Imagine my surprise at seeing a jetsicle take such an important place in a moment in Canadian political history. Sadly, NB Premier Mr. Lord did not reference it in his press conference statement:  •  “Mr. Lord warned that "when you put an obstacle like the passport between Canada and the United …

It's one of those days I try to plan to never have.   Back from work after ten at night and then in the office before eight.  It's not so much the in the office thing as in the office in black shoes thing.  •  So I am on the run.  But first....why do we care about this?  •  “  •  Americans are 42 …

Some great pictures at the BBC from the time of the building of the Great Eastern in 1858 taken from a new exhibit at the Science Museum in London.  •  Note to file: Victorian industrialists slouched and wore funny big hats. I think the combination of the slouch and the tall headpieces speaks to …

When my pal Parizeau called Canada not a real country I had no sympathy...but he missed that one point on which we might have had shared ground - a lack of decent cheese rolling opportunities. The caption for the above from the BBC "In Pictures" site today was this:  •  “This competitor is one of …

Do you want to talk about the Senate? I don't really want to talk about the Senate. But we may end up talking about the Senate soon. I am all for abolishing the thing myself. Any move to give it more power is a move away from popular representative democracy to something like a council of elders …

'nee raises an interesting point after using the Cancer Surveillance On-line mapping tool from the Public Health Agency of Canada, a FedGov branch I had never heard of until this very day.  •  Mapping, like all representations of statistical data, is something of a mugs' game as it is a means to …

There is little joy in an extended bout of whatever. I am convinced a one day bout is a luxury to be permitted of oneself and sleep is generally the best cure. But the principle is not to be extended - meaning five days of raw lungs is just a drag. Through it does remind me that in Poland the only …

I caught Franz Ferdinand on Austin City Limits last night. They are still the band of the 21st century.

I saw David Wells get the line drive off his bad knee last night, during his comback game after surgery, and it was one of those things that just made you feel kinda sick. It reminded me of Dougie Gilmour's return to Toronto only to suffer a career ending injury in the first game. I have always …

I read Boing less and less if only due to the disappointing way legal issues are represented. Consider this statement from a post yesterday about that massively important concept of Web 2.0 (ie making the edges round on websites):  •  “Trademarks are intended to protect consumers by ensuring that …

...and not because it is about PM Harper changing his mind - but because he changed his mind so properly and promptly after learning what had been said by those whose interests he thought he was protecting. So while this may be true:  •  “"I think Prime Minister Harper has got very strong opinions …

This year I am going to take in some local baseball. The Kingston Loyalist Farms Ponies play in the EOBA senior league with teams from Ottawa to Markham. Here is the schedule. Double header tomorrow.  •  Good hat.

A bit better, thanks. What happened this week? What has been going on?  •  I have renewed my knowledge I am Oldie Olson as I have never looked at MySpace.com yet I learn this morning that it is an asset comparable to the giants of industry in terms of value:  •  “It's true that based on certain …

I forgot to mention how odd the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa was in one respect. It was apparently 1996 inside with many exhibits shuddering to a halt at that point in time. Which makes it pretty much miss the internet for a lot of the time. Here are some illustrations:  •  It is too …

Just in case you were wondering about the lack of witty observation otherwise known as cutting and pasting. This one is odd as it was not received from the kids. I did watch the last Matrix movie on Global TV last night. The breaks for commercials helped my understand Smith's position in all this …

“The prime minister does not want to hold press conferences unless his staff choose which journalists ask questions from a list they compile. The Ottawa press gallery has refused to play by those rules.”  •  First the cabinet, then the backbenchers now the press. How long until I have to check …

Conferences. So much ill in the world is created by people needing to find something to say at conferences. Every year there is a cycle of them in every field including, would you believe it, computers geeks. Consider this line coming out of the WWW2006 conference in Edinburgh:  •  “...many …

I like Stompin' Tom. I have listened to "My Old Atlantic Home" most every time I drive back into New Brunswick - which has been a number of years now that I think of it. I think about my back when I hear mention of Tilsonburg and figured out the map of the Upper Ottawa valley where I used to live …

Working late last night I was yapping with another blogger and I made comment about the wasteland of busy but foul and blockheaded comment-making on a third blog that I do not follow. The response was interesting, that this blog is in a golden era of comment that I should relish as it may not last …

An interesting article in this morning's Toronto Star on Canada's combination of relative low productivity and low levels of time off compared to Europe:  •  “Sweden's very high productivity levels — it boasts the highest ratio of industrial robots in the world — allow the society to value leisure …

It had been 9 to 1 until the ninth. Sure, the Yankees were drastically weakened by injury but Shilling was as on his game as any time this season or last. Manny's starting a roll and two particular double plays that the Red Sox turned with great control and speed sent the message as well as …

As we do every year, the day began with rousing renditions of "Hail Victoria" and the other carols of the season. The children were not amused by the 6 am waking but we never were when we were young either. "It's all part of the fun!" I said to them as we got into our heavy tweed outfits. After …

I try to organize my life so as to not think about stuff too much. Ben is in that unhappy phase of life when he has to think too much and such consequences resulted that I felt compelled to give the advice that Oldie Olsons always give. But here in the moment when there are ribs basted enough for …

I was gifted some surplus 2002 era computing devides over the weekend, an 18 inch screen and a sound system with a woofer. Open market price used? About 12 cents. But the change from a 16 inch screen to this one is quite the thing. I can see you all out there now. Hey! Stop that!!!

