A Few Quick Notes 401

-While today wasn't particularly bad, nor was it particularly nice, the forecast seems to be suggesting that we could be in for another round of intense wind and rain. So far, aside from some slightly more aggressive wind, these predictions have not yet come to pass.

-Unfortunately, my trusty predictive tool, satellite imagery, seems to be indicating that we are in fact in for another blasting of something or other (presumably rain and wind as it is too warm for snow and wind).



-We had our first game of our Ultimate league's playoffs yesterday. After a somewhat shaky start we managed to overcome a three point deficit and win by three points (I think the final score was 27 to 24). Unfortunately the intensity of the game lead to a number of players making somewhat risky catch attempts; one guy on our team slammed into the wall pretty hard, another guy slid through a door into the hallway next to the gym, and, with only about 30 seconds left in the game, a player on the opposing team dove for a pass and managed to smash his face on the floor.

-Turns out that Canada just won the Olympic gold medal for hockey (though they had to go to overtime to do it).


Blog-off Score

Neil: 9
Cameron: 63

Book review published

I have some news to share that is only really news until the end of the day, so I figure now is a good time. The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) has a number of publications, one of which is their official bulletin, CMS Notes. Last year, the editor of the book reviews asked me to review a book.

Just before Christmas I finished by review and submitted it. I was told it was likely to be published in the February issue of CMS Notes. I can tell you now that it was. For those interested, the current issue is available on their website. I'll leave my comments about the book to the review.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 9

Cameron: 63

First blog post with Google Wave?

Here goes:

Now, I guess there could be a question as to whether this counts as a post even if people can't read the wave, but with this junk I've just written and our 30 word minimum I guess it does.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 6

Cameron: 62

The Home Stretch

We now have less than a day left in this year's Montifax blog-off. As most of you likely know, at the moment I am leading Neil by a relatively wide margin (though given my handicap I am confident that he could catch up in the remaining time if he so desired).

A few brief discussions have already been had about possibilities for an after-party tomorrow night, though as of right now nothing much has been settled.

Thanks for putting with another month of sub-par posts, your patience is appreciated.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 62

More weather fun

It seems that Environment Canada has issued another set of wind and rain warnings for the Halifax region, this time for Sunday evening. Given their recent success I am somewhat inclined to heed these warnings, though I don't really think my heeding them will really result in many changes (I already assumed that I would be staying in for the evening).

As much as such a storm on Sunday night wouldn't likely effect me too much, it would be nice if we didn't have another 30 hours of heavy wind mixed with intermittent rainy periods. I really am not sure that I am up for two such events in a single week, particularly when I would actually have to leave the house on Monday.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 61

Too much exercise?

I wonder if I have possibly indulged in too much exercise today?

I started things off with a few chin-ups and whatnot this morning. Though they went relatively well I don't think that I achieved a personal best of anything of that nature. The major impact seemed to be diminished motor control (a rare side-effect) when I was cooking my lunch moments later.

This afternoon we had a relatively intense, sweat-inducing Ultimate game. I feel as though I was working hard all game.

This afternoon I then spent a little time on our newly acquired exercise bike (and imagine that I will spend a little more time there later this evening).

These behaviour patterns don't seem like me at all. What is going on with me? Am I going to run the risk of being in shape?

(What a whiff of a post, but I guess that posts such as these are the expected outcome of a competitive blogging set-up that rewards quantity rather that quality.)

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 60

(Edit: I noticed that our numbers weren't adding up and I traced the problem to a scoring screw-up I made a few days ago. I have fixed the problem in this post, but I am disinclined to head back through the last number of posts to correct the scores embedded in each post. Sorry for any confusion.)

Winter Rain: 19

Not surprisingly, the wind that has been blowing for almost a day and a half is still going hard, though again we seem, at least temporarily, out of rain.

A moment ago I spoke with a friend of mine (and the host of this evening's festivities) who indicated that the wind had done some damage in his neighbourhood. Apparently his eave was blown off and there are shingles from neighbour's houses blowing around.

In our neck of the woods I have seen a house that lost a fair bit of siding, and a fence that was damaged rather noticeably (as you can see below).



The good news that came from the phone call was that I have been offered a ride to the party. Getting there dry will be great.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 58

Winter Rain: 18

Holy crap, the wind and rain are still really making things rather unpleasant outside. In an odd way it is actually quite impressive to see that these high winds have now been sustained for over 24 hours, something I really wouldn't have suspected when I started covering this event yesterday afternoon (nor would I have suspected that 24 hours later I would be continuing to provide coverage).

In a while, though I don't exactly know when, I will have to head out again, this time to go to a friend's party. While I am looking forward to the social aspects of the party, I can't say that I am looking forward to my trip their and then my trip home. At the moment I am particularly worried that I might end up staying past the last bus and then be required to walk home (which at 4.5 km would be less than fun).

Given my impending departure I should probably have something to eat.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 57

Winter Rain: 17

Neil and I just made a quick trip across the street to the grocery and beer stores. It seems that somehow, without any of us noticing it, the rain returned with more vigor and body than it had before. We were quite close to being soaked though we were only outside for about a minute and a half.

Of course the funny thing about this is that I was just about dry from our early afternoon adventure when this one took place. I guess it is going to be one of those days when I am wet all day long.

Province wide there are now quite a number of power outages, though only one of which seems to be on the peninsula (I am not sure this means our grid is strong or that we are due).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 56

Winter Rain: 16

Turns out Montifax's corrected position on the rain has some official backing. Environment Canada, when describing the weather conditions experienced in Halifax this morning, described the rain as 'Rain,' though at times we had 'Light Rain.' Given their use of the word 'light' I presume that they would also include 'heavy' if we actually had heavy rain, which we didn't.

Given that we are supposedly live-blogging this weather event I guess I should have at some point mentioned the temperature, as it too is part of the 'weather.' It has been about 3 for the past few hours. This isn't so bad as it means that we don't have to watch out for black ice that we can't see. I just hope it doesn't drop too much tonight.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 55

Winter Rain: 15

The rain seems to have basically stopped since my last post, though the wind is as strong as ever. Interestingly, I just noticed that Environment Canada still has active wind and rainfall warnings for Halifax.

I just checked the satellite imagery and it seems that these continued warnings may actually make sense (though I am hoping that they are somewhat over ambitious).

Neil has managed to get his exercise bike up and running, so we are able to now get outdoors-like experiences from the comfort of our very own living room. It is almost like magic.


Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 54

Winter Rain: 14

We are back from our somewhat damp trip to Quinpool. It turns out that the wind and rain when combined as they are today are pretty unpleasant.

Just to reiterate a previous statement, the rain is definitely not heavy. If we somehow managed to remove the wind from the occasion I am quite confident that both Neil and Rebecca would agree with me that it is just regular rain, which feels amped up because of the wind.

The reason for the trip was for Neil to buy an on-sale exercise bike, which we succeeded in doing. Neil is now in the midst of assembling it in the living room. So now that we have the exercise bike and chin-up bar I presume that we have no excuse to not be in top physical form, though I somewhat doubtful that we will both be sporting sexy six-packs in the not-to-distant future.

I should also mention that carrying a somewhat heavy, large box in heavy wind and regular rain is something a little less than pleasant. At times the gusts, into which were headed, both pushed down the box and blew into our faces. It was quite a feeling to have the box feel as though it was being pulled from our hands and also as though we were dealing with some kind of frontal gravity that was impeding our progress.

Of course there are no signs of abeyance so I presume this means that none of us will be making too many extra trips outdoors.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 53

Winter Rain: 13

Official Montifax change of opinion: the rain is not heavy, just regular rain. It was so not heavy that when I woke this morning even though my window was open I could not hear the rain. When I stood up to check to see if it had rained it took me a few moments to actually see the rain drops that were falling (which were rather small which explains why I had such a hard time seeing them.

Anyway, the wind is still blowing rather aggressively, which is rather unfortunate.

