Windsor Pumpkin Regatta

Over the past few years I have occasionally heard about the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta, an event where giant pumpkins are turned into boats and raced. Of course, after hearing about Martha Stewart's failed attempts to attend such event I began paying even more attention to the existence of this event.

Though I may have been interested, for years I wasn't close enough to the even to take it in.

This year, for the first time, I was close enough to Windsor to make the trip. Actually, Jeannette, her parents, and I were all close enough to make the trip.

Yesterday afternoon after an early holiday meal we made our way to Windsor. Within a few kilometers of Windsor it became apparent that we were about to be attending a popular event.

Traffic slowed to a crawl and we soon saw that people were beaching their cars almost anywhere they could find room. The highway off ramps were almost completely lined with parked cars. Not surprisingly, as we drew nearer there were even fewer parking spaces.

At about this time we also began to see the crowds. My guess would be that there were a few hundred people on the Falmouth side (the starting point) and maybe a few thousand on the Windsor side (the termination point).

Another surprise was the weather. Instead of the nice seasonal 10 degree day that I expected we were confronted with a sunny day in the high twenties. Almost immediately I was hot and felt as though I was burning. Of course because it is now October I didn't think to wear sunscreen.

Though we arrived at the scheduled starting time instead of immediately seeing giant pumpkins sail across the water we first had the pleasure of listening to a number of dignitaries speak through an insufficiently powerful PA system. The only amusing aspect of the speeches was that we could hear delayed versions of the speeches coming back across the water from the Falmouth PA system.

Eventually they were ready to start the first heat, or the experimental heat. Instead of calling this heat the experimental heat they really should have just called it the "with frame and motor" heat.

Almost immediately one of the three boats pulled out ahead. As the race went on their lead continued to grow and grow. I think that the winner likely finished a minute or two ahead of their competitors, which is a rather impressive gap given the relatively short length of the course.

The second, and final, heat included the single and double paddle powered pumpkins. Though I expected that the doubles might have an advantage it soon became clear that about five singles were way out in front and were clearly going to win. Eventually one of the singles pulled away and developed quite a lead.

Many minutes after the first single finished the bulk of the singles began to near the finish line. And after this bulk made their way to the finish line the stragglers gradually came towards the shore.

I think that all of the doubles were in this last group. And also seemed to be the case that those individuals in the doubles were not effective rowers.

The more we thought about it the more we realized that the doubles were actually mostly filled with girls, likely because two adults wouldn't fit in most pumpkins. Anyway, it seems that these doubles were really quite slow. Though, much to our surprise, a few of these inexpertly rowed pumpkins managed to finish the race. There was one pumpkin in particular that we really thought was going to tip over at several points.

And after these two heats all that was left was the awarding of medals. Though we didn't stay around for the medals ceremony we head towards the dock to examine the pumpkin boats before we left.

This inspection also allowed us to see how the motorized pumpkin boats worked.

I was a little disappointed to see that a number of the motorized boats used the same design and that it appeared that these were anything but experimental and that rather the same design has been used year after year. Maybe next year they should require all participants to come up with new designs?

So while the event was definitely a pumpkin regatta I feel that it could do with a bit more sprucing up to really make it into a full-fledged outing/afternoon. As it stands the whole thing is over in about an hour and a half, and many of the thousands of people were out of their in less than an hour after it started. Hell, you can't even buy pumpkin themed confections while you are watching the races. Windsor is really sitting on a goldmine with this event so it is unfortunate to see them failing to capitalize on it.

Starting points for improvement might be to increase the number of heats. Two heats is just not enough pumpkin boat racing. They should also try to incorporate a few related events. Maybe they could have farmers selling pumpkins or pumpkin baked goods or even a pumpkin smashing event (for the misshapen/rotting pumpkins that many farmers must have). Basically there should be so much to do that people won't want to leave without spending a few hours and dollars in Windsor.

Today was a wet one

So it turned out that the forecast regarding rain wasn't too far off. Today was a wet one. I even saw some field flooding in some places.

Oh, and I finished my comps today. What a bummer to have to deal with them on the wettest day of the year, but at least they are over.

Slowly ramping up

It seems as though after something of a slow start the storm is finally starting to ramp up a little. The rain is no longer as intermittent or as inclined to fall straight (some is now being blown sideways onto our windows). Of course, even with this ramp up we are still a long ways away from anything approaching a serious storm, but I guess we are at least heading in the right direction.

Since my last update Jeannette and I gathered up a few emergency supplies and placed them on the kitchen table. Amazingly, I was able to rustle up about four flashlights, a dozen or so tea lights, batteries, and a hand crank operated flashlight/radio combo. Hopefully we won't need to use any of these things.

Oh, and we have also mentally prepared ourselves in case we need to heat up canned foods with candles. I have even been thinking about I could rig things up efficiently.

I really hope we don't have to go without power tonight. That would be a real bummer. And as I have to drive in to Halifax tomorrow I really hope that the roads aren't in particularly rough condition tomorrow.

Fortunately, at least for me, it looks as though the storm system may be veering towards Newfoundland.

I guess we will just have to wait to see if this is actually what is going to happen or if we will be hit with the full force of this system.

Think back to December 2006...

Back in December 2006 who would have imagined that Dion, Ignatieff, and Rae would all end up leading the Liberal party within five years?

I know that no such thought crossed my mind. To have even suggested it would have made you sound like a crazy person.

So as to prevent such a prediction gap in the future I wonder if I should suggest that is likely that all of the major contenders for the NDP leadership will eventually lead the party within 5 years?

