tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129259662024-03-07T22:04:17.320-05:00Ian's personal blogIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-77348800546485860122007-04-27T09:32:00.000-04:002007-04-27T10:01:26.505-04:00The Pope and global warmingThe Guardian has an article telling of the Pope's message that failing to protect the world's ecosystem and halt global warming goes against God's will. This is interesting. Growing up, I was told again and again that we are all called to be stewards of God's creation. The emphasis was not on subduing but rather more on fostering and protecting. It's all a matter of hermeneutics, of interpretation. To a certain extent, we carry with us our desires and values when we evaluate what we should do or where we fit within creation or God's plan, or a god-free world, or whatever. I tend to try to take a pragmatic approach going in, looking at the fact that humans are spreading over the face of the earth, burning, paving, cutting, slaughtering, and generally acting as one big Freudian Id, avarice without bounds. With these observations I cannot support a belief that we are to be dominators, beings driven to "prosper". My observations tend to push me towards profound agreement with those who don't believe in God but do believe that the world is a beautiful and compelling place, needful of protection, at least from the blunderings of people.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/imarsman/473643804/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/473643804_9857c39c16.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Coming into the open" /></a><br /><span class="post-footer">Part of the little world within our small front-yard garden</span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-50094511460905574412007-04-27T09:22:00.000-04:002007-04-27T10:16:59.083-04:00EmissionsThe Conservatives have come out with a new plan for emissions that have to do with pollution and global warming. It's not agressive, but it's more than the Liberals were doing. The fact that they're doing something will get the Conservatives points. I think, though, that the public wants more than the Conservatives realize. Stéphane Dion, if he wants to be credible, needs to come up with a very very clear plan with real numbers. This is, of course, all posturing. As we all bicker and position ourselves in our minds the world outside our minds, the very real world, goes on. In this real world looms the seemingly very real threat that if we don't do anything significant, crops will fail, glaciers providing drinking water for hundreds of millions of people will be gone, coastal regions will flood, coral reefs ecosystems will die off, crustaceans will have more difficulty making shells, and who knows what else. If even some of this comes to pass, near-term job loss concerns will seem stunningly trivial and stupid to our kids and grand-kids.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1163101774310952252006-11-09T14:44:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:07.125-05:00WaterboardingHeather Mallik, usually an interesting read and contrast with the normal slant of the CBC, hits it right on the head when she deals with the topic of waterboarding and the general inhumanity that humans are capable of. Her example of waterboarding is of someone who suffered it under the Japanese in WWII, but she gives examples of lots of others who carried out this loathsome act. Waterboarding is not "dunking" as Dick Cheney said. What is worse, I think, is what this belittlement of torture says about the speaker's worldview and his perceived place in this world. We're all capable of horrible things and it's so important to remember this most of all. <a href="http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/eric-lomax/">Here's</a> a link to a short summary of the UK man's journey from torture to forgiveness.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1158948891380056502006-09-22T14:11:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:07.057-05:00Evolutin vs. Creation but notThe Royal Society has a <a href="http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=4400&tip=1">podcast</a> on the topic of why Creationism is wrong and Evolutionism is right. An interesting topic, but Steve Jones of University College London who gives the talk engages in rather irritating devices in his talk. He starts off by pretty much dismissing creation myths by belittling them in a straw-man sort of way. This wastes the opportunity to actually engage in any kind of reasonable comparison leading to a proposed conclusion. Additionally, Jones says at the beginning of this talk that one must embrace doubt and uncertainty but seems in his whole talk to do the opposite. Another irritating thing Mr. Jones does is engage in class-based derogatory remarks about the accent used by Prince William. He suggests jokingly that it's hard to understand and that perhaps in a few generations the whole royal family may descend even further in their pronunciation. I had no difficulty in understanding the prince in the clip provided and can't for the life of me grasp what makes his pronunciation any worse than any other accent.