Neil and I are likely to head out in a moment to run an errand, which will likely be rather unpleasant given the current weather conditions. Though that Neil has finally gotten around to posting should lessen the blow to some extent.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3
Cameron: 52

Winter Rain: 12

Today the rain has finally come. Montifax is coming out to declare the rain to be 'heavy'. A surprise move for sure, but Montifax likes bold calls. I'm hoping that I can get Cameron to come our for a quick shopping trip on Quinpool despite the weather, and that we'll be able to report back later with first-hand information about the storm as it continues. For those wondering if we lost power (due to the long period with no posts), we didn't. I guess Cameron is just slack with blogging. We'll forgive him though, won't we?

Blog-off Score

Neil: 3

Cameron: 51

Winter Rain: 11

Now, even though it is just past 1:00 AM we are still without rain. I am starting to think that I may have picked the wrong meteorological event to live-blog, this thing is really turning out to be a bit of a dud.

If we don't have rain by tomorrow morning I think I may have to give this attempt at live-blogging up.

This will likely be my last update for a few hours, I will see about picking things up in the morning.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 51

Winter Rain: 10

We are now just a little past midnight and still without rain, though, as has been the case for the last number of hours, we have plenty of wind.



Source: Environment Canada

As you can see, the storm has been moving as the night has progressed. I imagine this means that at some point we really will get this rain that I keep writing so much about (though it is stayed away much longer than I expected).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 50

Winter Rain: 9

Moments ago Neil and I returned from a waterfront reconnaissance mission. It seems that conditions are not particularly dissimilar at the harbour than they are at our apartment.

The rain has still not arrived, though I can now confirm that the wind is as strong as it sounds.

Oh, this yet-to-arrive storm has really distracted me from my academic obligations.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 49

Winter Rain: 8

It is now just after 10:00 PM and still no rain. Not surprisingly, the wind is still howling blowing steadily.

Neil and I were about to go on a last minute beer run (just to be on the safe side of things), though I recently discovered that our intended destination closed a few minutes ago. This is probably a good thing as we both have better things to do with our time than drink beer. One of these things might be to pre-pop popcorn in case we lose power and then get a taste for popcorn.

If you are curious, a power outage would likely limit Neil and Rebecca's Olympics viewing, though maybe they would just put the TV, computer, and modem on the battery back up and give'er until it ran out.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 48

Winter Rain: 7

We have definitely had a few more fluctuations in our power in the last few minutes than the rest of the night, but still no rain.

Losing power would really be a bummer as I have a number of things to do tonight, all of which require regular access to electricity.

As should be rather clear, I am still somewhat distracted by the looming storm and the self-imposed obligations of live-blogging. Amazingly, I am actually managing to do a few more important things as the night progresses, hopefully I will be able to continue to do more.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 47

Winter Rain: 6

It is now 9:00 PM and we are still without rain in Halifax.

The satellite imagery still shows some kind of storm system just off the coast but it doesn't seem to be making much progress towards us. Also, the live outage map is still suggesting that the storm has not yet knocked out power anywhere in the province (which is a good thing).

It seems that the non-existent, or at least absent, storm is still managing to distract me rather effectively. If only I could convince myself to study for such along period of time.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 46

Winter Rain: 5

It is now just past 8:30 PM and the wind seems to have picked up again, though we are still without rain.

What is most impressive about the evening so far is that I have allowed myself to become quite distracted by the absence or rain, something that would normally go unremarked upon. Hopefully it either rains, justifying my distraction, or I am able to get back to work.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 45

Winter Rain: 4

It is now almost 8:00 PM and we are still without rain, though the satellite images still seem to suggest that we could possibly be in for some rather serious weather. Of course the fact that the wind has died down a little and certainly reduced the number of wails it has been omitting does not seem to suggest that we are much closer to this forecast downpour.

To tide us over until the rain comes (or we lose our power because of the rain) I am in the process of making us some desert. It should be ready in a few minutes. The recipe I made is called 'Raspberry Almond Bars' though I didn't add almonds and they won't be cut in bar shape.

The waiting for the rain monotony continues unabated even if the wind has taken a bit of a break.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 44

Winter Rain: 3

It is now 7:00 PM and there is still no sign of rain in downtown Halifax, though at least a few of us are waiting with baited breath. I guess the part of the warning that suggested that the storm system would move slowly seems to be holding up, which might not be a good sign (I really don't like the idea of us getting 100 millimeters of rain tonight an tomorrow).

All three of us are now back in the apartment and likely aren't going to head out once the rain start, except for maybe a brief sightseeing walk to get a sense of the extent of the storm.

For those of you who are curious, at the moment the storm/rain has not caused any power outages in Nova Scotia.

Blog-off

Neil: 0
Cameron: 43

Winter Rain: 2

It is now almost 6:00 PM and we are still rain free in Halifax, though as before the winds are definitely being quite vocal about their presence. At it is almost 6:00 PM we are just minutes away from sunset, which means that any hopes that I had about getting photographic evidence of the downpour are quickly fading (or they are at least fading as quickly as the light).

Passed on the most recent satellite imagery I have to think that it won't be too long before we start getting the early stages of this downpour. Sadly, my recently initiated live-blogging activities have caused me to be somewhat hopeful that we really get a drenching with good narrative and descriptive elements (it is always rather annoying learn that you have live-blogged a dud event).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 42

Winter Rain: 1

What would a blog-off be with out a little live-blogging action to boost some numbers?

As far as I am concerned, not to have at least a little live-blogging would suggest that one or both of the competitors aren't really into the game. In such a case, winning, as they used to say about Elvis, has left the building.

It turns out that I was presented with quite a live-blogging opportunity this afternoon: a weather warning from Environment Canada. It seems that some areas, though I can't exactly figure out if Halifax is included, are forecast to receive as much as 100 millimeters of rain and possibly experience high winds.

While I am frequently skeptical about such warnings as so many of the times they are issued they turn out to result in nothing, in this case the available satellite imagery seems to suggest that we are actually due for some kind of serious weather in the not too distant future. Based on the movement of the storm it even seems that Halifax may really be in for something of a lashing.



Source: Environment Canada

Though the expected rain hasn't started falling in Halifax (which isn't surprising as the storm center is still clearly a ways away) the winds have definitely picked up and even started to howl (which givens the darkened skies a rather ominous feel).

I keep you posted on the development as the night progresses (hopefully my updates will either be sparse enough that you won't start to rely on them or frequent enough to keep you regularly coming back for more).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 41

Can't say that I am too sad

Thanks to the Planet Money blog I just learned that Hummer is going to be wrapped up rather than be sold to a Chinese company. The GM press release suggests that the warranties will be honoured and replacement parts provided.

While I guess I should take GM's word on these matters (as I have no reason not to), I imagine that continuing to provide replacement parts (particularly those specific to Hummers) will be a commitment that might be hard to honour. It seems that it will likely be quite expense for GM to maintain an entire line of replacement parts and appropriately trained mechanics in the face of ever diminishing numbers of Hummers and Hummer owners. I would be curious to know if I am alone in thinking that such a commitment may be hard to live up to, or if others are thinking similar thoughts. As a follow-up, I wonder if Hummers (both new and used) have taken or will take a serious price hit as a result of this announcement?


Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 41

Bean fail

Yesterday I decided to prepare a bean and pork dish for dinner tonight. For some strange reason this decision didn't cause me to understand that such a plan would require that I start soaking the beans at about the time the decision was being made. Instead I ended up starting the soaking process late this morning, only after I realized that I was really going to be pushing the limit on minimum required soaking time.

Obviously I pushed ahead, hoping that the six hours I had until I started cooking the food would allow the beans to be sufficiently soaked. Amazingly, by the time I was ready to cook this evening things were looking pretty much on track, the beans (Jacob's Cattle Beans) had plumped up quite nicely and were looking as though they were going to be pretty tasty.

Given this state of affairs I decided to proceed as though all was normal and that I had not only allowed the beans an abbreviated soaking period. Before long everything had been loaded into the pressure cooker and the appropriate level of pressure achieved.

