Third time's a charm?

For the third time Jeannette is giving her Chinafax blog a go.

It seems that with each iteration there is an intended theme.  So far my sense of things is that if there is a theme to describe this attempt at blogging it would be 'projects,' though a very loose sense of the word.  Projects, in this case, might be taken to mean something like a crafting project or a diet-based project.

Anyway, if you are interested please check it out (my felting gets a shout out so it will definitely be worth your while).

Getting my felt on - 3

It turns out I couldn't stay away from felting (or time-lapse) for very long.


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This afternoon I made a small felted bowl-type thing.  I am not yet sure which purpose it will serve, but I am generally pleased with the outcome, particularly for a second solo felting attempt.

The only aspect of the project that I am not quite satisfied with is the fact that some of the coloured wool seems to have bleed through to the other side of wherever it was placed.

Maybe at some point I will even give Jeannette a chance to give her felting stuff a test run.

A Few Quick Notes 555

-After a remarkably warm and rainy day yesterday that wiped out our White Christmas snow we are back to wintery sub-zero temperatures.  Overnight we also managed to replace some of the snow that we lost due to yesterday's rain.  Given the current forecast it looks as though we may be able to ride this wintery mix into the new year.  Hurrah.

-Because of some recent holiday baking miscalculations I  recently found myself with an extra litre of buttermilk in my fridge.  Jeannette, as one who seems to have been completely unaware of the existence of buttermilk until a few days ago, has been less than helpful when it comes to suggestions for how to use this stuff before it spoils.

Fortunately I am on the case and actively trying to come up with reasonable uses for this specialty dairy product.

This morning I threw some into some pumpkin bran muffins with positive results.  Actually, I think I am now going to be disappointed with buttermilk-less pumpkin bran muffins.

When I next have to make bread, probably in a few days, I will try to toss some in.

Even with this two projects (one completed and one still in the conceptual stages) I will still probably have between one to two cups of buttermilk left.  Hopefully I can come up with something reasonable in the next few days.

-I am hoping that later today I can finish off the rest of the turkey by preparing a turkey pot-pie.  Once this is taken care of I think I will be through with Christmas leftovers.

Getting my felt on - 2

So the whole felting project moved along rather quickly.

Soon after starting with my basic and equipment and some unspun wool...

...I ended up with a mushroom shaped something or other, though it is currently functioning as a top-heavy pin cushion.

My only problem now is that I have an urge to do more felting and I can't think of anything useful to make.

Getting my felt on - 1

After a two-year hiatus I plan on getting back into needle felting tonight. My plan is to start small. I am going to try to start with some kind of needle cushion type thing. This will then be used by Jeannette when she uses her new sewing machine to make me socks and other sewing machine-made clothes. (No more clothes shopping for me.) The great thing about such a project is that just about any outcome will be at least somewhat functional as a pin cushion. That said, I really do hope to end up with somemthing functional and nice. Here we go.

As the year comes to an end

At the beginning of the year I was really cranking out blog posts at an unsustainable and unhealthy rate.  By the end of February we already had more than 140 posts.

Not surprisingly, it didn't take Neil long to comment on this prodigious rate of production.  Neil suspected that I might overwhelm readers before long.

And Neil being Neil he was also interested in turning the whole situation into something of a game.  Neil, Rebecca, Jeannette, Peter, and I all supplied guesses as to how many posts I would have by year's end.

My recollection is that a few people, maybe Rebecca and Jeannette, guessed close to 500 while I thought my own production would be closer to 400.

Amazingly, with little conscious effort to make it so, I suspect that my number will the the number that is closest to the actual number of posts.  And while some of you might point out that this isn't surprising as I was the only one in the position to control the output of blog posts I don't recall ever trying to manipulate the number so that it would be closer to my guess, though I did know that I would be embarrassed if I had close to 600 posts and had allowed other commitments to fall by the wayside.

Anyway, maybe this is all just a way of drawing attention to the fact that we are now approaching the end of the fifth full calendar year of Montifax's existence.  I guess I am not only surprised that it still is an active entity, but that five years in it was looking as though we would have more posts than ever.

To our loyal (and presumably masochistic) readers, thanks for sticking with us.  Our readers more than anyone else know that even after five years of blogging we really aren't that good at it yet and that even a few more years probably won't help that much.

Big week for the federation

Earlier this week news came out that Ottawa was, at least to some extent, relinquishing its use of the spending power to shape national health policy.  The likely eventual consequence of such a decision is that provinces will have more flexibility in terms of the structure their public healthcare systems.  Of course whether such changes in the way provincial programs are funded actually will lead to many changes (or more divergence than we already see) is not yet known.

And now today one of the federal government's big centralizing moves, the creation of a national securities regulator, seems to have been quashed by the Supreme Court of Canada.  Or as they put it:

The  Securities Act as presently drafted  is not valid under the general branch of the federal power to regulate trade and commerce under s. 91(2) of the Constitution Act, 1867. 

 Or if you want a slightly more detail rich version of their position:

In sum, the proposed Act overreaches genuine national concerns.  While the economic importance and pervasive character of the securities market may, in principle, support federal intervention that is qualitatively different from what the provinces can do, they do not justify a wholesale takeover  of the regulation of the securities industry which is the ultimate consequence of the proposed federal legislation.  A cooperative approach that permits a scheme recognizing the essentially provincial nature of securities regulation  while allowing Parliament to deal with genuinely national concerns remains available and is supported by Canadian constitutional principles and by the practice adopted by the federal and provincial  governments in other fields of activities.

Anyway, though it may be too early to tell how the healthcare funding changes play out, it looks as though this has been a pretty good week for a decentralized federation.  Of course, if you aren't a particularly big fan of Canada being a decentralized federation and are all about national standards this may have been one of the worst weeks for you in many years.

No matter where you stand on the centralization/decentralization debate, at least you will all now have good grist for the conversation mill this holiday season.

Holiday animation fun

A few days or weeks ago Jeannette suggested that we try to meld her love of making small clay figures with my love of horrible homemade stop-motion animation in holiday-y clip.

After weeks of procrastination (or in this case actually do more important things) we finally got around to it last night.  After about an hour of production time (including the creation of the figures and set, script conception and writing, principal photography, and editing) we were able to crank out the following 1:05 second clip.

 

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Hope it was worth the minute.

And then there were three

As I mentioned yesterday, for the past few months we have been receiving calls from collection agencies for two individuals.  Given the consistency of these calls I just kind of assumed that these were the only two individuals for whom we would receive calls.

It seems I was wrong.

