Small World Getting Smaller

So I'm walking with Luna past the Russian embassy when I see this guy coming towards me. He looks really familiar but I can't quite...
"Hey. Your the photographer from Bob and Anna's anniversary party!"
"DJ James. I didn't know you lived around here!"
Dave the photographer it turns out lives in my new neighbourhood. He wrote his number out on a tissue. It's been said many times before, but small world.

Now I'm off to the theatre. Some avant garde production with these two guys who despise each other. Apparently there is audience participation where if you qualify you can vote for one of them to be Big Daddy in November.

"Dr." Trish of Exeter

Yeah Trish you made it! Looks like Border Collie Heaven...and a pint to boot.

Presidential "Debate"

Did you know that during the Presidential debate this evening the candidates are not allowed to directly ask each other questions? Only rhetorical questions are allowed. Sounds like a Washington DC press conference.

Sometimes There Aren't the Words

Second eSt update this week

The tale of the Samsas is coming to a close.

When the Sacred isn't Sacred

Spain Marks is an advertising campaign consisting of a series of ads of which religious experience is one packaged component among others such as cave art, roman history, cuisine, nature and such, that can be experienced by tourists to Spain. The core message of the campaign is that visiting Spain is an experience that leaves a lasting physical impression on the body. As ad campaigns go it is professional and attractively produced. The religious component of the campaign is depicted through the image of an attractive woman shedding a tear in emulation of a crying Madonna icon who is part of Easter devotions in Seville.The accompanying copy reads:

You don't have to be a "believer" to take part in the Easter celebrations in Spain. In Seville, Valladolid and many ther towns and villages, the devotion and art will draw you in. You have to experience a saeta breaking the silence to appreciate its effect on your body and your soul. And you might just discover why in Spain, we call it The Passion

I have no personal religious affiliation nor particular affinity for organized religions but I do have a respect for other peoples sense of spirituality and the sacred. So when I see "The Passion" of religious experience used a a marketing exercise that plays off of the popularity of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ my cynicism detector goes into the red. Granted the religious experience is a part of Spanish heritage but to see it packaged and sold to "non-believers" as another tourist experience on the same level as eating cured ham debases the original experience that the ad refers to. The idea that experiencing the sacred is something you can sell is very contemporary and I'm sure many people will not bat an eye at this promotion nor shed a tear.

World Press Photo 04

World Press Photo An exhibition of photographs taken by photojournalists from around the world.

Loudmouth TV

This weeks issue of Maclean's Canada's weekly news magazine has a cover story about the debate whether or not to broadcast Fox News in Canada.

Afternoodle

eSt Update

eSt has been updated

Fuct up

Did I really write "disfuctional"? That's so funny you might think I did that on purpose, but honestly I didn't.

The Poll was Disfuctional

So much for my experiment in electronic "voting". The script was buggy so I trashed it. I'll see if I can find something better.

Show and Tell

This is a fisher at least my version of one. There was one up at the cottage this summer and it was said to be killing cats.

Afternoon Doodle

Self-Loathing Canadians

Here's an example of a sort of want-to-be American conservative that you can find in this country, Unlike American conservatives this sort proudly makes it his or her task to denigrate his or her own nation at every opportunity. Ideology conveniently refined and packaged by the pontiffs of the American right is served up as pre-digested pabulum that they offer to Canadians in the guise of a balanced and nutritious sustenance. If Bill O'Reilly craps on Canada, this sort of Canadian conservative follows suit and praises the stench as a breath of fresh air. There are many ways to be Canadian and being liberal isn't the only one, but blind-folding oneself with a foreign flag is still a game few Canadians want to play.

Election Standards

The voting system for upcoming Presidential elections in Florida does not meet the standards that The Carter Center, which monitors the fairness of international elections, have set to determine that fair conditions are in place for the voting procedure.

Among the conditions Flordia fails to meet:

• Nonpartisan electoral officials overseeing the process


• Uniformity in voting procedures

According to President Carter there has been no move by Jeb Bush, governor of Florida to correct this situation. He characterizes the electoral process in Florida as "fraudulent and biased". In otherwords, by The Carter Center's standards, the recent elections in Indonesia and Venezuala have been more accountable than those in Florida.