After about an hour, just as the past and vegetables were ready to go, I released the pressure and started prepared the beans to be served. At first everything seemed to be under control. When I was a few bites into my meal I started to notice that something was a little off, a few of the beans seem not to have absorbed much water and were still quite firm/hard (making for a rather unpleasant eating experience). The whole thing reminded me of my pre-pressure cooker days when I couldn't cook beans, it was definitely a bummer.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 40

I thought I posted this months ago

A few years ago I happened to end up in the Ship Pub in St. John's during a one-off comedy/performance art event. One of the more memorable performers of the night was Joel Hynes, who performed a piece that really ran through quite a number of Newfoundland and St. John's landmarks.

A few months ago I found an online MP3 version of the same piece, if you are interested in St. John's/Newfoundland comedy and don't mind F-bombs consider checking it out here.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 39

Running the Numbers: Vancouver 2010

For the past few weeks I have heard a fair bit about various funding programs that were put in place to help Canadian athlete succeed/win gold at Vancouver Olympics. For the most part, exactly what the money was being used to cover and where it was coming from was a little unclear. Yesterday I finally got around to doing a little looking into some of these details, though sadly I am not sure that they really clarified much for me (though they did explain the source of some of the numbers I have been hearing).

One of the things that got me interested in this topic was repeatedly hearing that the Own the Podium program was valued at $110 million. Somehow this money was to have been distributed to athletes to help them win gold, the overall goal being for Canadians to win more medals than any other Vancouver 2010 participant nation. When I went to their website and looked at their various funding programs the largest winter Olympics related number that I could find was $97 million, which is about $13 million shy of the frequently cited value. I guess I should mention that when I looked through their news releases the larger number was cited, though without reference to specifics as to how this money was spent.

It should also be noted that the Own the Podium initiative supports both summer and winter sports (though the previously mentioned $97 million related only to winter sports) and is supported by both government and corporate sponsors. The website suggests that the Canadian government is their largest contributor, with an annual contribution of $47 million a year (only $11 million of which is targeted at winter sports). Provincial governments (other than New Brunswick) also seem to contribute to this program, though it is not immediately clear how large these contributions are. A similar lack of clarity exists regarding the size of corporate donations (and whether they are in the form of good and services rather than cash). I guess what I am saying is that a detailed budget outlining the sources of revenues would shed light on quite a number of these things, especially as it seems that about $86 million is coming from sources other than the federal government.

From the Own the Podium website I ended up at the Canadian Heritage website, the federal government department responsible for a big chunk of federal government sports funding. What I quickly noticed about this source of funding is that the mysterious $110 million made another appearance, though this time it was backed up by details to show the distribution of the funds.



Source: Winter Olympic Quadrennial History

I am now starting to wonder if there has not been some confusion between the aspirations of the Own the Podium program and the actual budgetary allotment made by Canadian Heritage. I should mention that it is not clear to me whether these numbers include the federal government contribution the Own the Podium program or not (so their contribution could easily be $121 million for this year's winter athletes).

I guess what I find most remarkable about all of this is the quantity of funding per athlete. If we take the $110 million from Canadian Heritage and $86 million from Own the Podium (I won't include the $11 million in federal funding that might otherwise be double counted) we can see that about $196 million in athlete funding was available for this year's winter Olympic athletes (and this isn't even counting smaller private funding initiatives like b2ten).

If we place this $196 million next to the fact that the Canadian winter Olympics team is composed on 206 athletes it seems that the per capita cost of a Canadian winter Olympics athlete is close to a $ 1 million (or $250 000 per year). Another way of looking at it is in terms of medals. While Canada has won 10 medals at the moment, lets assume that Canada wins a total of 16 (2 in curling, 2 in hockey, and 2 miscellaneous). This would make the per medal cost about $12 million.

Of course it would be one thing if the athletes representing Canada were known years in advance and could take advantage of these resources, but in many cases it is not clear which athletes will be representing Canada until just weeks before the events. If this is the case, and athletes are preparing for qualification events with their own resources, what exactly is this money being used for? For instance, how is the $9.25 million that is going to 'curling' being used to benefit Canadian Olympic curlers? This one is particularly worthy of attention as the two teams that represented Canada at the last Olympics are nowhere to be seen this time around, though both teams won medals in the last games. Hockey, with its $14.5 million in funding also boggles my mind as the male half of the program are pros who have their primary training and coaching costs covered by their professional teams.

I guess all of this leaves me wondering what the overall goal of these funding programs are and whether they are in any way justifiable? If the goal is to encourage participation and healthy living we seem to have failed as the emphasis seems to be on the 206 athletes currently representing us at the Olympics instead of the wider population. If the goal was to win medals this too seems to have failed as 10 medals doesn't even get Canada close to top of the medal standings. Of course these programs also need to be placed in the context of the current economic and taxation climate. Can such extravagant (I think $12 million bronzes are extravagant) expenditures be justified in the face of possible tax increases and program cuts? Would Canada really be all that worse off without an Olympic speed skating team (or luge, or any other sport that is infeasible without government funding)?

These thoughts are probably a little disorganized and incomplete, but they are somewhat representative of some of the things I started thinking about once I started to get a better sense of the athletics funding regime in Canada (and this doesn't even include summer sports of the cost of the Olympics). In many ways actually looking at the numbers confirmed my fears that the Olympics are a huge burden on taxpayers for very little return (except for those companies lucky enough to cover them). It also confirmed my suspicion that the media coverage regarding funding has been vague at best.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 38

A Few Quick Notes 400

-As expected, today was again close to zero. As I didn't spend any time outside this wasn't much of a problem.

-I made pork wiener schnitzel for dinner tonight. I really enjoyed it, though it likely is a somewhat unhealthy food given the relatively large quantity of oil used during the frying process.

-It seems that not all that much happened today, but that is likely because I haven't left the apartment. Also I managed to kill off a few hours by napping, or at least trying to nap.

-A little while ago a friend contacted me to let me know that Air Canada was in the midst of offering a 2 for 1 seat sale for Canadian destinations. After a few minutes of discussion and schedule arranging he booked tickets for himself and another friend to visit us in Halifax for a few days in mid-April. I am already excited about the visit, which should be pretty fun.

-This trip booking adventure really cut into my productivity tonight (though this shouldn't be taken as a complaint). I guess I will really have to make the most of these post-midnight hours so that the day isn't a complete loss. This means that I likely won't be able to join Neil and Rebecca for much of this evening's ice dance coverage (which they are watching right now).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 37

Almost a whale

A few moments ago I was cruising the web, effectively avoiding the work that I should be doing, when I came across the following VOCM news update.

DFO officers have investigated the remains of a marine animal that washed up on a beach at Lower Cove on the west coast of the province. DFO says judging from the reported length of the carcass, the state and shape of the decomposed matter, it is likely that the remains are that of a small whale - such as a minke or a basking shark. A tissue sample of the carcass was taken and will be examined by DFO to try and fully identify the animal.

I was a little taken aback at the suggestion that basking sharks are a type of small whale, especially considering that they kind of look like sharks (which aren't even mammals).



I guess you learn something new every day.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 36

A Few Quick Notes 399

-It seems that the temperature has dipped below freezing, which is about as cold as it has been at any point for the past few days. These relatively low, but not quite always below freezing temperatures are rather annoying and dangerous. Hopefully these temperatures, when combined with the snow we are forecast to get tonight do not result in particularly dangerous conditions tomorrow.

-Though Neil and Rebecca were not here for dinner tonight I decided to make a tomato sauce free cornbread tamale pie (or something like that. The premise of the recipe seemed to be a chili-like (though in this case tomato-free chili) base topped with cornbread. While I was relatively pleased with the meat/bean base, the recipe for cornbread top was somewhat underwhelming. Not only was the batter insufficiently moist to properly spread based on the original recipe (I added enough water to make it functional) I am not sure that it was as tasty a cornbread recipe as the one I normally use. So while I would consider making this again I think that there are a few modifications that I might make based on my experience with the dish tonight.