Just moments ago I received a call for a third individual, though in this case I don't think that it was a creditor calling.

I can't help but think that we managed to get a a particularly active recycled phone number.  Two to four calls a day is starting to get a little annoying.

Doesn't ring true

Grocery stores are some of my favourite stores.  Not only are they great places to visit in your hometown, but they are really wonderful entry points to local culture while travelling.  Grocery stores provide a pretty unvarnished glimpse into what people are consuming and how much they are paying for it.

Given my appreciation of these stores it may not come as a surprise that while visiting such establishments I frequently try to get a sense of some of the prices.  I am particularly interested common foods, like flour and bread, that one can find in a pretty wide range of locales.

Anyway, the reason for this discussion of my love of grocery stores and grocery pricing is because I just read a Globe and Mail article about higher food prices that really didn't ring true to me.

To be a little more precise, aspects of the article didn't ring true to me.  It wasn't really the general thrust of the article with which I had a problem (I agree that food prices do seem to be heading up), but it was a particular sentence that bothered me.

Canadians have had years of access to cheaper food, and on average devoted far less of their household budgets to groceries than people in other countries.

While it may be true that food costs in Canada are lower than in some other countries, they aren't countries I have visited.  When in the two non-Canadian countries with which I am most familiar, the US and the UK, I am always struck by the lower food prices.  More expensive wheat, particularly given Canada's prominence as a wheat producer, always strikes me as a particularly noticeable trend here.

Furthermore, though I didn't follow all imported food prices closely at the time, I don't recall ever seeing a dramatic price drop in Canadian grocery prices when the dollar surged in value a few years ago (a trend which seems to parallel the continuing discrepancy in US/Canada book prices).  For instance, shouldn't oranges, a entirely imported product, have taken something like a 30% price dip to reflect our increasing purchasing power?

For some reason I keep get the sense that in Canada the consumer is frequently not reaping the benefits of changes in global market places (though had the Globe and Mail cited their source it is possible I could follow up and learn that my sense of things is off).

A Few Quick Notes 554

-Though we have finally dropped down to sub-zero temperatures in Wolfville, things are still looking quite nice today.  A few recent dustings of snow are making things look particularly festive.  I am even hopeful that we may manage to squeeze out a nice sunset this afternoon evening.

-My Christmas preparations, aside from some gift shopping and thinking about all of the cleaning I will likely need to do, started in earnest today when I made some bread that I eventually intend to use for the turkey stuffing.  As much as I am willing to admit that it does seem a bit weird to intention bake bread to allow it to go stale, it seems even weirder to me to buy bread with the intention of letting it go stale.  Anyway, the deed has been done and the bread is now working its way towards staleness.

-The individuals previously associated with our phone number are still receiving daily calls from creditors.  While I seem to have talked a collection agency into not calling, we are still receiving regular calls for another individual from a major financial institution.  As I have already spoken to the company once I don't really know what my next step is (the calls are automated, making one-on-one interactions with the staff difficult).

(While writing this I had to deal with another such call, though this time from a person.  I suspect I was talking to a collection agency, but as there number was blocked I can't confirm this hunch.)

-I probably listen to too many podcasts.  I consume them while cooking, cleaning, walking, procrastinating, and riding the bus.  They're the best.  And there's little I like more than discovering a great new podcast with an archive I can compulsively listen to over the course of a few days.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that I have recently found two podcasts that I am in the midst of acquainting myself with.  The first one, HOW TO DO EVERYTHING, which seems to be NPR/WBEZ associated, is pretty light and concerns itself with a Richardson's Rounduppesque assortment of topics.  The second one, 99% Invisible (which I discovered thanks to a recent Radiolab episode), is a little more serious and generally deals with topics relating to architecture and design.

How to construct an argument

I think I have been able to distill the fundamental approach to argument making used by many current undergraduate students.

The whole things boils down to a simple two step process.

Step 1: Define a term

Start by defining a term very poorly. To make this most of it you probably want to omit a few key components of the definition.

Example: A lady is something that has hair, legs, breasts, and a circulatory system.

Step 2: Identify an object

You then want to identify something that has these characteristics. Whether or not the entity should be labelled in this way is besides the point. Of course, once the faulty association between the term and the object has been made no effort should be made to confirm whether or not this position conflicts with the common understanding of either the terms or the objects in question.

Example: Gandhi had hair, legs, breasts, and a circulatory system. It has been conclusively proven that Gandhi is a lady.

Voila, you're done. You now have yourself the basis of your term paper. Add a little repetition and a snappy conclusion and you have your final product. That didn't take very long did it?

Not one, but two

So it seems that we our phone number was likely associated with not one, but two individuals being hounded by collection agencies. While it seems that I was able to shake one of the companies, and hopefully everything for the first guy, companies are still calling about the second guy.

Fun.

Do you think they will give us a Christmas morning call?

10 tips for a more successful essay

I am currently in the midst of grading a batch of first year social science essays. What always impresses me about the essay grading process is that so many of the same mistakes and missteps are made by relatively large proportions of each class.

Not that I expect people to necessarily find or read this, but I thought that I should maybe try to compile a few tips based on some of the most common problems I have encountered while grading essays.

Anyway, here goes.

1 – Though it seems that most of the essays I grade do it, starting one’s essay with a broad, but unsupportable, claim is not a particularly good idea. The person grading your essays know that you don’t really know that ‘Everyone loves X.’ Don’t start your essay by giving the grader a reason to think that you don’t know what you’re doing.

2 – Proof read your essay before submitting it. Make sure that what you are saying is what you actually want to be saying. Nothing gives away a rush job like an incoherent essay.

3 – Make sure that you use the right word. There are all kinds of homophones out there waiting to be misused. Don’t fall for them. ‘Poll’ is not the same as ‘pole’ which is not the same as ‘Pole.’ Not only are such mistakes embarrassing in hindsight, but they also display a lack of attention to detail and are frequently a good sign that the writer doesn’t really know much about what they are writing about.

4 – You aren’t Dickens - so don’t write like him. Though they may be tempting, avoid artificially long and complex sentences. While these guys may juice your word count they also make the essay harder to read (and many times there are also issues on the execution front). Clarity is essential. If the grader can’t read the essay it doesn’t matter that you managed to squeeze in a few extra words.

5 – Make sure that your essay is the required length. If the assigned essay is to be five pages long then it should be five pages long. Though reasonable graders will usually accept some flexibility around the edges, being 20% or 30% over or under is asking for trouble. The worst part about mistakes of this nature is that they are pretty easy to avoid. Before you even submit your essay you know how long your essay is and how long it should be. Make sure that these two things match.