<br /><br />To sum up, what bugged me as I listened to this talk was the use of elitist, exclusionary, and derogatory talk by someone presented as a researcher and thinker of some note. Mr. Jones should have stuck to his main topic of interest. Those bits were interesting.<br /><br />The Royal Society makes the lecture available as a podcast one but only apparently compatible with Itunes. This fits in well with my sense of them (confirms my prejudice) that they are rather used to keeping and dishing out information in as exclusive a way as possible rather than disseminating it for the good of humanity ASAP. They go back a long time. VanLeeuwenhoek was a member (after waiting a rather long time for membership if I recall). They have apparently made their archives available free but only as a sort of marketing move that will end in less than two months from now. As far as I can tell you can't actually search their archives from the free interface. You have to rely on their glowing writeup which acts as mothering docent to the archives, never letting you just roam and read. May exclusive clubs like this change or wither and die (that's my freedom of information flow curse). In the morning, as they surfed along, they saw the Royal Society archive website had withered from the roots. Apologies to Mark.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1158859245919890162006-09-21T13:10:00.001-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.985-05:00Truth and lie together againMaher Arar, wrongly sent to Syria and tortured by the US after the Mounties fed US intelligence fairy stories about nonexistent ties to Al Qaeda, was not tortured, as far as the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, knows. That was most likely a lie, but Mr. Gonzales showed a trait evident in the current US administration and with good liars everywhere, denied an over-precise fact. Mr. Gonzales said that "we were not responsible" for sending Mr. Arar to Syria. Technically, the US dept. of justice does not handle such things, now. It did back then, ruining the lie and causing a technical re-statement by one of Mr. Gonzales' underlings.<br /><br />One of my favourite lies is when George Bush said that he did not "have a plan for the invasion of Iraq on my desk right now". Not on his desk.<br /><br />Of course, Mr. Arar would not have gone to Syria without the incompetence and sycophance of the RCMP and Canadian politicians eager to "help" in the "war on terror". Following Mr. Arar's deportation lies were spread about his character and actions. More were sprinkled about after his release. The Mounties also obstructed the inquest into Mr. Arar's deportation and torture. The full report has been censored for "national security" reasons. And they call it democracy.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1158842000885808872006-09-21T08:02:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.842-05:00WoodworkingI've been to Lee Valley Tools a few times this week. They opened a store four blocks from my work this past April. They obviously place great stock in carrying only products they believe to be of good quality and value and go out of their way to ensure that you know what you're buying and why they think it's a good product. When you visit some product pages on their website you get a message that the product is no longer available as they are not able to offer it at a competitive price. Nice and straightforward. Anyway, I've purchased drill bits and accessories for countersinking screws and making plugs (my brother the cabinetmaker recommended doing screw and plug joinery because it doesn't require clamping), a stud finder, on-sale German wire working pliers, a set of four Czech-made chisels, a flush cut saw (for cutting off the bits of plugs that stick out), a small tool holding roll, very nice German deck screws that you can screw into wood with no predrilling (it's amazing, they go in like butter), some "Gorilla" glue that works amazingly to glue metal to metal, metal to wood, plastic to wood, etc., and quite a few small rare earth magnets.<br /><br />I've used the glue and some magnets to make 'fridge magnets and glued some more magnets to the wall in the basement to stick my new chisels to. I've used the chisels to hollow out a spot in our front door frame where Lewis had ripped the screen door pneumatic door stopper screws out by repeatedly opening the door beyond its normal maximum In the hollowed out spot I've glued and screwed a new bit of wood. I also purchased a two dollar wire coffee filter holder that I put on a cupboard door.<br /><br />This all may seem a bit quotidien, but I've been waiting years to have the tools to fix things up around the house. I'm having a lot of fun. My first larger project will be to make a bench with integrated shelving in the kids room.