Happy Birthday Sophie

Stony Swamp

They named the land accurately in this part of the country. I live in a community called Sandy Hill. It is a hill and the soil is sandy. I went with the hiking group to Stony Swamp this morning. It is a swamp and the soil is chock full of stones. It was a short hike and I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked to since we were always on the move. I met some nice people though. There was a second group that went to the Gatineau which probably was more interesting bu there are regular hikes there so I thought I would take the opportunity to check out the Swamp.

Mindless

I think that General William Odom points to the character of the war in Iraq most accurately when he states "This is far graver than Vietnam. There wasn't as much at stake strategically, though in both cases we mindlessly went ahead with the war that was not constructive for US aims".

Odom is the former head of the National Security Agency. Clearly not a pacifist the General points to the one overarching issue that binds the diverse interests of all Americans, Bush and his administration are incompetent. They do not have the capacity to lead America. Not in any area. Not in economy, not in foreign relations, not militarily. They cannot even bring their own nation together let alone introduce a foreign system onto a socially and cultural diverse country such as Iraq. The war has been conducted mindlessly. No attention has been paid to reality. From it's initiation it has been conducted based on fantasy and or out and out lies.

Nations world over, including Canada, supported the US intervention in Afghanistan. The same was not the case for Iraq because it was clear that there were no legitimate grounds for an invasion. The only case Bush ever made was that he was certain that WMD's would be found. No proof was ever given that they existed. It was an argument of implication and innuendo. Now America is engaged in a mess that never had to be and somehow half of the population still supports the man who led them there. He either lied to the people of the United States of America or he is so incompetent that he was unable to distinguish what nearly every other world leader could see: that invading Iraq was unjustified and a strategic disaster. In either case he has proven that he does not deserve the title of President. Especially if one is to give any regard to General Odom's other statement about the war; "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends."

Other Informed Opinions:

Retired General Joseph Hoare former marine commandant and head of US Central Command: "The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous. There are no good options. We're conducting a campaign as though it were being conducted in Iowa, no sense of the realities on the ground. It's so unrealistic for anyone who knows that part of the world. The priorities are just all wrong."

Jeffrey Record, professor of strategy at the Air War College: "I see no ray of light on the horizon at all. The worst case has become true".

Zounds!

"Every atom of iron in our blood was produced in a star that blew up about 10 billion years ago."

The Primacy of Prime Numbers

Here is a fascinating little article onsomething called the Riemann hypothesis from the Guardian Unlimited. Seems that all internet encryption relies on the apparent randomness off prime numbers.

Late Night Music Nostalgia

I'm obsessed with finding all the tracks to XTC's 1983 album Mummer. It's not usually noted as being one of their best recordings but to me it's fantastic. I only ever owned it on cassette and it's long been worn out and tossed out. XTC had a big hit, at least in Canada, with their lp English Settlement and the single Senses Working Overtime in 1981, which I got for Christmas that year. I adored it, with it's green packaging and chalk horse emblem. The music was rich in lyrics, melody, instrumentation and in production. So when Mummer came out in the fall of 1983 I snatched it up as soon as it appeared in the local 'Sam the Record Man'.

I went home on that chilly evening,treasuring that little brick, closed the door to my room and lay down on the bed to listen with my eyes closed. I still remember that feeling of warmth that poured out of that album in contrast to the cold outside. It was like drinking hot chocolate with half-melted marshmallows. The thing about an XTC song is that it typically has about ten songs all parsed into one liquid delight. There are staccato cellos, accordions, mandolins wind, far off voices, chiming harmonies, pure acoustic plucking,insect droning,organ,the distant tinkle of piano and intelligent and poignant metaphors. All of Which means you can listen over and over and always draw something fresh out of it but still have that comfortable resonance that familiarity brings. The first track Beating of Hearts with it's drone and stop/start beat still brings back a moment as I was getting ready for school in grade 13; the air is crisp, the rosey dawn is just arriving through the branches and over the rooftops. The line "No weeping willow was ever as beautiful-sad as you are" from Ladybird has drifted and bobbed obscurely in my brain all these years.

Now I'm thinking about why I'm so attached to this music and especially at this time. It's like I'm gathering parts of my life these days to see if it makes any sense. The nice thing is that so far it does.

