourced images - thus defeating most banner ads. Most images here and at A Good Beer Blog are on my own servers so normal operations of these blogs should not be affected.  •  Flickr apparently falls into …

Interesting to note the referral shift in spam from sex and Nigerian millions crap to almost exclusively poker and casino crap.

I do not think I have ever played to a 0-0 tie in a soccer game before last night. It was hardly a slack affair with cross after cross off my golden right boot...ok, in my mind at least. Going through the kit bag this morning I even have a massive grass stain across the middle of my back. There is …

Here are some ideas to help the CBC TV get through the impending lockout:  •  Play reruns of This Hour Has 22 Minutes over and over even though the actual context of the news parody is entirely lost.Get your interim news reporters to only report from one point of view.Play lots of movies from the …

I just can't sustain the whole Tantrama thing. I had planned to do it weekly forever but I came to a problem - Canadian politics are boring and Canadian policians disappear for the summer. It is also difficult to write periodic fiction. The more I was writing the more I had to cross-reference …

Lindros is a Leaf. The Governor General may be a sovereigntist.

I still need an good introductory text to US constitutional law...introductory for someone who has done six or so years involved in the acquisition of law degrees, that is. I am considering - for work and for play - acquiring Chemerinsky's text Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies.  •  I …

Here is The New York Time's report on the US executive branch's new take, enunciated yesterday in the Arar lawsuit, on what it is constitutionally to be human at a US border:  •  “"Would not such treatment of a detainee - in any context, criminal, civil, immigration or otherwise - violate both the …

I was thinking about how much I start at screens in the average day. Cathode ray tubes mainly. At work. At play.  •  But then I thought that that is not the true winner as most invasive modern trinket. It's really the little plastic knob - the switch, the botton, the key, the slide, the thingie …

...and has rightly embarrasses me in besting me. In the comments here he points out that the crime of sedition is still on the books at s. 59. My wallowing in treason, in the sections in the 40s, focusing on the act and conspiring rather than the mere speaking of words - it reminds me of the time …

What does it say about a country when one of your top judges says this as was quoted by the BBC in relation to the longer pub hours coming to England soon:  •  “Judge Charles Harris QC was particularly critical of the plans, saying a high proportion of British people become "pugnacious and …

Secret societies just aren't what they used to be...

Here's a great story in the Toronto Star on one Canadian's experience of the end of the war sixty years ago in Burma. Hows about those Ghurkas?

Many bloggers have gone a bit quite over Iraq given the continuation of it all but this is a bit shocking:  •  “Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced  •  By JAMES GLANZ  •  Published: August 10, 2005  •  BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9 - Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during …

I am glad to see that Master Flea has continued his quite correct call for the charges of treason to fall upon the heads of those who would vapourize us in small groups for curious ill-defined polio-religio-cultural ends or conspire or assist or abet in the same...except I am shattered that he did …

I think this is a poor headline. I am not offended by it so much as disappointed by it as a proud holder of a twenty year old BA in English. Please compare and contrast in your comments as always.  •  The headline strikes me as historically inaccurate. The use of the atom bomb was not a …

The good Flea makes an empassioned plea for the use of the charge of treason against those who would bomb we citizens in a twisted and pointless efforts to over-throw democracy. They do not know that the very rocks and trees of the Canadian Shield would vote somewhere between 12 and 18% for NPD …

One of my favorite bloggers, John of Argghhh!, has taken indefinite leave. His decision makes me reflect on my daily writing and reminds me of portland's repetition of his wise question - "why the hell do you do that, Al?" I do it for the discipline of typing something over my coffee...which I …

It must be ten years or more since I saw a piece on TV on the Ice Cream Short Course offered every January at Penn State. Maybe 2007 will be the year.

There is a lot to be said for the corny and old fashioned on a trip with kids. While there were newer and snazzier mini-putts on the Lake George strip, Goony Golf got our custom. It was packed on a hot humid night with scores of kids and parents looking forward to an ice cream afterwards.  •  The …

Last day. I don't think I have had a better two weeks off, which I am extending a bit by not checking the VISA card bill until...ummm...Tuesday. Corn on the cob last night was a treat. We had trekked earlier to Murphys Point Park for a bit of a swim but decided it was too far and a little crowded …

Very sad to read that former British foreign secretary Robin Cook has died at 59. Over two years ago I wrote this about him and I think it is still true: he stuck by what was known and how those known facts touched his principles.

As you know, I became obsessed with BBQ ribs over the last few summers. It appears to be something that Canadians just can't do right - let's be honest. It takes time and plenty and a certain capacity to accept that what you are eating is not high on the Canada Food Guide. We like those Bill …

Again, beware the false prophet.  •  This morning I noticed two articles this morning related to a new business based in Scotland - an agency for cellphone photos called Scoopt. Like any agency, it is a middleman and like any good agency it requires certain exclusivity. Not mentioned in the Boing …

Why not just do what you want? I know in their heart of hearts, DJ Mike Master and the glorious Flea would each trade it all in for a metal detector and the Connecticut shore on a warm August evening.

America is a funny place. You come upon scenes unexpectedly that really surprise you. At the Doubleday Field a team of kids dressed as Dodgers were going to take on another team of kids dressed as Kansas City. We just walked in not knowing anything was happening inside and, paying no ticket …

Proof we visited SO-NY  •  I think we came to a grim discovery that a lot of vendors consider frozen custard a synonym for soft serve ice cream. We saw a sign for custard in Cooperstown but we were on the hunt that day for South Otselic and the promised custards to be found there. Alas, twas not …

Once upon a time I was going to collect "...a-rama" photos. I even saw a "Photo-a-rama" in Paris in 1986 but passed up the opportunity being the pre-digital world of pay per print. I feel for the creditors of Billy back there in Old Saybrook Connecticut but the concept was sweet and I was ready to …

Back from the road. What a good thing interstate highways are. What a good thing hotel pools are. I almost bought the Jesus Christ Action Figure I saw, too.

While hiding out at the bookstore at the Baseball Hall of Fame, I picked up two of the annual volumes of the Cooperstown Symposium. These are sets of essays on the history, myths, ethics and implications of baseball which were written in preparation for an annual baseball nerd convention held at …

Travelling inland from New England is always interesting. On the shore road east of Mystic CT there was a 1680s house sitting there behind a small sign like they come a dime a dozen. Maybe they do. In mid-Massachusetts, the villages are incorporated around 1725. By a little west of Albany, NY …