I think I hear something

I think I just heard the first few raindrops of the forecast deluge. I guess now we just have to sit back and watch as the rain falls and determine if what we end up getting was worth the rainfall warning. At least as far as I am concerned this process of weather observation will add a little levity to my night of studying.

Transparent hype or watery reality?

It seems that a heavy rainfall is being forecast for much of Nova Scotia and adjacent regions. I have also seen that at least two municipalities (Halifax and Wolfville) have go so far as to warn their residents to take precautions in anticipation of the rainfall.

I really hope I don't need to tap into my non-existant storm back-up kit. That would be a real bummer.

Of course given the weather forecasting track record in this part of the world one might reasonably think that this weather warning might be a little over blown.

I guess I will have to wait and see if the predicted heavy rainfalls do arrive this afternoon or if this was all for nought.

(My secret inside suspicion, based on the satellite imagery) is that there may be something to these warnings, though I will have to wait to see bad it will actually be.)

This is big

In 2008 Harper almost lost his minority government (at least in part) because he was considering the elimination of per vote subsidies to political parties. It seems that now that Harper has a majority he is planning on re-introducing the plan. Assuming all goes according to plan in just a few years the per-vote subsidy will be completely phased out.

Given the relatively strict limitations on party contributions, this change will likely have a significant impact on the major Canadian parties. Who knows, maybe some parties will no longer be viable entities.

Whether you are a fan of these subsidies or not this change is big and will likely have a pretty significant impact on the way political parties at the federal level operate in Canada.

I don't feel so classy anymore

A few days ago I mentioned that I had just received a direct mailing that suggested I was a global business leader and encouraged me to subscribe to Bloomberg Business week. Today I saw a Groupon deal that offered a better deal on Bloomberg Businessweek to the general public.

I am a little bit hurt to find out that my direct mailing might not have actually based on some assessment of my personal traits and that they were really just trying to sell magazine subscriptions. For a second I thought that I might have actually been something of a trend setter.

This is unacceptable

A few minutes ago I was reminded of a situation that has been allowed to continue on the Government of Newfoundland website that is completely unacceptable.

While the Department of Government Services provides online access to its Registry of Companies, one can only access the database if they are using Internet Explorer 6.

In case you aren't up on these things, Internet Explorer 6 was first released in 2001. According to the Wiki article about Internet Explorer 6 suggests that "Microsoft now considers IE6 to be an obsolete product and recommends that users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8." A Microsoft website dedicated to eradicating Internet Explorer 6 goes are far as to say "Now that we’re in 2011, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye." This same site also suggests that only 2% of Canadians use this browser.

So to get back to my original point, by allowing access to the database exclusively through an outdated browser the Department of Government services is effectively failing to provide access to this data about Newfoundland companies to the vast majority of the Canadian population. That this situation has been allowed to persist is completely unacceptable.

Special Ballot Application Update 4

Well, after a little delay I was finally able to get my special ballot in the mail today. If all goes well my complete ballot should arrive in St. John's on Monday or Tuesday (and this is with the next day delivery option).

While it is a bummer that I had to spend $10 to send my ballot I am glad that it will arrive in time to be counted. There is nothing more frustrating than to have a special ballot that you know won't be counted.

One thing that I didn't mention about the Newfoundland special ballot process is that the ballot comes with a return postage paid envelope. This is something that I think should be included with federal special ballots. Though as far as I can tell this is the one aspect of the Newfoundland special ballot process that is better than the federal process. Sadly neither agency provides the voter with a list of approved candidates or voting options. Apparently you are just supposed to know who is running in your district.

Hopefully this will be the last of my special ballot updates.

Special Ballot Application Update 3

I had hoped to have my special ballot in the mail by this morning. Unfortunately, I failed to give it to Jeannette to drop off at the post office. Because it is due on Wednesday and I don't trust Canada Post to be the least bit prompt with regular mail I will probably have to send my ballot by Xpresspost tomorrow. Bummer.

The upside of all of this is that I should have a ballot that will actually be counted. I am sure that some of my past absentee ballots have not been so fortunate.

Don't I feel classy and important

Just a few minutes ago Jeannette checked the mail and found that the only piece of mail today was a flier from Bloomberg Businessweek advertising a special introductory offer. If I take this offer I will get 26 issues of the magazine for only $20 (I am not as tempted by this deal as I am by The Economist deal that would see me get 12 issues for $15 if it is a better per issue rate).

What I found particularly interesting about this ad were a few of the passages that were supposed to convince me to accept their offer.

The first such passage I particularly liked as it makes it sound as though I am a global business leader. And isn't that something that we all want to be?

In an effort to attract our key demographic audience of senior executives and global business leaders, we're pleased to offer you a special discounted rate on the weekly relaunched Bloomberg Businessweek.

As as much as I would like the following passage to apply to me, I think it is very unlikely that as a TA I will be able to take advantage of this recommendation.

The cost of your Bloomberg Businessweek subscription may qualify for reimbursement from your company. Consult with your business manager and keep top portion for your expense records.

Seeing as I am not actually a "global business leader" or "senior executive" with an expense account that could be used to pay for this subscription I may have to give this promotion a pass. Maybe what I find more surprising is how I ended up on such a highbrow mailing list? I wonder if as I decline these offers I will gradually slide down the prestige scale until they hit me with an offer that is so cheap I can't refuse?