6 – If the assignment requires that you use a certain number of scholarly sources then use at least that number of scholarly sources. Failure to meet the basic requirements as outlined in the assignment is a great way to lose points. Oh, and while you’re at it, why not trying using a standard citation format?

7 – An unsubstantiated fact or direct quote without a source isn’t worth very much these days. It is essential that you cite the sources of your information. Not only will this help you avoid charges of plagiarism, but it will also help you strengthen your position. And if you have done the work why not demonstrate that this is the case?

8 – Avoid repetition. Graders know if you are just saying the same thing again and again. And it gets old fast.

9 – Don’t write with your thesaurus. In my experience overuse of one word is almost always better than the misuse of several words. If you would like a larger vocabulary, always a laudable goal, try hitting your dictionary in the off-season so you are ready to go come essay writing season.

10 – Don’t underestimate the intelligence of the person grading your essay. If it is a rush job they will know. If you don’t know what you are talking about they will know. And there’s a good chance they will be able to tell if you have claimed a professional’s writing as your own.

Bonus Tip – And maybe this is the most important one, start early and do the work. It will show.

So it's going to be nice tomorrow?

Over the past few days I have heard reports about a 'weather bomb' that may be approaching the region. Apparently much of the province is for some heavy rain and wind.

When I went to the Environment Canada site to find the local forecast and warnings I was surprised to see that they didn't appear to have any for the region.

I then decided to check the general warnings page to see if they might have been listed there but not cross-posted to the local page. While there I saw that there are, in fact, warnings for much of the province, but we seem to live in one of the three counties without a weather warning.

I presume this means tomorrow won't be anything special?

And now it's the basis of a lawsuit

You may recall that a few months ago I brought up the issue that in Newfoundland and Labrador voters were able to cast special ballots before an election had been called.

Though I didn't hear anything about this issue from any of the parties during the election, it seems that a close election result in Burin-Placentia West has lead to a lawsuit being filed on this very issue. The NDP candidate is claiming that these provisions violated the Charter.

While I have no idea how this lawsuit will play out, I am certain that this is an important issue.

Hopefully a better process will be in place before the next provincial election.

No, not all skiers

So the bill about requiring ski helmets in Nova Scotia that I mentioned yesterday has now been posted online. As you may recall, I was interested in whether or not the requirement would actually apply to all skiers, as was reported in the CBC article, or if it would specifically apply to downhill skiers.

It turns out that this very issue is dealt with in s. 2 of the bill.

The purpose of this Act is to protect the health of Nova Scotians by requiring people to wear protective helmets while downhill skiing or snowboarding at ski hills where people pay to ski or snowboard.

Of course, I guess this means that if you are just out in the woods or at an abandoned ski hill there would be no requirement to wear a helmet.

There are also sections of the act that seem to provide the potential for abuse.

7 (1) For the purpose of enforcing this Act and the regulations, an enforcement officer may, without a warrant,
(a)investigate any complaint of a contravention of this Act or the regulations and examine any person to determine if a contravention has occurred;
(b) from time to time and at all reasonable times, enter the property or premises of an owner or any other person if it is reasonably necessary to do so in order to determine whether or not this Act and the regulations are being complied with;
(c) request that a person remove the person's helmet and provide it for inspection;
(d) require a person to provide the person's name and address or proof of identity; and
(e) do any other thing necessary for the purpose of enforcing this Act and the regulations.

Is it really necessary to allow enforcement officers to be able to request ID and proof of address if there is no suspicion of wrong-doing? Or that people must submit to helmet inspections? What about s. 8 of the Charter?

8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.

Can this invasion really be "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society"?

Yesterday, while looking for a copy of the bill, I happened to come across the press release issued to announce the impending introduction of this bill. Something that caught my eye in the press release was the claim that "The Snowsport Helmet Act will be the first legislation of its kind in the world." Could this really be true? Had no other jurisdiction tried to implement a mandatory helmet law?

Well, after a few minutes of searching I came to the conclusion that the claim may not be entirely accurate (it likely depends on your definition of 'first of its kind'). It seems that in California legislation was introduced, and passed by both houses of the legislature, that would have required those under sixteen to wear helmets while downhill skiing. Though the bill had legislative support it was eventually vetoed by California first post-Schwarzenegger governor.

So if you take 'first of its kind' to mean 'bill requiring some segment of the population to wear helmets while skiing' it is clear that this bill is not the first of its kind. On the other hand, if you take 'first of its kind' to mean 'bill requiring all downhill skiers to wear helmets while skiing' then the claim may hold water, though I can't claim to have done a particularly extensive search.

All skiers? Really?

CBC Nova Scotia has just reported that "The Nova Scotia government plans to pass a law requiring all skiers to wear helmets." Not surprisingly, the story doesn't have too many details on the proposed legislation.

I can't help but wonder if it is really necessary to require cross country skiers to wear helmets as they majestically make their way through the countryside at sub-10 KPH speeds. Requiring cross-country skiers to wear helmets is practically like requiring a walking/running helmet. Until I get to see the text of the bill I won't know if this really is the intent of the legislation, or if this is just another instance of sloppiness in the original media report.

My favourite kind of email...

...is the kind in which the message starts with something like "As you are aware" and then the writer conveys bad news that you didn't already know. A few years ago I learned about not getting a SSHRC fellowship this way, and today I learned about someone leaving a job.

I think the special force of this email structure comes not only from getting the bad news, but also from the fact that it indicated that you are really out of the loop or not with it. And that's exactly how you want to feel when you get bad news.

It's gone on long enough

For some reason when one moves up from fast food coffee chains to more expensive coffee houses certain differences are immediately apparent. At least as far as the coffee is concerned I see most of these changes as positive. For instance, I do like having some choice when it comes to roast or whether I would like an espresso-based beverage (not that this is a choice I often make). But, unfortunately, there is one coffee-based difference that seems common to many of these operations that I really dislike. For some reason, these places do not add milk or cream to the coffee before it is handed to the patron.

Maybe the most obvious reason for my dislike of this practice is that the pourers routinely leave room in the cup for milk or cream. As someone who takes my coffee black this means that I am being shorted coffee and not making up for it by taking advantage of the available (relatively more expensive) condiments. This is all the more galling as I’m paying more for the pleasure of being shorted coffee than I would pay for coffee at the cheaper fast food coffee places where I’ve never been shorted on coffee just because I like it black.

