I Canicus

Light Show

2009-08-09T22:41:00.002-04:00

Alas that I had to work today. The lightning show that has been playing for hours has been incredible. It has been more than a decade since I've seen anything like this. I hope that someone, somewhere has some good photographs of this storm. I just heard another drum beat.

test 1

2007-12-31T04:56:00.001-05:00

-----------------------------------------------------

"I don't know if he throws a spitball but he sure spits on the ball."

-- Stengel

The End is Nigh

2007-12-31T04:51:00.000-05:00

It is the last day of the year. I think that 2008 will be a good year.

Google is Great

2007-03-15T01:13:00.000-04:00

I have just, for about the fifth time, reset my google password. This is getting boring. Each time, I send myself an email with the new password so even if I forget it, I can't forget it. However, it never, ever seems to work. Let's see if this one sticks. So far, I am not impressed with the 'new' blogger.

Ronald Reagan and Conservatism

2007-03-05T06:06:00.000-05:00

I have been wandering the web tonight and I tripped over a reference to a speech by Ronald Reagan on Michelle Malkin's site. This speech was given soon after he took office, in March of 1981. In it, he describes what he thinks 'conservatism' means.

Mr. Reagan has become something of a saint for U.S. conservatives but do they actually pay any attention to him?

Now, during our political efforts, we were the subject of much indifference and often times intolerance, and that’s why I hope our political victory will be remembered as a generous one and our time in power will be recalled for the tolerance we showed for those with whom we disagree.

Whatever his faults were — and like the rest of us he had them — to my awareness, Mr. Reagan was a generous and decent man.

I find these missing from political debate in the U.S. Perhaps I'm blind and simply don't see it. Will this be remembered as a time of tolerance for those with whom we disagree?

Old Mouse

2007-02-15T03:48:00.000-05:00

This morning, I trashed my mouse. It was an Apple Mighty Mouse. Alas, while it may have been Apple, it was surely not mighty. It is the last mouse that I buy from Apple. My new mouse is an old mouse — also an Apple mouse but this time simply a wireless mouse. I'm going to miss the trackball. Actually, I already do. Tomorrow, I think that I'll order a Razer mouse. The sluggishness of the Apple mice wears upon me. Hopefully, someone else will someday produce a good mouse with a trackball instead of a scroll wheel. I don't know why others haven't adopted this yet since it's so much nicer to use. For Apple mice however, the lousy excuse for buttons and the resistance to maintenance that the Mighty Mouse offered, rendered it second rate despite the trackball.

At the Glass Maze

2006-12-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Behind the Scenes at the Microsoft Zune Design Laboratory

Lead Designer: [Holding up an iPod] Ok, so we want to make one of these.

Associate Designer: Embrace and extend one of these, you mean.

LD: Right, right. [Nods] Right. So are we done?

AD: Well, no. We have to design it.

LD: I thought we were embracing their design.

AD: No, Jobs has good lawyers. We need to do lots of extending.

This is fun.

Those accursed Habs...

2006-12-02T21:37:00.000-05:00

The Leafs are playing the Canadiens and they're in overtime now. Saku Koivu has scored twice tonight, including the tieing goal. Damn!

MySpace SPAM Generator

2006-12-02T16:05:00.000-05:00

Thank you MySpace! At the end of September, I opened an account at MySpace. I'm not sure why, I was probably drunk, but anyways, there it is. I created a new email address exclusively for this project. I promptly forgot about it. Today, I logged into my ISP and then noticed this email address. I decided to set my mail client to read it. What did I find? Hundreds of SPAM! A single instance of usage and I get hundreds of SPAM. MySpace sucks!

Good one

2006-12-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

Remaindered link posted November 30, 2006 at 05:26 pm How to choose a good book to read, a tip from Marshall McLuhan: turn to page 69, read it, and if it's good, you've got a winner. (via snarkmarket)

This is exactly what I do except I choose a page at random. If a book cannot stand this test then it probably won't be readable.

Good Grief!

2006-11-26T07:53:00.001-05:00

Appleton Estate V/X. Forty pounder. Today.

A new toy

2006-11-19T00:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I continued my domestic blitz and brought home a new toaster oven. It's a model 1005 from KitchenAid. The formal model name is KCO1005OB. It comes in Onyx Black. I presume that's the trailing OB in the model name. Peculiarly, the company product page indicates that it is only available in Onyx Black. Over at an online seller's site, KitchenAid Countertop Oven - KCO1005 : Chefs Corner, there is evidently a red model — an Empire Red model. I would have bought that one had it been offered. Oh well. While it was more expensive than I'd like, I've had good experience with KitchenAid cookware so … Since unpacking it, I have used it twice. First to toast a cheese bagel which worked sufficiently well. That's the first piece of decently toasted bread I've had in a year and a half. (Not necessarily a credit to the oven of course. It's more a lament over the inability of restaurants to actually toast their bread.) Tonight I cooked a big meal. In the user guide, there are half a dozen recipes. One of them is for roasted vegetables. I didn't have all of them on hand — specifically the potatoes. So, I threw in a pile of celery, an onion and a pepper for 25 minutes while I cooked some ground beef, some sauce and pasta on the stovetop. Everything came out perfect. So far so good.

The Rice Cooker

2006-10-22T01:56:00.000-04:00

I have now had my rice cooker for several weeks.

It is a Zojirushi ZCC-10 rice cooker with Neuro Fuzzy logic driven cooking.

I am pretty happy with it thus far.

Of course, while everyone tells me that rice cookers automatically do things perfectly, I think that if you don't know what you are doing, it only works mindlessly when you don't do anything uncommon. For example, I have purchased various types of rice since then bringing the rice cooker home. Dainty's Long Grain and Wild Rice, their Jasmine rice, which I have yet to cook; two type of rice from Lundberg, a California producer — their Wild Blend, which is a gourmet blend of wild and whole grain brown rice and Black Japonica, a field blend of gourmet black and mahogany rices. I am beginning to suspect that all of their rices are gourmet blends. Finally, some brown rice from another California producer, Tsuru Mai. An aside — I cannot find a website for the parent of Tsuru Mai, Nomura and Company although I have found numerous references to the company and its rice products.

The Black Japonica rice intrigues me. I have yet to cook it but I am looking forward to doing so. According to the company, the rice is grown mixed in the field. Years ago, an ex-girlfriend cooked some 'purple' rice that genuinely was purple and not particularly appetising to look at. Hopefully, the rice cooker will save me from any such discouraging meals.

And then there are the Lundbergs, who will do just about anything. Short-grain, long-grain, red, mahogany, black or brown -- if it's rice, the Lundbergs will breed it and grow it. When a planting mistake gave them a field of speckled red rice, they simply harvested it and sold the motley package as Christmas Rice, touting its ''mysteriously musky flavor.''

The one drawback to the machine is that it is fairly slow to cook complex rices. It generally takes over an hour to cook the Long Grain and Wild Rice as well as the Wild Blend. Then you have to let it sit for a while. One time, it took 100 minutes to cook the rice (plus the post-cooking time); this mangled my meal as I'd planned on it taking an hour and had cooked up a batch of other stuff which was then left to dry out and cool off. In my first attempt at the 'Wild Blend', I used the 'brown rice' setting and the result was somewhat soggy rice. For the second attempt, I used the 'semi-brown' setting and it came out well.

Part of what drove me to buy the blasted thing was that I feel that I eat too much pasta — which is probably my favourite food. A few months ago, I purchased some Uncle Ben's Spanish Rice but never cooked it. Then I bought something else from Uncle Ben, some kind of wild rice food product. I cooked it up and really enjoyed it. I find cooking rice on the stovetop to be more frustrating than I'd like. It requires me to pay attention which is something I am loathe to do.

A week or so later, I went to purchase some more rice and see what other offerings Uncle Ben had. While in the supermarket, I read the label for the wild rice product. It was chock-full of hydrogenated oils. Bleah!

I checked a couple of other speciality products from Uncle Ben and found they all had hydrogenated oils in them. This was a major downer. I've been eating Uncle Ben's Converted Rice since I was a young lad. I cannot remember not eating it. A decade or so ago, Uncle Ben's released some pasta sauce products. I tried them — they were great. Then they vanished. I guess I was the only one trying them out. I've always been a fan of their foods.

That day, I bought the Tsuru Mai brown rice. The only ingredient in the bag is, "California Medium Grain Brown Rice".

When I went home, I checked the Spanish Rice sitting in my cupboard. Amongst its ingredients was hydrogenated oils.

I find it both peculiar and frustrating that many of the major food producers seem to be increasing their use of hydrogenated oils when the health argument against them is almost overwhelming. I no longer buy crackers because I can't find any without hydrogenated oils. I stopped buying Humpty Dumpty's Cheese Sticks because they now contain hydrogenated oils. But, what the hell is a package of rice doing filled with hydrogenated oils?

As another aside, so many packaged nuts and trail mixes use hydrogenated oils for some reason. Bleah!

Anyways, after forty years of devouring Uncle Ben's rice, I think I'll look around at some alternatives. The rice cooker makes it easier to do this. Last week, I was visiting book stores — buying the Pasta Bible and perusing the Potato Bible and the Rice Bible. One of the interesting aspects to rice, as well as with potatoes, is that the food is available in so many varieties. I am now curious to try some Japanese pre-washed rice. Last week, I even bought some chopsticks although I have yet to try to use them — I am not always in the mood for frustration. Once I have finished some of the rice types I currently have, I'll try Dainty's Basmati rice. I have not knowingly tried it before.