Ok, Ok. More from Cooperstown. I really only took photos of the crowd as the Canon PowerShot A410 is not exactly a big lense job but it did a pretty good job picking out Bucky Dent. For the record, while I remember, two cool things were watching Adam Dunn jack the ball over our heads as opposed to …

Out back of the Museum of Science and Technology where you have to park when it is Sunday afternoon and the place is insane with eight year olds, you get to park with the stuff they are working on including this beauty of a railway crane. The photos, they click.

I never get to sleep in and when I do it is usually to 7:55 or some farce upon the concept of sleeping in. I am a huge booster for "sleeping in" and its saucey relative "the nap" yet I am not as avid a practitioner of the first, though I enforce an iron rule over the second. That all being said, I …

Only one question popped into my mind when I read this:  •  “French scientists who explored the Coral Sea said Friday they discovered a new species of crustacean that was thought to have become extinct 60 million years ago. The "living fossil," 12-centimetre female that the scientists baptized …

Nothing like waking to a manual spammer who has left 47 identical comments on 47 separate posts. The decent spammers, the ones you would kick in the shin rather than higher if you had the chance, post a bunch of comments on one post so they are easy to delete. But no, the Romanian spam sweatshop …

Due to a compact lifestyle for now, we had a great view of a fifteen minute show by the Canadian Forces's Snowbird flying team last night. High neato factor and interesting, being about 5 km away from the centre of the show to watch the regrouping and hiding of jets above clouds.

I did not like the entire display, especially combined with a governmental decision to do what it wanted anyway before the vote was taken so I am tending to agree with Ibbitson this morning on this point:  •  “Last night's yes vote gives him parliamentary endorsement for this bold move, albeit by …

It's tough when you can't cheat. So much of this hobby is cutting and pasting the work of others and adding a tag line or two. But then there are days when nothing triggers that tag. Rural overlords being overlordly and even sooky-take-my-ball-homey. Ho hum. Mid-playoff hockey. Snore. Worrying …

The parade before the Hall of Fame game at Cooperstown was one of those parades that makes you wonder why Canadians can't pull off a parade like that. I think there is something about the massive police presence in that makes them part of it rather than a crowd control function. Plus lots of …

Well, it only lasted two and a half innings and I got soaked but it was OK. I get to get my money back for the tickets because the game didn't make it to the fifth. Plus, Gentleman potter Gary made me a piggy beer mug in the style and then, before the rain, Fergie Jenkins elbowed Gary out of the …

Now that I have slashed the cable TV to sports and local, I have no idea what is going on in the world so I was happy to read this:  •  “Even as it crops up in the far corners of Europe and Africa, the virulent bird flu that raised fears of a human pandemic has been largely snuffed out in the …

Interesting that this pool scoring stuff is more manageable than I figured it would be but that is only because our picks were so bad. If the Devils get the boot it will be quite easy to keep track of the few left. So let's see...where are we now...a few more questions can be answered:  •  Here …

Oh dear. When do they call the game? When they read this in the paper?  •  “Monday: Periods of rain, mainly after 1pm. High near 52. East wind between 11 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.”  •  Two of five bailed …

I saw this in a glass cabinet at Queen's the other weekends when I was at an indescribably bad event not to be discussed (other than that it involved nose plugs and smiling) which required me to pace the hallway until it was over. A one hundred and eighteen year old hockey stick. It was amazing to …

The fun thing about what I do is learning about all the things I know nothing about. Right now I am learning a lot about architecture, underwater stuff and food service and there is a language to each realm of human activity that is separate from the others. Phrases like modulated facade and words …

Eight AM meeting across town so I may be brief today. Rainy Friday in May here, by the way. It's close enough to winter still that you think rain is great.  •  Yes, the Red Sox took the Yankees in the final game of this series and did so in high style 5-3. It was a close game even if the Yanks got …

portland says he won't watch Shilling. I just figure Shilling is great unless he isn't. And there were some mighty homers blasted off Shilling last night. Giambi may be a hash on first - he dropped a easy peasy one last night again - but he has a wonderful swing. And there was Yanks pitcher …

Time for a readers' survey to give me an update:  •  Where are you?How often do you read?Do you think I am a bit manic?What are your favorite topics?Should I encourage portland to write more?Which topics do you prefer: food and drink, politics, disdain for blogging, sports?Do I go on and on?No …

Through no act of my own doing, I have always had extraordinarily good vision. I can pick out profile branches on trees on the horizon, read road signs a mile before anyone else in the car and read the edges of lps and National Geographics from across the room. But the near stuff is going. I have …