My second problem with this practice is more of a safety/spillage concern. So instead of handing me a to-go cup of coffee that is ready to consume, this places will hand me unlidded cups of hot coffee. I know that I am unlikely to spill this coffee on myself, but when I am handling multiple flimsy paper cups at the same time I do enjoy the comfort of a lid.

Of course getting a lid for the coffee is usually another issue. Instead of having the lids near the cash register they are usually near the milk, so that those adding milk can grab them when they have done. Of course, if you won’t want milk this means a trek to the milk stand. If a group ahead of you is at the milk stand you may have to wait or contend with other customers ineptly milking and lidding their coffee. Oh, and this area is usually a mess as people have been spilling milk and sugar since opening time. And as a black coffee drinker spilled milk and sugar are exactly what I want to deal with after I have just ordered a beverage without those ingredients.

And if I have ordered a beverage with those ingredients, which only happens when I am ordering for others, I don’t want to have to figure out how much milk or sugar are typically served with coffee. And even if I knew how much were desired, that I have to add the ingredients myself makes life more difficult when placing an order for a group, a process which is relatively straightforward at most fast food coffee shops. And if nothing else, isn’t service what we’re paying for at a place like this?

A final consideration, and though it doesn’t really impact me directly would seem to be of some significance to the milk in coffee segment of the population, is that when cold milk is added to hot coffee (rather than the other way around) more damage is done to the protein in the milk. Put another way, adding coffee to milk means that more of the nutritional benefits of the milk are be passed along to the consumer than if milk is added to coffee. Ironically, the fast food coffee chains typically do it the healthy way.

So given these concerns, and more that I haven’t dealt with, I don’t understand why this trend seems to be spreading. How has there not been a major outcry from the coffee consuming public to end these unsafe and unhealthy practices? This inferior service model must be stopped.

That explains the daily phone calls

Since we have had the phone number we have now we have been getting all kinds of calls for someone named Johnson. These calls started within hours of the phone line's activation.

My guess would be that we are currently getting about a phone call a day for this Johnson, presumably the previous occupier of this number.

After a while Jeannette guessed that the frequency of the calls suggested that this Johnson likely owed somebody money. Well, after just having receiving an automated call from a collection agency I feel that I am in a position to confirm this hunch.

The upside is that we now know why we are getting so many calls. The downside is that we now also know that until we convince them that we are not who they are looking for we will continue to receive daily calls.

Apparently we are approaching that time of year again

For the past few days Jeannette has been slowly ramping up for the holiday season. One of primary ways that this ramp up has manifested itself is through gingerbread person themed ornament versions of people (fictional and real).

At first Jeannette started with pretty run-of-the-mill gingerbread men.

Then the neckwear started to change.

First there was a scarf.

Then a standard issue necktie...

...and a bow tie.

I am proud to say that a few of my suggestions were even accepted and gingerbreadized.

One of my earliest suggestions was 'construction worker.'

I then moved on to eighties classics when I suggested Richard Simmons.

Jeannette then decided to run with the popular persona theme and chose to do an Einstein, ...

...MJ (from the Beat It music video),...

...Freddie Mercury, ...

...Luke Skywalker,...

...and Han Solo and Princess Leia.

Oh, and because it was Jeannette making these there were also a few zombies.

And just to demonstrate that Jeannette's skills aren't anything special I decided to make one of my own, a school crossing guard.

Not to brag too much, but I totally nailed it. It's pretty clear that I have captured the essence of crossing guardness more than any other artist before me.

Then, to try to top my crossing guard, Jeannette moved to the 3D realm with this third rate wintery scene.

I mean really, can you get more hotel room art than this? Where's the passion and feeling that you see in my crossing guard? Where's the humanity?

Anyway, we're definitely in the ramp up phase. If we aren't careful we will soon be overrun with homemade seasonal crafts.

To help with that party vibe

Frequently the Killam Library has something of a party vibe. Instead of studying, many students sit around at large tables and socialize. On some evenings it is a particularly raucous and happening place.

I am now starting to wonder if this state of affairs isn't related to something that I found on the fifth floor.

A place that makes the location of its 'staff ounce' known is surely the obvious place to go for a party. Apparently all kinds of the undergrads knew about this before I did.

Very delayed reaction

A few years ago I posted about a fire that took place near our South End Halifax apartment. The fire, though not particularly large, did manage to damage a few restaurants and some row housing.



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Since the fire in January 2010, at least as far as I could tell, not much had happened with the buildings. Though the adjacent buildings were soon fixed and the restaurants re-opened, the restaurants in the primary fire location did not re-open in the same place.

Well, after almost two years, it seems that the building is finally being torn down.

I guess this means that there will now be space for new development beside Cornwallis park. I would be curious to know if there are already plans in place, or if they will only begin thinking about how to fill the space now that the building has been torn down.

Post-shovelling

At about 10:40 the snow had almost come to a complete stop. Obviously this meant it was not time to start shovelling.

I set out with the shovel left to us by the previous tenant. At first thing seemed to be going quickly as the snow was light and easy to shovel. Then, after a few minutes, I noticed that the shovel I was using was really quite short. It didn't even come up to my waist.

The shortness of the shovel, I noticed, was forcing me to bend over quite dramatically. While I could sustain this position for a while it soon became clear that the entire driveway was going to be a bit of a challenge.

The other problem that I soon noticed was the that the snow seemed to be getting heavier as I kept going. I am not sure if this was an illusion, or if increasing temperatures were causing a change, or if the snow nearer the road was heavier, but an already bad situation was seemingly becoming even worse.

Of course, I managed to use the collapsable emergency shovel to clear enough snow to allow us to access the car. Assuming that we aren't ploughed in over night we should even be able to exit the driveway without too many problems.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to use this driveway access to make our way to a local shovel store to acquire a more suitable shovel. I really don't think I can do the driveway again with that less than adequate shovel.

Oh, and I would guess that we had about 40ish centimeters of snow.

Still?

We are close to fourteen hours into this thing and it is still snowing (though it has finally slowed). For the first time in hours my 'reference point' has finally started to accumulate again. I am not so sure why this seems like such a victory.

I also managed to take a photo that makes it look as though it is still quite a storm.

This one is likely a more accurate representation of the current state of affairs in once-sunny Wolfville.

Anyway, this has definitely lived up to the forecast. I guess there is a first time for everything.

This is getting crazy

It has now been snowing non-stop for about twelve hours. It seems that we must be getting close to 30 cm, if we haven't already passed it. Of course, my 'reference point' hasn't been of any use for the past several hours. (And we have moved from a 'snowfall warning' to a 'winter storm warning.')