While I was putting my various rice purchases away in the cupboard, and after reading the packaging for the Uncle Ben's Spanish Rice, I decided to throw the Spanish Rice away. I don't plan on buying any more and I won't even buy any 'pure' Uncle Ben's rice for the time being. I am not a fan of companies that force you to read their labels to ensure a minimal level of quality. "Buyer Beware" is not an effective sales method for a 'brand' company.

Yet another aside, a final one, this happened for me with Wrangler pants. I purchased a pair last year and wore them. They felt funny but … When I washed them, I saw the label. They were partially polyester. How can a jean company even think of trying to sneak polyester past their customers? I re-read the marketing label that I hadn't yet thrown away and saw no reference to the make-up of the textile. It was only when reading the manufacturing label inside the pants that I discovered this 'blend'. On the plus side, I have since purchase some pants from brands such as Savane and IZOD and don't feel that I'm missing anything without the Wranglers.

Relevance

2006-10-22T01:28:00.000-04:00

A Puzzle: The Economist's American Political Coverage

And the Opinion Mill:

Opinion Mill: Amazing insights from The Economist: Thanks to Atrios and the alert uniformed attendants at Crooked Timber, I see The Economist has taken most of its content out from behind the firewall.

When I was a young lad, my brother used to buy the Economist every week. He no longer does.

I used to read it regularly. I liked the magazine because it didn't feel as trite like Time/Newsweek/Macleans. (he says tritely…)

Then, some time ago, they wrote an article on some subject that I actually knew something about. I cannot remember what it was. The article discouraged me.

As an aside, this is similar to Andrew Marshall's Audio Ideas Guide which I read until it reviewed an Aiwa stereo system that the store I worked at, Bay Bloor Radio, offered for sale. Whatever actually motivated the author, I could not help but think that the advertising dollars of Aiwa drove the article. I could not recognise the actual equipment in the review.

Anyways, I can no longer remember the last issue of the Economist that I have read. I don't visit their website.

After reading the blog entry at Delong's site — in which reference is made to the freeing up of articles, I went ahead and visited economist.com. The browser window was empty. Well, it appeared to be empty. It was actually merely white. Something was there as the scroll bars were active. I don't know if it merely disapproves of Macs or perhaps, I have some browser setting that ensures that I will be denied access. I could change the setting and try again but, at this moment, I can't justify the effort. Maybe tomorrow.

Glory for Sundin

2006-10-14T21:39:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Maple Leafs just defeated the Calgary Flames at the Hangar. The score was 5-4 in overtime. A minute into overtime and the situation was dire as Darcy Tucker had just received a bogus penalty giving the Flames a power-play. Sundin took the puck away from a Flame inside his blueline and then skated down the left wing, over centre and then the Calgary blueline. He then wired a shot into the roof of the net from about 70 feet out. The Calgary goalie was overwhelmed by the shot which was about as perfect as a shot can be. The goal obviously won the game for the Leafs but it was a great personal moment for the Leafs' captain. The unassisted, short-handed, overtime game winner gave Sundin a hat-trick on the night and was the 500th goal of his career. He doesn't need me to tell him how to play but I do wish he would shoot more. I don't think anyone on the team has as good a shot as he does.

Zojirushi Rice Cooker

2006-10-08T23:32:00.000-04:00

Last night, I purchased a rice cooker. This is the first one I've owned. It is a Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker and warmer.

As rice cookers go, it is quite expensive. I have been researching these things for several months now and I do not think that I've seen any that are more expensive than those this company produces. This is about fourth from the top in price however as there is a larger version of the same model, a designer model with fewer features and a larger and more advanced model that uses an induction heating system to cook the rice.

From the company's web site, I found a list of local retailers. This model was my second choice but no store in the city had my first choice, the Zutto.

After getting it home, it sat for a few hours before unpacking. It's quite large considering that it's the small model.

Eventually, I cranked it up and cooked myself some Long Grain and Wild Rice from Dainty using the brown rice settings. The rice came out great — even on the first attempt. That's pretty good for this type of creature.

Pearly Blues

2006-09-09T23:14:00.000-04:00

I bought my Apple PowerBook (1.67 GHz, 15" Aluminum) in the spring of last year. It was the first Bluetooth 2.0 creature that I was aware of. While there have been developments in Bluetooth in the intervening year and a half, the arrival of the BlackBerry Pearl is the first Bluetooth 2.0 device that I've seen since.

Windows or Mac

2006-08-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

Steve Gibson (SpinRite creator, Anti-Spyware pioneer) "liking the Mac"

It is an interesting phenomenon. A lot of people are looking to buy Macs so they can run Windows or because they think they need Windows. I think most of them will discover just like Mr. Gibson did, that Windows is an unnecessary part of their lives.

Zac | August 23, 2006 06:34 AM

Well said.

Batteries

2006-08-26T04:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I submitted a form for a replacement battery for my PowerBook. There has been a lot of crap in the mac news lately on the matter.

At MacNN
At TUAW
At Apple
At U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
At Macintouch

Some time ago, perhaps a year, there was an issue with certain batteries. I checked the serial number and it wasn't anywhere near those affected. This time however, it is. This is kind of weird since the battery is now well over a year old as I purchased the mac back in March 2005. The battery works fine except that it doesn't last very long. It's not that it has diminished in its carrying capacity. It's just that it never lasted long. Oh well. Perhaps I'll take into work tomorrow for something to do. It's much more enjoyable to play with than the work PCs are.

A weird closing

2006-08-15T02:43:00.000-04:00

Some moments ago, I submitted a comment in response to a post on another site. The site is scripting.com and the post was written by Dave Winer.

I closed my comment by saying, "Keep on learning".

I have never said such a thing before so having done so, and guessing it's too late to edit the comment, I am now left wondering what prompted me to end my comment that way.

After some reflection, my guess is this: I have been reading that site for a long time. I don't remember exactly when but I think I began reading it a couple of months, no more, after it opened up. Along with a site written by another Dave, David Siegel (who incidentally, linked to scripting.com back in '96) titled, Welcome to my Casbah, these were probably my first experiences with a journal style of online writing that came to be known as a weblog. Mr. Siegel ceased his online writing efforts in 1998, (since continued at a torpid pace) much to my regret but Mr. Winer has pushed his site along in a great way ever since. I continue to visit at least once a week. On my browser's home page, a page of links that resides on my local machine, I have his site listed prominently. While he may have geekish tendencies, his writing covers many subjects — my comments were a response to a posting on baseball's history. That is important to me.

Anyways, one of the reasons that I've continued to read his postings is that he really gives the reader a glimpse of the world through his own eyes. As this past decade or so has apparently involved his learning many new things (and subsequently doing many new things), I have gained my own exposure to those very same things. Had he ever put down his sword, had he been satisfied to do merely more of the same, he probably never would have launched scripting.com, nor would he have created blogging nor any of the other things in any of the other pots he's stirred over the years.

As such, I have benefitted from those efforts. If Mr. Winer continues to learn more and hence, do more, I am more than certain that I will continue to partake of those benefits. Besides, I think he enjoys learning.

Names and Games

2006-08-13T18:27:00.000-04:00

Several years ago, there was a very popular computer game titled, "You don't know Jack". I don't know where the title came from but today I was reading a top ten article at Kuro5hin and I saw the expression being used. Perhaps, this is the source.

Jack Shit: the magic ingredient "It makes great garden soil. Take as much as you like. I haven't cleaned that jack pen in twenty fucking years." Felonious Frank was staring at us like we were nuts. Frank had four jack mules in his jack pen. Grok and I stared at each other in amazement. "You don't know jack shit." Grok blurted out while we set forth digging for gold. Felonious goes back to sawing timber in his sawmill…

Amusing.

Long Walk

2006-07-24T07:41:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a walk. My apartment stinks of cigar. LOL

Inexorable

2006-07-24T04:32:00.000-04:00

Time marches on. I am now 42 years old. Relentlessly.

I sit here, a day later, or several hours at least, smoking a cuban cigar and drinking some Cointreau, contemplating my existence.

Romeo y Julieta, Romeo No. 1. It is not fresh but it is a treat. It's major flaw is that it gets soggy at one end. I'm not impressed with that. A colleague from work brought them back with him after visiting Cuba last fall. The flavour is okay; it's a little dry but that could be because it has been sitting on my shelf since last fall.

It amuses me that the hardest part about smoking this cigar was finding a match, or several, to light it. Thankfully, I still have a pack of woodens from the Firken.

I have just cut off one end. A soggy cigar is a failed experience.

Update, three inches long still and the cigar has gone out. Sigh!

postscript, if I'm gonna smoke these things, I'm gonna need an ashtray.

New Camino

2006-05-13T18:59:00.000-04:00

Camino 1.0.1 is newly released. So far so good.

I had a couple of recommendations for it — tiny ones — it appears that one of them was implemented.

Previously, in the cookies list, when you deleted a cookie, the list reset and moved your highlighted record to the top of the list. That meant you had to scroll back down to where you had been. Trivial but annoying.

With this new version, that doesn't happen. You stay where you were in the list. This means you don't have to selected multiple records to delete all at once. Small but good.

However, my recommendation to allow sorting by domain was not implemented. This is mildly disappointing. When my email was responded to, I was told that it already did it. It doesn't. The list can alphabetically sort the list. Unfortunately, that sort includes 'www' and anything else before the key portion of the domain. Thus, if you were to want to delete all of your 'msn.com' cookies, you have two choices.

You can filtre on 'msn' and then delete all. To do this on a grand scale, you would have to filtre on every domain that you didn't want. That still requires you to grind through the list from end to end and it also requires you to type in every domain and then to delete every domain.

Alternatively, you can tediously work your way down the list. That means stopping at msn.com, c.msn.com, h.msn.com, www.msn.com, etc...

At this moment, I have four different cookie sets from 'about.com'. I have about.com, home.about.com, playstation.about.com and french.about.com.

