There are few things people agree upon as much as the benefits of jailing spammers and it looks like the law caught a biggie:  •  “A man nicknamed the "spam king" for allegedly sending out millions of junk e-mails has been arrested in the US. Robert Soloway, 27, was arrested in Seattle, Washington …

Even writing that is to invite the gods to heap scorn and regret down upon your head. But hubris and factual reporting are seated so close to each other now. Okajima is there when Papelbon needs rest or even pampering. Big Papi can be on the bench and the Indians still lose. And, on the same day …

The view from the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum's look off at Hogback Mountain on route 9. We left the sea, crossed southern Maine, made it up through the White and Green Mountains, ferried across Lake Champlain then followed the upper half of the St. Lawrence Valley home to Easlakia. 12 …

For those of you who rightfully have no idea who Pat Binns is, you can relax now as he is once again someone with a bunch of bad ideas who is now without the power to implement any of those bad ideas. Ruk - who we popped in on at Dublin NH on the way here - made sure it was done right.  And I am …

In case you are wondering we are doing OK but you would be if you had Beal's Ice Cream (hard ice cream specialists), Red's Dairy Freeze (soft serve specialists), Maine Diner on the way here (lobster roll and chowder), Gritty McDuff's (lamb burder and cask ale), 3 Dollar Dewey's (fish sandwich but …

A new $320 canoe has been sighted. Ungabelievable.

So we are out early at the ball park to get a good seat behind home.  We are all covered in red to fit in with the minor league Red Sox crowd.   The kids say they want to get the balls signed.  I had three that I had bought for 500 Up and the kids wanted to bring them just in case and away I go …

Did you know that today your life would change so utterly and completely? I recommend you watch this a number of times. Play it loud if you must. It will make your day a better day. Then, if you have the time, please provide a 50 to 75 word essay on this.

Maybe it is just a state plan to keep an eye on the yakky dullards amongst the citizenry:  •  “New rules by a Chinese government-backed Internet group maintain strict controls over the country's bloggers, requiring them to register with their real names and identification cards. The guidelines …

Now that I am obsessed with Facebook and expect the feeling to continue for the next sixteen days or so, it gets hard to actually read news and, you know, blog. Blogs have readers and hits but I have friends at Facebook - including that guy who insists we took a course together in New Jersey last …

Last night, listening to the ever excellent Tony Paige on WFAN at 3 am, I was listening to callers list any number of reasons to support or decry what Jason Giambi said last week and what should be done about it. It struck me that we've been though quite distinct waves of sports and drugs over the …

This is the first spring with a yard since 2002 and - even though the property is about a tenth of the size of the 165 by 600 foot patch remaining around the old farmhouse in PEI - I seem to be working, which was never really the plan. I got collard greens, purple potatoes, yellow onions and even …

You know it must be bad when the good news for the Yankees is that they avoided a sweep. The real news for them, however, is that they discovered that they discovered they have a pitcher called Tyler Clippard, a 22-year-old right-hander throwing down in triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was on …

As seen on the backyard fence yesterday morning.

Howdja Like The Tie...I'll Be Here All This Week...Thank you...You've Been Great...  •  ...Have You Ever Heard The One About The Commons Committee...  •  No wonder it's all gone goofy on Parliament Hill. It's the Prime Minister's brilliant plan:  •  “The handbook, obtained by National Post …

In this edition, I review what I did this week and find it lacking. After being confused and disappointed by Twitter, I was simultaneously invited to Facebook by men in Alberta and Norway and I took the bait. Now I have 18 friends. I wonder whether I really had friends at all before that point …

Sometimes there is nothing as dreary - or is it dour - as being Canadian and I think this featurette from the newly minted "Life" section in now extraordinarily baldy laid out national newspaper of Toronto The Globe and Mail yesterday exemplifies the point neatly:  •  “Big or small, life altering …

If this were actually to come to pass, my estimation of the current government would greatly change:  •  “Sources have told The Globe and Mail that the government's Minister of Indian Affairs, Jim Prentice, is working on a plan that would give the Indian Claims Commission independent power to make …

A tough but perhaps telling comparison of neighbouring economies as GM pulls out of Massena, NY about two hours to the east but plans to expand in Niagara Falls, Ontario about the same distance as the crow flies to the west. The two plans are not related directly but we often assume that Canada is …

Summer is coming soon, right?

