Use The Lies

The thrust of this Globe & Mail article is to reassure Canadians that we will, in fact, have an H1N1 vaccine before those in other countries - even though we have only just begun clinical trials and have no plan or date for rolling it out.

What is interesting, is that in the sidebar of the article there is a video titled "Swine flu vaccine available in U.S."

And yet the Globe headline, "Canadians will get H1N1 shots faster than others: official" stands, catching unawares those too lazy to read beyond the headline and first paragraph.


Update (15OCT09): More from Reuters about how others are getting shots faster; "Britain to start swine flu vaccination Oct. 21"

Blogs Are Dead

You know it. I know it. This blog has suffered because of it. Why? I'm micro-blogging with the world in the Twitterverse. And Facebook. And Flickr. If you want to, you can follow my tweets here: @LaSpage.

See this old Wired article for proof of the blog's demise.

2010 Uniblahs

The Olympic uniforms for Team Canada have been revealed! Are they modern? Do they match? Is there any continuity? Do they look like uniforms? No. Those four models could just be a group of people you see any day in town.

Of course, it makes sense that athletes are just given regular street clothes this year since all this cold-weather gear probably won't be seen much by the public. The opening ceremonies are being held indoors where t-shirts will suffice, and parkas and toques will be ridiculous.

Local Top Gear

Too bad the plate isn't on a much nicer car. Like that brand new Gallardo Spyder I saw downtown yesterday...yum!

Debate Reform

Tom Axworthy's think tank has come up with a report and recommendations for how campaign debates should be run in Canada. I'd have to say that I'm on board with most of these recommendations, but I don't know if I can agree to having Gilles blocked from the English language debate. The reason stated in the article (that Quebec Anglophones would be denied access to his debate) is an excellent reason, but mine is selfish - I just love hearing him speak and what he has to say to the other leaders. But the best thing in there would have to be about taking away the power from the insane networks that control who can debate and when. That nonsense last year with Jack and Steve trying to block Liz from the debate? Insane crap. Let's get Elections Canada involved!

LeRoi Moore - Not Forgotten

After Dave Matthews Band (DMB) co-founder LeRoi Moore passed away last summer, the band continued their tour and played a video tribute to their fallen saxophonist during encore breaks. The video was set to the beautiful song #34 and I haven't seen it since last year. On September 7th this year, the day that would have been his 48th birthday, DMB presented a new web page dedicated to celebrating LeRoi's memory. The site is fairly extensive and I found the video, so I'm embedding it here. Thanks for the memories LeRoi!


Find more videos like this on LeRoi Moore

McLaren's New 600bhp Supercar

It's called the MP4-12C and isn't scheduled to go on sale until 2011, but the teasers are out and the car is hot.



Facts:
-3.8 litre V8 twin turbo developing 600bhp
-0 to 60mph in 3.4 seconds
-lowest carbon output per hp of any car currently on the market (including hybrids)

A short vid from the BBC here shows some interesting features of this F1 inspired car.

Windmills!!

Brabe and I got entirely too excited about being near these bad boys!

Gorge!

Post-rain storm a phenomenal, intense double rainbow appeared (that this
pic does not do justice), and post-rainbow the pink sunset ruled the stage
backdrop.

Overheard In The Office #4

"I can't watch that movie."

"Why not?"

"I can't watch Tom Cruise movies because I'm distracted by his tooth. Every time I see him, all I can think is: tipped lateral incisor!"

Letter to Brabe #5 / Letter to Wookiee #9

Movits!!






Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings on Letterman last year.

Bleeding Hearts = Less Bleeding

A new Canadian study, released yesterday, reaffirms the obvious conclusion that right-wing politicos and their worshippers can't seem to grasp. Throwing youth in jail/detention centres teaches them a lesson - not to stop pursing crime, but rather to continue and/or escalate their crimes. I am once again not at all surprised to find that the approach of "bleeding heart liberals" produces less crime than the "tough on crime conservatives" - are you?

Think this will change Harper's course? Or pry open the closed minds of hardcore right-wingers even a tiny bit? Absolutely not. Don't they believe that learning and changing ones mind is a sign of weakness?

Letter to Brabe #4 / Letter to Wookiee #8

After all this time, it's still an all-time favourite! And I was wrong, it's Brabe's hat being blown off near the end that I loved, not the squirrel's head.

Sorry the quality isn't great, but it's all that TheTube had to offer!

The Things I Reference

It's no wonder nobody understands what the frak I’m telling them.

