It ended up not being that idle. Taxes yesterday. Driver's license renewal Tuesday. I'm wiped. Must save up energy to pray for Morton tomorrow.  •  Here is the sound of someone singing in 1860. Here is what it means.  •  Funny how people have long memories.Interesting to note that baseball …

This piece by Paul Wells is one of the best summaries of the nature of the Federal Conservative government I have seen yet, especially this observation:  •  “...understand this: if anyone ever manages to beat Stephen Harper fair and square in a general election, we will see a display of …

Having a week off is swell and all but I really have never taken one off without any plan to do some travel or big project. The only plan was to explore my idleness. Has this been wise? Let's review:  •  Until about 11:00 am yesterday, I was going to Syracuse to see the game between UMass and the …

Is that it?  •  “Undeterred by the slowdown unfolding south of the border, Canadians kept shopping in January, scooping up new cars, building and outdoor home supplies, furniture and clothing. Statistics Canada said Tuesday that retail sales rose 1.5 per cent to $35.8-billion in the first month of …

Day four of Idle-fest 2008. What better time to consider the sugar beet? In PEI, a company setting up to produce biofuels may move elsewhere due to further review of their plans:  •  “The provincial environmental and renewable industries committee on Tuesday released a report recommending a new …

Not really. But I am going:  •  “Massachusetts beat Akron, 68-63, with a 22-5 run to end the game today, which means the Minutemen will travel to the Carrier Dome on Tuesday to face Syracuse in the NIT quarterfinals. Of course, the two teams are familiar with one another. UMass defeated Syracuse …

As the recession talk heats up and the economy slows, what can we expect from the conspiracy theorists and fear mongers? I mean, what better time to get out our finger-pointing and scapegoating skills than when jobs are disappearing and bank accounts and emptying. And I don't mean shadowy figures …

Here we are on the last religious holiday left in the calendar. Somehow merchandisers have yet to figure out how to take advantage of Jesus on the cross to sell me a chocolate lump or to fashion an ad campaign for cars. For a brief while in high school there were a spate of Good Friday jokes like …

I wanted to feel for Mr Horsley, the scandalous author barred from entry to the US this week as, frankly, scandalous authors are so unimportant that they should not register on any biometric or X-ray monitors at any airport. But little did I realize that he was also a big jerk:  •  “In interviews …

Nothing like reading that does not tax the brain on one's sick day. So it was with some joy that I read the news that men like meat:  •  “It may not come as a bolt out of the blue, but one of the largest studies yet has proven that men and women really do eat differently. Researchers who …

While I am dutiful most times, I missed this over at Unkabugs unt Auntie F's:  •  It will be important to know, in the coming tight times after twenty years of lavishing ourselves on credit, how to entertain. Music hall matinées will make a comeback, not needing the electricity that other …

Last night's by-elections are enough of a win for both the Grits and Tories that nothing really changes:  •  “Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River in Northern Saskatchewan was expected to be a close race. But it turned heavily toward the Conservatives after early results and Rob Clarke, an …

Well, sorta. He did say he wishes he had kept to gardening and watching TV sports. OK, not really. But he did say this:  •  “Sir Tim said he did not want his ISP to track which websites he visited. "I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of cancer that that's not going to …

Being the novice masters shot putter that I am, I am keenly aware of the importance of athletic excellence. Yet I have to point out again that the connection of athleticism and the Olympics creates at best strange bedfellows and at worst a catalyst for tragedy as we are seeing this weekend in …

Another Friday. They flow by like the days of the week. A week or so from spring and still there's feet of snow. That's not exactly helping. Morton's teetering and the Orange are gone. At least things are going better for me than they are for Eliot Spitzer. WFAN had an interview with his …

The juxtaposition is pretty fun:  •  “Liberal MP Garth Turner (Halton) told reporters that when the House of Commons returns on March 31, after a two-week break, there will be a different tone. "I think there is a growing level of testosterone in our caucus, who would actually like to go and do …

Here we go again. Torynomics at its best. But they know how to run business, right - except few of them actually have. If anyone actually ran a business by making sure that revenue failed to meet expenses, well, the outcome is obvious:  •  “One thousand more combat troops in Kandahar is just the …