Company A

Tomorrow Andy is coming to visit from Montreal. I'm not sure that he has ever been here before. Andy's got a lot of interesting stories to tell. He's an America who was raised in Wisconson and participated in the Gulf War as a member of the US Air Force. He's got a lot of interesting things to say about that and what's going on now. He's a really lovely guy I made friends with walking the dog. Luna will recognize him and do her I'm insane in the brain dance. She doesn't just wag her tail she shakes here whole end from the waist (If dogs have waists that is). He's a real genuine guy who was interested in making community in our neighbourhood. He used to be a high roller but he made some bad decisions and he's starting all over. Jocelyne, his fiancee and had planned on running away to elope next week, somewhere in the southern states but because of the hurricanes they've had to make new plans. If he's anything Andy's adaptable. here's to Andy and Jocelyne.

Reedy Rideau River

Morning Mallards

When Buildings Fly Away

Spokes

Sideburn Four Page

At long last I made a page for Sideburn Four: A Boy Named Sue which was K-ob's chosen theme.

So Much For Freedom of Expression

A women from Nunavut in Canada's north has been fired from her job with the Nunavut Tourism agency based on the content of her personal blog

There were concerns about some of her blog entries, she said, such as the photos of garbage on the tundra, a poor review of a local restaurant, and griping about the high prices for groceries in the small town roughly 2,000 kilometres north of Ottawa.

That Kind of Day

Today in the park my friends young dog came over while I was talking lifted his leg and pissed on my pant cuff.

Small Town

I've moved around a fair bit in my life, lived in places where it was a struggle to communicate, where culturally things were different or where I was just a stranger among strangers. What I loved about my old place in Montreal was that I had built up a little community of neighbours. We would eat together, drink together make music and help each other out in our daily routines and emergencies. So it was heart-warming to return to Montreal a few weeks back and have everyone come out in a kind of celebration of that fact. Despite this I was always a kind of outsider. I was an Anglophone living in a Francophone part of the city. English co-workers thought it peculiar and at one extreme (ignorant extreme) possibly dangerous.

The fact is I've always felt comfortable as the outsider or stranger, the one who participates but likes being able to retreat to the edges. To watch and reflect and also to have the freedom to slide into obscurity. It explains a lot of my lifes path from my relations within my family, to my studies as an anthropologist, to my marriage to Nicoletta and my life in Montreal.

Today I had a new experience. I was in the bank and the teller, a young red-haired and freckled lad, says to me "Are you related to the MacDougalls up around Shawville?" "I most certainly am." I answered. He looked at me as if he was trying to place me. I figured that he was from there and he confirmed it when asked. "Rolly is my Uncle" I volunteered. He grinned and said "I worked one summer on Rolly's farm." He was a childhood friend of my cousin Terry's son.

It was a novel experience for me. I always wondered what that felt like for people who know each other and the extended families in a community. It felt very nice as I experienced it. As I walked home up the slow incline from Rideau to Laurier. It occurred to me that this was indeed a double-edged sword. I was no longer anonymous. The bank teller from looking at my bank account knew I had been in Shawville in August. He knew that I had shopped at Stedman's. The kid who brought in the hay on my Uncle's farm knew to the penny how much was in my bank account, the bars I had been in , the bookstores I had shopped at. I'd best behave.

Thunderbird

I just set up my new mailing program by the same people who make Firefox. It's called Thunderbird. It will import all your addresses and your default mailing server. I did have to set up some other accounts but it was easy. It has a spam filter management feature. It loads fast and it's not Microsoft. Plus I like the Thunderbird logo. So some good reasons to switch and some less significant but pleasing nonetheless. As brother Killer Kane says everyone should switch to Firefox. I've been using it and it's earlier incarnation Firebird for over a year and a half now. The only thing I use Explorer for is testing web sites since so many people still use it.

Autumn Serenade

Okay this is admittedly a picture I took in the fall of 1994. It's an autumn of 10 years past (see I can do the math) but I like it.

Pop-Ups?

I usually use my Firefox browser which I prefer to Explorer, but I was doing some testing with explorer and I noticed some pop-ups coming from the poll I installed. Did anyone else encounter these? If so I'll junk it. But you should still get Firefox. It blocks pop-ups and is more secure in general than Explorer. Or get a MAC!

Eyespoke

If you like to paint, draw, collage or play with photoshop then you will probably like Eyespoke. This is a visual language game developed by Valerie Allard aka Karaab, David Kisly and myself. All you have to do is register and then you can play.

Pretzel Logic

I'm eating these pretzels and on the bag it says "Low Fat*" with a little asterix. Hmm I think aren't most pretzels low fat. I scan down to the bottom of the package where I read the small print "* Like most pretzels". That's too funny. That's the thing about marketing, you don't want to lie you just want to deceive. Now I can sleep.