If I could sort by domain, I could have all of the 'about.com' in a solid clump and quickly and easily select and delete them. That would be simple and efficient. Unfortunately, it's not simple.

Maybe next time.

Senators lose to Lightning

2006-04-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

Some quirks about the Ottawa — Tampa Bay series:

These teams are fast. They're fast, and they're quick.

Ottawa's defense doesn't know what it means to, "take the man".

These teams are otherwise, well coached and smart.

It was seven and a half minutes into the third before that period's first icing call. That in a period without penalties.

Thus far, there have been zero off-side calls. Zero. The Leafs can't play for two minutes without going offside. Both teams, especially Tampa as they pay attention at both blue lines, work the line. Defensively, they make sure they clear the puck. Offensively, they time their passes and shoot-ins to lead the skaters. I've never seen a Leaf game without an off-side for this long. (Technically, I don't think that's true. I vaguely remember a game with about ten minutes of uninterrupted play. It was probably about 25 years ago.)

Both teams have creative players. Martin St. Louis' goal to give Tampa the lead in the third was a lovely goal except that competent defense would have prevented the play from developing. There was jumble of players at the Tampa blue line. St. Louis, from a standing start, took the puck and raced to the Ottawa end. Some other player gets the puck and pushes over the line. A real defenceman would have skated him in to the boards but Ottawa's didn't. St. Louis whipped around the net and came out at the left side of the crease – again, inside the defence – and hammered the puck into the net.

Thirteen minutes in, there was finally an off-side. I don't know the rules but the Ottawa goalie made a pass from a few feet above the goal line, across the ice where it was taken a foot into the Tampa Bay zone. The skaters feet were on-side. I don't know what makes that an off-side. Maybe a three line pass is forbidden.

Both the stickhandling and skating skill of these players far exceed that of the Leafs. St. Louis seems to pay absolutely no attention to where he is and several times, in tight quarters, he, while looking the other way, cut his turns with his skates probably no more than an inch from the boards. Figure skaters don't have that level of awareness.

Bob Cole booted one. For an entire play, he neglected to mention that the Ottawa goalie was on the bench. On the next play, he stated that the goalie would be on the bench for sure.

Tampa has an interesting style. Even when Ottawa was really applying the pressure, the goalie was not required to stand on his head to maintain the lead. Part of their play, and this applies also to Ottawa, is that their players are taking into account where other players are. They time things and understand how valuable it is to disrupt a pass or shot. Consequently, they break up a lot of promising plays before the goalie is needed.

Anyways, Lightning win 4-3 in a really fun game. The only thing missing was some stand-on-your-head goaltending.

p.s. Over the course of the third period, there were two icings and one off-side. Oh yeah, and three hits.

The Re-Writing of Mao

2006-04-16T23:53:00.000-04:00

Just published, a few months ago:

Mao
The Unknown Story
Written by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday

TVO is giving this some major coverage. Steve Paikin interviewed the two authors and Big Ideas broadcast a symposium of experts on all matters Mao.

Before leaving today, I did not have time to view the symposium. I will do that shortly as I did record the show.

Some premonitions however, I would not be surprised if the discussion grates on me. There is, or at least I perceive there to be, a tendency to give Mao the benefit of the doubt. I don't have any evidence to point to so I may be talking through my hat. Most western experts seem to believe that Mao was a great man who was unfortunate in that he lived in difficult times. Times that were so difficult that he was occasionally forced to do harsh things. That's an oversimplification but again, that's my perception. Incidentally, in the interview by Paikin, one of the authors stated that when she first came to the west, she denied being Chinese as she could not tolerate the adoration of Mao that she encountered in westerners. She claimed to be Korean.

I suspect that the view of the books will be that they are poorly researched and therefore, not very meaningful. Another perception of mine is that historians will always resist the re-writing of history. In my observations, they do so by attacking the technique of those who would re-write.

Every time that I see someone described as being an expert, I cannot help but assume that they will be utilising their expertise to defend their turf. Not kind but those are my observations. We'll see.

Cell Phones

2006-03-26T03:25:00.000-05:00

I am playing with a Sony Ericsson w600i.

It isn't bad.

It has flaws but …

I don't know whether it is worth buying.

It is chalk full of features. It has lots of memory, plays MP3s, has a decent screen and buttons.

However, it also has some pathetic failings. If someone calls you, the caller ID will let you know that someone called. However, you won't know what the phone number of that person is because it won't fit in a single line. That's right, the display uses a font that is so big that it can't display a phone number on a single line.

Even though I don't own the phone, I almost feel compelled to write to S-E to inform them that this is a dismal failing.

The Deer Hunter

2006-03-26T02:41:00.000-05:00

The Deer Hunter is on TV. I've never seen this movie. It's not that I haven't wanted to, it's just that I've never been driven to. As my cable is out I have few options as to what I watch live.

The movie has Christopher Walken, Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep in it.

Walken looks like a boy. I looked up his Bio on IMDB and he was 35 when he made this movie, being born in 1943.

It's kind of funny, his second show, back in 1954, was, "The Motorola Television Hour". After that, he did a stint on, "The Guiding Light".

More funny, in 1977, he appeared on Kojak. Then, all of a sudden, over the next few years, "Annie Hall", "The Deer Hunter", "Heaven's Gate", "The Dogs of War" — where I first heard of him, being a big Frederick Forsythe fan at the time — and then, "Pennies From Heaven".

I'm not sure that he's made many great movies since then. He did have a small role in Pulp Fiction. I didn't notice anything else that was noticeable.

Day of Carnage

2006-03-26T02:22:00.000-05:00

Shortly after the carnage on the mile track, there was carnage on the relay.

I don't know any of the details except the Canadians won bronze medals.

It amuses me that there is some sort of consensus about what constitutes carnage. It's about running.

Carnage on the Track

2006-03-26T01:49:00.000-05:00

I am now watching the 1500m race.

It's over. A Kiwi won. A Canuck took silver.

After two laps, there was a collision in which two runners went down and caused the pack to break up.

The New Zealander, favoured, ignored it all and just pushed himself to the fore.

The Canuck, trailing the pack, used the opportunity to push forward. An African runner threw a shoe.

I exclaimed, "CARNAGE!"

The announcer exclaimed, "CARNAGE!"

Commonwealth Games - Melbourne

2006-03-26T01:38:00.000-05:00

The Commonwealth Games are currently showing on the CBC. It's late here, so early there; I don't know how 'live' this broadcast is.

The female divers are currently on screen. A Canadian, Blythe Hartley won with a graceful dive.

What I find peculiar now about the divers is that the sport is degenerating into a display of hyper-muscularity. Some of the women divers don't have necks. None of the women on screen have breasts. I'm having that 'almost like deja vu' feeling as I recall the Soviet and East German athletes of the seventies and eighties.

Curiously, the male divers don't have the same 'stockiness' that the women divers do.

Peculiar.

Canucks v. Oilers

2006-03-26T00:44:00.000-05:00

The Oilers just beat the Canucks by a score of 3-2.

I only watched the last few minutes.

They were exciting. We don't see much of that in Toronto.

The Oilers were winning and trying to hold on. The Canucks were fighting to make something happen. The Oilers took a penalty with about 1:20 left. The pressure was intense. The Oilers played brilliant defence, keeping Vancouver off balance. They cleared the puck down the ice only to hit the post.

It was a treat to watch some intense hockey for a change.

The Leafs don't deserve to be in the playoffs.

Les Habs, Les Glorieux?

2006-03-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

The Canadiens are pulling the arms off of the Maple Leafs.

There are minutes left in the third and the score is 6-2.

The Leaf's have given up trying to win. The teams are fighting.

The Habs are feisty. Tucker just took a nasty elbow to the face and then proceeded to start a fight.

The Leafs lost last night and and with tonight's loss in Montreal, they are pushing themselves to the edge of playoff extinction. They are six points back of Atlanta who earlier tonight was reported to be losing.

There is a scrum now behind the net. There have been two multiplayer fights already.

The crowd has been loud and ecstatic as their Habs are not merely beating the Leafs in goals but they are fighting tooth and nail as they win.

As I understand it, this was back-to-back games in Montreal. The Habs just beat the Leafs twice at home while trying to get into the playoffs ahead of the Leafs. Does it get any better if you're a Montreal fan? I think I'll pour myself another drink.

Update: The New York Islanders defeated the Atlanta Thrashers

It's over. The Leafs lost.

Update number two: The win put the Habs in 8th place ahead of the Thrashers.

Queen of the North

2006-03-24T06:08:00.000-05:00

The Queen of the North ferry has sunk.

Off the coast of B.C., one of the big ferries has gone down.

I think that this is the boat that I rode on when I visited the Charlotte's in 2001. I was going the other way of course, north from Port Hardy to Rupert. Our run was an express, there were no stops and it took about 23 hours.

I don't know why the boat went down.

They were certainly used to rough seas — while these boats generally stick to the coast, they do travel in the open ocean.

The latest news implies that two may have died. They are unaccounted for.

Dr. Andrew Weil

2006-03-07T02:45:00.000-05:00

I finally heard something from a doctor that mirrors my own beliefs.

Dr. Andrew Weil is currently being interviewed by Allan Greg as he has just written a new book on aging.

When discussing exercising, particularly as you leave your youth behind, he states that he believes that walking is the best exercise. He believes that 45 minutes of walking, five times a week, is probably the best form of exercise. Walk faster or uphill if you wish for increased effect.

I believe that the primary key is to elevate the heart rate. Walking at a pace that requires an elevated heart rate for a period in excess of 45 minutes makes a major difference. Every other thing is a detail.