“I passed this guy on my commute and I had to laugh, I mean, what’s the point dude? He’s in a Jag XK8, but he’s driving it like it’s the Pazyryk Ice Maiden!”

Robert S. McNamara

1916 - 2009

I have much respect for the man, particularly after watching Errol Morris's documentary, "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara." (transcript). A sad day indeed.

From the NY Times:

"In the film, Mr. McNamara described the American firebombing of Japan’s cities in World War II. He had played a supporting role in those attacks, running statistical analysis for Gen. Curtis E. LeMay of the Army’s Air Forces.

“We burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo — men, women and children,” Mr. McNamara recalled; some 900,000 Japanese civilians died in all. “LeMay said, ‘If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.’ And I think he’s right. He — and I’d say I — were behaving as war criminals.”

“What makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?” he asked. He found the question impossible to answer."

Wicked Stage!

Blogging By BlackBerry

Waiting for Green Day to hit the stage! Woo!

Blogging By BlackBerry

My week of lo-fi entertainment in Ottawa in three thoughts:

1. The "variety" offered on the flight's personal onboard entertainment
system under the category of Television, Drama, is limited, to say the
least. Your choices are between; six episodes of Mad Men, one CSI:NY, and
one CSI. Damn.

2. Seriously!? What is up with the hit songs? I keep seeing a Brad
Paisley ad on TV where he sings this lyric;

"I'd like to check you,
for ticks."

Are you kidding me??

3. Apollo is British?? There are these ads for Law & Order UK where Jamie
Bamber is a British cop! What the frak?!

Blogging By Blackberry

After trekking the Rideau Canal, the River Walk along the Ottawa River, and
the sheer cliff stairs back up to Parliament Hill, I am now enjoying a
pleasant lay upon grass in front of the West, Centre, and East Blocks of
The Hill. Disgustingly, right now the weather is much more enjoyable here
than at home.

Blogging By BlackBerry

Post-meeting in Ottawa, I am enjoying this glorious afternoon along the
Rideau Canal before I head up to Parliament Hill to lay on the grass...or
Majors Hill Park. Such tough decisions!

As You Wish

I love this story. A large forest fire in BC is threatening to destroy a swath of homes and an evacuation order has been given in the area. In wicked matter-of-fact Canadian fashion, those who are refusing to evacuate have been asked to provide "tombstone" data on themselves "which includes, date of birth, next of kin to be notified in case of death and the name of their dentist".

"B.C. RCMP have asked seven residents in the path of a growing central B.C. forest fire for their dental records after they refused to leave the area earlier this week.


RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Friday the move was not a scare tactic.


"It's just the fact of the matter. We use dental records to identify charred remains," he said. "This is done all the time.""

Maybe it's wrong to laugh, but I find it hilarious! If you don't want to leave, that's fine, but you're going to die so please provide us with the information necessary to identify your body.

I know that many people have stayed through previous fire-related evacuation orders and have been safe, however I think that it is better to be safe than sorry. If people paid any attention to history, even very recent history, they might think differently. Do you recall the people of New Orleans who decided to stay in their homes in defiance of the evacuation order because they had stayed through plenty of storms before without issue? I remember lots of them dying horrible deaths when the levees broke.

No Surprises Here

The CBC has refused to air Conservative attack ads on the grounds that airing political ads during non-election periods is a violation of their "strict guidelines".

Regardless of your opinion on the CBC's rules, they exist, they've been recently reviewed, and the corporation is following them.

"One Conservative source, speaking on background, said the party thought it was odd CBC would turn down its advertising dollars at a time when the network was struggling under financial pressures."

It is no surprise that the Conservatives don't respect principles - and are apparently confused by them.

Clearly.

News Fit To Tweet

Two Twittered links to share today from those I follow:

MissySuicide posted this link about David Carradine's apparent suicide.

From panphil (Philip Pan of the Washington Post), this link to "A new photo of the iconic moment of the Tiananmen crackdown 20 years ago" and the story of how it came to be.

Commenting Idiots

Okay, this article is irrelevant "news" but I'm posting it anyway because the current first comment is hilarious. Here is the article about a man who helped his wife deliver their baby alone even though they were in a hospital. The original comment is just plain stupid even we ignore what the re-poster points out. Check it:

Obi John Kenobi wrote:
Posted 2009/06/03
at 5:47 PM

ETHughGRection wrote:
Women have been giving birth without doctors for hundreds of years... its not rocket appliances!

