Here we are years out, governments in Oz and the UK having effectively flipped and a certain perspective has started to take root about that post-post-9/11 era which I wrote about over two-and-a-half years ago and which Johnny Come Latelies (though Johnny Come Latelies with actual connection to …

I was wondering what I might look forward to yakking about as this blog moves towards its sixth year of existence and, whammo, I just realized that there will be a US election to follow for the next ten and a half months. Not that I have a say in the matter but it will allow me to follow the ever …

Stuff becomes me: I like it and I assimilate it. Every year I think that the stuff I was introduced to was the best stuff and then more stuff comes along and I realize that that is pretty damn good, too. Here is the best stuff of 2007:  •  Pear Juice: pear juice from South Africa in particular …

Grim:  •  “Beijing is like an athlete trying to get into shape by walking on a treadmill yet eating double cheeseburgers at the same time. Polluting factories have been moved or closed. But auto emissions are rising as the city adds up to 1,200 new cars and trucks every day. Dirty, coal-burning …

You realize, don't you, that the decade that was brought in with Y2K and all the other millennial whoo-haa is now 80% gone. It doesn't even have a name and it's already a senior citizen. Time is flying. Heck, my holiday week off is almost gone. So we better do some prognostications for 2008 before …

While not just for Bavaria, the vision of lederhosen, hand-held mortars as well as reasonable access to cask dunkel weisse is too rich a reward to deny myself - for, you know, the year to come that will no doubt be well spent.

Jeesh - when they said that this would go on your permanent record, I had no idea it meant this:  •  “Borrowers who fail to return Queens Library books can be reported to a collection agency and to a credit bureau, with a damaged credit rating as a result — a tactic that so shocked one Far …

It would be nice to figure this out sometime before, you know, the next war starts as I am sure I heard on NPR not to mention at Jay's that we are dealing with Pakistan's rogue elements and not Iran. Geography does not favour MacKay, either, given the border of concern is nearer one between Afghan …

A sound like "ping" went off in my head when I read this at the BBC just now:  •  “  •  Don't be lonely at Christmas time  •  Social networking sites could eventually eliminate entirely the need for the offline socialising that has become the cornerstone of the festive season. Most people have …

Later: I suppose that I should take another photo now that dawn has come in case it was not clear what the heck that image above was all about. Tasks today: breakfast brunch put on by one of the other work groups meaning I get all the upside without having to crack an egg. Then one last shopping …

Wearing shorts shopping yesterday in the 9° C rain has been unexpectedly followed by a double lake effect band over Erie and Ontario dumping snow right now on my house in the pre-dawn. The ever helpful forecast discussion out of the Buffalo office says:  •  “THE EASTERN LAKE ONTARIO REGION WILL …

“  •  “  •  “  •  “Oh Christmas elephant,  •  Oh Christmas elephant:  •  How blue is thy dye job.  •  Oh Christmas elephant,  •  Oh Christmas elephant  •  How crimson is thy head fob.  •  You don't get drunk, and trample though  •  Electric wires that then kill you.  •  Oh Christmas elephant …

In this world fueled by commercial hype and belief in anything that lacks substance, it is easy to understand why things no longer lose their appeal to the hip so much as just get replaced by the next new thing, whether it is NuTheft , the vacuous embarrassment of the next encyclical by an atheist …

It is not nice to make light of things like kitchen knives in chests...except perhaps at this time of good will:  •  “A woman stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife following an argument that began when she accused him of opening a Christmas present early, authorities said Friday. Misty Johnson …

Here we are. Another Christmas is upon us and the worst Friday for the idle clock watcher. What to not do when there may not be much to actually do? Eat candy canes in the morning, feel ill and ridden with guilt in the afternoon.  •  Sad Tech Update: Twitter as best bloggy app thingie of the year …

Hmmm...I wonder...  •  “Asked about Mr. Burns's allegation that the Conservative government had "clumsily" politicized his resignation, Mr. Clement stuck to his script. "I don't want to get into 'he said or she said," I don't think that's what Canadians want to hear about..."”  •  Seeing as …

Use them. I never take them off the car. They work when caught in torrential summer downpours, too.

“Update of Hilarious Consequence: haha-ahahaha-haha-(cough)-hahah-(cough, gasp, cough)-haha-(falls on floor, cough, wheeze)-haha-ha-ha...ha...”  •  This is getting weirder. Apparently the loyal Harper-appointee who was not so well experienced quit so was used by other loyal-Harperites when the …

My favorite Canadian sports announcer passed away yesterday. Last winter Olympics he gave the curling coverage on US TV and people got it. I actually heard callers to Boston night talk radio asking for more curling coverage. If that isn't success, what is?