The Patriot

2006-03-05T18:55:00.000-05:00

Apparently, there are only two possibilities in the minds of the Act's Republican backers: a powerful police state, or mass extinction at the hands of terrorists. As US Senator James Bunning (Republican, Kentucky) explained, "civil liberties do not mean much when you are dead."

Were braver words ever spoken?

On Community Involvement

2006-02-19T13:21:00.000-05:00

Guy Kawasaki writes about community building in The Art of Creating a Community. It's interesting because I've had a 'user group' experience with his old company, 4D.

Several years ago, in December 2000, my brother and I were in Cupertino taking a week-long class given by 4D, a pre-cursor to re-writing the application that his business runs on.

While we were there, we noticed that the 4D User Group meeting was being held that week at Apple's campus.

This gave us a chance to do two interesting things while out there — visit Apple and learn more about 4D. We went to the UG meeting and found that the president of 4D, Brendan Coveney was there to provide a briefing of future developments. It was a lot fun. As an added bonus, numerous people went out for dinner afterward at a nice mandarin restaurant and Brendan picked up the tab.

Everybody was very gracious and we had a good time.

Yahoo! as a Search Engine

2006-02-12T12:51:00.000-05:00

I decided to try Yahoo! again today.

It has probably been most of a decade since I knowingly used Yahoo! to search for something.

There's something about a stupid name with an exclamation mark as part of it that grates on me. It's not even a fun, stupid name like Google. Of course, what is there to say about the other major search engine's name, MSN Search.

I'm looking at buying a Krups toaster oven. I saw one again yesterday and I've been contemplating returning to the store, Iq|Living on the Danforth. I may go look at the Bay to see if they have a sale on or something. This is a pricy unit.

Anyways, I thought I'd look around online to see if anybody had some useful information about the model. Using Yahoo's search engine, I searched for krups toaster oven. I visited the top three hits.

I'm appalled.

I cannot imagine such a useless service as what Yahoo provides. All three top hits were link redirectors. One of them was even a most-wretched page with a hundred links beneath a banner stating that the domain was available or something.

In years gone by, all of the search engine 'portals' followed each other into oblivion. The first time I heard about google, I tried it. The lean, spare page was just for me. I've been using it ever since and whenever I set up someone's computer, I always configure their web browser to easily get to google. Sometimes, it's even set as the home page.

The recent news about google empowering chinese autocrats and censors troubles me. From what news has come out to the western world, I do not believe that you can consider the chinese government decent or tolerant or anything good for that matter. The state pushes the envelope these days when it comes to grinding down dissent.

Google is getting up on stage to stand side-by-side with the nameless autocrats of this tyrant state. Why would they do this? I guess they figure that somebody is going to take the market that China possesses. It can be them or it can be someone else. This isn't a choice that many corporations can consider as actually being a choice.

Perhaps I'll try Yahoo again in 2010. That will give them time to try and improve. I've already deleted the link to their site.

Minister of Public Works

2006-02-07T07:48:00.000-05:00

I just watched a short interview with Michael Fortier, the new Minister of Public Works and Don Newman of the CBC.

I think he'll do well if he can win a seat.

I've actually seen him speak before but I did not recognise the name.

Amongst his other qualities, he is gracious and has a sense of humour. Newman pushed him to consider a potential seat to run in, something Fortier did not want to be specific about.

“Which riding do you live in? Maybe that would be a good place to start.”

“Well, I'll let you, I'll seek advice from you right now. I live in Mount Royal.”

“Ah, that would not be the best riding… you know what, I'd phone a real-estate agent if I were you. I mean that has got to be the safest Liberal seat, probably, in the world.”

It isn't really. My old riding of York Centre, where Ken Dryen is M.P. is probably a safer seat. But… Irwin Cotler who currently represents the riding, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General prior to the election, well Mr. Corwin won his riding with 22,000 votes.

A New, Smaller Cabinet

2006-02-07T05:02:00.000-05:00

"One of them wasn't elected, one of them switched sides."

Thus did Wendy Mesley describe the new cabinet of Stephen Harper.

Mesley asked the CBC's Chief Political Correspondent, Keith Boag, if he was surprised. He replied, "Yes, and shocked." Then he laughed. All of the punditry was pointless in the bright light of reality.

Harper pulled the rug out from under the nation and surprised everyone. At work, a colleague informed me that strange things were afoot. Little did I know.

On January 23rd, Canadians voted for change — and today, I am pleased to present the team that will lead that change.

David Emerson, spent little time out of cabinet. I don't know if cabinet ministers need to resign when the government leaves office. The Prime Minister does. Paul Martin dropped by Rideau Hall to drop off his letter to Michaelle Jean. Emerson was quickly swearing a new oath of office today.

Other notes:

Stockwell Day, one-time leader of the Canadian Alliance, is in the cabinet. He doesn't have his dream post, Foreign Affairs, but he is a cabinet minister. He's the Minister of Public Safety. Lefties are not fans of Stockwell.

Diane Ablonczy is not in the cabinet. Neither is Jason Kenney. This is interesting. Both of the M.P.s are intelligent, tough debaters who can toe-to-toe with the best. Incidentally, the best M.P. for verbal conflict is Stephane Dion, the former Minister of the Environment and before that, of Intergovernmental Affairs. He was a scourge of separatists, wherever he went. Anyways, Neither Ablonczy nor Kenney are in his league but they are good.

However, I wonder why they aren't in the cabinet. They are loyal, long-standing members. They are smart and capable. Perhaps the question is, what are they capable of? A cabinet minister needs to have management skills. I don't know if they do. I don't know what their practical skills are. If they are lacking in the skills to run a ministry, then kudos to Harper for not giving them one. I hope they don't disappear though.

Peter McKay is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This is a tough posting and I think that he's young for it. I am curious to see whether he's got the substance for it. If he does, I think it will stand him in good stead for the future.

The three Ontario M.P.P.s are in the cabinet. Jim Flaherty is the Finance Minister. He'll do well there. Tony Clement is the Minister of Health. This is interesting. Being the Ontario Minister of Health is probably bigger than being the federal equivalent. The federal position is more abstract. Clement is smart and energetic but I think he was over-matched by the provincial posting. He might have the potential for it but he had not mastered all of the requisite skills for the post. It's probably one of the most demanding positions in Canadian politics as unlike say the Finance Minister, the Ontario Minister of Health has to publicly confront the doctors, nurses and administrators of the health industry while also pleasing the citizenry. It's a big job. Finally, one of my least favourite Ontario ministers, John Baird is now a federal cabinet minister, the president of the Treasury Board. Mr. Baird is a master of petty rhetoric and very tiresome. You can't really trust what he says and you can't really learn anything from any discussion that he's participating in. He won't allow it. The Tories of Ontario were thick with that type with Janet Ecker probably being the least appealing government minister. She's all right now that she's out of politics. Flaherty and Clement are better in that respect.

I like Flaherty as he actually has ideas and is more than willing to discuss them publicly. I think that the hard-right reputation he has is probably inappropriate — he's not an idealogue.

Finally, the other bombshell posting, Michael Fortier, minister of public works and government services. Mr. Fortier flies straight out of left field and into a cabinet post. He's not an M.P. I don't remember this happening in my lifetime. Not to say it hasn't happened but I don't think it's happened.

Incidentally, the quote above is how Harper introduced the cabinet. It's typical for him. He was succinct, to the point and without rhetorical flourish. He let his choices, his actions, speak for himself.

Another incidental, Tony Clement felt obligated to use his own pen, or at least to try to. He pulled a pen from his pocket but was asked to use the standard pen, which in low resolution, looks quite nice.

Speaking of Graceless

2006-02-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

The ABC staff felt that they needed to get Jerome Bettis to reveal his retirement while up on the float.

I don't know why.

Why try to take the attention off of the victory.

Leader on the Field

2006-02-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

One thing that the Steelers appear to have is a surplus of leadership.

I think that Roethlisberger is a wonderful quarterback.

At the start of a Pittsburgh huddle, the microphones overheard Jerome Bettis bringing the players together and reminding them that all they had to do was run the plays, "Just like it's the first week of the season."

They were at that point where a lot of teams fail. They had the chance to put the game beyond the reach of the Seahawks but they needed to chew up some of the field and some of the clock. A lot of teams go three and out at this crunch time. The Steelers kept pushing and while they didn't score, they did what they needed to.

Serious Advertising

2006-02-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

The new satellite radio company has put several ads on during the Superbowl today.

The ad I've liked the most was probably a beer commercial with a sheared and streaking sheep.

2006-02-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

Number 51 of the Steelers is a cretin.

On the last play of the game, a dropped ball by Stevens, he felt it necessary to kick Stevens when he was down (figuratively).

Just to point out another botched play by Stevens, on the preceding play, he caught a ball near the sidelines but did not manage to get out of play. With no time outs, Seattle was forced to go for a touchdown rather than a field goal. Bizarrely, Hasselback went back to Stevens.

As with other plays on this drive, there appeared to be no Seahawk receivers open downfield.

It's over. The Pittsburgh Steelers are the Superbowl winners, Champions of the NFL.

Congratulations Steelers

Steeler Secondary Stifling

2006-02-05T21:58:00.000-05:00

The camera work is of no help but on this, the last drive, there are no Seahawk receivers open. Hasselback has been given long periods to find someone open and he's thrown one out of play intentionally and then to his fullback behind the line of scrimmage.

I'd love to see what is actually going on back there.

There are 27 seconds left and it is 21-10 Pittsburgh.

Steelers have the Ball

2006-02-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

Hasselback just gave someone an easy interception. Easy.

Not as easy as the one to Herndon but bloody easy.

2006-02-05T21:17:00.000-05:00

I was just doing a search for a Pam Oliver bio page.