-Canadian hockey fandom really annoys me. Particularly when a national team is involved this aspect of Canada is really annoying, almost unimaginably infuriating. So many Canadians act as though Canada is the homeland of hockey, yet the sad reality is that we regularly don't do that well and likely can no longer accurately make this claim (if we ever could). The consequence of these feelings is that I really like to see Team Canada lose, particularly on home ice (as they did tonight). This is all the sweeter when the victorious team is a US team, as was the case tonight.

-As I mentioned earlier tonight, I still have a cold and am feeling a little out of it. I can't seem to keep my ideas straight, which is probably a sign that I shouldn't make any more posts tonight.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 35

Additions to CVs

For the past few days I have had a number of discussions with a number of people about various things that I might include on my CV (which should be updated in the very near future). For the most part these discussions have focused on how one might include non-standard items on a CV. That this items are non-standard and don't necessarily have a standard format has been a significant reason.

It seems that my father's association may be particularly relevant, particularly as he might now be inclined to update his own CV to include a non-standard item.

I guess I should explain this a little.

A few weeks ago my father indicated that he had arranged for a local film crew, headed by a girl/woman [she was a girl but is now a woman?] with whom I went to pre-school, to borrow some scientific-looking equipment to decorate a music video set.

It turns out that the video was released yesterday and has included his name in the credits (under "Spooky Thanks To").

If you are interested in checking it out here it is:



[Embedded Video]

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 34

Absence Explained

Some of you are likely wondering why in the dying days of this year's blog-off I have been a somewhat inconsistent poster. The answer, at least for the most part, is that I have been a little under the weather for the past 10 days or so. I managed to pick up a rather pesky cold from Neil that I have as of yet been unable to shake. Fortunately, this cold hasn't really been as bad as some colds I have had, though I have felt particularly tired for the past few days.

Then, to make things worse, last night I decided to eat enough raw carrots and red peppers to make myself feel even more ill. If you are curious, it turns out that about 2 pounds of carrots and about 2 red peppers will do the trick (though it isn't a trick I recommend doing). The good thing about this trick, at least compared to the cold, is that the effects seem to be of a shorter duration.

I am really hoping that by tomorrow I will be back to something that is much closer to normal.

Edit: I will also blame this lingering illness on some of the poor quality posts that I have made recently. I have definitely been having a harder time concentrating on things like writing and coherence since I have had this cold, which is rather unfortunate for you guys.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 33

Reading week kick-off

So we have now rolled into another reading week, a week long mid-term break that occurs in the Spring semester at Dalhousie. My general sense of things is that, at least for the most part, all three of us plan on using the week to catch up on various types of school-related work, though with maybe a little more relaxation than is the norm.

I know that I have a fair bit of reading to do in association with a few papers that will be due at the end of the term. I also have some research work to do, as well as TA related work. So I certainly have enough things to keep me busy without taking too much time away for social activities.

Of course we did end up starting things off with a rather unproductive evening on Friday night. As I wasn't feeling particularly full of energy on Friday night I decided to stay in rather than attend a political science grad student event that was to involve a compressed period of alcohol consumption (something that I really didn't feel up for) I decided to stay at home with Neil and Rebecca. We ended up watching two movies, In the Loop, a very funny take on modern politics and the Iraq war, and Sunshine Cleaning. All three of us were pretty pleased with both of these movies (which is a pretty unusual success rate). It should be noted, before anyone complains or raises this issue, both of these movies were rented with free rental coupons, so they weren't things on which we spent all kinds of money.

After the movie watching, we continued to lounge around by watching some of the Olympics coverage. If I recall correctly we watched some of the curling. As some of you might have sensed, Neil and Rebecca, by constantly streaming Olympics coverage, have caused me to watch more of the Olympics than I originally wanted.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 32

A Few Quick Notes 398

-It has been hovering around 0 for the past day or so. This is rather unfortunate as it means that most of the snow that fell on Wednesday morning is beginning to melt and make a mess of many of sidewalks and intersections. The other problem is that the situation will quickly become quite dangerous if the temperatures drop below freezing as everything will turn to ice (as is wont to happen in such conditions).

-It seems that Wednesday's snowfall managed to close a number of our local institutions of higher education. Dalhousie was closed for the day, which seemed a little excessive to me. SMU, on the other hand, was only closed for the morning. And if you are wondering, contrary to what was reported by several media sources, it was not a storm at all, just a snowfall (at least in downtown Halifax).

-In my class today I had the pleasure of giving a presentation in which I was able to touch on the 1995 Turbot War (and presumably introduce a number of my younger classmates to this incident). My parents were forward thinking enough in 1995 to suggest that I accompany them to the St. John's harbour front to watch the Estai be towed into port. Though I didn't quite get the significance of the event at the time, I think that I now have a slightly better handle on why it was they suggested we head down to the harbour with thousands of others to watch what turned out to be a relatively historic event.

Generally I think that the presentation went pretty well. I think that I engaged my classmates and presented the material in a way that drew attention to a number of issues that weren't addressed directly by the assigned readings for the week (which was the goal of the presentation).

-In the second half of the class, which was after my presentation, we were joined by Alexa McDonough, the former leader of the federal NDP. It was nice that she was able to stop by and present an opposition politician's view on Canadian foreign policy and the ability of an MP to influence it.

-I guess I should either get back to work or go to bed.

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 31

Chin-ups reset

Because I have so much time on my hands, last night I decided to go to the great reference sources Wikipedia and YouTube to get more information on chin-ups and pull-ups.

One of the first things that I learned is that both pull-ups and chin-ups, as frequently defined in these sources, imply that the individual goes all the way down until their arms are straight, not just to a 90 degree angle (which is what we had been doing). This means that I have been significantly over counting the number of chin-ups I am capable of. So my count went from 27, which sounded rather respectable, to a paltry 7.

Secondly, I was able to finally figure out the difference between pull-ups and chin-ups. It seems that pull-ups are the version of the exercise done with one's palms facing away from one's body. Chin-ups are the version of the exercise with the palms facing towards the body.

Thirdly, this is one of the amazing pull-up/chin-up videos available on YouTube:



[Embedded Video]

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 30

More Chin-ups

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Neil purchased a chin-up bar and that we had been practicing regularly. Since my last update a few days ago we have managed to keep up our chin-up practice. Fortunately, this practice has lead to increases in the number of chin-ups that we can each complete. While I don't have a precise number for Neil, I can say that my new personal best is 26, which is about twice as many as I could do when we acquired the chin-up bar a few weeks ago.

As I haven't recently heard from either my sister or father about how many they can do I am a little worried that I may still be coming up short. Hopefully with a little more practice I will be able to reach a number that is decidedly higher than either of their personal bests, cementing my position as family member capable of the most chin-ups in a row (a very important distinction).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 29

Not such good times

Over the past few days I haven't been posting quite as frequently as I might have liked (there is a competition that I am trying to win). I suspect that at least part of the reason for my diminished rate of posting is that I have been somewhat ill for the past few days.

It seems that Neil had a cold and then somehow transferred it to both Rebecca and I.

While this cold hasn't been too bad, it has been a bit of a bummer. The coughing and the nose-blowing are two related aspects that I am finding particularly unpleasant.

Hopefully I will be back in normal blogging form for the final few days of this year's blog-off (I need to be on the look out for a late sprint to the finish from Neil).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 28

Busy day at school

Though I didn't make it to school until after 1:30 I still managed a few action packed hours before heading home.

Shortly after arriving I was able to return my marked exams to my supervisor. We then ended up discussing some of the goings on related to the Nova Scotia constituency allowance scandal, a subject that is close to my heart.

I was then able to take care of some an administrative matter, though I neglected to take care of a second such matter. Hopefully I remember to do so tomorrow (and hopefully the appropriate staff member will be back by then).