The Strathcona

The buildings in this neighbourhood have names. We have the Linton, the Wellingdon, the Ritzmore, the Tremore, the Seymore and the Bachelor. Yeah that's right there are people who live in a building called "the Bachelor" Most of the names are in gold flake on glass but the bachelor is in big metal navy blue cursive letters. My building is simply called "B" as the rusty metal B in the concrete mantle states. The best building though is the Strathcona. This is an old monolith of a building. It reminds me of something you might see in parts of Milan or New York for that matter. If youcwere to look at it from above you would see a bulky cross that would fit neatly in a square. The front arm of the cross though is cut down the center forming a deep and dark courtyard.The balconies are massive, more like suspended verandas and these are supported by mammoth striated columns. The effect of the design is to make you feel small. It has a haunted atmosphere. Rosemary's Baby might like it there. Today I passed it from a side street and I could see a little square passage that was open in the side of the foundation. Someone was doing work in there. It looked like an old castle dungeon with it's unfinished stone work. I'd love to go inside and see what it's like.

Ray Charles

I'm listening to Ray Charles sing "Bye Bye Blackbird" a version unlike any other and it occurs to me that he passed away just days before I left Montreal to start a new life. It all ties together

Pack up all my care and woe
Here I go, singing low
Bye bye blackbird

He performed at the Montreal Jazz festival in 2000(?) or 2001. In anycase I regret that I didn't go. I had a feeling that it would be the last chance I'd have to see him but it was expensive and I opted not to go. There was a funny television ad when I was in Italy. It starts with an aerial view of a car driving in spirals on a desert plain. Then you see shots at ground level as the car careens and swoops. The ad ends with a tight shot of the driver. It's Ray Charles grinning his grin and laughing.

A Dream

'There is something wrong here' I think as I walk by the church. There is a large group of people gathered on the steps at the entrance. Among them I see three old friends that I knew in high school, Tom, Tim and John. I haven't seen them in years. Tom is squinting, he is not wearing his glasses. Tim, with his brass hair, is grinning and says hello. John looks ill. His skin reminds me of a dead fish; sections of it are discolored and flaking off. His eyes are like pin points and he scowls. The years have clearly not been kind to John.

I feel suddenly uncomfortable, I say my hellos, make some small talk and make my excuses to continue my walk. Now I am in front of a wall of html code. I'm rearranging it with my mind. I am trying to change the past by setting the code out in a different way. I play with this but it becomes more and more of a mess. I delete it all and start from scratch. It works and everything feels better when I wake up.

Babel Fish Lyrics

I took the lyrics from a song and pumped them through Babel fish English>Russian>English>Italian>English. Can you identify this 1970's song?

In the better sense, I have dreammed that it has seen the knights within in order coming armor,
to speak something about the Queen.
They were the peasant of the drummers of the drum and peya
and archer that they have divided l'albero.
It was to fanfare that it jumps to the floated sun ch'ha to the breeze.
You will examine the nature the MATI on the operation 19 years seventy.
You will examine the nature the MATI on the operation 19 years seventy.

I place to, it I was which sgoreli from the scantinato one
with the full moon in my eyes.
I have hoped for the rimontaggio when the sun that has been torn in on through the sky.
It was strip that plays in my head and that it has thought as far as it it obtains was high.
I have thought next to quell'amico has said that it has hoped was lie.
To think next to quell'amico has said that it hoped was lie.

In the better sense, I have dreammed that it has seen,
that the ship spaces them of silver has flown yellow nell'opacità of the sun,
were cry and the flowers of the children who fly entire around have selected some. All in the dream, all in the dream, are which the beginning cargo.
They were silver of flight of seed MATI nature'.s
to the new house to the sun.
It seeds l'argento of flight of MATI nature'.s to the new house.

Darfur Crimes Against Humanity

Why won't the Sudanese government take action to disarm the Janjaweed militias who are terrorizing the people of western Sudan Darfur region? Why do they accept the displacement of up to 1,000,000 people, the systematic rape of women, and the murder of thousands? Today a Sudanese envoy stated that labelling the actions as genocide is a ploy by the White House, but that skirts the issue. The Janjaweed have been violently removing black Sudanese from there homes for the past year and the Sudanese government is complicit. Amnesty International reports:

The reality in Darfur is that war crimes and crimes against humanity are committed with impunity and attacks by government-supported militias and government troops have led to the displacement of at least 1.2 million civilians within Darfur and an additional 200,000 refugees in Chad.

