Posted by: Tom





Your writing covers issues such as globalisation, media saturation, fast food, human trafficking, food genetics and drug culture. Would you describe yourself as a political writer?

Yesterday I was speaking with a friend of mine who’s a psychiatrist. I admitted to him that after a long night of the soul I realized I had no idea what my political convictions are. None. Liberal? Conservative? Anarchist? Zip. I know how I was raised and how my parents tried to indoctrinate me, and I’m long over that. And I know how I feel on separate issues. But to fit me into a slot from a doctrinaire standpoint? Blank. My friend thought my horror at my lack of direction was really funny. He said most people don’t have a clue but pretend that they do. He said the world’s a mess. He said that I’m the generic swing voter and both a pollster and politico’s dream. And I’m unsure of how that makes me feel. I like to think I believe in what’s right, yet a sense of irony allows me to contain a lot of opposites in my head at one time. Net result? A need to play out my internal conflicts about big issues on paper. So—and this is a very unexpected response—I’d have to answer your question with a yes. And it would be so much easier just to be able to say no.

-- Douglas Coupland in a Q&A Session with bloomsbury.com


A question and Douglas Coupland's response in bloomsbury.com Q&A session around his book jPod. I can only say "Huzzah!" and "Amen."

Posted by: Tom



The Simple Reason for Simple Gun Control

There are many arguments for and against gun control, but I put together the graphic above to make what I believe to be the simple case for simple gun control ... No Badge, No Dog Tag, No Gun.

In other words, if you're not an on duty policeman and you're not an on duty member of the military, you cannot legally own or possess a gun.

The Pros
* Simple Enforcement - If a policeman is made aware of a person who has a gun and that person is not a police officer on duty or a member of the militia engaged in a mission, that person is illegally possessing a weapon and should be apprehended.

* Simple Registration - No civilian can purchase, own or fire a weapon - hence, no costly registration.

* Peace - Knowing your neighbour cannot legally own a weapon that might find it's way into hateful, irrational hands, one can sleep much more readily.


The Cons
* The Innocent - Many innocent gun owners would suffer. Yes. I suppose they would. I think we need compare their suffering to that of Anastasia Desouza's parents who lost heir young daughter to a legal gun-owning 'sportsman' who had no previous violations of any nature. The would-be gun sportsman's suffering doesn't seem to compare and, therefore, doesn't trouble me very much.

* The Economy - Many gun shop owners would lose their businesses. We can only hope. Perhaps they ought to join the police force to quell the burgeoning black market in guns that would certainly emerge.

Posted by: Tom

NASA Photo

These NASA images show show the disappearance of Arctic ice over one year from Dec. 21, 2004 to Dec. 21, 2005. The perennial ice (in white) is melting faster than ever.

As cited in a recent article in the Hamilton Spectator:

Two studies by NASA released this week, using different satellite monitoring technologies, both show a great surge in the disappearance of Arctic ice cover in the last two years.

One, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, shows that Arctic perennial sea ice, which normally survives the summer melt season and remains year-round, shrank by 14 per cent in just 12 months between 2004 and 2005. The overall decrease in the ice cover was 720,000 square kilometres -- an area about three-quarters the size of Ontario, gone in a single year.

The other study, from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, shows that the perennial ice melting rate, which has averaged 0.15 per cent a year since satellite observations began in 1979, has suddenly accelerated hugely. In the past two winters the rate has increased to six per cent a year -- that is, it has got more than 30 times faster.

The changes are alarming scientists and environmentalists, because Read More...

Posted by: Tom

OK - So I don't really have anything substantive to say about this other than I think it's hilarious. Condoleeza Rice picking up a cup of Tim Hortons coffee in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Doesn't that really say it all? I mean look at that smile? As the slogan goes, "Always got time for Tim Hortons!"

I suppose it's fitting now that Americans have bought that franchise too, but Timmy's will always be Canadian to me. Foreign Policy be damned! Good on ya, Condie! Next time, pick up a six pack of Crullers.

It is strange what a strong sense of patriotism and nostalgia that Tim Hortons inspires for myself and many other Canadians. Being from Hamilton, home of Tim Hortons, it is especially true for me. I remember rides to hockey rinks for 6:30am Saturday morning practice and getting a cup of chocolate milk and a chocolate dip donut after practice. Or seeing that box of donuts on the table, hoping there was still one left ... a Honey Dip, Chocolate Dip, or even better ... "a fancy" ... the coveted ... Chocolate Eclair.


Condoleeza Rice picks up a cup of Tim Hortons in Pictou, Nova Scotia, September 12, 2006

Posted by: Tom



Has this ever happened to you?

It's been a while since I've posted. Mostly because we had some computer woes just as Ang was preparing her lesson plans for the little guys in the fall. Our computer blew up ... actually ... it didn't quite blow up because all the data etc. was still on the hard drive - we didn't lose anything. However, the monitor, keyboard, mouse and both drives were all inaccessible.

As is most often the case, this happened just when Ang needed the computer most for planning her class in the fall. So fixing it (I suspect it was the motherboard) was pretty much out of the question as we didn't have time. So we had to do some scrambling. Bought a new tower.

Of course, once I'd purchased the system and got everything set up, I realized there was no IDE connection in the new system. As a result, we couldn't connect the old hard drive to recover Ang's data. The only way to recover this was to get a 3.5 Inch USB External Hard Drive Enclosure ... which NOBODY in all of TORONTO seemed to have in stock. Luckily, my good friend Noel (see:WinRepair) had one and loaned it to me so we had Ang back up and running.

Oh what fun. Anyway, back in business now and I wanted to post not just to tell you about these woes, but to also link to a great Blog. Please visit: Death in the Knife