What has been amazing about this storm is that it has lived up to, if not exceeded, its hype. The other aspect of this that I find amazing is that given the lead time there hasn't been much ploughing or salting. And I guess I also find it amazing that so many places didn't close today. Didn't they see how much it was snowing?

Only halfway there?

Are we really only halfway through this thing?

It's really getting old now

The snow keeps on falling and leaving my increasingly useless reference point.

It's getting old now

This snow stuff keeps on coming. If I had to guess I would say that we have at least 15 cm, though I am not sure how accurate a guess that would be. And the wind has definitely started to pick up. The wind has picked up so much that my 'reference point' is now pretty much completely useless as any indication of the amount of snow that we have received.

Maybe this next photo will give a more accurate sense of the conditions here.

As I hope you can see, we are still in the midst of the snowfall.

And it keeps on coming

Yup, it's still snowing heavily.

And still cold.

It's worse than I thought

Just a few minutes ago I returned from a trip out into the eye of the storm to retrieve a stuck Jeannette (she and the car had been unable to make it up one of the steeper hills in Wolfville). Anyway, any sense that I might have had that things were slowing down was probably premature. The snow is still coming down quite quickly and it is incredibly slippery on the roads. Even walking on the roads can be tricky. Furthermore, while it still isn't particularly strong, the wind has definitely started to pick up a little.

For those of you who are becoming attached to photos of my reference point, here is the picture I took at about 1:15.

My sense of things is that the accumulation is increasing. Unfortunately, when choosing reference points, I didn't even do a particularly good job of choosing a point that would clearly show the full extent of the accumulation. I would guess that this post is several centimetres shy of what you would find on the ground.

And it continues, though maybe it has slowed?

My 11:45 photo seems to suggest that we are still seeing some accumulation.

I guess if I really wanted to I could try to figure out how much accumulation happened between the points in time that I have documented and then determine if things have actually declined. I am not sure if I have the energy for such a calculation.

And it seems that the storm system might be shifting southward into our territory. Presumably a continued shift in this direction will mean worse weather for us as the day continues.

I know you will all be waiting with baited breath for my next update.

Some nice accumulation

At about 10:15 I took this photo.

At about 11:00, or 45 minutes later, I took this photo.

Not only have we had a fair bit of accumulation in the past 45 minutes, but during that time the snow flakes also seem to have become a little bit larger and fluffier.

It's certainly something

Well, as predicted we are receiving some snow (though when I woke up it hadn't yet started snowing). And so far the snow and the gloomy forecast have lead to quite a number of closures (with more in the works).

What troubles me is that it looks like the majority of this system is heading north of much of Nova Scotia so I really don't know how bad it will be for the rest of the day. I guess if it makes a sudden shift south we will be in for it, but otherwise I wonder if we might not just get the gentle, if steady, snowfall that we are getting at the moment.

Of course, if/when this turns to rain things could become quite treacherous on the roads.

Anyway, I guess I will allow myself to be distracted by the weather conditions as the day progresses, though I hope the extent of this distraction is limited. There is nothing worse than being completely and uncontrollably enthralled in a non-event.

This looks yummy

It seems that the first major snowfall warning of the season has been issued, and if the satellite imagery means anything I think that we will be due at least for some quantity of precipitation tomorrow.

Hopefully I won't have to spend too much time out in the snow/rain.

And I guess this also means that we may have to pick up some salt for our steps.

Apprently I have cried wolf too many times

It seems my recommendations of my own YouTube videos aren't worth very much these days. About a day after my latest recommendation my recommended video has only received 8 'views,' at least 2 or 3 of which came from me (and during this time we've supposedly had 15 unique visitors and some number of (dozens?) RSS subscribers).

I suspect that my inclination to post absolute garbage to YouTube for the past five years has made you hesitant to give anything I post a shot, and I guess I understand that. At best most of it is only moderately entertaining, and at worst some of it is downright atrocious.

Anyway, this isn't some kind of lame attempt to get more views for my vid (it's Ok, but nothing too special), just an effort to let you know that I know what you think about my vids (and to let you know that I'm a little relieved to know that our readers do have at least a modicum of taste).

Maybe my best time-lapse event yet

[Embedded video]

This was taken over the course of a few days in early November.

While this isn't anything earth shattering, I do think it is one of my more worthwhile attempts at time-lapse video.

A Few Quick Notes 553

-Though I didn't spend much time outside today while the sun was up, my recollection is that it was a nice day (though maybe a bit chilly).

-Bright and early this morning started doing some dishes. Once I finished with the dishes I moved on to a single loaf-sized batch of bread. The bread looks good, but I haven't yet gotten around to sampling it.

-After a few hours of work I took a break to make a batch of hard candy. The break became somewhat extended when I managed to burn the first batch (the temperature seemed to jump from 300 to 350 in about 60 seconds). Fortunately, the second batch went according to plan.

What didn't exactly go according to plan was the shaping of the resulting candies. It turns out that they were a little harder to shape by hand than we hoped. Fortunate we were able to cut them in a way that resulted in candies of a reasonable size.

Now that we have something of a handle on the process we may try another batch in the near future.

-Even though I spent a while with the dishes the morning they have continued to accumulate through the day (I guess the baking and candy making projects haven't helped). I hope that somehow by the time I go to bed they are under control.

Baking misadventures

A few weeks ago some friends were coming over. I thought that having some freshly baked muffins on hand might be nice.

Of course, part way the baking process, at about the time when I realized things were going according to plan, I came to the realization that I had forgotten to add the baking powder.

The resulting muffin shaped dough pucks ended up kind of looking like muffins, at least until their innards were exposed. And while aspects of the flavour were as expected, the overall package was quite disappointing.

Today, while making a scone recipe I have made dozens of times I neglected to add the called-for sugar. Of course I didn't notice this until part way through the first scone.

In retrospect this omission likely explains why the scones looked a little different than normal.

I am really hoping that this will be the final instance of my baking forgetfulness for the foreseeable future.

I have a hard enough time single-handedly eating full batches of baked goods when they are properly prepared that I don't need to give myself additional hurdles, particular if those hurdles make the output less palatable.

A Few Quick Notes 552

-Though chilly, today was a beautiful day. Much to my surprise, there are even remnants of the dusting of snow that we received a few days ago. I think it is safe to say that we are definitely into late fall now (even if on Wednesday I saw people sitting on the sidewalk in shorts and a tee-shirt while reading the paper).

-Today, at Jeannette's insistence, we made our way to a local Christmas craft fair. While much of the content was a little too Christmasy for me, there were a few vendors selling some really neat products.