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


rocket appliances???

Today's Raw Sewage

• Last summer, to much fanfare, Halifax officials declared their harbours safe for people to enter "after decades of closure due to high coliform counts" (aka: too much ass bacteria). Today the mayor has confirmed that the city's raw sewage is being pumped into the water once more. Their sewage treatment plant broke in January, and they are still not functioning, so feces, condoms, tampons, and everything else that enters a toilet is once more flowing freely into the harbours. What a disgusting embarrassment.
  
  
• In other raw sewage news, Barack had this to say today; "So cyberspace is real and so are the risks that come with it." Thanks for the breaking news. Cyberspace is real. Who knew? Barack was speaking about a new White House office that will work in tandem with a new military command "to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare". Did anyone tell the President that although cyberspace is real, you can't put soldiers in it?
  
  
• Minister Fletcher also spewed some raw sewage today in his bid to limit Senate terms to 8 years. He argues that if left unchecked, Senators could do their jobs for as long as 45 years. Now, I definitely agree that Senators should be required to be present for bill readings and not be permitted to take large chunks of the year as vacation, but this is as far as my support for Senate reform goes. The idea that a person who amasses a few decades of experience in a job, presumably becoming more adept at it, is valued less than a new employee is flabbergasting. When a person retires from an organization and can say that they have been there for 45 years, they are generally applauded and celebrated for this. The organization is pleased to have retained them and their skills and knowledge. Only a backwards Conservative government would consider this a bad thing. If a Member of Parliament came into your workplace, where you are firmly ensconced in your career, and told you that 8 years was enough and that you'd have to leave, would that make sense to you? It's an extremely flawed argument, so I wrote the Minister Fletcher to tell him that I have yet to see a compelling reason to agree with his reforms. Oh, and it's also unconstitutional for them to try to change it.
  
  
• Finally, more government raw sewage: the ridiculous GM bailout means we are paying $1.4 million for every job saved in Ontario. And this number continues to grow. How exactly is this responsible, effective, or helpful? In any way? Especially when you take these things into consideration:
  
  1. "“You're not going to save jobs. All you are going to do is destroy jobs at Ford and Toyota,” said Mark Milke, director of research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Calgary.
  
  Mr. Milke dismisses the bailouts of GM and Chrysler as “a massive transfer of wealth to companies that consumers have already rejected.” The result, he maintains, is that governments “are punishing the companies that have actually run their businesses very well.”"
  
  2. "Besides, no matter how many conditions Canadian politicians place on the loans to GM and Chrysler, or how ironclad the guarantees may appear, governments will find themselves with little or no leverage to enforce them.
  
  “You have no guarantee that two years down the road, they'll say: ‘Well, this Canadian factory is not up to snuff, so we've got to close it.' What are the governments going to do then?” That is what happened with GM's car assembly plant in Quebec, which received $220-million in federal and provincial interest-free loans in 1987 only to pull out of the province in 2002. None of the money has been repaid."
  
  3. "...the auto bailouts are typical of political decisions that benefit relatively few people at the expense of millions. But because the risk of a cross-Canada taxpayer revolt is small compared to the potential payback from voters in hard-up communities in Southern Ontario, the decision to bail out the auto companies is an easy one for politicians."
  
  Time to write another letter.

Blogging by BlackBerry

At my brother's wedding.

Desert Flu

I have been dragging my phlegmy body around for two weeks since returning from Vegas and I haven't even uploaded my pictures yet. In the meantime, enjoy this video from College Humor!

Watch We Didnt Start the Flame War on CollegeHumor

Blogging by BlackBerry

Wook, Brabe, and I are checking out a Mike Doughty show in a very hot and
humid church. Craziness.

Blogging by BlackBerry

I'm on a stopover at the San Francisco airport and went to the Burger King
for a sandwich. The menu had an interesting entry at the bottom: "Picture
menus available upon request." Burger King caters to the illiterate! But
how will they know they can request the visual version?

Blogging by BlackBerry

The lions in the MGM habitat are gorgeous and gloriously regal.

Spage is...

...being brought to tears by the beauty of the Bellagio Fountains.

Spage is...

...enjoying Night 2 of Dave Matthews Band at the MGM Grand!

Spage was...

...just this close to Flavor Flav!

Spage is...

...at the Dave Matthews Band show at the MGM Grand in Vegas with Brabe!

Spage is...

...in Vegas!

