A Few Quick Notes 547

-For the past few days we have been in the midst of something that feels quite a bit like a heatwave. Even now, just before 9:00 PM, it is still over 25 degrees and quite hot. Of course, I know that what we are going through is nothing as bad as people in big cities are dealing with, but it is nonetheless quite unpleasant.

-Tonight I took a trip to the grocery store. As I was approaching the store's entrance I noticed a Jaguar with the vanity license plate "MYY JAG." I couldn't help but thinking "JAG OFF" might have been more appropriate.

-It seems that in the past few hours there have been a series of attacks in Norway that have resulted in the deaths of more than 90 people. In the same timeframe British singer Amy Winehouse also died. The CBC has sent me four email alerts about the former story and two about the latter. Is it just me, but does the Amy Winehouse thing really even deserve a first such alert, and on a day when their is meritorious of an alert? Interestingly, the CBC Alerts Twitter feed seems to be have provided many more Norway updates than those they sent via email and has not really provided much more news about the Winehouse death (as sad and unnecessary as it may be).

-Over the past few days we have been able to harvest about 2 dozen beans. And while this may now sound like much, it does mean that we have now harvested more beans than we have bean plants (at least of a particular variety of bean plant). Jeannette was also able to harvest enough lettuce for a salad earlier today. If things keep up like this we may actually get our money's worth out of this year's seeds (though I think that that might be a little ambitious).

Two news sources, two very different conclusions

A few minutes ago I happened to come across a Reuter's story entitled "Cargo bomb found in UK could have exploded over U.S." This struck me as strange as I recalled recently seeing a similar story, though the competing headline suggested that the bomb would have exploded over Canada. Though I am not sure if this is the story that I saw, the Washington Post presently has such a headline: "Bomb would have exploded over Canada, data show."

I guess the good news is that we can't accuse Reuter's or the Washington Post of just copying the other's work and claiming it as their own.

More helpful government information

Fast on the heels of the recent Statistics Canada information moratorium that I mentioned in the last post comes an issue with the opposite problem from the US.

The US Department of State (Hilary's stomping ground) makes public information for American (though the information is accessible to anyone) about countries worldwide. They recently released an update on their profile of Sweden, a known-to-be-relatively-safe Scandinavian country. The best/least useful part of the recent release relates to the potential for encountering terrorist activities in Sweden. They state that

Sweden remains largely free of terrorist incidents. However, like other countries in the Schengen area, Sweden's open borders with its Western European neighbors allow the possibility of terrorist groups entering/exiting the country with anonymity. You should remain vigilant and exercise caution.

Thanks guys, that information is really useful. Why couldn't you have just said something like "As safe or safer than the rest of Western Europe." By suggesting, even if only obliquely, that Sweden may be at risk of a terrorist attack the State Department undermines not only the usefulness of this report, but all other instances in which they pass on information about terrorist threat levels.

Making such a statement is akin to including safe handling instructions with shipments of NaCl (salt), they just encourage people to discount all such warnings as baseless. Given that there are situations in which such warnings (whether they be about terrorism or the dangers posed by chemicals) are important it is important that they not be de-valued and made a mockery of.

A Few Quick Notes 454

-We are presently in the midst of another beautiful day in Halifax, though, if the forecast is to be believed, this won't last through the end of the day.

-Our Ultimate play-offs are tomorrow. While we were unlucky enough to have our first game at 9:00 AM, we were also unlucky enough to be in a position that won't allow us to win anything more than a few of our games. Consequently, at least a few of us are going into this with a great outlook.

-I should probably head to the store this afternoon to pick up a chicken for dinner. On the other hand, I guess I could consider cooking the chicken breasts we already have? Though the more I think about it, this latter options seems like a bit of a suckers game - it strikes me as being just a bit too easy. Aren't humans supposed to have to work for their food?

-Apparently today is the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre. In many ways it is hard for me to believe that that event took place nine years ago. Some aspects of the post-attack rush seem as vivid as if they had happened yesterday while other aspects, such as the resulting Afghanistan war, seem as though they have always existed in the background and thus don't merit much attention (though I am not saying that they do not merit attention).

On a more personal note, today is the day after the ninth anniversary of me not getting to see the Boston Red Sox play the Yankees at Yankee stadium. Tomorrow will be the ninth anniversary of me having to go into work at the UN early and then help various countries sign on to the anti-terrorism resolution that was to be brought before the UN General Assembly (something that was not as much fun as you might think it would be).