Special Ballot Application Update 2

Well, when I went out to check my mail this evening I found that my special ballot had arrived. This is actually a fair bit earlier than I expected it to arrive. It seems that the factor that I wasn't accounting for was that Elections Newfoundland and Labrador sent my ballot via Xpresspost - something that I may have to do to return it before the deadline.

Of course, my special ballot did not come with a list of candidates or parties that have candidates and as the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website doesn't provide such information I guess I will have to rely on the party websites to know who are the candidates in my district.

Anyway, I am just glad to have the ballot with enough time to submit it before the October 5 deadline.

Special Ballot Application Update 1

I still don't have my special ballot.

Things are getting tight if I hope to be able to return my ballot to Elections Newfoundland and Labrador by October 5.

I wonder if I will end up having to use an Xpresspost like service to return my ballot?

More details required

A story that I just read on CBC's website really left me wanting more details and a little clarification and again reminded me that much media content should be consumed with a critical eye.

First of all, while the story is primarily dealing with the appearance of caffeine in non-cola carbonated beverages it does not mention the precise dates on which changes were made to allow caffeine in non-cola beverages (according to Health Canada it was March 2010), nor does it even address all relevant changes to policies relating to caffeine in non-cola beverages. All that the article mentioned is that "Health Canada extended the use of caffeine to non-cola soft drinks last year." Part of the problem I have with this lack of information is that this date doesn't jive with my memory of their availability. In particular, they make reference to IRN-BRU being unavailable until this change, though I am sure that I purchased I purchased IRN-BRU in Canada before March 2010. If I had to guess I would have said that my impression was that it has been regularly available in specialty food shops/sections for the past five or six years.

Additionally, in their discussion of this change they completely neglected to mention the regulatory changes a few years ago that allowed for the sale of energy drinks, a type of product that for some time had been unavailable in Canada even while they were widely available in Europe and the US. When did this change happen and isn't it relevant in a discussion of the increased availability of caffeinated carbonated beverages? Why would they later mention the sale of energy drinks and their availability to children if the changes are unrelated to those relating to the sale of non-cola carbonated beverages?

The CBC story also does not mention the fact that while caffeine may not be added to non-cola soft drinks these drinks have a lower maximum level of caffeine.

It should also be noted that even though the CBC story suggests that only colas could have caffeine before this change I am pretty sure that the rule was a little less precise (at times Health Canada uses the term 'cola-type' while in other instances they use the term 'cola'). My understanding of the rule was that it had to do with the brownness of the beverage, which is why your Dr. Pepper's and Barq's of the world were allowed to be sold as caffeinated beverages in Canada before this rule change. The more I think about it, this confusion is likely due to the unclear terminology used by Health Canada in their discussion of caffeinated carbonated beverages.

Maybe what surprised me the most about this story was that the general angle that they took was to confront the potential negative health impacts increased availability of caffeinated carbonated beverages might have on children. What these impacts might be weren't discussed. And of course figures suggesting increases in caffeine consumption among children as a result of the rule change were not provided, nor was the discussion separated from the energy drink issue, which actually seems to be the core of the issue.

I also thought that it was funny that non-cola beverages were being presented as some now kind of non-caffeinated safe haven, now long gone, for parents who don't want their kids to over-consume caffeine. I couldn't help but wondering if a relatively easy way to avoid accidentally providing a kid with a caffeinated beverage would be to either provide a non-pop drink or read the ingredients.

Oh, and maybe the most egregious aspect of the whole story was that it was suggested that the regulatory change came about "because it was good for trade." Of course no evidence other than the fact that some foreign soft-drink manufacturers wanted such a change was provided to support this claim. How this position made its way from the international trade types to the Food and Drug Regulations people is not explained. More importantly, they even note that the official Health Canada position is that "Health Canada's decision to permit the addition of caffeine to non-cola soft drinks was based solely on health and safety considerations."

While it is possible that the change occurred for the reasons they suggested, a little more evidence should have been provided for the story to have real credibility. As the story currently stands it is nothing more than an incoherent mish-mash of decontextualized comments about caffeine in beverages in Canada.

A Few Quick Notes 550

-After a few days of cooler temperatures we seem to have headed back into the mid-twenties. Though it has occasionally been a bit muggy recently, I think that on the whole this weather is fine for this time of year.

-Yesterday some friends from Halifax came out to visit. After doing some apple u-picking we had lunch and then all played some pick-up Ultimate. All in all I think we all had a very enjoyable afternoon.

-Maybe a week ago my father brought to my attention a telephone and internet deal. Almost immediately I signed up for the deal as it will mean a 50% reduction in our telecommunications costs, at least that is what I am hoping will be the case. The aspect of the new arrangement that I am a little worried about is that for maybe two days we may have overlapping service. Anyway, if we don't have a fully functioning phone or internet connection for a few days starting tomorrow afternoon don't be surprised (and I am sure that many of you might be saddened by the prospect of not getting more of these updates for a few days).

Anyway, I just hope the transition is smoother than I am fearing it will be.

-Earlier today I finished reading my first ebook (I read it on an iPad). Much to my surprise, the experience was much more pleasant than I might have expected. Of course, the book didn't have illustrations screw with formatting and as I was reading the book recreationally the fact that it didn't have page numbers wasn't problematic. I can definitely see myself reading ebooks in the future, particularly as public libraries provide larger and larger ebook collections.

Do they even care about informed choices?

For a few weeks I have been quite bothered by the realities of voting by special ballot in the upcoming Newfoundland elections. Some of the issues that I have mentioned in the past relate to the fact that people are allowed to vote before candidates have even been nominated. Now that I have had a chance to look at the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website more closely it is clear that two additional issues should be addressed.