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1149076110559442892006-05-31T07:45:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.590-05:00To the Person Sitting in DarknessMark Twain, speaking of the actions of the US in the Philippines, suggests this honest explanation to those who might have expected more from their saviours:<br /><blockquote>"They look doubtful, but in reality they are not. There have been lies; yes, but they were told in a good cause. We have been treacherous; but that was only in order that real good might come out of apparent evil. True, we have crushed a deceived and confiding people; we have turned against the weak and the friendless who trusted us; we have stamped out a just and intelligent and well-ordered republic; we have stabbed an ally in the back and slapped the face of a guest; we have bought a Shadow from an enemy that hadn't it to sell; we have robbed a trusting friend of his land and his liberty; we have invited our clean young men to shoulder a discredited musket and do bandit's work under a flag which bandits have been accustomed to fear, not to follow; we have debauched America's honor and blackened her face before the world; but each detail was for the best. We know this. The Head of every State and Sovereignty in Christendom and ninety per cent. of every legislative body in Christendom, including our Congress and our fifty State Legislatures, are members not only of the church, but also of the Blessings-of-Civilization Trust. This world-girdling accumulation of trained morals, high principles, and justice, cannot do an unright thing, an unfair thing, an ungenerous thing, an unclean thing. It knows what it is about. Give yourself no uneasiness; it is all right."<br /></blockquote>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1149002475769981872006-05-30T11:18:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.518-05:00New shoesWent to MEC yesterday and got a new pair of light hiking shoes. I tend to wear one and only one pair of shoes, so they get a lot of wear and tear. My old ones had very very worn soles and the toe on the left shoe was blown out. Putting on a new pair of shoes was a great experience and made me realize how much I had needed them. Got a set of insoles that you heat in the oven to let them soften so they mold to your feet. It's amazing how comfortable feet make such a large difference in how one feels.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1147713910252803172006-05-15T13:19:00.001-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.443-05:00Anton PraetoriusWikipedia has an interesting aritcl on Anton Praetorius, a German Calvinist pastor who advocated against torture, including the torture of witches. Little forward leaps of thought like this are necessary, for those whose thought is new in some ways hew close to tradition in others. This was the case with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin">Calvin</a>, who despite having been able to veer away from prevailing religious theology in many ways, was a fan of central control, torture, and in particular the torture of witches who he seems to have considered a seditious and insidious form of religious threat to the new one true way. On the other hand, Calvin seems to have punished men equally with women for adultery and been dead set against spousal abuse.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1147439159179014702006-05-12T09:00:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.291-05:00True comfortCBC's Dispatches, a wonderful program giving in-depth essays on current news topics, an almost dead art, has a podcast (they used to have a lame Realaudio download). Their podcast is <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/dispatches.xml">here</a>. This week's podcast is on Korea's Grandmothers who were sex slaves to Japanese troops during WWII. There is very touching coverage of a young Japanese man and his devotion to these women. He learned about their story while studying with Koreans in Tokyo. Following up on this new knowledge, he went to Korea and began talking to them, breaking down their distrust by learning their local dialect of Korean and in general being a good listener. He now lives with them and is a guide at their residence, greeting visitors to the residence, including uninformed Japanese young people. This is a real tear jerker of a story.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1146676176524252412006-05-03T13:03:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.201-05:00Fun debate on the use of "they"There's a fun archived debate in a discussion on Groklaw (the actual discussion has to do with a comparison of the formatting approaches of OpenOffice's vs. MS's document standards (the OpenOffice one was approved today, yay!). The discussion, though, dealt with the use of the word "they" as a gender neutral pronoun<br /><blockquote>Unless it is appropriate, can people please avoid using gender specific<br />pronouns. It doesn't matter in this article whether, or not, the developer is<br />female - but it keeps referring to "her", it would be better to use<br />"their" instead. Constant reference to "her" imply that<br />most developers are female.