 

You Can Reach Me Anytime

I finally bit the bullet and got a cellphone. As I use the same company for my landline and my DSL service they practically gave it to me for free and my landline long distance calls are slightly cheaper because of the package to take the phone. I never cared if I had one before although admittedly there have been occassions where one would have been useful.
...but since it cheaper than not having one (strange but true with the long distance plan I have). My number is xxx-xxxx.

The Wind

Jospeh Mugnaini 1955

I love this drawing that was done to illustrate the Ray Bradbury short story "The Wind".

Echo

In the second century BC a time when Rome ruled the Mediterranean there was a Roman statesman named Cato renowned for ending his speeches, no matter the subject, with "I also think that Carthage should be destroyed." Rome had already defeated Carthage once before but there was a deep prejudice of anything Carthagenian. To say to someone that's "Cathagenian thinking" was a great insult. In the end Cato had his way and the people of Carthage were slaughtered or turned into slaves man, woman and child. The city was demolished to rubble and the ground sown with salt so that nothing would grow on it.

Ramones No More

Johnny Ramone passed away today. He was only 55. Joey went in 2001 and then Dee Dee the following year. Their lives were as short as their songs. So that's it no more Ramones. I can't say that I listened to anything they made past 1980 but the were a formative band when I was a teenager. There was nothing as fast, loud and catchy in those days (or mindlessly fun). I remember going to see them in TO with John V back in University. Amazing fun. One of the best times I ever had at a concert, I went back a few months later when they came back to town and had another rompin' stompin' great time. So it feels like a personal loss in some respect.

I Can't Find My Freaking Glasses...!

Oh wait there they are.

Cat's Eye Nebula

Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

PD Day

Today is what I like to call a Professional Development day which means I get to paint and draw while I also learn some new web skills. I'm developing a web-site to learn some new flash skills and as a gift for my nephew. It's working title is Jack's Monster Cube and it will be a catalogue of robots and monsters and such, like Super-Stinker here, that I've created for him. The navigation will be a rotating 3D cube done in flash. I should also develop some php/mysql skills to populate the pages content from a database.

Project EST

Karaab aka Valerie and I have been doing this story/image game for a while. She does a drawing I add text and do a response drawing to which she adds text and so forth. It's called eSt. It get's updated about once a week.

Mandrake

Woke up early this morning and felt like drawing. The result the Mandrake based on a medieval woodcut.

Library Blues

The Main Library as the central library is called was a disappointment. It's not that big and has an industrial wasteland atmosphere. There's lot's of poured concrete and greyish carpet with dark grey gummy globs embedded in it. The lighting is harsh as well. There's not a large selection either. It is close and there are enough books I will want to read to keep me content but I won't be reading there.

To start I checked out"The Punic Wars: Rome Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean" This was a series of wars that went on for 118 years (264-146 BC) depleting Rome of resources and reducing its population but establishing it as the primacy and the destruction of the Carthagenian/Phonecians.

I also ordered The Halloween Tree which is a book I last read when I was 10 years old and lived in Nepean so I thought it would be interesting to revisit it especially at this time of year:

Eight boys set out on a Halloween night and are led into the depths of the past by a tall, mysterious character named Moundshroud. They ride on a black wind to autumn scenes in distant lands and times, where they witness other ways of celebrating this holiday about the dark time of year.

Laser Mouse vs Marble Table

Holy Cripes! I work with my laptop on a 1/2 inch thick marble cafe style table. I use a mouse with laser tracking and I'll be damned if you can't see the light shining through the underside of the marble table. I was playing with the dog when I looked up and saw this red glow coming right through the marble. Incredible. It's not a dim glow either it's an intense red spot about 1" in diameter.

Blog Shares

This is weird but I'm ranked on something called blog shares. Seems my value is increasing. I'm presently worth B$9,032.16.

Library

I just checked out my local library. I love libraries. When I was a kid we went to this great library that was in what used to be a super-market. How's that for different times. Now it would more likely be the reverse situation. From my childhood perspective it was huge. I loved walking down those long musty scented tunnels of books. I rarely looked anything up in the card catalog. Instead I wandered and learned about each section by exploring and encountering its denizens. There was an area where children's books were of course, but it was more interesting to wander in the adult section where the aisles were taller and longer and held the promise of "forbidden" knowledge. I don't mean this in the sense of adult=sex. This is where I first saw Dali's paintings of drooping watches, learned about european film, read about the third reich and Stalin's iron fisted rule, where I found volumes of old Superman, Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy comics, learned about UFO's and the Sasquatch and haunted houses. Found out who ALeister Crowley was and the Black Hand, Cosa Nostra the Mafia. That was a great library. They showed old films on weekends, Chaplin, Keaton, Chaney, Laurel and Hardy. This was before VCRs let alone DVDs, damn I feel old.