One of the first things that I noticed today while looking at the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador Information for Electors pamphlet is that all special ballots must be received by October 5, 2011, or almost a week before the election day. If one factors in the incredibly slow Canada Post service that that many people will use it becomes apparent that those voting by special ballot will hardly even be able to observe the formal campaign period before they need to return their ballot. So just because you won't be around for election day you have the good fortune to not be able to use the second half of the campaign to inform your vote choice.

This is clearly unacceptable. Minimally the proces should be changed so that all votes post marked no later than election day are accepted.

A second issue that I was reminded of by visiting the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website is that the website does not, at least anywhere obvious, contain a list of approved candidates. My recollection is that a similar problem existed during the past two elections as well.

Is it really that hard to provide this information once it becomes available? Not only are a number of media sources able to provide such information, but Elections Canada provides this information.

These issues (and there are probably others that I am not thinking about) when viewed together don't paint a particularly good picture of the electoral system in Newfoundland. I suspect that if we heard about similar practices in other countries we would feel that their electoral systems were less than adequate. Maybe what is most frustrating about these changes is that they don't really need to exist. Fixing most of these problems would likely be relatively inexpensive and straightforward.

Time to submit my special ballot application

As some of you may know, I am not particularly satisfied with the way the provincial electoral system is currently being run in Newfoundland. I find it particularly problematic that individuals are able to vote before candidates have formally been nominated.

Anyway, as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with this system I decided to not submit my special ballot application until after the election had official started. I just hope that this application now has enough time to work its way through the system.

Isn't this the kind of thing an author should know?

I just started re-reading an article and was somewhat taken aback by the first and second sentences.

This paper critically examines the literature on the nature of the capitalist state. It mainly, if not exclusively, deals with Marxist approaches to the state.

I really would have thought that this was the type of issue on which the author could have made a much more conclusive statement.

Reporters on Twitter

Maybe even before I had a Twitter account I was aware of the fact that quite a number of reporters and media types were making use the aforementioned service. As I have spent time on Twitter I have seen that reporters frequently use the service to do such this as promote stories, cover events live, or seek information from fellow users. All of these uses, and more that I can't think of, seem like pretty reasonable uses of Twitter by members of the media. Actually, that there are so many reporters doing things like this on Twitter is one of the reasons that I am so fond of the service. Particularly during election campaigns I have found this entertaining as one might have the ability to simultaneously hear about the daily campaign events of the competing parties as they make their way through the campaign.

But it seems that one major consequence of the fact that Twitter makes the provision of content so easy is that editors are no longer involved in filtering the content of these reporters. Content is going directly from the reporter to the consumer (often times this information seems to be accompanied by more editorializing than one might find in the accounts that are eventually published).

Consequently, many reporters in their Twitter profiles suggest that their tweets don't represent the views of their employer, or something to that effect. They, to at least some extent, are trying to separate their Twitter content from the content provided by their employer.

Of course this separation seems to be only partial at best, and sometimes veering towards misleading. Not only is the connection between the media organization and the reporter made apparent by such disclaimers, but in many cases it is the connection that brings their account it's sense of legitimacy. Furthermore, the reporter has access to the content they are tweeting about only because they are reporters working for their employer. And it should also be noted that they are typically covering stories on Twitter that they have been assigned to cover by their employer.

I think that it is also worth pointing out that these reporters are tweeting about these stories on work time, and probably with work phones. Given that these actions are accessible to the public it seems reasonable to assume that the reporters who are engaging in this behaviour are doing so with the support (and possibly encouragement) of their employers.

Another practice that seems common, particularly among CBC reporters, is to include some form of the network name in their Twitter handle. This further blurs the boundary between the individual's private persona and their media persona and arguably undermines the believability of the profile disclaimers claiming that they don't speak as a representative of their employer.

I guess I generally feel that if you don't want your comments to be attributed to you as the employee of a particular enterprise don't make a point of highlighting your relationship to that enterprise and don't use an supposedly private Twitter to report and comment on things that you are simultaneously being paid to report and comment on.

As things stand now, I think it is hard not to see many reporter's tweets as extensions of the media services for which they work. If reporters or media agencies aren't keen on this public perception they will need to work harder to find ways to clearly differentiate the private and sanctioned web 2.0 content of their employees.

This doesn't look good

Wow, the latest version of the storm Maria projection from the Canadian Hurricane Centre really doesn't look good for Newfoundland, particularly the Avalon peninsula.

Similarly, the satellite imagery of this storm system makes things look rather scary.

To my untrained eye the satellite imagery makes it look as though Nova Scotia will be getting more of this than the Canadian Hurricane Centre suggests (and Newfoundland less). Of course, I am not sure how much one should depend on my assessment of the situation.

Whatever happens I suspect that parts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia will at least experience heavy rains and winds. Yum.

Where's the CanCon?

I recently noticed that a CBC story about the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Maria in Atlantic Canada was supported with two different graphics from the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even though they talked to someone from the Canadian Hurricane Center about the storm for the story. And I should make it clear that it is not the case that the Canadian Hurricane Center doesn't have visualizations of the storm projections. They do and they are available to the public through their website.

At first I couldn't quite figure out why the American images were used. And while I still don't have a conclusive answer I wonder if it may have something to do with copyright and that the images produced by the US government are easier to use than those produced by the Canadian government?