<br /><br />Traditionaaly "he" has been used to indicate either gender, and it is<br />the greatest common string of characters in "He" and She". Also,<br />"she" has traditionally be associated with females only. But, I would<br />recommend using "their" and "they" rather than<br />"hers/his" and "he/she".<br /><br />Also using gender neutral language avoids offending people who identify<br />themselves with both genders (they are rare, but I spoken with several). Note<br />that using "themselves" is a lot more elegant and shorter than saying<br />"herself or himself".<br /><br />Constant inappropriate use of gender distracts from the otherwise excellent<br />technical article.</blockquote>As the author mentioned, the article used "she" when referring to an individual programmer who might be working with the two XML formatting approaches. The replies ranged from "get over it" to nostalgic remeniscences of manuals using "she" to discussions on the latinizing movement of the 19th century to the lack of gendered pronouns in Finnish to the centuries old usage of they as a neuter singular in English. This is the sort of nit-picky, sleeves rolled up discussion that makes it fun to be a techie! Lateral thinkers of the world disperse!<br /><br />I had a funny experience with the neuter use of "he" at my MA graduation ceremony. The honourary speaker at the graduation was a former Ontario Supreme Court judge and a woman. She started off her speech by saying that she would be referring to the singular person as "he", using the "neutral" usage. Fiona, my femenist co-graduand who was sitting beside me, could barely repress the urge to grind her teeth in anger. The judge was probably just acting out a well-worn habit of qualifying everything she said.<br /><br />Wikipedia has a nice overview of the usage of "they" as a singular pronoun, including a section on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#History">historical usage</a>, inluding by Shakespeare. That settles it then.<br /><br />Incidentally, the Microsoft XML programming style makes me think it was designed by a bunch of people who love programming in C. It's very pointer-oriented. Normalized as well. Not readable.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1146598492645855232006-05-02T15:25:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.114-05:00Neil Young's new album "Living with War"From <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Flags of Freedom</span><br /><blockquote>Have you seen the flags of freedom?<br />What color are they now?<br />Do you think that you believe in yours<br />More than they do theirs somehow?<br />When you see the flags of freedom flyin’<br /></blockquote>From <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">After the Garden</span></span><br /><blockquote> we live in the garden of eden, yeah<br />don't know why we wanna tear the whole thing to the ground<br />we live in the garden of eden, yeah<br />don't know why we wanna tear the whole thing down<br /></blockquote>From <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Living with War</span></span><br /><blockquote> In the crowded streets<br />In the big hotels<br />In the mosques and the doors of the old museum<br />I take a holy vow<br />To never kill again<br />Try to remember peace<br /><br />The rocket's red glare<br />Bombs bursting in air<br />Give proof through the night,<br />That Our flag is still there<br /></blockquote>From <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Restless Consumer</span></span><br /><blockquote> The restless consumer flies<br />Around the world each day<br />With such an appetite for taste and grace<br /><br />People from around the world<br />Need someone to listen<br />We're starving and dying from our disease<br />We need your medicine<br />How do you pay for war<br />And leave us dyin' ?<br />When you could do so much more<br />You're not even tryin'<br /></blockquote>I'm a bit too young to be tripped out by the library of hippie protest song. This stuff does resonate with me though. Neil, perhaps because though he's proud of the US, grew up in Canada, has a refreshingly broader view than much national protest music that either seems to blame everything on the US or can't see past the toenails of lady liberty.<br /><br />What I enjoy as well about the album is that its lyrics aren't a collection of bludgeons but rather heartfelt and measured. Neil's into his sixties now. I'm well into my thirties and just beginning to see the possibility of moderation and realize rather than look for evil people under every rock it is often useful to look for the pull of greed or fear or anger. I think Neil sees all of these and more and is protesting for a return to actions led by feelings of truth and justice and love, attributes that led him to fall in love with his adopted country.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1146229664151958452006-04-28T09:06:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:06.028-05:00Neil Young - The Restless ConsumerFound on a site with lots of ads and popups.