There really isn't a ball in their hands. The now Small Unit just needed a little squeeze after blowing another game.  •  I could go into why I tell myself I dislike the Yankees but it is really an arbitrary facade I have assigned to myself. Yet hearing things like Jason Giambi, the DHer who gets …

Oh dear. No exit strategy from blogging for me based on a claim of internet addiction apparently.  •  “"Just like all addictions, it takes you in a direction that you don't want to go. It's slow moving at first and all of a sudden it takes over," said Dr. Diane Wieland, author of the study …

During this month of mucho mucho busy but in areas that I never discuss, it was good to get that drive in Saturday whence I caught a good if creepyish view of long abandoned Boldt Castle off Alexandria Bay, New York perched on one of the Thousand Islands. Click for a bigger view.

Don't like society? Interested in social re-engineering? Blame the judges because...Hey! They're not suppose to talk back:  •  “"If a law is not clear, it's ambiguous, judges are required to interpret it, and they're required to make choices but those choices are always made in accordance with …

I now officially do not believe in science anymore as now apparently vegetables are bad for your teeth:  •  “Dr Chadwick said: "The acidity of ratatouille prepared by oven-roasting is the same as that of some carbonated drinks that, when consumed in excess, are believed to contribute to the …

Well, the Sox went through Baltimore in a fairly unmannerly fashion sweeping the home team over the weekend. I feel bad for Baltimore. It is a good town that should have a good team. It is, of course, the only US city to have ever won the Grey Cup so there has to be some respect there. And …

Building upon the GX40 Nation thing - which really could do with a few more of you signing up as the beer blog nation has 80 members now to the GX40's 27 - I have created the GX40 calendar. I have the need to note events I may or may not want to get to over the summer and maybe you do too so I …

We drove "The Loop" yesterday. This is what it has been described to my as by guys I work with, more venerable Kingstonians. You get the Wolfe Island Ferry, look at Fort Henry from the water, drive the 11 km across Wolfe Island, take the Horne Ferry, land at Cape Vincent NY, head 14 miles up the …

Please send an email to GX40 HQ by clicking here.

Most Haunted. It's the kind of show you stumble across after the Mets win in the 14th inning and for some unknown reason you are not quite ready to hit the hay. I think it is my best guilty pleasure for the following reasons:  •  The host who comes on at the end of the show to explain why …

“Does the situation of the social host who serves alcohol to guests fall within the three categories just discussed or represent an appropriate extension of them having regard to the factors of risk-control and reasonable preservation of autonomy that animate them? I conclude that it does not …

“Tra la! It's May, the lusty month of May!  •  That lovely month when ev'ryone goes blissfully astray  •  Tra la! It's here, that shocking time of year!  •  When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.  •  It's May! It's May, that gorgeous holiday  •  When ev'ry maiden prays that her lad …

Why exactly am I a fan? Why do I do this to myself?

We've discussed it before in relation to the beer and popcorn child tax break but it only took 24 hours to prove once again niche tax breaks simply create niche inflation. People who know you have more money in pocket for only the specific service you sell just raise prices. Example:  •  “Minor …

Because I do not read Instapundit - as I have my own cutting and pasting to take care of, thank you - I had no idea that there was a silly book out reviving the 1999-2000 disco era of blogging claims that the world was being made anew. I only stumbled upon reference to the thing in this BBC essay …

Well, the baseball points are in so time for another table in the Gen X at 40 2006 Spring Sports Pool. The right answers for the baseball questions at #5 and the total of 60 available points were:  •  “Boston won on 1 May.  •  No winner - there was a rain out on 2 May.  •  Wakefield and Wang were …

Well, all in all no one lost an eye and it's nice to see conservative principles go by the wayside so quickly. OK - if not principles then plans. The much lauded beer and popcorn money is now to be taxable income in the hands of the lesser earning person in a household. This benefits the very poor …

There really ought to be a law against majority Parliaments. Consider this:  •  “The politicians met for about 20 minutes in Harper's Langevin Block offices, sources say. The Prime Minister told the two MPs he was prepared to spend the cash if the NDP was ready to commit its support for two years …

Sir John A, 401, 12, 7, 407, 427, 409, parking garage access road, garage, parking garage access road, 409, 427, 407, 7, 12, 401, Sir John A. Getting someone at Terminal 3 is a piece of cake even if a 575 km piece of cake. Thank God the Sox beat the Yankees and the Buffalo signal on 550 AM was …

I had no idea there was one of these still around:  •  “Trombonist and composer Alain Trudel has been named the principal conductor of the CBC Radio Orchestra. He'll officially take over musical leadership this fall at the Vancouver-based orchestra, North America's only radio orchestra.”  •  I am …

May Day. May Day.  •  Why is it that when you need to have a decent sleep you don't? I have to drive to Toronto this evening to get someone at Terminal 3 - yes, the fabled Terminal 3 of the folk tales - and all I could dream about was weird plane experiences I never had. I stopped liking planes …