After making a mistake on the sideline reporter earlier, I wanted to put down the correct name. I found a bio page for Tafoya, for Bernstein, but not Oliver.

I did however, find a 'placement' page with her name on it. Evidently, there is a headhunter named Ken Lindner who places people in news media positions — including Pam Oliver with Turner Sports, where she is slotted to serve as a sideline reporter during the NBA playoffs.

While scrolling through the page …

Interruption: Jeremy Stevens just dropped another pass.

… looking for Oliver, I saw the name Tiffany Burns. She used to work for CityTV here in T.O. I met her once at Milestones, a nice bar on John Street just a few doors away from City's studios. She was quite friendly, down-to-earth and very stunning. She works in Cleveland or some such place now at WIOI-TV.

Boot!

2006-02-05T20:54:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh makes its worst play of the game.

Roethslisberger threw a wobbly pass right into the hands of Herndon who ran it back to the Pittsburgh 20. This was such a bad pass. The Steeler receiver was probably four yards behind his coverage. That's normally a good thing but it also means that the receiver is not in any position to make a tackle.

Touchdown Seattle. Stevens, aka butterfingers, finally held on to one. It's a four point game again.

On the interception, there was some great blocking downfield. Perfect blocks struck down Steelers both behind and in front of the runner. Despite that, the Steelers effectively ground their way through all of the blockers to stop the play from being a touchdown. Impressive all around.

Pittsburgh Blocks

2006-02-05T20:49:00.000-05:00

The Steelers are blocking beautifully and are now at the Seahawk ten.

Update: When the Seahawks want to, they can crack the Steeler blocking schemes. They just keep falling asleep at the wheel.

Dropped Ball

2006-02-05T20:42:00.000-05:00

The Seahawk tight end just dropped a ball thrown right into his hands.

While Madden and Michaels are blaming him for it, and he does deserve blame, the Pittsburgh cover threw up a hand and waved it. This wasn't an attempt to catch it, it was just to hopefully be hit by it or at least obscure the receiver. It worked.

Well, That was Fast

2006-02-05T20:36:00.000-05:00

It's 14-3 Pittsburgh.

On the first series, the Seahawks decided to not have anyone in the middle of the secondary. A couple of well-place blocks and Willie Parker had a 75 yard touchdown run. It's now the Superbowl record for a touchdown run from scrimmage, edging Marcus Allen by a yard.

How will the Seahawks respond?

Just saw the replay. Beautiful blocking and poor defending equals 75 yard touchdown.

Speaking of Irvin

2006-02-05T20:33:00.000-05:00

Michael Irvin, a wonderful as he was on the field, does not belong in the booth.

He's overly loud and overly aggressive and out of synch with his peers. I don't think I've ever seen him speak — only yell. I wonder if the audio guys have his mike turned down relative to the other announcers.

Six Enter the Hall

2006-02-05T20:25:00.000-05:00

Six footballers made it to the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio this weekend.

Troy Aikman, Harry Carson, John Madden, Warren Moon and Reggie White, Rayfield Wright.

Not Michael Irvin. There seems to be a lot of energy about Irvin and his entry to the hall.

I'm not surprised. I wouldn't worry if I were Irvin either. Six guys is the most that can go in. There is already a Cowboy, Aikman, entering this year. Electors probably want to let him know that they think he's a jerk.

Half-Time

2006-02-05T20:09:00.000-05:00

The game is half over. The score is only 7-3 Pittsburgh.

Steve Young made the only useful comment by a half-time show commentator. He stated that Seattle got the least from the most and Pittsburgh got the most from the least.

While Seattle may or may not be a better team than Pittsburgh, they aren't a lot better. They played well in the first half and are still losing. On top of that, the coach is stressing over the touchdown that Pittsburgh got.

Those are not good signs. How much better is Seattle going to play in the second half?

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, can adjust. They were not getting pressure on Hasselback. Their secondary was not adjusting well to the ball. A fractionally better quarterback would be killing them. Hasselback threw two balls that his receivers caught but were not able to keep in bounds on — on the last drive.

Of course, the officiating has been favouring the Steelers as well. The first touchdown called back was not a competent call. While the receivers arm made a motion to push the receiver away, there was no actual pushing. There was no interference. Both players were having problems adjusting to the ball's descent.

Seahawks Advancing

2006-02-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

Hasselback is finding some open receivers. Several clean passes have gotten the Seahawks in good position on the field.

A receiver just missed, by a foot, a touchdown. One foot in, other foot kicks the goal line marker before coming down out of play.

Pittsburgh's backfield is confused and their line is not generating much pressure.

Another out-of bounds reception.

Well, it's a wide right, failed field goal attempt.

The Seahawks are confused now as they are running foolishly and unproductively. Combined with the out of play passes, it left them with seven seconds and they had to kick a 54 yarder to score.

Bleah!

Roethlisberger kneels to end the half.

Seahawks Penalized

2006-02-05T19:46:00.000-05:00

On both of the last two returns, a punt and a kick return, the Seahawks have drawn a penalty. The punt return was a great one too. It could have been used to coach return blocking.

Oh well.

Steelers Score?

2006-02-05T19:43:00.000-05:00

It's under review.

Touchdown Steelers.

That was probably the closest touchdown that I've ever seen.

It wasn't a timing issue of when did a foot or knee touch the ground. This was a straight-up determination of whether the ball crossed the line. If it did, and the officials are saying that it did, then it was by no more than an inch. Less than an inch.

It's 7-3 Pittsburgh.

Steelers Advancing

2006-02-05T19:31:00.000-05:00

The Steelers are slithering through the cracks.

After forcing Seattle to punt after a juicy spot, Pittsburgh is finally moving the ball. They currently have had the ball for only about one-third of the game.

When the Seahawks started crushing the pocket from the sides, Roethslisberger slid straight up and in a weird, almost underhand way, pushed the ball to Hines Ward who then gained a first down. Next play a nice pass that just split a seam.

Shotgun — has all day — has a really long time. Ward just caught a weird pass at about the three yard line. I can't remember seeing such a long passing play that wasn't broken. The Pittsburgh QB scrambled left and stood behind the line of scrimmage with nobody within ten yards of him for an impossibly long time. He then lobbed a perfectly positioned throw that Ward caught.

Steelers on the three.

First down, the bus is delayed.

Injury Report

2006-02-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

Pulled his pants down — Someone, I think Bonnie Bernstein, was just talking about an injured Seahawk having his pants pulled down and his groin taped up. Do they have to give us all the details.

Update: It was Michelle Tafoya, not Bonnie Bernstein. Ms. Bernstein is with CBS. Pam Oliver works for Fox.

Inching Forward

2006-02-05T19:24:00.000-05:00

The Seahawks just got a poor ball placement. It's now 4th and inches — maybe four inches.

They're gonna punt.

Randle El just got murderlized! Dropped on his head and hit in the back before he fell to the ground.

Interception!

2006-02-05T19:20:00.000-05:00

Seattle just took the ball back on the first Pittsburgh play from scrimmage. Roethlisberger threw deep, well past his receiver, and Boulware went up high to snare it.

The Seahawks now have the ball at around their own 20.

Seahawks versus Steelers

2006-02-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

The Seahawks just fumbled the ball but the refs ruled it an incompletion. The replays indicate clearly that both his feet were down. The Seahawks ended up punting on the next play. Now the ball bounced out of bounds after it was dropped so I don't know whose ball it would have become.

Still 3-0, early in the second.

Damn Sea Monkeys

2006-02-05T10:58:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this post in v1.0 of the Mozilla package, Sea Monkey.

I really dislike the default chrome so I installed Toy Factory.

It looks nice and is pretty responsive. I haven't installed Mozilla as I have found it to be clunky. At my previous job, I used it to give me some simple HTML editing (but not too simple) capability. Since then, I haven't used it.

Sea Monkey was worth the download though.

Talk Now!

2006-02-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

Back in December, I purchased a language learning CD at a local CompuSmart.

A company called Eurotalk produces the programme and in North America, a company called Topics Entertainment distributes it.

This makes for a funny situation and not a particularly appealing one.

The actual programme is titled, "Talk Now!"

What I purchased however is titled, "Instant Immersion v2.0".

When I attempted to install it, it didn't work. Something ran, some sort of shell, but the content is missing. Every screen is supposed to have Help support but these were all blank. Nothing worked in any useful way.

Looking at the packaging, I found a website link and went there. I found a website that was only a catalogue of products to purchase. I'd already purchased their product and now I wanted it to work.

After some research, I found out about this Eurotalk company and tried to track them down. Nothing is easy. Their website is not straightforward, not even the URL is… www.eurotalk.co.uk redirects to .com but not in my web browser.

Eventually, I find a support page which for the most part, is happy to tell me that the programme is actually designed on Macs and therefore is well supported. But it still didn't work.

I gave up.

Today, on a whim, I tried to make it work again. I'd already spent some time configuring my camera network again so I was in the mood for grief. I copied the app to the Applications folder again and then using IE, managed to work the site. As an added bonus, the product I bought isn't anywhere to be found because of course, it isn't sold by Eurotalk, it's sold by Topics.

Somewhere in the support text, it states that if certain things aren't showing up, then you need to trash the prefs and re-run the app.

I tried it but it didn't work. I read some more. It turns out that you can't install the app on your hard drive. You have to run it from the CD. Not only do you need to have the CD in the drive, but the app itself must be run from the CD. YUCK!

At least, now I understood the situation and could get the app to run with all of the intended features. A few minutes creating a disk image and now I can eject the CD.

I feel better now.

2006-02-02T05:56:00.000-05:00

I'm watching an old, first-season, Law & Order episode.