<br /><blockquote>The people have heard the news<br />The people have spoken<br />You may not like what they said<br />But they weren't jokin'<br /><br />Way out on the desert sands<br />Lies a desperate lover<br />They call her the "Queen of Oil"<br />So much to discover<br /><br />Don't need no ad machine<br />Telling me what I need<br />Don't need no Madison Avenue War<br />Don't need no more boxes I can see<br /><br />Covered in flags but I can't see them on TV<br /><br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br /><br />The restless consumer flies<br />Around the world each day<br />With such an appetite for taste and grace<br /><br />People from around the world<br />Need someone to listen<br />We're starving and dying from our disease<br />We need your medicine<br />How do you pay for war<br />And leave us dyin' ?<br />When you could do so much more<br />You're not even tryin'<br /><br />Don't need no TV ad<br />Tellin' me how sick I am<br />Don't want to know how many people are like me<br />Don't need no dizziness<br />Don't need no nausea<br />Don't need no side effects like diarrhea or sexual death<br /><br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br /><br />The restless consumer lies<br />Asleep in her hotel<br />With such an appetite<br />For anything that sells<br /><br />A hundred voices from a hundred lands<br />Need someone to listen<br />People are dying here and there<br />They don't see the world the way you do<br />There's no mission accomplished here<br />Just death to thousands<br /><br />A hundred voices from a hundred lands<br />Cry out in unison<br /><br />Don't need no terror squad<br />Don't want no damned Jihad<br />Blowin' themselves away in my hood<br />But we don't talk to them<br />So we don't learn from them<br />Hate don't negotiate with Good<br /><br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br />Don't need no more lies<br /><br />The restless comsumer flies<br />Around the world each day<br />With such an appetite for efficiency<br />And pace...<br /><br />Don't need no more lies.<br /><br /></blockquote>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1146056857122540342006-04-26T09:02:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:05.965-05:00Neil Young's new album "Living With War"I'm not so likely nowadays to jump into things political, but I am interested in Neil Young's upcoming album "Living With War". An interview can be seen here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utryGZ25dg"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utryGZ25dg</a><br /><br />A rather articulate man. Kind of sad that rather than ask him about what he was trying to do and say with the album she (the interviewer) kept on trying to pick at ways he was being disloyal or perhaps might not have a right to speak because he's also Canadian even though he's been living in the US for 40 of his 60 years. The strategy seems to be to prevent disloyal speech when possible by questioning the credibility or motives of the speaker. Speech is supposed to be one of those inalienable, self-evident rights. Whether people will listen is another thing. I appreciate that Neil Young emphasized this in the interview that the protection of freedom and the right to speak and disagree is a responsibility shared by all people in all countries. At least the host's last comment was frank. The interviewer didn't know what to do with ".. I think that anyone who feels that the themes of this album are motivated by publicity, I think that's ridiculous".<br /><br />The album can be listened to on the web starting Friday the 28th at <a href="http://neilyoung.com/">http://neilyoung.com/ </a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1145379771237659342006-04-18T13:01:00.000-04:002006-11-15T14:27:05.902-05:00Two out of three ain't good<blockquote>Sitting atop seven active earthquake faults, the Bay Area has a one-in-25 chance of experiencing another large earthquake in the next 25 years, the U.S. Geological Survey predicts.<br /><br />In early 2001, a report from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) concluded that an earthquake in the area was one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters" facing the United States.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The other two were a terrorist attack on New York City and a hurricane striking southern Louisiana.</span></blockquote>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133534265396763732005-12-02T09:30:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.624-05:00No more limboThe Guardian <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1653832,00.html">reports</a> that the Catholic church is nixing limbo. Limbo was a sort of antechamber, not heaven, not hell. The only problem is that "it" never "was". It was invented to allow theologians to state that Plato and others weren't in hell. No, they were in limbo. Theologians who came up with this afterlife filing system would have made good programmers or accountants, except that programmers and accountants are constrained by a more rigourous set of standards than were those who thought up limbo.