Interesting to note that the Liberal-appointee, as our rural overlord (singular) describes her, at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission had to deal with a Harper-appointee not obeying nuclear power regulations and that it is the Harper-appointee who has quit over the matter.

There has been much talk in the beery world about the escalation of the price of hops and barley but the upside is that if you want to farm all of a sudden you may be able to make a living:  •  “Experts with no stake in the argument say ethanol has indeed contributed to rising food costs, but that …

While it has no start date, I think it is safe to say that we are in Yule. I wouldn't suggest that work has slowed but the holding of meetings at work seems to have wrapped up. Next week I write and notice that the phone isn't ringing that much.  •  We wanted to be more Yule-like at home, too, but …

When the walls come tumbling down - and, yea, so shall they - the twits who think up this stuff will have a lot to answer for:  •  “According to a post on the Official Google Blog, the new reference tool encourages experts to write encyclopedic articles called knols, which stands for unit of …

The cold is almost gone. The weekend almost here. What have we learned this week?  •  Needle to Buttock Update: best line so far on the Mitchell Report:  •  “His reputation is in tatters. We need to hear from him immediately, not his attorney.”  •  That is Roger Clemens being discussed …

Hear me, oh Lord. Make sure Manny and Big Papi are not on the list. And not Yuke, oh Lord. Take JD Drew if you must. Make sure his contract has a unilateral opt out clause, too. But not Beckett, Lord. Please not Beckett.  •  “Mitchell has interviewed scores of former players and club executives …

It was a grey old day the other day when I dallied on the other side. But I took the opportunity to stop at all the local history plaques I passed, the car being devoid of those who would complain. Click for more detail of these ones between Alex Bay and Ogdensburg. That's Canada on the other side …

I suspect that when Steve trips on his shoe laces that they are cursed as Liberal-manufactured shoe laces imbued with a wicked trippiness. When ketchup drips of his French fry onto his shirt, it is Liberal-ketchup of the most evil drippy sort:  •  “"There will be no nuclear accident," Prime …

Shame.  •  “"However much you may think that's a totally acceptable symbol, and that is totally neutral, that might not be entirely the case for everybody who comes to court," Woolcott told the Waterloo regional police officer. "It represents a symbol of support and I suspect that 99.999 per cent …

I suppose that once you have accepted that someone needs to have a wind turbine near their house, then it is a small leap to suggest that everyone needs to have one:  •  “All UK homes could be powered by offshore wind farms by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change, under plans unveiled …

Ontario's government is trying again with the opening up of adoption records, this time adding a veto for unhappy birth parents:  •  “Adoptees have a right to know where they come from and learn about their medical and birth family history, the provincial government says. Legislation introduced …

And you think you had it bad.

...must not tell Newfie joke...  •  “Venezuela creates its own unique time zone on Sunday, putting the clock back half-an-hour on a permanent basis. President Hugo Chavez says that an earlier dawn means the performance of the country will improve, as more people will wake up in daylight. "I don't …

Two hundred for starters. Gotta happen. And that Queen reunion tour hoodie I did not buy for seventy-five bucks? I did not buy that one so that I would have space for the $125 Zep hoodie.

Channel surfing as I sipped Buckley's, I came across boxing on the CBC's French service last night - an entire night of championship boxing from the Molson Centre, home of the Montreal Canadians. It was like stepping back 30 years watching properly produced boxing on broadcast TV. Not a hint of …

I hear there is a purple pill that will fix all this but I have to figure out the right question to ask. Until then sputter, hack, wheeze.  •  Technology apparently hates Santa and ruined at least one little child's Christmas forever. What next - anti-Santa beer? Santa and beer???  •  Via Ben the …

The clothing does apparently make the man and it's under the eye of Big Brother in the UK:  •  “The software would allow officers to quickly analyse hours of CCTV footage, in which the suspect may have appeared, for images containing the distinctive clothing, in the hope of finding pictures that …

Having a horking fit every 37 minutes that would rival any hork expelled by hork-master Pete Vuckovich, it is still amazing to me, here in the depths of a winter that has yet to begin on the calendar, that baseball is so fully immersive. But this news is too good to be true:  •  “The Red Sox and …

It's all so sad - bad service, unfreeing regulation, poor neighbourliness and a very short memory:  •  “ The list of import duties listed on Industry Canada's website is hundreds of pages long. The section governing just shoes, a popular online purchase, and other footwear is 15 pages long. The …

You notice, after picking up the aspirin bottle and shake out a few into your hand, that it was actually bottle of Buckley's.

“Update: Apparently our rural overlords can spot stunned sometimes when they see it.”  •  An unfortunate tale of a local man whose US bought car is now barred from the Canadian road. The Federal government's position is explained in the Whig today:  •  “Charette said the standard has been in the …