This seems like a plausible justification for the occurrence as materials produced by the US government are not copyrighted in the traditional sense. They can be, and frequently are, reproduced by others at no charge and without the need to clear such reproductions. Canadian government content, on the other hand, is not so easily reproducible. The Canadian government retains copyright and more actively controls the reproduction of the content that it produces.

So might this more restrictive approach to government information have lead to the CBC, a public entity funded by the same government that funds the Canadian Hurricane Center, to favour foreign content over domestic content?

How ironic that this might be the case in a country such as Canada that places such emphasis on the creation of domestic media content.

How do we deal with lying?

One final topic for tonight.


Something I have been wondering about recently, particularly since the recent Canadian federal election, is the best with lying by public officials in media coverage.

It seems that currently many news agencies just allow the lie to stand. Even if everyone present knows that the statement is a lie it is reported on as though it could be true.

"Earlier today so and so said X."

Occasionally, and only occasionally, someone might be found to provide a contrasting view. Of course as this person would typically come from an opposing camp consumers might be inclined to take the rebuttal with a grain of salt.

Of course what doesn't happen is that the statements are not labelled as lies or untruths by the news agency. Those not as familiar with the situation or those who are a little more gullible might not know that the information being transmitted is not to be taken seriously.

Members of the media seem so scared of being biased that they fail to perform the important task of separating fact from fiction. Of course, by failing to perform this task on a regular basis they make themselves much less valuable than they might be. In some fields of reporting I am almost convinced that the public is worse of with them as their primary purpose seems to be to give life to lies that would likely otherwise die a quick death.

Another problem with the current electoral system in Newfoundland

A few posts ago I mentioned the seemingly absurd situation in Newfoundland that allows people to vote weeks before the election has even officially been called or candidates are recognized as candidates

A recent news story about one candidate breaking fundraising rules has brought another aspect of this situation to my attention. For over a month voters are voting but candidates are not allowed to raised funds and engage in a full-fledged campaign. This seems a little less than ideal.

Though it is unlikely, one could theoretically lose the election before they are even nominated or allowed to raise a dollar.

This sounds like a great system. It's like buying a lottery ticket after the numbers have been drawn.

This voting before candidates are nominated or officially fully functioning candidates thing has to stop. It just isn't reasonable to allow this type of situation to exist. Not only does it give a huge advantage to the incumbent (particularly if they are a minister), but it creates a situation where there is a huge incentive to break the rules and begin campaigning early.

A Few Quick Notes 549

-While it is currently quite beautiful in Wolfville there is some chance that things will take a turn for the worse in the not too distant future.

Amazingly, even though there is a pretty big weather system just off the coast of Nova Scotia Environment Canada is only going so far as to say that there is a "30 percent chance of showers late this afternoon with risk of thundershowers." I guess I will have to wait and see if there really was only a 30% chance of showers. [It turns out we managed to avoid showers and just get a pretty beautiful day.]

-I took advantage of a local butter sale today and purchased five pounds of butter. Hopefully this will do me for a few months.

-A tee-shirt clad Danny Williams seems to have caused something of a stink in Newfoundland by suggesting that his former director of communications was the most competent women he'd ever met in politics. The pretty obvious implication is that the current premier is less competent than his former director of communications.

It's nice to see that they're keeping everything classy in Newfoundland politics for once.

-I made a quick loaf of bread today.

A Canadian pre-American Movie American Movie

A few years ago I watched American Movie and was completely baffled and amused. I didn't know if what I was watching was actually a documentary or a joke. A few days ago when I watched The Defender I was struck by similar feelings. Would someone actually try to build a slow, heavy, prop fighter plane in Manitoba?

Anyway, because The Defender is a NFB production it is available online for free. I think I recommend it highly.



[Embedded video]

While this probably wasn't a joke, I am still not quite certain.

These always seemed risky to me

For years the tradition has been that members of the Stanley Cup winning NHL team each get to have the cup for a day. That each player has such control over the cup for a period of time has always seemed a little strange to me given the symbolic importance of the item being lent to a bunch of professional athletes in their twenties and thirties.

Anyway, earlier today in St. John's when the cup fell from a table and was visibly dented my sense of apprehension was somewhat confirmed. Anyway, feel free to check out the Telegram's video here. I am sure that by the end of the day this will be all over the internets.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 7

After a brief stop in Windsor, Jeannette and I finally made it back to Wolfville. Fortunately after Windsor I was able to hand off driving responsibilities.

Now that we have safely returned we should be able to look through our photos and reflect on the trip, which generally seemed to go well (even if the final 30 hours were rather gruelling).

Oh, and by the time we returned the power was back. This was a very pleasant surprise. And our apartment, which we had loaned to an unknown house sitter was in perfect condition.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 6

We just learned that we aren't likely to have power when we return to Wolfville. At the moment we are expecting to get it back by two.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 5

In Truro getting some food. Next stop the airport?

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 4

We are currently in Antigonish. All was going well until a few minutes ago when a truck threw a stone and chipped the windshield. As you might imagine, Neil is less than pleased with the situation.

Anyway, we will soon be back on the road to be again buffeted by post-hurricaine winds.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 3

It is about 2:30 AM and we are about a half hour away from docking. This is exactly what we didn't want - a middle of the night landing. I guess we wil see what we do when we land. Hopefully we can find something to do for a little while so that we don't have as much night driving.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 2

We are now safely on the Blue Puttees and awaiting our departure. Though we are to leave two hours early it seems that we may only arrive a little early. Anyway, I guess that the arrival and departure times will both be highly dependant on the upcoming weather/hurricane situation.