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133533822743113732005-12-02T09:23:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.551-05:00TV or not TVNot TV. That is the answer. The kids go to bed at 8:30 or 8:45. I go to bed a bit after 11:00 (I sleep on the bus in the morning, I'm good at that). This leaves me with a bit more than 2 hours of time to get other things done in the evening such as do the dishes, tidy up, re-tile the washroom, etc. Also, I'm writing a web application to sell posters online. TV is a waste of my precious time. I'd rather be sitting at the kitchen table programming or playing Scrabble with Nancy than finding out who killed a woman with a hot glue gun or why what seemed to be an infection from an ingrown toenail has spiralled into what looks like rabies but really isn't but will probably end up being a micro tumour on the pituitary or adrenal gland.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133459833263589402005-12-01T12:56:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.482-05:00Blue colour blindness<blockquote>Blue color blindness. Blue color blindness, which is rare, is an inability to distinguish both blue and yellow. Blue and yellow are seen as white or grey. Although as many females as males have this deficiency, it usually appears in people who have physical disorders, such as liver disease or diabetes mellitus. However, it is not uncommon for young boys to have blue/green confusion that becomes less pronounced in adulthood.</blockquote><a href="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper2/DeCastro2.html">also</a><br /><blockquote>Blue color blindness, also known as incomplete achromatopsia or blue-cone monochromatism, is an X-linked recessive disorder in which only the blue cones and the rods are functioning properly. A previously proposed theory states that signals from rods travel in the same pathways which carry signals from the blue-cones, making color vision in a blue-cone monochromat impossible. However, current research on blue-cone monochromats shows that signals from some rods and cones may be traveling by separate pathways to where wavelength discrimination takes place, making color vision possible in this type of monochromat, when both rods and blue cones are working simultaneously under twilight conditions.</blockquote>Lewis often mixes up blues and greens.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133454521595675042005-12-01T11:25:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.405-05:00Flu shotJust got a flu shot. First time. Got two stickers that say "<span style="font-style: italic;">I'm Protected - The Flu. You can't afford it</span>". That's a message for those listening to the business case for paying for someone to come to the workplace and do the injections, not for someone who just got a flu shot. What about "I just got a flu shot!". My kids will like the stickers, nonetheless.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133446732919317342005-12-01T09:11:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.334-05:00Wikipedia libel controversyThere's a controversy at Wikipedia, an online collaboratively built and managed encyclopedia, over potentially libelous statements about John Seigenthaler Sr., a former administrative assistant to Robert Kennedy. The statement suggested that Mr. Seigenthaler had been suspected of involvement in Kennedy's assasination and had subsequently moved to the Soviet Union for ten years. None of this is true.<br /><br />What I find more interesting is that this incident has sparked a debate on the article's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:John_Seigenthaler_Sr.">discussion page</a> on whether anonymous editing should be disallowed in favour of editing by members with verified email addresses. Probably not a bad idea and a necessary one as Wikipedia becomes more of an authority and comes under pressure to enact policies and procedures to increase accountabililty.<br /><br />I love Wikipedia. Where else can one read carefully constructed articles on such diverse topics as Namibia, Spider Man, the Greek civil war, and Babylon 5? It's great not having someone else decide what's valuable information and what's not.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133368897031144442005-11-30T11:22:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.259-05:00Lewis's favourite booksLewis likes the books<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590848380/qid=1133368787/sr=1-13/ref=sr_1_0_13/702-3796982-9759206"><span style="font-style: italic;">Poppleton in Winter</span></a>, about a pig and his friends. Not sure why he likes it, but the stories are pleasant.<br /></li><li><span class="sans"><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0763616745/qid=1133368808/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/702-3796982-9759206"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Adventures of a Nose</span></a>, about a nose who wants to "fit in by sticking out". In each picture the nose is surrounded by objects that serve to frame it as a nose in a face. Lewis requests this one every night. I think he's fascinated by seeing an anthropomorphic nose and its framing within each picture.