Though for some time Jeannette has been telling me that this thing is a big deal, I really didn't think that it was going to be as big as it was. Not only were there more vendors than I expected (maybe even twice as many), the event seemed to be attracting hundreds of people, likely thousands over the course of the three-day event. It was really quite surprising.

-A few days ago I had the pleasure of doing some multiple choice grading. The upside is that this process is much easier and faster than essay grading. A downside is that, because I wasn't involved in the creation of the test, I don't have as good a sense of the areas where the students are and aren't doing well.

-I am in the midst of keeping a food diary for kidney stone related reasons. Knowing that I will have to record each thing I consume has encouraged me to think a little more closely about my consumption patterns. While, at least for the most part, I don't think I am too bad, I do think that this process has encouraged me to skip a few unnecessary even snacks that I might have otherwise been careless enough to have. (I am not sure how the observation process is impacting the data collection, but there is definitely some impact).

-I should probably head back to the kitchen to check on some food I am preparing for dinner. Assuming all goes well we will be having some dal (with vegetables) and rice. If I manage to get the recipe down I may end up making this on a semi-regular basis.

I was starting to think I had imagined it

For a few years I have had a vague memory of a television show from my childhood. Basically all I could remember was that there was dancing and that the the title was something along the lines of The Rockets.

Shortly after I mentioned this to Jeannette, though she had no recollection of the show, found a few clips and the theme online.



[Embedded video]

It turns out that the show as pretty much as I remembered in that it had some kids, dancing, and a Rocket based title. Apparently it was filmed in Winnipeg.

Now that I have reacquainted myself with the show I just want to know how long the show was on the air and why I possibly would have watched it. Also, does anyone else remember this show? I can't ever remember anyone talking about it.

And if it turns out that this clip really gave you a taste for more you are in luck, it seems that a number of episodes are available on YouTube.

Is it just me or are do these bare more than just a passing resemblance to one another?

I have recently come across a few passage that deal with the election of speakers in Canadian legislatures. As I was reading these I occasionally had a strange sense that I had read some of the passages before.

From Monpetit and Marleau's House of Commons Procedure and Practice (2nd edition):

The election of a Speaker has precedence over all other matters. No motion for adjournment is accepted until a Speaker is declared elected and installed in the Chair. Once he or she has been elected, after the customary thanks and congratulations have been expressed and after announcing the time and the date for the Speech from the Throne, the Speaker adjourns the House until the next sitting.

From British Columbia legislature's Standing Orders:

11 (a) (4) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no Motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the Chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting, unless otherwise ordered.

From the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly's Standing Orders:

2 (7) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the new Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting day.

From the Rules and Procedures of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan:

40(4) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the Assembly shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the chair. If the Assembly has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the Assembly until the next sitting.

From the New Brunswick legislature's Standing Rules:

The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary time of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the Chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting, unless otherwise ordered.

A quick end for the new Occupy NS site?

It seems that since my last post the police were called to the Occupy NS site to make sure that the occupiers vacated Victoria Park. Based on the photo accompanying the CBC story it looks as though the removal was really happening quite quickly.

This surprise tactic, at least in the short-run, seems to have worked for the city. They seem to have removed the occupiers from the city parks. Of course, I suspect that we will have to wait a few days to see if this all fades away quietly or if the protestors mount some form of rebuttal.

I am also curious to see if the protestors question the validity of the eviction notice and claim that they were given permission by the city. Unfortunately, as the news stories thus far seem to be focusing on the position of the city officials I don't really have a sense of how the protestors are responding to these developments, though I don't get the sense that there has been much of a fight so far (though I guess it's still early).

Hopefully more news will make it out shortly.

Update: Based on Twitter reports I gather that there have been a number of arrests during the eviction process. I guess we'll have to wait a little longer to see exactly how many there are in total.

Big news on the Occupy Halifax/NS front

Though I haven't mentioned anything about the Occupy NS/Halifax front for several days the protest has been on-going. After a negotiated departure from the Grand Parade (in advance of today's Remembrance Day ceremonies) the occupiers set up camp in Victoria Park, a site across from the Public Gardens. As far as I knew things were in motion for the Occupiers to return to their original location in the near future.

It seems now, at least according to the Chronicle Herald and a city notice, that this may not be happening. The city seems to now be attempting to shut down the protest before it returns to the Grand Parade. Apparently the city is now going to try to enforce the no camping and park closing rules that they have been lax about for the past few weeks (That the city seems to think that it is Ok only to enforce rules when it wants to is troubling and, at least to some extent, undermines the principle of Rule of Law that is so important in Canadian society).

In many ways this was a neat little maneuver by the city. The protestors left the site directly in front of city hall voluntarily based on negotiations with the city (a city that seemed to imply that it would support a continued occupation - it even suggested land that could be used for an encampment site). Now, once the protestors have vacated the prominent location, the city has decided it will shut them down.

Though I don't know all of the details, from the outside this definitely seems a little duplicitous on the part of the city government. Not only were the camps allowed to pass health and safety inspections, something that seemed to implicitly suggest some level of governmental approval, but the protestors were also explicitly offered an alternate park-based location for their protest by the city. This latter fact seems particularly pertinent.

For the city, which seemingly approved of the activities protests, to now try to shut them down, if anything, is asking for trouble. I suspect that many of the protestors and those who support the protestors will feel betrayed by the city. As I haven't been in Halifax for the duration of the occupation I don't really know what the public's position is on the matter, but I suspect that it could have a big impact on how this will all play out (and who knows, maybe the city knows that the public doesn't support the occupation). In any case, the city seems interested in forcing the issue sooner rather than later.

Sadly, this isn't particularly surprising

It seems, at least according to a recent report by the CBC, that the new farmers' market in Halifax is having some financial difficulties.

Sadly, this isn't really much of a surprise.

One of the issues that Neil and I discussed years ago when we first heard about the new facility was the location. Even though the last location was a little out of the way, this new location is hidden behind a hotel and isn't in a part of town that many locals would visit organically. Actually, given the concentration of tourism activities in the area it is even possible that the new farmers' market is in a location that many locals would actively avoid, particularly in the height of cruise ship season.

Related to the location problem is that there is also a parking/walking problem. I am not sure if the parking for the site is ideal. I kind of get the sense that there probably isn't enough parking during peak times.

Alongside the parking issue is a walking issue. The new site is incredibly unpleasant to reach on foot. There are a few cross-walks that seem to be missing from the mix that would allow pedestrians to conveniently access the market.

All of this is to say that transportation-wise, things don't appear to be well designed so that the location is easy to access.