Criminy, this is such intense TV. I am normally, not a fan of 'emotion' in television, but in this episode, I am overwhelmed. When the corrupt cop put his hand against Kragen's face, ... this is so intense.

Why did this show become such a monster? Television like this episode, that's why...

As TV goes, this is ferocious — ferocious.

Artigiano Pastaio

2006-01-26T03:48:00.000-05:00

I purchased some interesting food the other day. Tonight, I cooked some for the first time.

The food is pasta from an Italian, artisan pasta maker, that might be named Cav. Giuseppe Cocco. The name and place, perhaps typical of Italian producers is obscure to me.

Pastaficio Artigiano
Cav. Giuseppe Cocco s.n.c.
Zona Artigianale 15
66015 Fara San Martino
Abruzzi, Italy.

They are № 31794 of the craftsmen register of the Chieti province.

The English language version of their website is Pasta Cocco.

The type of pasta is, Caserecci di Semola, n° 57 - Farfalloni. It is, Formato Casereccio. The variations are too subtle for me but the pasta is good if expensive.

What really intrigues me though is the packaging. It is difficult to see from the picture on their website but the bag is rivetted. Yes, they use rivets to seal the plastic and attach the paper with the fine printing.

Wild.

The Day After

2006-01-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

While many pundits, including party advocates, are stating that the Tories will be able to govern for a while as none of the other parties want an election any time soon, I believe they are overlooking something crucial. Any of the three opposition parties can break the government. In the previous sitting, it required all three opposition parties to bring down the government. The Liberals and the Bloc combine to have 154 seats. The Tories and the NDP can only combine 153 seats. There is also one independent. In terms of making deals, this complicates things for the new government. The Liberals were able to make a deal with the NDP over the budget and win one of the closest votes in recent memory.

Yet more notes

2006-01-24T05:43:00.000-05:00

The Tories ripped eight seats from the grasp of the Bloc Quebecois. That's remarkable.

Gloria Macarenko just shut her male counterpart up with some on-air flirting. Ian Hanomansing was worse than speechless when she said how seeing him on the big screen did things for her. Whoever was deciding what would show up on the screen was kind and changed the view before he could further embarass himself.

Quebec turned out to 51 Bloc, 13 Liberal, 10 Tory, 1 Independent. My feelings were that the province would end up something like 57 Bloc, 15 Liberal and 3 Tory. The Tories actually took 24% of the popular vote in Quebec.

The Bloc dropped by three seats and 6% of the popular vote. As an aside, the NDP took 7.4% of the popular vote. Not enough to win a seat but interesting nonetheless.

Some MPs who I would have like to see defeated but weren't: Maria Minna, my own MP; Joe Volpe, the former Labour Minister; Belinda Stronach, Scott Brison, Mario Silva, Hedy Fry. Oh well, can't have everything.

Some Notes 2

2006-01-24T05:05:00.000-05:00

Gloria Macarenko, the CBC hostess, normally very attractive, is looking rather dowdy tonight. Krista Erickson, whom I've never seen before, is eye candy for news.

The Bloc won only 51 seats. That's remarkable. It is three less than they won two years ago. I am curious to see what happened to the popular vote in Quebec. Given the state of the province in December, this is a terrible result for the party. I wonder if Mr. Duceppe will feel pressure to step aside now. The Liberals were under awful pressure in the province because of the myriad scandals they'd instigated but the Bloc still couldn't crush them.

Other than the number of seats, I have no inkling of the situation in Quebec. It's got me thinking though.

Paul Martin will not lead the Liberal Party in another election. What a can of worms that will open.

Some Notes on the Election

2006-01-24T04:46:00.000-05:00

Some of the more noteworthy results,

An NDP analyst is stating that they believe that Ken Dryden might be the next leader of the Liberal party. Mr. Dryden was previously my MP. He's not much of a campaigner however. I like the guy and considered volunteering for him when I lived in the riding of York Centre.

Tina Keeper, ex of the TV show, "North of 60", won her riding in Manitoba for the Liberals. I like her and hope she does well. She won by some 3000 votes in a riding with a relatively low turnout.

Lorne Nystrom also lost, by 2500 votes. This surprised me. He's one of the veterans of the House. He won his first election when he was about 22 years old. I'll have to look it up.

Ed Schreyer, the former Governor-General, failed to win his riding, missing by some 2000 votes.

Reg Alcock, head of the Treasury Board, lost his riding.

Ann McLellan, the Deputy Prime Minister, lost finally in Edmonton, by 3000 votes. She was known as Landslide Annie. Ostensibly, she won her first election by a single vote. The recount on that increased her victory margin to about twelve votes.

Stephen Owen, at one time, the Public Works Minister, won his riding. He was something else as well but I cannot remember what.

The Tories in Alberta won with some monster margins. Dian Ablonczy won by a fair margin.

In Calgary 44 to 6, in thousands, Jason Kenney.

Harper 41K, Lib 6K. Calgary West gave 6000 votes to the Greens.

In another riding, Sorenson 43K, NDP 3K.

In Edmonton-Leduc, 33K Rajotte, 10K Jacuta.

In many of these ridings, the NDP got substantial votes, over 6000 in many Alberta ridings.

Williams 35K, Lib 11K.

Epp 34K, Lib 7K in Edmonton Sherwood Park

Ambrose 38K, Lib 9K in another Edmonton riding.

Macleod, Menzies 37K, Lib

Medicine Hat, Solberg 35K, Lib 3K.

In Peace River, an Independent got 10,000 votes to come in second.

The one independent winner was supposedly in Quebec City.

Wetaskiwin

Wild Rose, Myron Thompson

Yellowhead, 30K Merrifield, NDP 4K. I think this is Joe Clark's old riding.

In British Columbia, the Liberals got a lot of votes that did not translate into seats. In many ridings, they got over 10,000 votes but did not win. Saanich Gulf Islands, they got 17,000 votes and came in third. South Surrey-White, also over 17,000 votes.

Victoria saw 17,000 votes go to the Liberal who still couldn't win.

In Vancouver Island North, Duncan, the Tory candidate, failed to win despite getting 22,000 votes. West Van-Sunshine Coast also saw a Tory come in second with 22,000 votes.

In Nunavut, there were only 7500 votes total.

Svend loses to Heddy

2006-01-24T04:13:00.000-05:00

Svend Robinson lost to Heddy Fry.

This result mirrors my own riding in which Maria Minna, the Liberal, held on to her seat, fending off Marilyn Churley, the NDP candidate. This disappoints me as I am not a fan of Minna.

The overall election results are: 124:103:51:29 with one independent. In order, that's Conservative, Liberal, Bloc Quebecois, New Democrat.

Svend, historically a champion whiner, was gracious in defeat, his first in seven election campaigns. Heddy Fry is a veteran campaigner though. She's a nutbar but she can win elections.

The popular vote: 26.2:20.3:17:5:10:5:4.5:1.1. In order, Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Bloc, Green, Other.

It's All Over

2006-01-24T04:07:00.000-05:00

The election is over. The Tories will form the next government.

Some curiousities:
The Green Party got over 650,000 votes. That works out to about 4.5% of the votes. I'll need to look up what they received last election. I think that they want to hit the 5% mark.

Today's the Day

2006-01-23T16:41:00.000-05:00

The people are voting. How will they vote?

My own beliefs are as such:

The Tories will win a minority government.

I cannot imagine them winning a majority. They will win no more than two seats in Toronto and no more than five in Quebec. Between La Belle Province and the Big Smoke, you have almost 100 seats. That's about 30% of all the seats available.

To win a majority without access to those two pools of seats is too unlikely. Winning a minority is enough of an achievement.

All of the parties did some interesting things that may really have an impact on the number of seats they'll win. The Bloc's musings about 50% popular vote in Quebec may have strengthened the hands of their opponents. Peculiarly, it may win them additional seats if the Tories get enough traction to hurt the Liberals there. The NDP decided to forget about policy and focus on being Parliamentary Fighters. I have yet to see any party be successful when that's been their platform. Unlike the Bloc, the NDP doesn't have a strong, natural constituency. The Liberals avoided policy for the most part and spent almost all of their advertising budget trying to make Stephen Harper look like a nightmare. I have not heard anybody with my own ears following their lead. The Tories started very strong, focusing on policy and generally being more positive than negative. Harper gave some thoughtful musings that were misguided on the practical nature of Canadian politics. The discussions on the Supreme Court gave the Liberals some focus and something to do during the last two weeks of the campaign.

So, without having an electoral map before me, I'll predict that the Liberals will lose some forty seats in the House. The Bloc will grab perhaps ten of them, the NDP perhaps five and the Tories the rest. The Greens will be left out in the cold again but may increase their popular vote which might give them more money for future operations.

Well, I'm off to vote.

2006-01-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

The commentators are criticising the Panthers' receivers. Steve Smith, their star, is being harrassed by everyone who isn't rushing the passer. There should be four uncovered receivers running around the field on every play.

I was feeling a little strange writing this post as one of those other receivers just dropped another pass. However, on the very next play, Delhomme threw a pass that a high school quarterback would be embarrassed by. Well over the one receiver in the area, it was an easy interception for Seattle.

Smith now has two receptions for eight yards.

Of course, the coaching staff should all be beaten but on the field, the quarterback is not finding or hitting those receivers.

The Seahawks are being predictable. The Panthers' line is playing wonderfully now even though they look very tired. Again, they just forced the Seahawks to punt. They are pursuing and tackling well. We'll see if the offense will give them a bit of a breather.

The quarterback rating for Delhomme just went up. On Seattle's previous series, they showed us that Hasselback's rating is 122. Delhomme is now 13.

I think that something is wrong with Delhomme's arm. At first, I thought it was his hand but now I think it might be a pulled muscle, perhaps his tricep. Well, maybe not a pulled muscle but something muscle related. Only one of his past four throws was reachable by one of his own receivers. I'd pull him out of there.