We have all popped our Gravol and are now getting ready for bed. Hopefully we will get some sleep before we arrive.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 1

Maybe an hour or two ago we arrived in sunny Port aux Basques (though since then it has become gray and foggy). We made sure to arrive early to make sure that we would catch our ferry which has now been scheduled to depart an hour and a half early. The down side of our early arrival is that we now have a few hours to go before we head out.

Anyway, I guess we have internet and cards to help us pass the time, though time also means more time to think about taking a ferry in a hurricane.

St. John's to Ramea - 7

We are now post-Ramea. We are now in Stephenville.

At the moment we are in a fast food restaurant eating lunch and checking the Internet.

We will soon be heading across the street to visit a pharmacy to pick up some ferry meds for our second ferry of the day.

St. John's to Ramea - 6

Well, our time in Ramea is just about over. The wedding went very well last night, but we are now up for an early ferry back to Burgeo. Because of the expected rush we have to arrive an hour and a half before the scheduled departure. Yay!

Anyway, Ramea is beautiful. Give it a shot if you have a chance.

St. John's to Ramea - 5

In Gander for dolly drinks.

St. John's to Ramea - 4

In Clarenville.

St. John's to Ramea - 3

OMG, it's just after 5:00 AM and I've already been awake for over 20 minutes, but I guess such sacrifices are necessary if one wants to make it all the way from St. John's to Ramea in a single day.

At the moment I am consuming some pre-trip breakfast (after just taking my pre-trip shower). In a few minutes I will try to help with the pre-trip car load. Then, after final pre-trip good-byes we will likely be on our way.

I am currently curious to know where our first stop will be. My gut says Clarenville, but Goobies is another possibility. I guess our stoping schedule will just depend on our assessment of our needs as our trip progresses.

Anyway, this will likely be the last post until Ramea or the Marine Atlantic. I hope it all works out.

Oh, and based on the it's current predicted path I am not sure if Hurricane Irene will be too likely to impact our crossing on Sunday/Monday.

St. John's to Ramea - 2

Oh, and to make things better one of the first hurricanes of the season is to hit near the Maritimes on Monday morning (which is when our ferry is to be arriving).

This should make the ferry ride fun. Well, I guess it will only be 'fun' if we are even lucky enough to have a ferry ride at the currently schedule time.

I guess we will have to try to keep an eye on the progress of this storm.

St. John's to Ramea - 1

Early tomorrow morning Neil, Rebecca, Jeannette, our friend Steven, and I will be making our way across the island of Newfoundland to Ramea for a friend's wedding. As some of you may know, Ramea is a remote island off the south coast of the island. We will be getting there by ferry from Burgeo, a community is also relatively remote.

At the moment the plan is for the five of us to pile into the car and start the journey early tomorrow morning. As we expect the trip to take close to 12 hours we won't be able to see much along the way. That being said, I don't expect we will be so rushed that we won't be able to stop a few times for refreshment, bathroom, and gas breaks.

Assuming all goes well we will then try to catch the 8:00 PM ferry. I am hoping that the timing of the ferry will mean that we will get to see the sun set over Burgeo and the island in the distance. The other consequence of the timing of the ferry is that our first real view of the island will be the next day when we make our way out of our respective accommodations.

Sadly, we will only have a few hours to explore Ramea (though I am not sure if one really needs more than a few hours given the relatively limited size of the island). Anyway, I hope to get up early enough in the day to see a reasonable portion of the island before we need to return to prepare for the wedding.

The wedding itself should be rather interesting as most of the guests will be in Ramea for the sole purpose of attending the wedding (making it a destination wedding of sorts). I am assuming that this will mean a more robust celebration than if we were all just attending a wedding in our normal places of residence.

Then early on Sunday we will be taking the ferry back to Burgeo and heading up to Port aux Basques to catch the overnight ferry to North Sydney.

Given the number of hours we are to spend travelling, the next three days are likely to be something of a blur. I just hope that we have enough energy to take in a least a few of the sights and enjoy our few hours of down time.

If possible I will try to post while we are in transit, though given our rather full schedule I am not sure if this will be possible. At least after the fact I should have a few photos or comments about what is sure to be an experience heavy trip.

Back to Newfoundland - 4

About two hours ago we answered the breakfast buffet question with a resounding 'yes.' All three of us then made our way to the restaurant where we did our best to get $16.95 worth of breakfast. Of course, as none of us are complete pigs I don't think that we really succeeded in getting our money's worth, but that being said I think it was probably the right call given the circumstances.

The most interesting thing about the breakfast buffet was perhaps the menu. In addition to standard issue breakfast items like hash browns, sausages, eggs, and bacon, this buffet also had steamed vegetables, roast beef, fish and brewis, mashed potatoes, and a number of dishes that weren't the least bit breakfasty.

In other news, Rebecca just alerted me to the fact that we can now see land from the ferry. I guess this means that we are getting closer. The other nice development is that the fog doesn't seem to be as dense as it was just a few minutes ago. And even nice is that there seems to be blue sky above the land that we can see.

A few minutes ago Kirsten and I made a trip outside. As expected, it was pretty windy.



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Oh, and as far as I can tell these clips are representative (with the notable exception of the level of light) of the whole crossing).

Back to Newfoundland - 3

We have now been on the ferry for close to 10 hours and only just been able to obtain an internet connection. Hopefully none of you waited up for my update.