With more than a foot or two standing here and much more as soon as you move off the lake, there is a fat chance I am going to see a robin anytime soon so popping into the brew pub for a late lunch yesterday provided the treat of watching the Mets and the Red Sox play in a pre-season game. I was …

I don't buy seal pelts or eat flipper pie. Nor do I eat veal. But I gobble lamb and trade craft beer for venison, both chucks and ground up. I have represented a slaughterhouse. I do not rank age as a particularly important aggravating factor whatever experience of pain or disappointment that an …

A nice neat listing of the financial downsides of the torynomics of Ottawa and how what we are watching is a continuation of the botch that Ontario was left with after the same crew were asked to leave here. A lengthy quote is worth the effort...because it takes so much effort to cut and paste a …

Great photos from a steam engine enthusiast's visit to an open pit coal mine in northern China.

I love weather writing. Look at today's whallop of snow and stuff as described by our boys and girls in Buffalo at the National Weather Service.  •  “THE SNOW WILL BECOME MODERATE TO HEAVY AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS WESTERN NEW YORK AND THE GENESEE VALLEY AS COLDER AIR ADVECTS IN …

This government's style has to be admired. One day they are blaming all around them for everything they've done while seeking no part in creating a national vision (and working hard to disassemble any idea of a national vision) and the next they are begging their sworn and sworn at enemies to get …

Happy change of clocks weekend. Happy up to 50 cm of snow weekend, too. Fifty! That is 20 inches! Sunday, day of thrown out backs. And one less hour to get over it.  •  Chantal Hebert, still channeling Rene Levesque's shrug, has a good column in The Star on the unfortunately named NAFTA-gate …

I like Communications Directors. I really do. If you had any idea how much I liked and respected the job and the people that do it you would realize this is not really a snip at anyone but, after yesterday's post in which Ms. Buckler is quoted categorically but personally denied a matter in …

I am having a hard time keeping up but today the official Conservative Party line appears to be that Chuck Cadman is a liar:  •  “The Prime Minister's Office has "categorically" denied any Conservatives offered a dying MP a lucrative life-insurance policy in exchange for his support on a critical …

A day to not do anything:  •  “GENERALLY EAST OF ROCHESTER THIS MORNING. SUB FREEZING TEMPERATURES AT THE SURFACE WILL KEEP THE THREAT FOR MODERATE FREEZING RAIN ACROSS EASTERN SECTIONS FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT FEW HOURS...ALTHOUGH TEMPERATURES ABOVE FREEZING ARE NOT THAT FAR OFF TO THE SOUTH WITH …

Has there ever been a time when both the Tories and Grits polled below 30%?  •  Are we almost at that point now?

Nothing fills a Canadian with pride more than a passing reference by a politician in another country. We go all giggly and forget ourselves. This thing with Obama and NAFTA, though, is a bit different. As Ben points out, it seems to be a bit of collateral damage from the Canadian Federal …

This little sketch of today's events in the US primaries from the Votemaster is a lesson in how complicated these things can get:  •  “The electorate has been so unstable this year so far it is hard to predict a lot. People are changing their minds at the last minute, the number of undecideds is …

This is just fun. So many questions. Like: is this personal or ex officio wrong and is there any distinction in the case of a Prime Minister? Meaning - if there is an election and he loses, can a Court overrule the outcome saying a libel swayed the vote? What other measure of the loss of a …

Interesting tidbit in the NYT's article about Saturday Night Live writer, James Downey:  •  “Mrs. Clinton even cited one of Mr. Downey’s "SNL" sketches during a debate on Tuesday, when she complained that she seemed to be receiving tougher questions than Mr. Obama. "If anybody saw 'Saturday Night …

That's better. For the shortest month going, it sure did drag. Happy to report that Boston beat the Twins. I have been living on Red Sox DVDs a bit recently. This one covering to the end of 2005 is helpful mid-winter viewing as we got to hiss a lot at the Yankees.  •  Relive my first of March post …