I suspect that another problem that the Halifax farmers' market is having is that many of their vendors aren't really farmers'. It's one thing to buy an omelette or some freshly prepared food on a Saturday morning, but I am not sure that the food-service vendors are really attracting people during the week when the market is open. At least when I visited on during the afternoon last week most of these places weren't open.

Actually, another problem, and a tricky one, is that the market may be open but most of the vendors aren't. When I was last there it seemed as though only a few of the vendors were open for business. And if the market doesn't have enough selection to allow a shopper to forgo a trip to the supermarket they may instead to forgo the trip to the market.

So being a little out of the way and having an incomplete slate of vendors likely means that an extra trip to farmers' market just isn't worth it for most people during their day-to-day grocery buying activities.

Oh, and not that I am always one for 'character' in a building, but the warehouse feel of the new location does not really induce me to visit.

The worst part is, aside from scaling back to only being open once or twice a week, I really don't know what they can do about the problem as the building has now been constructed and a location change is off the table. Hopefully they manage to come up with something in the near future as it would be disappointing to see the collapse of such a well-respected Halifax institution.

A strange contrast is. the Wolfville farmers' market. They too recently acquired a newly remodelled building and, while I don't know the particulars of their finances, I get the sense that things are going quite well.

It can be funny how things work out sometimes.

Where did this idea come from?

I was just listening to an interview on CBC about financial shenanigans in a small Nova Scotia town. At some point in the interview the interviewee, a small business owner, suggested that it was clear that the town's finances now needed to be managed more along the lines of how a business would be run.

What I want to know if when businesses came to be seen as as models of financial propriety?

Is it not the case that there are frequently businesses that are involved in various financial skulduggery? My recollection is that the questionable use of business managed funds lead to the big economic downturn in 2008. And is it not also the case that Olympus is currently being investigated for the questionable financial management practices?

So in the face of countless examples of business/corporate mismanagement/questionable management of funds why are they seen as the examples that public sector should follow?

More poking about on the internet

Not surprisingly, my poking about on the internet didn't end with my examination of The Council on Governmental Ethics Laws's membership list.

I soon found myself looking at Standing Orders/House rules for various legislatures in Canada. While looking at the standing orders for Newfoundland and Labrador and the House Rules for Nova Scotia I was surprised by the fact that neither had been amended in the past few years. The last time the Newfoundland Standing Orders were amended was 2005. The last time that Nova Scotia's House Rules were amended was 1998. Between these two amendment dates and now both of these legislatures have had significant spending scandals that seem to have had no impact on procedure.

This means that in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia the newly constituted Management Commissions that came about because of these scandals are not mentioned. Though these Management Commissions aren't technically matters of procedure, that they aren't mentioned at all seems a little strange to me.

It should also be noted that neither of these two sets of rules seem to deal with matters relating to matters of ethics or conflict of interest.

I think these last two points become a little more significant when these provincial rules are contrasted with the House of Commons' Standing Orders. Both the Board of Internal Economy (the federal analog to provincial Management Commissions) and the Conflict of Interest Code are included in the Standing Orders. Though I guess I will leave it to you to make of this what you will.

Am I missing something?

I have been doing some work this afternoon and through a somewhat circuitous route I ended up on looking at a list of members of The Council on Governmental Ethics Laws. Not surprisingly, most of the members on the list appear to be governments or public entities with a pretty explicit stake in the governmental ethics arena. There are also quite a number of law firms, which I guess also makes sense (presumably some specialize in this area of law).

I also noticed that there are a few technology companies that are listed as members. For the life of me I can't figure out why Apple, Oracle, and Xerox would be members of such an organization.

Given that there are at least three such companies with membership in the organization I presume there is a reason for this trend, I just haven't been able to figure it out yet.

Finally, my first glimpse of an Occupy site

Since deciding to come to Halifax for a few days one of the things I have wanted to do is take a look at the Occupy NS site on the Grand Parade. Though there has been more media coverage of the protest as a result of the city's request that the protestors vacate the square to allow things like the Remembrance Day celebrations to take place, my sense of the physical reality was still lacking. How many tents were there? How full was the Grand Parade? Did it look like a tent city?

Finally last night Jeannette and I had the chance to drive by the occupation and get a look at the set up. Much to our surprise the Grand Parade was not full, there seemed to be a line of tents along the back of the paved area, but much of the rest of the pavement was unobstructed. Though there may have been one, I didn't see a single burning barrel (and we all know it's not a real strike/protest if there isn't at least one burning barrel).

As this view of the site was relatively brief I may have to find some time tomorrow to examine the site a little more closely and really get a sense of how things are working at the Occupy NS headquarters (especially considering this is a protest site that has passed it's health and safety inspection).

Oh, and in related news Occupy Magazine seems to have come out with its second issue a few days ago. As far as I can tell this issue also seems to be comprised primarily of articles harvested from other sources rather than original content. In this issue I really was expecting to see more content exclusive to this publication, but maybe that isn't the type of publication they are going for. Maybe if I make it to the Grand Parade tomorrow I will be able to pick up a print copy of the magazine to inspect in more detail.

Jack-o-Lantern time

So because we finally live in an apartment that might be visited by Trick-or-Treaters we decided it would be appropriate if we had a jack-o-lantern. Because my family has a long tradition of having politically themed jack-o-lanterns I realized that I needed to come up with an appropriate and well-known figure on the Canadian political scene to morph into a jack-o-lantern.

Of course, it didn't take long to narrow the pack to Darryl Dexter and Stephen Harper. Given Dexter's more limited weight on the national stage Harper became the choice by default.

The next part of the project was to figure out how to get Harper's face on a pumpkin. At first I tried to find a stencil online. Much to my surprise I was almost immediately successful.

Harper

Not too long ago the Globe and Mail made the above stencil available to the public. Sadly, this wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I was less interested in caricature and more interested in just a standard rendering of Harper.

After we purchased our pumpkin last night I settled on making my own stencil, even though I had no idea how I would go about such a task.

This morning I started my stencil making project by looking for suitable photos of Harper. Almost immediately I came across the classic Harper and kitty shot.

I then chopped the head out and started to turn it into a stencil.

After just a few iterations I had something I thought I could work with.

With my stencil now in hand I was reading to start the carving process. To start I affixed the
stencil to the pumpkin and began tracing the black areas by jabbing the pumpkin with a pin. After maybe twenty minutes I had a largely useless partial outline of the stencil. Eventually I reattached the stencil and began re-tracing the black areas with a knife.

Eventually the face began to take shape from the mass of the pumpkin. And then almost immediately it was clearly a face, if not clearly Harper's face.