Spage is...

...preparing to travel with Brabe to enjoy two Dave Matthews Band shows at the MGM Grand Arena.

Tomorrow, we take Vegas by storm...a quiet, polite, apologetic Canadian storm.

Year 4

Today is the Fourth Anniversary of my first post.

Happy Birthday, Letters to Wookiee!

Flickr Update

I have spent many days and countless hours painstakingly selecting photographs (scrutinizing images and asking myself things like; which one of these 219 nearly identical shots of Parliament Hill best evokes in the viewer what it is I want interpreted?), creating titles, descriptions, and tags for each picture (sometimes resorting to series' with names like 'Boats' 'More Boats' 'Boats Again'), and all the while marvelling at how many different places I was lucky enough to visit in such a short period of time.


Please enjoy these recently created sets on my Flickr page:

Moncton & Halifax (Nov/08)
West Edmonton Mall (Oct/08)
Victoria & Ottawa (Oct/08)
Seattle (Sept/08)
Montreal (Sept/08)
San Francisco & Berkeley (Sept/08)
Montreal (April/08)
Seattle (April/08)
Ottawa (March/08)
Edmonton (Feb/08)
Edmonton (Jan/08)
Seattle (Sept/07)
San Francisco (Aug/07)
Seattle (May/06)
Tofino, Ahousaht, & Hesquiaht (March/06)
Victoria (Feb/06)
&
Photo Walking Tours

...plus...

See new additions to Life In Macro (now conveniently organized by date uploaded, with the most recent displayed first!)

...but wait, there's more!

A new collection that I have been compiling at an excruciatingly slow rate for several years:

The Broken Umbrella Series

Spage is...

...at the airport, waiting around baggage claim, curious about this guitar
case on carousel 5.

Spage is...

...eating a traditional native feast in the Nisga'a Hall in Prince Rupert,
having already enjoyed a performance of dancing, drumming, and singing.

Spage is...

...in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. And it's snowing. But the light is
doing beautiful work on the water, so that makes up for it.

Overheard at Starbucks

Two men in their mid-30's...

"Yeah, we've finally joined...whatever century we're in right now, and bought a computer and an ipod."

"Oh yeah? You liking it?"

"It's fun, we're busy copying all the CDs we have."

"Well, congratulations on joining the Now Generation!"

Value For Money

I just took a flight from Victoria to Vancouver. It cost roughly $550.
Total time in the air? 14 minutes.

Sometimes I'm jealous of Americans...but only for their dirt-cheap
airfares.

Declare Your Weapons

I just went through airport security and my bag was pulled aside for
secondary scrutiny. Not an unusual occurrence.

The security man asked me if I had an electronic items in my bag and I told
him there were a few different power cords. He pointed at the x-ray image
of my bag to an item and asked if it was an electronic device. When I saw
it, I suddenly realized that I had not unpacked my rather large Leatherman
multi-tool. I was crushed! I was going to have to watch them throw out my
awesome tools!

And I exclaimed, quite loudly, "Oh no! I completely forgot that was there!
It's my multi-tool! And I don't suppose there's anyway I can mail it home
is there?" The guy looked at me and smiled and said once more that they
thought it was electronics. I told him once more it wasn't. Then he said,
"Well...I'm just going to take a look, okay?" And he said it in a way that
I immediately read as him saying he wasn't going to expose the tool. So I
quieted back to see what he would do.

He did a quick explosives swab and then just said "Yep. Here you go." And
slid my bag to me. He was going to let it slide!

I thanked him muchly, grabbed my stuff, and headed to my gate before anyone
changed their minds. I have just boarded the plane with a multi-tool
equipped with, among many other things, a 6" knife and saw.

So there you have it. Want to bring weapons on board? Just tell them you
have them! If you're not covert, you must not be a threat!

Small Bites

Thank you Conservatives, for the return of Canada's National Debt Clock.

Take heart, that workaholic who keeps trying to outshine you at the office is going to get dementia.

Go Barack! Rescind! Rescind! Rescind! As many Bushy things as you can!

Conveniently buried at the bottom of this alarmist article about Russian bombers breaching Canadian airspace is the tidbit about how the bombers never entered Canadian airspace or broke any international rules.

Spage is...

...down at the beach enjoying the sun and views of downtown, mountains,
kite flyers, and happy dogs.

Spage is...

...at the University of British Columbia's Longhouse for Day Three of the
National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health's From Visions to
Actions: Social Determinants of Aboriginal Health Forum II.