Finally, at 2:30 I made my way to my classroom, where I was scheduled to write a midterm exam. Even though I was writing quickly the entire time I still managed to take basically the entire two-hour time period (as did most of the other students). When I left my right arm was definitely a little tired, which is an exam related feeling that I haven't had in some time (though I guess I haven't written so much so quickly in quite some time). My hope is that my professor will be able to read my writing as I know that at least some words are probably slightly muddled.

It seems that I will have another busy and exciting day tomorrow. Early in the afternoon I going to briefly visit the class for which I am a TA. Maybe I will get to the aforementioned administrative matter before my 2:30 seminar (this week subject is Canadian senate reform).

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 27

A Few Quick Notes 397

-Today was close to 0 for quite a number of hours. The result of these near-freezing (but not quite freezing) temperatures is that much of the snow that we did have has now melted. While this means that Halifax doesn't look particularly wintery, it does mean that walking on sidewalks is relatively easy and safe.

-We had another Ultimate game tonight. Though we started with a seven point deficit (we picked up a player from another team) we somehow managed to forge ahead and win by several points. While I didn't have a particularly impressive game, I did manage to make a few nice catches and floor burns on my elbows.

-On a related note, it seems that the inventor of the Frisbee, Walter Frederick Morrison, died on Tuesday.

-I have some school work that I should be doing at the moment.

-I finished my grading today. Now I just have a few administrative tasks to complete before I return my marked exams to my supervisor.

-We had roast beef and roast potatoes for dinner last night. I was pretty pleased with how things turned out.

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 26

Another follow-up

It seems that my previous two posts were likely coming from positions based on limited or mis-information.

Not only have some of the major media outlets, even those who are providing national coverage, covered a number of the problems that have been faced by the games thus far, they have even dedicated stories specifically to such coverage (though one might question whether the level of criticism leveled is equal to what we might expect had they not paid to cover the event).

Anyway, what I guess I am say is that I am glad to see that some of the problem associated with the Vancouver Olympics thus far have been covered, but that I am somewhat hesitant to accept that they are getting as much as they might given alternate circumstances. That we have heard little about the removals of the homeless seems to suggest that some of my concerns are at least marginally merited.

I guess we have another two weeks to really get a much better sense of the coverage of these Olympic games. Assuming that I am unable to avoid such coverage in the coming days it seems likely that I may have additional comments as more trends become apparent (or as randomness increases).

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 25

Follow-up

Since my last post (which wasn't that long ago) I have been thinking about things and thought that I should clarify a few aspects of my last post.

Firstly, to some extent I understand why major Canadian sponsoring news sources (as well as the others) are not crapping on last night's opening ceremonies. No one really gets much from such a critique, and there isn't much anyone can do about it at this point anyway.

On the other hand, to overlook some of the major flaws and to generally overemphasize the overall quality of the event is problematic. Not only does such coverage, in the face of televised flubs, raise questions about the reliability of media coverage (of this and other events) it also encourages others to highlight what they perceive to have been missed by the major media sources (aspects which were quite obvious in this case).

I imagine that part of the problem is that this is seen as a sporting event and an investment rather than real news. So instead of treating the coverage as though they are covering a real news event media outlets are instead acting as event boosters. This is probably in part because these media outlets paid so much to cover the event and they need to ensure that they don't turn away viewers (thus loosing the opportunity re-coup their initial investment and turn a profit). In some ways this highlights a fundamental conflict when news outlets cover events that they have paid to cover (and is probably why many of the more reputable media outlets don't like to pay for interviews/leads/exclusives). No only do we loose all pretense of those covering the event being unbiased news sources, we aren't even exposed to some of the more flawed aspects of the events.

Obviously, this picture is not perfectly clear as a number of media sources have been covering the snow problems and cost overruns (as well as a number of other problems) that VANOC experienced in the run-up to these games, but I do think that it is likely a pretty fair representation of overall coverage and explanation of media behaviour.

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 24

A rather inauspicious start

So, as some of you may already know, the Vancouver Olympics officially started yesterday night (or early this morning on Canada's east coast if you count from the time of the final torch lighting). While the events of last night caused the Globe and Mail to use the headline "Our Shining Hour," I think that it is clear that this is really quite far way from an accurate depiction of yesterday's Olympic related events.

In some ways, it is necessary to start with events that occurred before the opening ceremonies even started. In the early evening I was saddened and disappointed to learn that the Olympic luge track has already taken the life of one Olympic hopeful, an athlete from Georgia. The diagram of the accident site that I saw in today's paper makes it clear that those who do a poor job of executing the final turn may face serious consequences as instead of just shooting out of the track, you are likely to be propelled directly into support beams. Though I am not a luge track designer, this does seem to me to be a serious design flaw.

Later in the evening, after several hours of regional stereotype after regional stereotype the opening ceremony finally moved onto the big finale, the lighting of the torch. Then, in front of millions of viewers (I couldn't find a total number of viewers though there were supposedly about 13 million in Canada), there was a major technical problem that delayed the progression of the ceremony and then couldn't be rectified. A $40 million dollar event that failed at the critical moment, "our shining hour" indeed.

A more personal problem that we experienced related the coverage that was offered by CTV. Presumably because of the time-overrun related to the aforementioned technical difficulty, the streaming coverage cutout just moments before they were eventually to light the torch, the event to which the whole thing had been building. In a strange way it was a rather fitting conclusion to the evening's events.

Oh, and just moments ago I learned that the riot police were called in to deal with a group of several hundred protestors (some of whom engaged in vandalism and property destruction). Yum!


Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 23

A Few Quick Notes 396

-We had another marginally cold day today. This means that it was below freezing, but not particularly cold or unpleasant. Amazingly, we still haven't had much snow this winter (so I presumes that this means that we are due for a dumping).

-Yesterday we had beef stir-fry for dinner and tonight we had shepherd's pie. I guess I am not doing such a good job avoiding red meat (at least intermittently I have been more successful than I have been these past few days).

-I am thinking that I might try to start some temporary terrariums with herb/for herbs. Just imagine how much time and effort I will save by not having to water this plants on a regular basis. Then, once they are a big bigger and the warmer weather has arrived I can transfer to the outdoors and more standard living conditions.

-I still have some marking to do, but so far it is going well.

-On Monday I have a mid-term. This will be the first mid-term exam I have had to write in years. As I have been completing the readings and whatnot I am not particularly concerned about my knowledge of the material, but I guess I should try to do some reading and reviewing before the exam.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 22

At least some of the fallout

When I went into class yesterday my professor commented on my recently published opinion piece as well as my radio appearances. Another student, who had also been engaged in some of the media coverage as a result of the scandal also joined in.

Then, a few minutes later once class actually got underway, the professor kicked things off with a several minute discussion of the article and the importance of preparing for media interviews (a recommendation with which I concur). She also handed around a print out of the article so that those that missed on the weekend would have a chance to read it.

Today when I went into to talk to my research assistantship supervisor she too mentioned the publication. Only after a few minutes did it come up that part of the reason for good publicity is that someone posted the article by the photocopier in the political science office.

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 21

A Few Quick Notes 395

-We seem to be in the vicinity of 0, one of my least favourite temperatures, particularly when there is snow on the ground. As much as I would like it to drop again, I am quite aware that such a change is likely to come with quite an ice build-up.

-Neil, Rebecca, and I (along with some friends) attended the DAGS AGM last night. To get people in they provided pizza, which the executive only released after the important votes had been taken. The rest of the meeting was a bit of a re-hash of a number of the items which we have discussed all year (which seems to be the point of such meetings).

-Today seems to be laundry day. What fun.

-I am not sure how it happened, but I think that I may be a fan of, or at least appreciate, the Governor General's reserve powers (which are those prerogative powers of the Crown that have not yet migrated to the Executive/Cabinet). Who can guess what I have been reading about recently?