This local library has alot of magazines and newspapers but the selection of books is small and it's not at all cozy. The library in Owen SOund was great for coziness as it had a big fire place that burned actual wood that you could sit in front of on a fall evening and read in a big chair. There must be a better library in this city. It's the freaking capital afterall.

Okay I just found out that the central library is just across the canal on my street. Could I live in a more convenient location? I think I'll walk over and get my card tonight. By the way the Andrew Carnegie Foundation donated $100,000 towards the original development. So thank you Mr. Carnegie.

Now this brings me to an interesting thought. Many non-American citys have streets named after American presidents, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Washington, Lincoln. How many Bush avenues or President Bush Drives do you think we'll see outside of the USA?

Okay I'll quite picking on poor George. I was talking about public libraries afterall. What a great nineteenth century institution. Libraries that is not George.

She's Coming

Ducks

The Ducks were all hanging out in the park this evening. Yeah ducks.

Colin Powell Day

So why didn't he say something in the Spring of 2003? Colin Powell has gone on record to say that there is no evidence to link Iraq to the events of September 11th 2001. Of course this is slightly qualified by the use of the word "direct". You have to leave some ambiguity after all in case you need to back-track. In a sense this isn't news since this was the case all along , but the Bush administration led people to believe that there was a relationship between Sept 11th and the war against Iraq. No WMD's no terrorist threat. 1,000 dead US troops and 1,000's more dead Iraqis for what? For this:
"Hey, neighbour I just did you a big favour that you will be forever grateful for. I beat the crap out of your tyrannical boss. Sorry about the mess. Here you can borrow some of my clothes until we clean up the blood. Uhm sorry your grandma got in the way while I was at it, and uh was that your brother, well he was a creep anyway but that's the price you have to pay to be free to let me pick the fruit from your orchard".

This story from the Guardian unlimited is bizarre. There is a British author with the unbelievably appropriate name of James Naughtie who claims that Colin Powell referred to Dick Cheney,Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz as 'fucking crazies' during talks with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in 2002. The thing is that whether he said it or not it's not far-fetched that someone would say this about this group.

Finally Powell's fact finding mission in the Sudan has concluded that what is occurring is Genocide. This is as serious a charge as can ever be made, but from what I've been following I would say it is probably accurate. The problem of course that this is a legalistic term that comes with specific repercussions when officially applied. Like "torture" or "terrorist" it is a label that can be employed or circumnavigated for politically strategic ends. Call it what you will, it's a nightmare.

Lost On the Highway Again

This is a series of photos I took in Montreal during dinner. They are all of the same thing. No photoshop filters, I've only corrected the light/dark levels.

Scary Thoughts

You never know what you'll come across on the www. I was looking up some info about censorship when I landed on this White Supremacist bulletin board. Seems these folks just loved Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I think you can guess why.

Saturday

The Boxer's name is Marley. He was in the front yard with his owners looking glum but that's a Boxer for you. I walked Luna through the campus. herds of clouds roamed overhead. We approached a church with a steeple like a witches cap that jutted up into the late day sky. As we passed I heard voices; a choir. I stopped in front of the door and inside I could see the dim shapes of people as I listened to their songs. It was nice but I couldn't help feeling that they might as well be singing to elves and fairies as to God and the heavenly host. In fact part of me felt that it would be better if they were.

Sad Perception

According to the New York Times in a recent editorial in a Saudian Arabian newspaper, Okaz, Khaled Hamed al-Suleiman states that Muslim terrorists have "turned today's Islam into something having to do with decapitations, the slashing of throats, abducting innocent civilians and exploding people." "They have fixed the image of Muslims in the eyes of the world as barbarians and savages who are not good for anything except slaughtering people."
Sadly in my experience this is largely true. People who are unfamiliar with Islam or do not have any relations with people who follow Islam often have the view of terror as their predominant point of reference. I've heard it Islam = fantacism. It isn't fair but it is a perception. The thing that worries me is that this perception contributes to a divise 'us vs them' relationship. This in turn contributes to the conditions in which extreme views borne out of alienation are rationalized.