Spage is...

...watching coldness waft over seafood at the Korean market with Wookiee.

Schmap Publishes Spage

A tiny triumph: Schmap Guides Ottawa has published one of my pictures in the Historical Background section here. It's the in the top right corner and is the view of the roof of the Library of Parliament, the Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge over the Ottawa river to Gatineau, and Majors Hill Park as seen from the Peace Tower.

On a more recent trip, I took these pictures from Majors Hill Park looking back at Parliament Hill - a nice bookend to the Schmap picture, I think.

Our Head Evangelical Strikes Again

You can add yet another member to the club. ->

Harper's new year's resolution seems to be to take several stabs at our venerable scientific community. And I haven't heard any of the opposition parties cry foul over it yet.

It seems that the only agency in Canada that funds large-scale science in Canada was shut out of the new budget. This move means that Canada will have to pull out of some large international projects, abandon groundbreaking research, and generally frak with science.

The Globe and Mail article spells it out nicely.

I believe this one is worth writing my MP over.

Affordable Housing in BC?

Demographia has produced their fifth annual International Housing Affordability Survey and British Columbia has come out on top...of the list of "Severely Unaffordable Housing Markets" - the most unaffordable classification.

To be fair, Australia actually holds three of the top five spots on the list. Canadian cites are ranked four times in the top 25 least affordable housing markets and all four are from BC; Vancouver (4), Victoria (7), Kelowna (19), and Abbotsford (25).

To all the condescending Torontonians who enrage us by refusing to accept that they do in fact live in a place that is remarkably affordable by comparison, it is interesting to note that no other Canadian city made the top 60 list. Toronto, Mississauga, Richmond Hill? All more affordable than Toowoomba, QLD, Australia.


The News Story
The Complete Report (PDF)
Demographia's Site

America's Duceppe Speaks

"The message we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism ... and we are going to do so in a manner consistent with our values and our ideals," Obama said.

"We are not going to continue with a false choice between our safety and our ideals."

With this statement on ideals, Obama reminded me of my favorite politician orator, Gilles Duceppe. Barack is making me like him - and I'm okay with that. Of course, no American politician is able to speak very eloquently without a prepared speech like a Canadian (or British, etc.) politician can, but he's certainly no Bush!

So what is this all about? I'm sure you've seen the news, unless you checked out the Globe and Mail website where they buried the story; Obama is ordering the closure of Gitmo! I'll no longer have to fear ending up there due to an error when I travel! It's pretty exciting news, check it out:

BBC News
Globe and Mail
Canada.com
CBC News

President Barack Obama puts his pen away after signing an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre during a ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Standing behind Obama are Vice-President Joe Biden and retired military officers. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Letter to Braemar #5

MILF FOR LIFE IS COMING SOON!!


That is all.

You're Not Kidding

I just walked my co-worker to the lab for some tests. On our walk we
started talking about celebrities we've run into and she said that she's
terrible at recognizing famous people; she was once in an elevator with
Robin Williams and even after her friend started chatting him up, didn't
really recognize him.

When we got to the waiting room I picked through the available magazines
and revealed one with Tom Cruise's face on the cover. I let out an "ug"
and my friend asked why so I showed her the cover and she asked "Who's
that?". Um, Tom Cruise? Dude, he's like, the most recognizable movie star
on the planet! You really do have trouble recognizing famous people!

Canadian Under Any Circumstance

I just watched a Fifth Estate special on CBC Newsworld called "Life + Death
in Kandahar" that centres on the Canadian-run NATO military trauma hospital
there - one of the busiest ones in Afghanistan.

Something stood out to me near the end of the program. After officially
pronouncing the death of a Canadian soldier, the head doctor is asked
questions about how difficult her work is in the context of being a mother.
Tears quickly threaten to fall and she stops speaking. She reflects for a
moment, allows a small smile, and then quietly says 'thank you' before
retreating behind the authorized personnel only doors of the hospital. And
she didn't say it with malice or contempt, no disguised sneer for having
manipulated those emotions from her. Her 'thank you' was sincere and
respectful. It made me think immediately that this was a consummate
Canadian; working in that environment, pestered by a reporter, but
remaining above all, humble, genuine, empathetic, and courteous.

Perhaps in that moment she represents the ideal and not the norm, but in
those two words, I saw a National identity that is slipping away, and felt
a profound loss for casualties of war. A powerful moment for this
Canadian.