That is sort of what this is all about. Wake up. Read the news. Figure out what is whacky and see if I can write something. It's not so dumb.  •  It's a bit interesting that the Prime Minister has used Parliamentary privilege to suspend a court case. I would presume, as an election is not strictly …

Being not a small person since I was little and perhaps having the look of someone whose soccer training might be transferrable to headbutting in a pinch, I have not had the need to deal with a moment like this since the horror that was the junior high locker room:  •  “Before I had a chance to …

Does anyone believe these stats about web use that are about?  •  “About 5.9 million Canadians spent an average of 83 minutes each on MySpace in March, said Bryan Segal of comScore Canada Inc., which measures Internet traffic. Remarkably, three other properties in the social networking category …

Now that I am missing the Kings undergrad reunion, I will not be able to go see the Charter from 1754 signed by George II...or was it the one from 1802 signed by George III... that sat on the wall in the room where I took my freshman year classes. The first was granted to the school at its first …

I do not particularly like radishes but I am glad they are there. They will pop out of the ground whatever the conditions well before anything else. Maybe it's because they give you both the false senses that you are good at something and that you have a treat to look forward to...even though a …

Good article in the New York Times abut the slog that is being a struggling rock star via the web:  •  “In the early days of the Hold Steady, Kubler fielded only a few e-mail messages a day, and a couple of "friend" requests on MySpace. But by this spring, he was receiving more than 100 …

One last look at Coco before the drive home  •  A huge thank you to Chris whose extra tickets gave me and the lad an unforgettable evening. And it was not just having the tickets. It was not that the tickets were in the sixth row. It was not Tina. It was not that the Sox hammered the Jays 8-0. It …

I can't say the Jays deserve to be better than last in a surprisingly weak AL East but the time is coming to determine whether they have already packed it in for the season:  •  “The question is, on an injury-ravaged team that has fallen into last place in the American League East with a record of …

...I shall eat a hot dog. Nothing better to watch a crumbling home team better than by eating a hot dog. To be fair, tomorrow's game will see Halliday on the mound so a Bosox loss would not be a fraud upon the gods but I will still root for the last knuckleballer and eat a hot dog and so will the …

George gets a rough ride. For the most part he deserves it to one degree or another but this whole thing with the Queen is a bit much even for me:  •  “He had stumbled on a line in his speech, saying that she had helped the United States "celebrate its bicentennial in 17..." Mr. Bush caught …

Not to scale  •  Well, this was pretty good as things in the sky go but it would be better to have it visible in the sky. I mean when I was a kid there were still old folks who said when they were kids they saw Halley's Comet in 1910 (or maybe the other one of that year) which meant when Comet …

Well, at least not a savior for the bullpen:  •  “Although injuries have forced Clemens to miss only a few starts the past few seasons — a pesky groin has troubled him occasionally since his days with the Yankees — he has become a five- or six-inning pitcher. Despite often breezing through …

White Stripes now ECMA eligible - Juno backdating pending - likely Order of Canada by 2012.

Sue or not sue?

Because, you know, Canada is like East Germany circa 1961 and we need mechanisms to spy on everyone all the time:  •  “"It did not appear to be electronic (analog) in nature or have a power source," wrote one U.S. contractor, who discovered the coin in the cup holder of a rental car.”  •  Why …

I think to be fair, it will be good to see him pitch again - even if Clemens is a Yankee [Ed.: pittuie!] - but there are a number of aspects to this move to sign the great elder statesman, an athlete who is...my age.  •  1. He is a Mercenary. Clemens is not a teammate in this situation. Between …

Noted in passing, what exactly do the editors at The Toronto Star do when they are not thinking of new ways to describe things?  •  “A Toronto man doggedly working the Internet has put together the route his sister took up to the day she mysteriously disappeared in Syria. Matthew Vienneau, an …

Hah! Denied! I defy ratty desire!  •  While I am lazy as the next guy, I do plan from time to do something. Yesterday I made the compost big mouse proof. We are a heavily composting neighbourhood and an exceptionally well mammaled one as well. We have mice, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and the …

It is.

The shift from snow to having a lawn to mow is startling. I may already be behind.  •  Update: Scots election chaos.  •  Please note two key differences between me and Mike.  •  I decided this May Day would be the day we should thank a great unheralded socialist of the past. The socialist dream we …

Jay poached the photo so I don't have to. Aside from his sad lapse into phoney baloney snide conclusion, it really points out a very interesting fact - Canadians like the Stanley Cup more than canoes, more than a Tim Hortons outlet located in a Canadian Tire - more than even the NHL who only hold …

Now that I know I am a hour or so away from the best ribs I have ever had, I am ever so much more sensitive to issues relating to crossing the border. Sad the news, then, comes that Canada and the US have arrived at an impasse as it relates to the rights of humans at the gates. There is the …

I am as knee jerk as the next guy. I avoid buying Nike and got rid of anything with Eddie Bauer on it years ago. Heck, we were into a ban of French products in the early 70's when I was a kid - due to nuclear testing. But, like any one flipping one way or another according to how the wind blows, I …

How to get one party rule? Don't fight the power! Share a big hug over a nothing issue. Make it all bland and, like, righteous so that everyone wants the same thing because its all about what is right and it is never right to say bad things...especially when it's based on made-up stuff.  •  “In …

Comments in the morning. I just had this flashback to four years ago and my newbie blogging reactions over how nice I thought it was getting up in the morning to a bunch of stuff to read. Even though the stats are still sort of collapsing (everyone seemingly migrating to the beer blog ever so …