Though the captain warned us of rough seas and we were about 45 minutes late leaving North Sydney, the trip has not been unpleasantly rough.

Right now the big question of the morning is whether or not we will go to the $16.95 per person breakfast buffet. My thought is that if we do decide to make the purchase that we should try to drag the experience out so that we can get a few hours of time out of the experience.

Whatever we decide to do I am sure food will be in all of our futures.

Back to Newfoundland - 2

We are now a few hours into the trip and we have already made it to North Sydney. Instead of checking in as soon as we arrived we decided to head to a local fast food restaurant to get some food and take advantage of their free WiFi.

The trip so far has been largely uneventful. It seems likely that the most exciting aspect of the trip thus far has been some of the Cape Breton coastal scenery or the time when we were driving behind a truck carrying log that was shedding bark clumps as it drove.

And as you can see, we were welcomed to Cape Breton.

As we won't likely have WiFi access in the line to board the ferry I suspect that my next update will be from the ferry. Hopefully nothing particularly exciting will have happened between now than then.

Back to Newfoundland - 1

Neil, Kirsten, Rebecca, and I are currently in Halifax, though in just a few minutes we will be on our way to to North Sydney, Cape Breton and then the ferry to Argentia.

While the skies aren't particularly bright today, the weather doesn't look so bad that driving will be treacherous or unpleasant. Though, as always, we won't really know about these things until we hit the road. And it is also possible that conditions will change as we cross the province.

For a number of reasons I am looking forward to this trip. One of the first reasons is that I haven't been on the Halifax to Cape Breton route since about 1995 and I think it will be nice to see this part of the province. Another reason that I am looking forward to this trip is that I am looking forward to seeing the new ferry (and I haven't been on this crossing since about 1995). Thirdly, I am looking forward to seeing Newfoundland in the summer, something I haven't seen since 2008.

Anyway, I should probably pack up my computer so that we can start loading up the car.

My hope is that the ferry has WiFi/internet access and that I will be able to provide updates while we are in transit (because I know that you all love my live coverage of relatively mundane events).

Secret get away (with birds)

Kirsten, who is currently visiting us in Wolfville, and I took a quick trip to the Nova Scotia part of the Bay of Fundy that is nearest to Wolfville.

Our first attempt to get to the Bay of Fundy via Bennetts Bay lead us to something of a dead end no more than 100 feet from the water.

After a little more thinking and driving Kirsten and I managed to find a nearby community, something like Paddy's Beach, that provided the public access to the water front.

Maybe even more impressive than just being able to see the majestic Bay of Fundy was that we were able to walk around on a rocky area exposed by low tide and framed by a rather impressive waterfall. And of course the best part of this all was that, aside from a few sea birds, we were alone while exploring.

After the leaving the Bay of Fundy Kirsten and I made our way to the much more interesting New Minas for a series of rather commonplace errands.

A little later in the day all three of us stopped by a small petting zoo to visit a few cute goats and peacocks. We were all quite surprised to see that the peahen seemed to have laid a few eggs (though she didn't seem to be minding the eggs too closely).

Anyway, mundane commercial endeavours aside, it was a very pleasant day.

Free mug

A few weeks ago I signed up for a free mug promotion that was being conducted by the Canadian branch of HarperCollins. As I recall, one didn't have to do more than provide an address to qualify for the offer.

Just a few moments ago my mug was delivered (intact and in working order) And instead of having the mug delivered by regular post, the good folks at HarperCollins had the mug couriered to me.

After opening the package I learned that I was one of two-thousand recipients to be sent such a mug, all of which were, presumably, couriered.

Given that this mug isn't tied to a larger promotion or even a particular item or service provided by the company I am quite surprised that HarperCollins would go to the trouble and expense of couriering thousands of mugs across Canada. I have to imagine that each mug cost a few dollars to produce and ship meaning that the overal program cost several thousand dollars. For their sakes I hope that the good will that they have generated from this program was worth the $10 000 or so that the program likely cost.

Can't get enough

Since late yesterday evening I have been pretty regularly following The Guardian's live blog coverage of the on-going riots in England. Their round-the-clock coverage is really amazing.

That I can follow an international story like these riots in almost realtime still amazes me. Wireless and smartphone technology allow citizens and journalists and transmit multi-media updates as events are unfolding. Something that fits in one's pocket does the job of something that used to require a satellite truck.

Even just a few years ago we would have had to wait for at least a few hours to get the kind of information that we can now get in minutes. An event like this would have been covered by a relatively small number of journalists/cameras, many of which might be slow to find the action.

Oh, and I've also been following a site dealing exclusively with issues related to rioting in Birmingham. When I first came to this site only a few updates had been posted and things seemed relatively calm. Since yesterday afternoon this site seems to have become pretty good at aggregating reports from all over Birmingham and documenting the development of the riots there. (It's interesting to watch something become a thing in just a matter of hours.)

One last comment, the difference in tactics used by the riot police in England appears to be quite different than the tactics used by Canadian police during Toronto's recent G20 meetings. Instead of deploying tear gas and rubber bullets first and then arresting as many people as possible the London police seem to be taking a much more coolheaded approach. Of course, one major consequence of this approach is that many of those involved in rioting haven't been arrested and are free to continue rioting. It's an interesting value judgement that they have made.

Pretty neat

A slo-mo owl vid.



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Popular demand

A few issues were raised with our recent survey so I have created this addendum survey to try to rectify a few of the problems.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

[Embedded survey]

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with your answers to these very important questions.