Return of the History Ninja

I was thinking of bringing back the History Ninja today when I realized that today was Sept 11th. So I think I will merely remember respectfully the sorrow of that event. I went to ground zero last summer and tried to imagine what occurred but of course it's an impossible and overwhelming proposition. The mark the event made on the city was everywhere, from the olive skinned young man who was taken from my train from Montreal and but into the back of a van by the border guard, to the soldiers at the MOMA, the commeratives to the NYPD and the fire fighters "The Fallen" to the children's wall of drawings and of course the scar that was once the WTC.

Russian Embassy

The Russian Embassy is at the end of my street and I saw that people are leaving flowers, toys and candles in memory of the victims of the tragedy in Beslan. According to the Globe and Mail the Russian government downplayed the number of hostages taken and the actual death toll may be much higher than reported.

Heart Attack Boxer

I was taking Luna out when I saw one of my neighbours about to come in the front enterance with her Boxer. I could see that she was leary of us, but I was surprised when she said. "I'll take him to the side. He had a heart-attack last night." That's something I never thought of a dog having a heart attack, but then again why wouldn't they be susceptible, they do have hearts. He's 7 years old and Lu is 8.
I have made significant progress in understanding the CSS print controls. Next I will test it on an actual project: Tax receipt forms! Glamour resides at Laurier Ave.

Hiking Club

I found what seems like a promising Hiking Club that meets every Sunday just around the corner from me. Everything is around the corner from me. There's a trip to Stony Swamp on the 26th that I will attend I just need to get a new backpack as me beloved old khaki bag has turned to holes and thread after a good 12 years of co-operation...and a hat, damn I loved that hat I left in Montreal. Oh yes css publishing... be right there.

Sunny Day

It's an after the storm, absolutely crystal clear blue sky day. The humidity has wafted away but it's warm and sleepy going in the afternoon sun. I took little lu for a walk along the canal. When I first moved here I was told that dogs weren't allowed along the canal but since then I've seen lot's of people with dogs along there and there are no signs with a little red circle bisected by a diagonal slash superimposed over a black dog sillhoutte. One thing about this city is that if you aren't supposed to do something there is always a sign.

I walk through the Ottawa U campus to get to the canal. There are so many students now that the school year has begun. Many of the women have this combo preppy/Britney Spears
look. Pink baseball caps and tight t-shirts are a common site and most of the guys all have the same look tight cropped slightly gelled hair or baseball cap, and stern "I am a man" expression grafted to their faces.

It's such a nice day that I think I'll play hooky this afternoon and explore the city some more. There isn't a lot to explore really but any free time I've had this past summer has been spent in the country so there are still places to go like Chinatown and the Bank street strip.But first I will learn all about CSS publishing. Yeah great day.

Rainy Day

I like a good rainy day every once in a while. Thunder is welcome and lightening is fine. I especially like a good rolling storm while a sleep. A rumble and the rain patter. It's been raining since sometime in the night and it's going to keep going until evening according to the weather news. Fine. Just no floods please. At least I live on a hill. I have some incense burning for the woody ambience and edith piaf is singing on the radio, low lights, quite romantic except I'm working. At least I was. Okay back to the other machine.

Belated Birthday

I saw at Gnatterings that it is T's birthday which reminded me that I had meant to post this birthday pic for my sister Becky who was born Sept. 07 1967.

River Bank

Long Day - Poor Little Tree With Your Broken Spine

Oh what a long day. Solved some work problems though which is great. I attended the general assembly meeting this evening for the local Amnesty International group. What hadn't occurred to me was that being both the national headquarters of AI and the national capital means some very intensive activities take place. I felt a bit overwhelmed listening to them discuss working with the National Gallery approaching MPs and NGO's I think this is going to be a very stimulating group. One of the founding members of group 56 told me that the heyday for general interst in AI had peaked in the 1980's with South Africa and Eastern Europe concerns as well as the wars in Central America. Not that there aren't concerned people she said but that the focus seemed to be with the anti-globalization movement now. I'm comfortable with this group and there were quite a few new people joining tonight. In other news some poor sod broke the sapling out front. Likely some drunken frosh, they are everywhere this week. That's what I get for living so close to the University I guess. I'd like to lie down and read but the reading lamp is *u*k*d.