-I have been very generously granting Neil some extra time on his big news. He doesn't seem to be as appreciative of this as I might have expected.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 20

Questionable move

Because it exists, not because I think it is necessarily a good idea, here is the audio of the interview I did yesterday morning on the CBC St. John's Morning Show about the Nova Scotia constituency allowance spending scandal. The amazing thing is that you can even download an mp3 of the interview so that you can listen again and again (it is sure to become my most frequently played track in iTunes in the not too distant future). Also, if you decide you would rather not listen, that is also just fine with me (maybe even better than you listening).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 19

In the news

Yesterday I came across this story about our local grocery store and their decision to stop selling certain seafoods. This is rather unfortunate on a personal front because shark happens to be one of my favourite fish, and more generally in that it suggests a lack of understanding on the part of the grocery store when it comes to the sourcing of some of their foods. One would also think that this ban/change should also be applied to tuna and many of the other large fish that have come under significant pressure in recent years.

It seems that more of the names associated with the Nova Scotia MLA constituency allowance spending scandal have been released. The more I think about it I think that the Auditor General did the public and politicians a disservice by not including more information, including names in his report. The more I have been thinking about the contents of his report the more it becomes clear to me that from the details available it is really hard to get a sense of what was going on. For instance, he doesn't show us how common it was for MLAs to use all of their discretionary (unreceiptable) funds, or for that matter any other type of allowance. He doesn't show us what the trends have been for the past number of years regarding allowance use. If most MLAs aren't maxing out their allowances, something that we just don't know, that it seems somewhat unfair to paint them all with the same brush. If the opposite is the case, and most of their are taking full advantage of these allowances, making this clear to the public would also be nice. This was a missed opportunity to allow the public to really get a good sense of exactly how this funds are used, and by whom.

It seems that the uncle of a friend of mine, and former RNC spokesperson, is considering a run for the House of Assembly to replace the newly appointed Newfoundland Senator, Elizabeth Marshall.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 18

A Few Quick Notes 394

-For some reason unknown to me it is much warmer today than it has been for the past few days. At one point today it was as warm as -1, which is about 15 degrees warmer than good chunks of yesterday. Apparently tomorrow temperatures may even reach above 0 for portions of tomorrow.

-This morning, for breakfast, I made some butterscotch pinwheels. This are basically biscuit dough wrapped around a butter and brown sugar paste. Not surprisingly, these are pretty tasty, though maybe not the world's healthiest breakfast food (maybe I will have to have some vegetables or go for a walk this evening to try to offset this meal). Fortunately I was able to get my roommates to eat a few of the pinwheels, otherwise I am pretty sure that I could have ploughed through most of them in a 24 hour period.

-Today, for the second day in a row, I made use of my new coffee maker. The built-in grinder and timer make it a pleasure to use. I can't tell you how pleasant it is to wake up to freshly brewed coffee. It is certainly much more pleasant than getting up and washing the percolator that is still dirty because of the previous day's coffee related activities.

-In the coming days or weeks I really need to get my gardening plans in order so that I can acquire the appropriate seeds. In particular, I need to figure out which types of tomato plants I want to grow so that I can give them a few weeks of prep growth before I transfer them to the balcony for the summer.

-Our Ultimate team managed another win yesterday. While there were periods of disorganization among the members of our team, we somehow managed to maintain the lead for basically the entire game. While I can't say that I contributed too much to our team's efforts I can say that I don't think that I screwed up too much and I did make a few rather impressive catches.

-In one of my courses I have to submit a discussion paper every Sunday evening (the material covered in the paper will then be discussed on the following Tuesday). While these aren't at all a bad idea, they do kill the better part of my Sunday afternoons. Fortunately I just finished this week's paper, so I should be able to put a few hours of work in on other areas before turning in for the night.

-I have my re-scheduled interview tomorrow morning. I guess I should put a little time in re-examining some of the material I gathered on Thursday evening (as well as examining the new media reports that have come out this weekend).

-Word on the street is that today is Super Bowl Sunday, though had it not been for a commitment of Neil's I would have had no idea that this sporting event was ongoing today. Now that I do know that it is ongoing tonight I can't even pretend that I am going to watch it as we don't have a TV with a functional antenna. I guess that this is further evidence that I am out of touch with the common wo/man.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 17

A Few Quick Notes 393

-We are in the midst of another rather chilly day here in Halifax, though, fortunately, we are not really within striking distance of frostbite (so my shorts wearing will be able to continue unabated for another day). For better or worse it seems that we might be in for a little snow in the coming days, though presumably not as much as they have recently had in St. John's.

-There is some news that I may need to scoop Neil on if he doesn't get his act in gear. This is his official warning that if he doesn't act soon I may be forced to reveal an apartment related development that should really be his to reveal.

-Some friends of ours, one of whom is a regular reader [maybe our first shout out?] and is briefly visiting from Toronto, stopped by for a while last night. While we originally planned on slipping in a few games of Settlers we ended up engaging in more traditional forms of socializing instead (you know, drinking non-alcoholic beer and crapping on professional graduate degree programs). Eventually, like all good social gatherings of the 21st century, things devolved into a stream of funny YouTube videos (particularly focusing on documentaries with characters so incredible that they seem unreal and movies of a similar nature).

-Yesterday, after months of dilly-dallying, I finally got around to making pasta. It turns out that process was much more labour intensive than I expected and it involved a little more drying/waiting time that I originally expected (though fortunately a friend warned me about some of this a few days ago).



After the drying, as can be seen in the photo above, I moved on to the boiling phase of the process. Unfortunately, I over interpreted the instructions about a short cooking length and pretty drastically undercooked the pasta. While it was edible, it really was a little harder than any of us would have liked.

-I should get down to work.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 16

In print

So it seems that the 'editorial,' or what ever it was, that I submitted to the Chronicle-Herald a few days ago has now been published and is in print (here). While I have been actively avoiding examining the printed version of the article, I do get the sense that there have been a few edits (at least in terms of formatting).

As an elementary school student such a turn of events would have seemed unthinkable (except maybe as a perverse joke). Writing anything voluntarily, and certainly something intended for publication, I something that I assumed I would never do. While I am surely over emphasizing the significance of this event/occurrence, it is, nonetheless, neat to see something I wrote make it into print.

As I was walking to the newsstand to buy a copy of the paper (just to make sure it was actually in the print version of the paper) I realized that I have engaged in a public political debate, those mechanisms through which standards and norms in a democratic society are constructed and discussed. Until then I hadn't realized how much easier and safer it felt on the sidelines, where I am unlikely to ever really be called to account for my positions or statements (nor do I likely have to worry that I might accused of libel or slander in the safety of my apartment).

Also, for those purists out there, here is the original, unedited version of the thing that I keep going on and on about.

In 2006 in Newfoundland and Labrador a relatively widespread constituency allowance spending scandal was uncovered by the Auditor General of that province. In addition to outright fraud (which has lead to several criminal convictions) a number of types of inappropriate expenditures were uncovered and documented. In the months following the publication of the Auditor General’s findings a number of modified spending and accountability rules were implemented to more clearly define and limit the types of items and expenses for which constituency allowances could be used and the terms under which payment would be made.

In the past few days it has become known that Nova Scotia’s Auditor General uncovered a series of expenditures made by MLA’s that he deems in ‘inappropriate.’ In some cases MLAs had such things as generators installed in their homes, in others they may have double-billed the province (and then been double-paid) for otherwise acceptable expenses. As a consequence of these findings it seems that the House of Assembly has recently appointed a former Speaker Arthur R. Donahoe to examine the regulatory framework and make recommendations as to how the constituency allowance system might be improved in terms of both effectiveness and accountability.

What is surprising about this situation is not that the Auditor General has found legislators taking full advantage of their accessible and minimally regulated constituency allowances (this seems to be a problem that is somewhat common to legislatures), rather, what is remarkable is that the Nova Scotia legislature did not take the time to examine and modify their constituency allowance regime when serious problems cropped up in a neighbouring province. The Newfoundland and Labrador experience should have been a signal to almost every provincial legislature in Canada to re-evaluate their constituency spending practices and determine if the regulatory regime was adequate and corresponded to public standards of propriety (an area in which the current regime seems to fall short).