Bell Mobility

2006-01-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

Bell has some really stupid advertising for cell phones. It's all badly pixellated cartoon.

Something curious though, this ad is for MP3 playing phones.

In this commercial, there is some sort of 'rock' band and they fall on the ground from the sky. I dunno why. Anyways, their equipment falls with them. The amplifiers have something written on their front. It is completely ilegible. However, it is also clearly a representation of 'Marshall'. The script they use for their logo has been seen millions of times.

I wonder if that constitutes trademarque abuse.

Seahawks versus Panthers

2006-01-22T20:56:00.000-05:00

The Seattle Seahawks are pulling the arms off of the Carolina Panthers. With ten minutes left in the third, the score is 27-7 Seattle.

Carolina just punted. It went 27 yards. It's how their day is going.

Seattle has a lineman, a tackle, who is very big. He's number 99. I'll look him up later. On second down, he just overwhelmed the Carolina offensive line, pushing them back even though he was double-teamed. Someone else was buckling the line on the right side and the quarterback, Jake Delhomme, was forced to scurry forward where 99 caught him. There was some great camera work on the play and it was a treat to watch.

What really interests me is that after the play was over, this DT was sucking air big time. When I saw him, and I can't even use the word 'panting' because it is just inadequate, preparing for the next play, I thought, okay, time to pass. He isn't going to be advancing further than he can fall on this play. So what did Carolina do? They ran the ball up the middle and gained one yard. Typical and deserving.

Shaun Alexander is probably my favourite back to watch these days. For such a powerful runner, he makes the most remarkable cuts. Trapped in the backfield, he somehow just wrung a first down out of the play.

It's a few minutes later and the Seahawks punted. One of their players parked himself on the goal line to await the punt. He blocked it on the first bounce and now Carolina is starting from the one.

Three yards on first down on a long pass to the far side of the field. Second down is a penalty — false start. I guess they're now on the two. Pass dropped at the six. Are they going to have to punt? Yes, a slow to develop running play got them to the four. Seattle's line is playing well.

Well, the punt was under 30 yards. Seattle didn't rush which kind of surprised me because of the tight corner the Panthers were in. They've now got the ball on the 46 of Carolina so I guess they were right.

Why Now?

2006-01-22T19:05:00.000-05:00

CBS has an interview scheduled with President Bush.

It's big news.

Bush doesn't do this every day.

This made me wonder why he was doing it. Somebody on CBS said something about the pending State of the Union Address but …

A few minutes ago, J.D. Roberts came on after the football game to tell us that there are photographs of Bush with disgraced Republican politician buyer, Abramoff.

Bush generally only sits down to talk on camera when there is a political threat to his administration.

As an aside, there was the standard display of the White House Press Weasel twisting and squirming to avoid answering the questions being asked in the White House Press Room. I guess that it must be somebody else with the pictures or CBS would be showing them and not the weasel.

Power Game

2006-01-22T18:34:00.000-05:00

I just pulled the stats from the NFL site.

The Steelers averaged 2.73 yards over 33 carries. The only reason they were that high was because the quarterback and a receiver each averaged 4 yards in their combined 4 carries.

Both Steeler running backs gained less than 40 yards.

They were smart to throw the ball, especially early in the game.

Incidentally, neither team was able to rush for 100 yards although the Broncos yardage per carry was a respectable 4.62 yards. Of course, when you quarterback has one-third of your team's rushes, you aren't gonna be dancing in the end zone very often.

Another interesting aspect of the game was how the two teams made their first downs.

The Steelers made 20 — 15 passing, 5 rushing. That's not a typical ratio for the Steelers but Denver has a tough run defence and appeared to be unable to effectively blitz or pressure Pittsburgh quarterback. Roethlisberger had a 72% completion rate and after the fact, that makes up for the feeble running game.

The Broncos however, made only 16 first downs. Three of those came on penalties and two of them came on 4th down. That leaves only 11 normal first downs.

Of course, two fumbles and two interceptions doesn't help either. All of the work the Broncos did to produce such numbers also gave them a time of possession of 23:53.

Firewall, the movie

2006-01-22T17:48:00.000-05:00

Harrison Ford wants to know now.

Hasn't he made this movie already?

Steelers versus Broncos

2006-01-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

The game is nearly half-way through the third quarter.

The plays are interesting but the game is not. The Steelers are up 27-10.

The plays include penalties on every other play this quarter and some magician's work by Denver quarterback, Jake Plummer. The Broncos just scored on a nice, straight ahead rush from about the four.

Update, the Steelers are grinding down the Broncos. They can't run very well. I suspect that their average rush today will be about 2.5 to 3 yards. However, they are combining those rushes with penalties and passes to keep the Denver offence on the sidelines.

Additionally, their defence is doing the job. Without the penalties, the Broncos wouldn't get anywhere. Because there is nobody open down field, Plummer is reduced to scrambling for near first downs. Because they can't pass or run, even when he does something good like scramble for eight yards, it still requires another play or two to get the first down.

It looks like Roethlisberger is going to get the game ball but its the Steelers' defence that is winning this game.

Denver is probably going to score one more touchdown but as they are behind by 17, the Steelers are cool with it. There's only a half-minute remaining in the game.

Nope, it's over. Denver had no time-outs and they were playing in the middle of the field.

Pittsburgh is in the Super Bowl.

Martin has a good one

2006-01-20T12:11:00.000-05:00

Those social conservatives in the Conservative Party aren't gone. They've been hiding but they aren't staying hidden. They've been locked away for a while but now they're getting cabin fever.

Last Media Day

2006-01-20T11:55:00.000-05:00

It's Friday.

That means this is the last good chance for the politicians to get their faces before the populace.

Thus far today I have seen two party leaders and one ex-leader.

Right now, I'm watching Paul Martin speak in St. John's. Earlier I watched Stephen Harper speak in Brampton.

The differences between the two are interesting in a sordid way.

Harper spoke mostly about his hopes and about how the country could do more than it is; that the problems facing us are solvable, that there are clear actions we can take that will make a positive difference in our lives.

Martin, started his speech by discussing winning. His hopes are to win. All of the things that define the Liberal are a reflection of Stephen Harper and people should vote Liberal in order to stop Harper. Voting for any of the other parties connotes a defect in the voter.

If you weren't before...

2006-01-19T12:40:00.000-05:00

The Prime Minister is cranking up the heat with dire threats of a Conservative victory and the apocalypse that might visit thereafter.

Are You Being Bullied?

2006-01-19T03:32:00.000-05:00

The Liberal campaign has been "an insult to the intelligence" of Canadians, NDP Leader Jack Layton said Wednesday. "The Liberals have put forward little but fear and Canadians are in no mood to be bullied," Layton said to a group of political science students at Saint Mary's University in Halifax.

This is what I've seen too. In the last election, the Liberals, masterfully projected fear upon the populace. This time around, it is not having much of an effect. Even those people I listen to who don't agree with me in any way, are not quivering to the Liberal music.

Google Earth

2006-01-19T03:12:00.000-05:00

The CBC made a reference to Ottawa and the environmental lobbies. As the voiceover blathered on, the screen zoomed in from space to Ottawa. It looked to me like Google Earth.

I'd been playing with this programme since it was made available for the Mac.

As the view zoomed in, you could see the stitched maps forming and re-forming. The initial perspective comes from an altitude of 39,251 miles up. On my display, the earth is a little over an inch in diametre. Somewhere below 3500 miles, Ottawa appears. Someone around 2000 miles up, some reddish patches show up where Ottawa is. Just under 100 miles up, the reddish maps occupy most of the vertical space in the window.

Watching the piece on TV, seeing those reddish map sections, I couldn't help but remember the images in Google Earth. I pulled up the map and of course, it was identical to what was on TV.

That's kind of fun.

False Creek

2006-01-19T03:08:00.000-05:00

There is a snippet on the news tonight about developments by False Creek in Vancouver.

As the cameras wander, they bring back my memory of the place — chain link fence. It's a lovely area but it is overwhelmed by its ubiquitous chain link fencing.

Nagging Fears

2006-01-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

The election is in its final week now.

Many pundits and party loyalists are using the example of the last election, in which the Liberals launched a very aggressive and disconcerting ad campaign against the Tories. In the last few days of that election, the Liberals swamped the Tory boat and won a minority government. At that time, a friend of mine told me that she would be voting Liberal in order to stop the Tories. When I asked why, she quoted verbatim a line from one of the ads. That campaign was effective.

However, it also innoculated us to an extent against a similar occurrence this election campaign. One thing I've noticed about pundits, is that they rarely seem to take into account that people respond to stimuli differently after they've already experienced it.

While the Liberals are trying to be negative, the words are ringing hollow this year. I have yet to hear a single individual who wasn't already a committed Liberal parroting the words of the campaign leaders. Additionally, the Tories have acted very differently this campaign and are not stepping on any land mines.

I don't know enough about elections south of the border but their political advertisements astonish me; not merely as individual statements either. Election after election, at every level of government, in every region of the country, all opposing political candidates are sinister and scary. I don't know whether these work but given that they now ubiquitous, I suspect that they do. I wonder that the citizens there never become inured to this approach.

Speculating, I'll only say that it probably won't subside until a politician, probably an unknown, cuts across the grain and wins.

Back to our own election, unless something actually happens, I don't see any turnaround this year.

More notes on the campaign

2006-01-16T13:13:00.000-05:00

Jack Layton is going like gangbusters trying to drum up votes. I think that it is working but we'll see.

I just saw Paul Martin standing behind a podium. Two things come to mind. First, he is running out of things to say about the Tories and Stephen Harper.