Argh I Can't Sleep

The Latest Searches

Every once and I while (like tonight when I'm bored silly) I take a peek at what searches brought people to the Glob and Wail. An interesting bunch lately:

01 Sep, Wed, 12:31:46	Google: the glob and wail
01 Sep, Wed, 15:21:02	Google: glob
02 Sep, Thu, 12:01:50	Yahoo: maureen o'dowd
02 Sep, Thu, 14:05:16	Google: the glob
03 Sep, Fri, 10:41:37	Google: glob
03 Sep, Fri, 11:54:30	Yahoo: old lumberjack tools
03 Sep, Fri, 21:56:54	Google: legosland
04 Sep, Sat, 14:55:04	Google: "beautiful montreal women"
05 Sep, Sun, 03:02:35	Yahoo: "mountain sanitorium"
05 Sep, Sun, 15:48:39	Google: essex county sanitorium torture
05 Sep, Sun, 22:02:56	Google: what is a glob
06 Sep, Mon, 19:27:26	Google: essex county sanitorium torture
06 Sep, Mon, 19:43:51	Google: King Leopold + modern humanitarianism
07 Sep, Tue, 02:56:12	MSN Search: i love james macdougall
07 Sep, Tue, 04:07:34	Google: "mike's amazing world of dc comics"
07 Sep, Tue, 12:00:49	Google: "Closing the Cottage"
07 Sep, Tue, 21:17:30	Google: Paul Harvey Riddle
07 Sep, Tue, 22:19:28	Google: "Letterman" AND "Yawning boy"

I Left My H e a r t in Montreal

Argh I left my hat in this place on Thursday night!

Poisoning Peoples Pets

Word in the park is that somebody has been poisoning dogs. Two this week had to go to the vet and they extracted bread with anti-freeze in it. There was a similar case in Toronto last year and this year in Goderich, Could it be the Greek Olympic Commitee at work? In all seriousness it's cowardly and dangerous. One of the dog group that meets daily talked to the police who have been monitoring the park and they gave us a number to call if we see anyone "suspicious" although that's a tough call to make.

I haven't touched on too many political/social issues here for a while. In part this because there isn't much point in flogging a dead horse. However I was surprised to discover that in the last year or so 1.3 million Americans joined the ranks of the nouveau poor. Yes over one million people slid into poverty under my dear friend G W's watch. That creates a grand total of around 35.9 million or aproximately the population of Canada. Maybe the Democrats should be flogging this horse to death (no offence to horses) or perhaps they have been but whose listening. After all it's much more important to know that John Kerry plans to arm America's forces with spit balls. Ands what this I hear about purple heart band-aids at the Republican COnvention in New York, and this from the party that claims exclusive support for US troops?

Name Games

This Rum and Monkey site has got it all. I'm missing valueable sleep, but how can I resist the Pirate name Generator

My pirate name is Capt'n Jack Daniels the Small.
Take Ahoy! The Pirate Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

or the Celtic and Gaelic Name Generator (uh wait a minute my last name already is MacDougall, oh well).

My Gaelic name is Ainmire Dougall.
Take Celtic and Gaelic Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Montreal Escape

Montreal Trip

Sophie's eye surgery went well but she waited until Sunday to go back to Boston which means I didn't have time to go. It was fun in Montreal (as always) but I'm tired. It was great on Thursday night to be back in my old bar and to have everyone come out. It felt pretty sweet. Annick has a new job and will be moving into a new apartment in two weeks so she was really feeling up. Alefia and Norbert got married in a civil ceremony and will have the religious ceremony in Toronto. Norbert is converting to Islam for the occassion and is required to grow a beard. Seriously. It's all for Alefia's parents.
Andy and Jocelyne are getting married this month as well but will be eloping so no party, no family, just a couple of friends.

One thing noticed in Montreal is how bad the roads are, how dirty it is and how polluted the air can be. I never really felt that was the case living there. I guess it's relative to what your used to. In any case I'm not dumping on the city. I love it dearly and will be going back often.

Meteor

On Saturday night we were sitting on the balcony and I saw a meteor race across the sky it was an incredibly bright yellow streak with orange around the edge of the head. It seemed to split into two but it was so sudden it's hard to say. Anyway I took it as a good omen. A few summer's ago I saw an even more spectacular one at the cottage it burned green and stretched from one end of the sky to the other. My brother-in-law saw it as well otherwise I might have doubted what I saw. Neither of these were little shooting star blips which you see alot in August, but big bright streaks.

Bemused


Francois and Estelle


Gangster James and His Montreal Partner in Crime


Plateau Gang