Now that I have had a chance to examine my work my guess is that my stencil wasn't quite as good as I thought it was. Maybe it was also a little too large? Anyway, I think I will need to work on my technique a little for next year's iteration.

At the moment I suspect that my pumpkin would really only be recognizable in the following context.

And that's hardly a context in which I can display the pumpkin.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 4

It turns out that the reading Jeannette and I planned on attending was not adversely effected by the stormy weather we were experiencing this afternoon. Amazingly enough, our drive from Wolfville to Windsor wasn't even much slower than expected as by the time we left most of the rain had stopped. (The reading/performance was great. I am hoping to see the performer doing a slightly different performance at the end of the week.)

When we went out to the car we did discover that we didn't manage to escape the storm unscathed. One of the rose bushes adjacent to our driveway was blown over into our driveway. And as the plant doesn't seem to have become uprooted I am not exactly sure what we are supposed to do with it. I am kind of hoping that once the wind dies down and the plant has a chance to recuperate that it will just right itself. Maybe this is overly wishful thinking.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 3

Much to my surprise, it seems that at least one of the closest power outages has been resolved. I am taking this to be good news in a number of ways. Firstly, the conditions are not so bad as to prevent power crews from working. Secondly, power crews are actively working to repair damage. Thirdly, and this may be a little presumptuous on my part, but I take this to mean that they don't think that things are going to get worse in this area.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 2

The power outages seem to be spreading across the provinces quickly. The effect has likely been intensified by the fact that for some period of time the NS Power Live Outage map was not adding new outages as they were occurring. As far as I know outages are now being added as they occur.

The other big development (to go along with the return to real-time of the Live Outage map) is that our region now has both a rain and a wind warning. A little while ago we just had a rain warning (even though it was pretty windy).

Hopefully the event that Jeannette and I are hoping to attend later this afternoon won't be adversely effected by the weather. As it is, I know of at least one local event that has been cancelled because of the weather.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 1

Well, it seems that we are actually in the midst of a storm, though not to the extent that some parts of the New England states are (I have seen photos of substantial snowfalls). At the moment all we have to complain about are high winds and rain.

Of course, now that this has been going on for the past few hours we are starting to see power outages in the province. And one of the three power outages is just a short ways away from us. Fun. At least we have gathered our 'emergency supplies' and are ready, at least as ready as we can be, for a possible power outage.

It seems that Neil and a few of the matheletes may have been more seriously impacted by the storm in that at least one of their flights was cancelled on their way back from a conference in the US. I still don't know the extent of their delays, though I imagine that today's developments haven't made things better.

I guess I should get back to storm watching (i.e. work).

A turn towards the absurd

A few days ago I heard about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's negative reaction to Mary Walsh's ambush-style interview at his Toronto home. It was also reported that shortly after the ambush took place he had called 911.

After seeing the relatively tame footage of the event I assumed that the suggestion that hadn't actually dialled 911 was probably true. Who would call the police when a prominent Canadian TV show, busily doing the thing for which they are most famous, was busy doing their thing (even if you might make a reasonable argument that their behaviour was inappropriate)? As one can see in the video, they don't have any interest in hiding who they are or what they are doing.

Well it seems that the suggestion that Rob Ford didn't call the police was completely wrong. Apparently he called the police not once, but twice. It is now being reported that the second call was laced with expletives. Apparently there have now been complaints filled by the dispatchers on the receiving end of these calls.

Mary Walsh, the 22 Minutes correspondent involved in the incident, spoke to a St. John's CBC show about the incident. If you are interested, you can listen to the interview here.

We shouldn't be getting this traffic bump

A sure sign that there hasn't been enough coverage of the Occupy Nova Scotia festivities is that this blog is getting a surprising number of visitors as a result of our discussion of the protest. Given the size of the regular readership and very limited impact of this blog this shouldn't be happening. We shouldn't be one of the first results in the Google blog search category when you search for 'Occupy Nova Scotia,' we just aren't that big or important.

Where's the rest of the Nova Scotia blogosphere on this issue?

Finally a story that deals with challenges to Occupy Nova Scotia

Much of the relatively sparse media attention devoted to the Occupy Nova Scotia/Halifax event has been relatively devoid of coverage of how non-occupiers feel about the Occupation. This struck me as quite noticeable.

Didn't Haligonians working in the downtown core have opinions on the Occupy protest? Didn't the city have an opinion on the appearance of a tent city in on of its parks? Or were they all in favour of the Occupy Nova Scotia encampment? These questions and many more went unanswered.

And even though the fact that the the municipal government has issued an 'eviction' notice to the protestors prompted another story from CBC, issues surrounding the community's response are completely absent.

It seems that another component that was absent from the CBC story, but that was included in Halifax Media Co-op coverage, is that while the city has requested that the protestors leave the Grand Parade they have suggested an alternate location for the protest to continue. So the city isn't really shutting the protest down, just suggesting a change of venue. Of course, it's possible that this less prominent location, if agreed to by the protestors, will have a negative impact on the visibility of the protestors.

Anyway, the notice to leave the Grand Parade will likely lead to another round of media attention, though I can't help but wonder how comprehensive the resulting coverage will be. Certainly what we have seen so far, at least as far as I am concerned, is lacking in depth and breadth and has left the public with a very incomplete sense of the encampment as it currently exists in downtown Halifax.

A big week for federal appointments

It seems that just a little while ago Harper announced the replacement for outgoing Auditor General Sheila Fraser. Michael Ferguson, Deputy Minister and former Auditor General in New Brunswick, will be the government's nominee.

What seems immediately notable about Mr. Ferguson is that he seems to have spent most, if not all, of his career in a variety of jobs in public service in New Brunswick. This is in contrast to Ms. Fraser who spent a years working in a number of capacities, including in the Office of the Auditor General, before she became the Auditor General. While I know next to nothing about Mr. Ferguson, it does seem at least noteworthy that an internal candidate was not the nominee.

The other big appointment news of the past few days were the two Supreme Court of Canada nominations from last week.

I found the following passage from Harper's press release on the subject particularly noteworthy.

Both candidates were highly recommended to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada following comprehensive consultations with the Attorney General of Ontario, senior members of the Canadian Judiciary, prominent legal organizations and members of the public.

Even if these appointments are 'Ontario appointments' it seems a little strange that Ontario was the only province consulted on the matter. Even if the appointees are to come from Ontario (a practice that might need review given than in more than 60 years Newfoundland has never had a judge on the court), their rulings will impact the entire country. Thus broader consultation seems justified if not essential.