In many other jurisdictions and, now apparently, Nova Scotia, only when legislators have been caught behaving inappropriately (or as so perceived by the public) have they acted to implement more stringent regulatory regimes. This type of policy making is reactive rather than proactive, This standard is unacceptable in an era of fast and easy information transmission. Like the recent Auditor General’s report, the resulting reports and recommendations stemming from the Newfoundland and Labrador constituency allowance scandal were online and freely and easily available to all interested parties. While it is not reasonable to suggest that the Nova Scotia legislature wholeheartedly adopt the recommendations of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Green Commission, it does seem reasonable to expect that the report would have at least triggered an internal review and changes of the way constituency allowances were handled in Nova Scotia, if only of a self-interested desire to avoid the risk of a similar scandal in the Nova Scotia legislature.

These discoveries, like those in Newfoundland and Labrador, if nothing else, should serve as a wake-up call to those provinces and jurisdictions that have not recently evaluated their constituency allowance regimes. In the three and a half years time we should not hear about legislator’s ‘inappropriate’ expenditures in another province, other provinces should learn from the mistakes and solutions of provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 15

New growth

For some reason February seems to be when a number of my plants have decided to go through growth spurts. Some of the most notable growth relates to the tobacco plants, many of which are now much taller and beginning to flower. One plant in particular has quite a number of blooms at the moment, and likely will have a few more in the coming days.



Along with plant and this set of flowers, I suspect that quite a number of other plants will begin to flower in the very near future. While I was originally thinking that this might suggest that this plants would soon die, I am now beginning to think that the new growth associated with suckers at the bottoms of the plants may mean that they will live for a little while longer.

The bay tree is also in the midst of a growth spurt. Both branches, if that is the appropriate term, have buds that have begun to open and develop new leaves.



I suspect that a few more similar buds will begin to open in the coming weeks. I am also hoping that I might get a new shoot at the bottom of the plant, as I did last year, but this might be hoping for a bit more than is reasonable.

The banana plant is continuing to pump out new leaves as well, though they have been getting smaller and smaller for months. The newest of the leaves is the smallest that I have seen on this plant and can't be more than a few inches across and about 3 inches long. Hopefully the pattern that the plant exhibited last year, the leaves got longer as the days got longer, will begin to show itself again.

The other plant/s that seems to be finally taking shape is the papyrus. After a year of slow or no growth, new shoots are starting to pop up on a somewhat regular basis. Maybe more importantly, these new shoots are taller and thicker than some of the older shoots, which is nice. Unfortunately, the shoots are still nowhere near as tall and think as those that my mother has been able to grow (though she does have several years of growth on me).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 14

Underlining Fail

I was just reading an article about metropolitan government reform when I noticed the following passage (included here as an image).



It seems that in their excitement, the author (or editor), instead of going with the traditional "emphasis added" decided to go with the more specific "underlining added" but then mistakenly italicized the text instead of underlining it. Swing and a miss.

(And, yes, I realize that it is somewhat ridiculous that I, a frequent maker of mistakes, am making fun of someone for a simple editing mistake.)

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 13

Slight delay

This morning, as planned, I woke up at about 6:45 so that I would be awake and ready for my early morning radio interview, which was scheduled for 7:15.

Almost as soon as I awoke I checked my email and RSS feeds, which is how I start most of my days. Almost immediately I noticed that St. John's was in the midst of a snowstorm that had closed the university, among other things. This didn't bode well for things being on-track as my planned interview was concerned. As I hadn't yet heard otherwise I continued with my preparations, which included making a pot of coffee and reviewing/arranging my notes.

Not surprisingly, a few minutes before I was expected to be on the air I received a call from the station indicating that the storm had preempted the story and that they would likely be interested in re-scheduling for Monday. Almost immediately I went back to bed.

So it seems that I will have the pleasure of re-playing this early-to-bed process again on Sunday night, which is probably a good thing in the long-run but will certainly be unpleasant in the short-run.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron 12

A Few Quick Notes 392

-Today was another rather chilly day, though nowhere near as cold as it was earlier this week. While there were a few snowflakes today, if my memory serves me correctly, there really wasn't any accumulation to talk of.

-We had a nice tofu and chicken stir-fry for dinner tonight.

-I need to try to go to bed early tonight so that I can wake up early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, I really don't see how this is going to turn out well in the end.

-While I was sitting in class this afternoon it became apparent that for some reason just about everyone in class was out of it, even those of us who tend to be quite active and participate frequently. This was particularly strange as I am quite confident that many of us keeners completed the assigned readings, so it wasn't as though we weren't ready. The most likely explanation is that many of us were tired as a result of working late last night to complete papers that were due during today's class.

-I have some marking and research work that I really need to work on tomorrow. Hopefully my modified schedule won't mess me up too much.

-Word on the street is that Neil is a little dissatisfied with a few of my recent posts. He thinks that they were a little to self-referential and void of content. While I think that he is likely correct, they did meet the minimum requirements to qualify for the blog-off, which we at least in part suggested by him, so I don't feel too bad about them. Furthermore, as some of us may recall, he managed to squeak to victory by making a series of such posts in the dying moments of last year's competition.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 11

It continues

So it seems that this whole MLA spending issue has continued on into today, which isn't all that surprising given the breadth of the issues in question.

What was a little more surprising to me was that my involvement in the media coverage of the event seems to be continuing. Early this afternoon I was contacted by a local television station who were interested in taping an interview with for their evening news show. Unfortunately due to class obligations, and a moderate disinclination to be on TV (but really the former), I had to turn them down.

A few minutes later I received a call from another CBC radio station about an interview for tomorrow. In this case I didn't have any conflicting engagements so I was able to agree to do the interview. The downside of this interview is that I will have to get up several hours earlier than normal. I just hope that I am awake and coherent during the interview (which will likely cover more Nova Scotia than the first one) to not make a fool of myself. In preparation for this interview I am catching up on today's media coverage and also reading some of the Auditor General's reports from both Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia (which isn't how I planned on spending my evening as of this morning).

While all of this was happening I received an email from the local paper indicating that they are interested in printing the item that I submitted. Assuming that have space, and I am not making such an assumption, they might print it on Saturday. Because of this possibility I won't post the text here until Saturday at the earliest, as I wouldn't want to possibly scoop myself (or something like that).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 10

Instant Expert

This morning as I woke up CBC was reporting on a story involving a variety of inappropriate constituency expenditures outlined by the Nova Scotia Auditor General in a recently released report. As I listened to this story I was struck by the similarities between this instance of constituency allowance abuse and some of those abuses uncovered in Newfoundland a few years ago. As much as the story struck me as worth following and in my general area of interest I ended up just going about my day as normal.

At about 12:30, while taking a break from my coffee and newspaper, I noticed that I had received an email from one of my professors. In the email it was suggested that I might consider thinking about writing something on the topic given its clear relationship to my recently completed Masters thesis (which looked at the connection between the responses to constituency allowance spending scandals in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland). As much as I was somewhat disinclined to engage myself in such activities I soon realized that the only good reason I had not for taking up such a suggestion was laziness (and that I didn't know what I might write).

Anyway, shortly after reading the email I was at work one my interpretation of an editorial/opinion piece that I was thinking of submitting to the local daily. Not too long after finished the main body of work associated with this self-assigned project I received a phone call from the local CBC radio station, they were interested in talking to me about my take on the scandal (they had received my number from the professor who suggested I write on the topic).

After talking to the CBC guy (presumably a producer of some sort) for a few minutes he asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed in their studio in about an hour. Again, as I didn't really have a good reason to say no I said yes. This did mean that I would have to put the finishing touches on the opinion/editorial piece once I returned.

Before making my way to the interview, which was now less than an hour away (and I had about a 20 minute walk ahead of me to make it to the studio) I quickly skimmed and read the Auditor General's report. For the most part the reading was pretty easy and straight forward, which is one of the good things about such reports. Anyway, with only about 20 minutes to go before my interview I had to leave even though I was still a few pages short of finishing the report (or more accurately, the chapter of the report that dealt with the problems in the House of Assembly).