Second, every Liberal speech looks like it is happening at the same place. Nothing to indicate the local is allowed to appear on cameral. That's kind of weird.

Noted on the Federal Campaign

2006-01-16T12:31:00.000-05:00

The Tories are doing something right.

The first hobgoblin of the campaign, gay marriage, has faded to black and everybody has moved on.

Fears of health care being improved for the rich and diminished for the rest of us are no longer prevalent.

That they were able to move past the Liberal fearmongering without a hiccough implies that they've matured and that the people are not as susceptible as they once were.

That they are able to remove those issues from the table is a good indicator of the way this election campaign is going.

No Joy

2006-01-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

The Pittsburgh Steelers have just defeated the Indianapolis Colts and thus have earned the opportunity to play the Denver Broncos in the conference final.

The Steelers took over at the two-yard line, and the unthinkable happened. Bettis was stopped for a two-yard loss and Gary Brackett got a helmet on the ball, forcing the fumble that Nick Harper recovered. Harper picked it up and broke away, looking like he was going to head to the end zone. But Roethlisberger made the best stop of the day when he tackled Harper, saving the touchdown.

The final score is 21-18. With just over a minute left, the Colts caused and recovered a fumble. Jerome Bettis was on the two-yard line when a defender, I'm not sure who yet, pounded the ball out of his hands with a direct hit with his helmet. The ball fell to the ground where it was plucked by a Colt who promptly ran perhaps 30 yards down the field before being tackled by the Pittsburgh quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who made an exceptional play, turning and twisting as he tracked the ball carrier.

The Colts didn't give up, though, and Manning going them into position for a Vanderjagt field goal, but the 46-yard attempt sailed wide right, securing the win.

The Colts marched down to the Pittsburgh 30 where the offence finally stalled.

Their kicker came out on the field to tie the game. Mike Vanderjagt is the most reliable kicker in NFL history. He's also a former Toronto Argonaut.

However, in his first year in the NFL, the Colts' season ended on a missed field goal at the end of a playoff game. Does that situation exceed his ability to screen out the pressure? The Steelers did their part by calling a time-out at the last second, delaying the play and presumably forcing the kicker out of his psychological comfort zone.

The kick was missed. The Steelers ran out the clock.

What I found most peculiar is that other than Bettis, redeemed by fate and a resilient defence, there was no wild celebration to follow. The Steelers seemed to feel deeply that they had dodged a bullet. Happy but not joyous in their victory.

Notes:

The fumble recovery was run back to the Indianapolis 43 yard line. It's remarkable that the QB was back far enough to make a play. I want to see the play again to watch when and how Roethlisberger made his move back.

Also, I'm trying to access the Steelers and Colts web sites but they appear to be overloaded. The NFL.COM site is also sluggish.

The Colts just updated their site — An Unfortunate End.

The World Has Changed Forever

2006-01-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

On Big Ideas, Robert Fisk is speaking. He has just published a book, The Great War for Civilisation.

He has made a statement which matches my own thinking. Uniquely perhaps, he is forceful in delivering that statement.

The world has not changed forever.

This in the context of the World Trade Center's destruction on September 11, 2001.

Ralph Goodale Disapproves of the Conservative Budget

2006-01-13T14:04:00.000-05:00

The Finance Minister is giving a press conference to inform us that he is appalled by the Tory economic plan, now finally released.

Stand Up For Canada

I am very surprised by this. Time for the mute button to do its job.

On a good note for Mr. Goodale, he no longer feels obligated to inform us that he has done nothing wrong. I am sure that his protestations proved very fatiguing for him.

On the Notwithstanding Clause

2006-01-11T13:44:00.000-05:00

Martin, in a press conference, just indicated strongly that he felt the overwhelming need to neuter himself.

He expressed and then repeated, that politicians couldn't be trusted with any significant powers. Sounds like the battle cry of a former prime minister.

Jack Comes up with a Good One

2006-01-11T13:37:00.000-05:00

Layton
If you don't vote Liberal, the sun will rise!
If you don't vote Liberal, spring will come!
If you don't vote Liberal, the planet will not be destroyed by volcanoes!

In Defence of the Liberals

2006-01-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

Martin is stepping into the mud. I don't recall a political party ever do well when it's foundational argument becomes, “We will defend…. ”

Martin is now preaching the defense of Canada.

Two items in his list annoy and trouble me, in particular.

First he talks about defending Canada from the separtists in Québec. The Liberals have gotten federalism in trouble in Québec by defending Canada, and of course, padding their own pocketbooks in the process. Their competence and ethical shortcomings make them a handicap in Québec.

Second, he talks about defending the Charter. However, an important component of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is section 33, a.k.a. the Notwithstanding clause. This allows a legislature to pass a law that contravenes judicial interpretation of other parts of the Charter.

While the federal government has never used it, this clause allows a legislature to wrest control of an issue back from the courts. Like anywhere else, our judges are human. They can err and they can do foolish things. This clause allows the legislature to cross them. The legislature, meaning the government, has to put its own viability on the line in order to do so. The law cannot endure more than five years without being renewed. That creates an opportunity to change the government as that period exceeds the longest time that the country can go without an election. That's why it's never been used by the feds. It has been used infrequently by the provinces (excepting Québec; that province has other issues and used it, spitefully, for many years on every law the National Assembly passed.

I think that it is important because it allows us some flexibility.

Here is the basic text of section 33:

Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter.

Yes, it's very romantic.

Another curious part of the charter states that:

Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

That is section 28. It clearly states, “Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, ….”

Election Campaign Quotes - Jan 11

2006-01-11T12:35:00.000-05:00

The Prime Minister is in Toronto now, speaking to the Canadian Club.

Paul Martin
… and we will bring a handgun in.

The Prime Minister misspeaks himself.

Paul Martin
We will leave no one behind.

All of the latest statistics indicate that there are approximately 1.1 million children living in poverty in Canada. This after 13 years of Liberal government.

Sony Hires Apple Veep

2006-01-11T11:54:00.000-05:00

Peter Kafka, of Forbes.com writes:

Last month, Sony quietly hired former Apple Vice President Tim Schaaff, who had overseen development of Apple's elegant QuickTime player. Schaaff's short-term goal is to help overhaul Sony's underwhelming Connect service; his general goal is to make sure that Sony's clever electronics have an equally clever and useful software interface. Like Apple's.

I don't remember the last time that I've heard anyone use the word elegant to describe the QuickTime Player.

When creating a new user account, it's one of the first icons to fall off the Dock. When I want to view a clip, I will grab VLC or MPlayerOSX. I'm tired of the lack of 'dec' in codec.

I don't know what else the former Apple Veep did but just on the surface of it, I'd guess that Sony bought themselves a pig in a poke if they're looking for a revolution.

Favourite Lines from last night's debate

2006-01-10T12:09:00.000-05:00

Layton, to the Prime Minister
To promise to reduce pollution and lecture other countries about it and then allow pollution to rise so dramatically.

Duceppe
I would say the typical Liberal attitude is, ‘not seen, not caught.’

Duceppe
When Paul Martin talks about a democratic deficit. I think he's a living democratic deficit.

Martin, criticising all of the other leaders
We've got to have a more intelligent debate.

Martin, when being aggressively interrupted by Duceppe
The fact is that Quebecers are also polite.

Layton, to the Prime Minister
The fact is that your party has been one of the biggest recruiters for the Parti Quebecois and the Bloc Quebecois.

Values of Convenience

2006-01-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

Brad Lavigne, the NDP strategist who appears every day on The War Rooms, a segment on CBC Politics, came up with an interesting expression today when discussing the Liberal Party.

The Liberals, especially when Susan Murray is speaking, like to attack the Conservatives for lacking a plan. The missing plan could be related to day-care or whatever but the point is that the Conservatives don't have a plan, they have an agenda. That agenda of course, is a hidden one.

What's fun about having the NDP around is that they are adept at skewering the Liberals as the Liberals put their strong face towards the Conservatives.

Brad responded to a question from the moderator, Don Murray, by stating that the Liberals like to differentiate themselves from the Conservatives in the sphere of values — the Libs have values, the Tories don't. Susan Murray interrupted to exclaim that was exactly right. The NDP strategist continued on to state that Liberal values are the values of convenience.

Well put and well delivered.

p.s. The CBC is getting on the ball. This episode of Politics is already up on the net. The exchange occurs around 20 minutes in. Incidentally, the Tory strategist is Sandra Buckler.

p.p.s. My transcription of the exchange between Brad and Susan about a new Liberal advertisement:

“That ad is attempting to suggest that there is some fundamental value difference between Paul Martin and Stephen Harper.”

“You bet there is”

“Actually there is not.”

“You bet there is, Brad!”

“When you have, when you make working families wait twelve years for a programme, after three elections that you promised, and then you've got the courage to put that up on the screen?

“You do not have a national child-care plan.

“All you have done is walked around this country and handed out cheques to provinces and said, whatever you're doing in childcare now, continue to do it and you call it a national plan.

“We have what we're calling the values of convenience that are being perpetrated by Paul Martin.

“Here in a country where we have 1.1 million children who live in poverty, we saw them trying to suggest they're going to clean up the great lakes when their environmental plan is an abolute sham, after twelve years when they promised greenhouse gas emissions would go down 20% they've actually actually increased 24% … ”

p.p.p.s. One final aside, I don't think that Jack Layton's name was mentioned during the segment; kind of weird.

Weatherman

2006-01-08T19:46:00.000-05:00

I don't know what station this is but I think it's WIVB Channel 4 in Buffalo, but they have a challenge related to weather. If their weatherman is off by 4°, then they will pay money. Every day he's within four, money goes into the pot.

Sounds like fun.