<br /></span></li><li><span class="sans"><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582461082/qid=1133368828/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/702-3796982-9759206"><span style="font-style: italic;">Yum Yum Dim Sum</span></a>, about all the foods that one can get when having a dim sum dinner. The pictures are photos of carefully crafted paper art. Lewis loves the pictures.</span></li></ul><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/imarsman/68697408/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/12/68697408_8f82be514e_m.jpg" alt="Poppleton in Winter" height="240" width="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/imarsman/68693532/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/12/68693532_f93c3b7df2_m.jpg" alt="Adventures of a Nose" height="136" width="240" /></a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133367724306925942005-11-30T11:20:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.181-05:00JannekeJanneke was working on a magick trick the other day, trying to make a bead disappear. It worked! She lost track of the bead and only found it later five feet away. The funny thing is that when the bead disappeared she figured that she had somehow performed magick and decided to look in her ear to see if it had been transported there.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1133367400971241282005-11-30T11:15:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:05.093-05:00Ruminations on terrorism by an Iraqi blogger<blockquote>... I try to imagine what would happen to me, personally, should this occur. How long would it take for the need for revenge to settle in? How long would it take to be recruited by someone who looks for people who have nothing to lose? People who lost it all to one blow. What I think the world doesn’t understand is that people don’t become suicide bombers because- like the world is told- they get seventy or however many virgins in paradise. People become suicide bombers because it is a vengeful end to a life no longer worth living- a life probably violently stripped of its humanity by a local terrorist- or a foreign soldier.<br /><br />I hate suicide bombers. I hate the way my heart beats chaotically every time I pass by a suspicious-looking car- and every car looks suspicious these days. I hate the way Sunni mosques and Shia mosques are being targeted right and left. I hate seeing the bodies pile up in hospitals, teeth clenched in pain, wailing men and women…<br /><br />But I completely understand how people get there.</blockquote>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1132592415686118022005-11-21T11:45:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:04.987-05:00New PQ leader<blockquote>Quebec's separatists are counting on a politician who admits to snorting cocaine to win independence, writes Anne McIlroy.</blockquote>"Snorting cocaine to win independence". I see more than one interpretation of this phrase. Will PQ politicians also torture kittens to win independence? Who knows how low they'll stoop.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12925966.post-1132324019363621722005-11-18T09:17:00.000-05:002006-11-15T14:27:04.880-05:00Weasel words<blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">From </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10064711/">MSNBC</a><br /><br />“There is a great deal of misinformation feeding on itself about U.S. forces allegedly using ‘outlawed’ weapons in Fallujah,” the department said. “The facts are that U.S. forces are not using any illegal weapons in Fallujah or anywhere else in Iraq.”<br /><br />Venable said <span style="font-weight: bold;">white phosphorus shells</span> are a standard weapon used by field artillery units and <span style="font-weight: bold;">are not banned by any international weapons convention to which the U.S. is a signatory.</span><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10064711/"></a><br /></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">From the </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1118/p03s01-usmi.html">Christian Science Monitor</a><br /><br />But they do raise the issue of the military's judgment. Because fires can burn out of control during a battle, the Convention on Conventional Weapons in 1980 banned the use of incendiary devices, like white phosphorous, in heavily populated areas. <span style="font-weight: bold;">America, however, did not sign the agreement.</span></blockquote>Ah. The US also decided not to sign on to this treaty's prohibition of the use of lasers. Nor has the US signed on to the land mine treaty. If the US wants the "freedom" to use phosphoros weapons in populated areas it should not complain when it's vilified for doing so.<br /><br />The US is a very powerful and influential nation. I like the US and am married into an American family. I have deep emotional ties to the US. That's why, I suppose, I'm so bothered when the US passes up the opportunity to show leadership in the restraint area. They can do better than that and could help others see how to do so as well.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00323792678522753698noreply@blogger.com