Soon after I arrived at the station I was seated in the waiting area, where I quickly hauled out my copy of the report so that I could finish before going on the air. As I was finishing the final pages of this report a well dressed man was escorted to the same area. Immediately I recognized this individual, though was a little thrown as I had been told that a Conservative MLA was likely to be on the air before or after me, not someone that looked familiar. Anyway, it didn't take me too long to comfortably reach the conclusion that my first hunch was correct, this other individual waiting to be interviewed was the Auditor General.

Within a few minutes of his arrival a staff member came out to talk to us about timing. Eventually it was suggested that we both just go to the studio and that I sit quietly while the interview with the Auditor General was conducted.

As much as I tried concentrate on what was going on in the interview preceding mine, particularly as his answers were apropos my upcoming interview, I really had a hard time concentrating on exactly what it was he was saying. Fortunately, a few of the words that he used reminded me of points that I wanted to remember (I was able to make a few good notes as a result of this process).

After what seemed like, and likely was, a few minutes the interview finished and the Auditor General was lead out of the room. Now it was my turn.

After only a brief interlude and few instructions about how to comport myself we started.

For the most part I really don't remember much of the interview. I do know that I was speaking incredibly quickly. At several points during the interview I could tell that I was speaking too quickly but I could also tell that I likely wasn't going to be able to speak carefully and clearly and slowly at the same time. I decided that I would sacrifice speed to keep the other two (I really didn't want to let any number of letter bombs drop, and as far as I know I didn't).

I do remember at least two aspects of the interview (though the specifics are somewhat fuzzy). Firstly, the interviewer asked me some great questions that lead me precisely to the places I wanted to go. It was really fun to get such appropriate questions. Secondly, I think I was able to avoid over generalizing, as there were a few questions that were structured in such a way to allow me to make very general statements that I couldn't necessarily support.

Oh, I have absolutely no idea how long my interview was, though I guess I might guess that it was about 6-8 minutes.

Amazingly, after arriving at about 4:30 I was on my way home by 5:00, which seemed to be a pretty quick turnaround time considering that I had to sit around for an interview before I went on the air.

Later this evening, after we returned from dinner, I submitted my opinion/editorial piece. As of yet I have no idea whether or not it has been received or not or whether or not it might be printed in an upcoming edition of the paper. I guess I will know in a few hours whether or not it has been published.

What is so impressive about all of this is that 24 hours ago this issue didn’t even exist (though it was clearly just about to) but within the last twelve hours I have somehow managed to become something of an ‘expert’ who may be consulted. While I am surely overstating the significance of today’s events (as they relate to my life and the world more generally), it certainly does feel a little bit odd to go from being a regular, run-of-the-mill student to someone that respectable media outlets consult for their knowledge and analysis. (Maybe even more impressive is that I have included none of this knowledge or analysis here, even though this post is now more than 1100 words long).

On a related note, if my aforementioned early take on this affair doesn’t end up being published I will try to post it hear in the coming day (because there is nothing like reading something rejected by a local daily for an accurate and perceptive take on things).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 9

A Few Quick Notes 391

-Today was definitely on the chilly side of things. When I woke up it was about -15. And though it eventually reached a high of -14, the temperature has now dropped to a rather frigid -19. Interestingly, the windchill was worse in the morning than this afternoon or evening, though we are still close to the frostbite zone (-27).

-As we were in the frostbite zone this afternoon I decided not to risk it and go ahead and wear pants for my walk to school. In the past I would have tried to prove my manliness by wearing shorts. These actions were incredibly stupid and shortsighted. Frostbite, even if the risk is relatively low, isn't worth risking just for the moderate comfort increased afforded by the wearing of shorts.

-We had tacos for dinner. I went with tacos because they were relatively easy to prepare upon my return from class at 6:00.

-That Danny Williams left the province to receive treatment for a heart condition seems be receiving a fair bit of attention in both the traditional and new media. Not too long ago I noticed a story on the topic in the Winnipeg Free Press, and a earlier today I noticed that the Globe and Mail also included a story on the issue. Of course a number of political blogs also seem to be spending some time and space covering the issue. My favourite thing about all of this is that as of yet very little information seems to be known about exactly what is happening or why Williams is leaving the province for treatment (something that none of these sources seem to deny). Until more information is known about why treatment wasn't sought in Newfoundland it seems a little early to jump to conclusions about his motivations or what his actions say about how he thinks about the Newfoundland healthcare system.

-Not that we have seen a big jump in visitors to the blog, but it does seem that since the blog-off started a few days ago that our numbers have been up marginally. Of course this may have nothing to do with the competitive nature of the event and much more to do with the fact that since the blog-off started I have been posting much more regularly. Of course I will keep an eye on this as the blog-off continues.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 8

How is this possible?

It turns out that some crackers are almost as calorific as junk food?

How can something that seems so insipid actually be a threat to my health and well-being?

I raise this as an issue because last night I happened to eat a box of crackers.

At first I was just going to have a few, which turned into a bowl full. Once I was a bowl into the box it seemed as though finishing the box off wouldn’t be too much of an effort (actually it was almost an obligation at that point as it seemed rude to leave just a few crackers for someone else). So, much to my surprise, I ended up working through a box of crackers with little effort.

This evening I happened to glimpse at the nutritional information on the side of the empty box of crackers and learn that I had consumed approximately 1000 calories in crackers. This came as a bit of a shock as I assumed that I had engaged in some relatively healthy snacking, not in a product that was almost as bad as a chips or candy.

As a consequence of this experience I feel as though crackers have betrayed me. Until now I assumed that they were a relatively safe and good snacking choice. It seems that I was mislead, I might as well eat chips or some other form of fried starch. What a bummer.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 7

A Few Quick Notes 390

-We enjoyed another below freezing day today. Things were a little enlivened by some mid-morning snow, though this didn't seem to do much to ease the temperature.

-Neil and I managed to do quite a good job extending tonight's DAGS meeting. Though I might be a little biased, I think that most of our interjections were pretty reasonable and, hopefully, helpful.

-A few days ago I received my new Canadian passport. It seems pretty similar to my old one, though with an updated photo and expiry date.

-I feel as though I should have more to say, but I guess when one crams out three posts the night before they have likely used a fair portion of their content allocation for the following day.

Blog-Off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron:6

Another riddle solved thanks to the internet

A few weeks ago I noticed that Rex Murphy's column failed to appear in my Saturday Globe and Mail. While I do not necessarily read the column regularly, I do tend to observe its presence or absence.

At first I thought that it was possible that Murphy had just taken a few weeks off, though I don't recall him doing this in the past. Eventually the absnence of the columns seemed a little more ominous.

Tonight, after seeing Murphy's name in another context I decided to see if I could get to the bottom of the matter and figure out why the columns had not been appearing regularly. What I found is that Murphy seems to have left the Globe and Mail and begun working for the National Post (he seems to have pulled a reverse Christie Blatchford).

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 5

Hey, Neil, eat my dust!

As some of you may have noticed by now, Neil, the reigning champion, seems to be a bit of a laggard as far as this year's blog-off is concerned. I am presuming that if I badger him and call him out enough he will eventually engage and try to beat me. I think it is pretty safe to say that his talk of strategy is all bluff.

I do hope that he realizes that he may have to try a little harder this year. He no longer has the generous 5 to 1 advantage that he had last year. He may actually need to put a little effort into this competition if he actually wants to win (which I am quite sure he does).

All of this being said, to be able to beat his 3 to 1 scoring advantage I am really going to pump out quite a number of posts (my goal is at leas three a day). Unfortunately, some of them, like this one, may be more fluff than content (though I will do my best to avoid more than one or two of these a day).

Anyway, Neil, the car has passed and then net is back in place, and the other kids have shouted "game on."

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 4