Ugh, I can't believe this happened

It seems that I let my guard down after a productive morning.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

[Embedded survey]

Now that this has happened I guess I am curious to see how this goes.

Oh, and I think it is clear that I have a pretty questionable sense of humour.

I wish I had known about this years ago

A few minutes ago I was looking at a few articles through the Cambridge Journals website when I noticed a small RSS icon at the bottom of the page. After a little investigation I learned that I could subscribe to a feed for the journal I was looking at at the moment. This feed contains links to the articles and content published in the journal.

With a little more investigation I learned that I could subscribe to an aggregated feed containing content from any and all of the Cambridge Journals journals I am interested in. After quickly browsing their offerings I selected about a dozen journals that seemed relevant to my studies. Once a week I should be receiving updates about newly published articles in these journals.

Now that I have subscribed to these feeds I realize that I should have know about these features years ago and that I should probably find similar services from other major publishers and sign up to those feeds.

It is definitely a little embarrassing that I only just found this service.

And how did people get information before RSS feeds became so widely available?

Check this out

I just learned that you can search Google by providing vocal commands. Apparently this fucntion is called Voice Search.

While it's not quite perfect, it is pretty neat and it's definitely worth checking out.

Will Google ever stop amazing me?

That was disruptive

This afternoon, shortly after deciding a quick nap would be a good idea, a loud and intense thunderstorm came to fruition in the Annapolis Valley and Wolfville. Though the rain has died down a bit, it was originally quite heavy and accompanied by very loud and long thunder and some sporadic lightning.



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I am kind amazed that we haven't yet lost power and also kind of expecting to lose it any minute now.

At least I will know what to expect if tomorrow's forecast comes to pass?

Oh, and the nap didn't happen. The thunder was just too loud to sleep through.

They haven't given themselves up yet

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we have some grapes growing next to our apartment. Though the grapes are now more clearly grapes, I still can't quite tell what kind of grape we are dealing with. I am hoping that I will not only be able to identify the type of grape that we have, but also that I might be able to harvest a few of them to waste in a homemade wine attempt.

Anyway, this is all a ways off as these grapes are clearly some ways away from being ready to harvest.

Why is voting by special ballot so different than voting in person?

Newfoundland is just about to have its second fixed term election. And, like the last one, voting day will be in October, October 11 to be precise.

Of course, in many ways the switch to fixed term elections mean that voting day doesn't quite mean what it used to. It is no longer the case that voting need be confined to the short campaign period after the election has been called until the end of the election.

It seems that it is now possible to vote as early as August 22, if you want to vote by special ballot. This change amazes me because it means that it is now possible to vote before the election has been called or nominations are closed. People are being allowed to vote before they can hope to know the potential candidates for among whom they might be choosing.

Oh, and if you are voting by special ballot and you actually want to wait long enough to see a list of confirmed candidates (nominations close on October 1) you have about four days to make your decision as your ballot needs to be received by October 5. The reality for those of us forced to rely on an unreliable postal system to submit our ballots is that we will have to vote before we can see a list of confirmed candidates.

Could they not, at a later date, just add the special ballots to the votes cast on election day? Would this be so hard? Would it delay the ability to confirm the results by more than a few days?

It is frustrating that even with all of this lead up and the ability to start casting special ballots more than a month before the election that the system still isn't particularly attuned to the needs of individuals voting by special ballot.

Not that my opinions count for much, but if I had the ability to change things I wouldn't hesitate to make the following changes:

1) Increase the time between the final confirmation of candidates and election day. It might make sense to have this date coincide with the commencement of media advertising.

2) Disallow voting before the election writs have been issued and candidate nominations confirmed.

3) Accept special ballots that are post-marked or delivered in-person on or before election day.

4) Work with the post office to facilitate the prompt collection and delivery of mail ballots.

5) Eliminate the deadline to apply for a special ballot.

Generally, at least to me, it seems that we should making it easier to cast informed votes would be a move in the right direction.

A Few Quick Notes 548

-The past two days have been overcast and intermittently rainy. I guess this isn't too surprising an occurrence after a period of particularly dry weather. The other big change is that these days have also been much cooler than the days preceding them. I think it isn't even 20 degrees outside right now, which is a fair bit cooler than I would normally expect for this time of day.

-Our cherry tomato plants might finally be starting to set fruit, though it is a little hard to tell as the prospective fruit are still quite small. Hopefully it is the case that we have a few pre-cherry tomatoes.

Yesterday Jeannette and I finally got around to pruning them. It seems that we likely should have pruned the plants differently and now allowed them to grow as tall as they were allowed to grow. They really are out of control.

-My Google Reader account seems to be non-functional at the moment. And because I can't access it there is nothing I want to do more than check my Google Reader feeds. And because it isn't working I am checking for status changes every 30 seconds. This service would be causing me to waste much less time if it was functional right now.

-Yesterday I listened to an old episode of On The Media and heard an interview about the site 0 Views, a site dedicated to finding and then re-posting YouTube videos with 0 views. During the interview the site's manager noted that much of the content was really quite bad. Now that I have had a chance to check the site's content out I am in a position to agree with this individual, though is a little disappointing as I do find the idea of the site kind of entertaining.

-I guess I should stop wasting my time and get back to work (at least my time here hasn't been spent checking my non-functional Google Reader feeds).

Growing a Giant Pumpkin

A few months ago Jeannette was given a package of giant pumpkin seeds from the Howard Dill operation in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Of course, we had to wait until it was Spring/Summer before we could plant them.

Soon after we arrived in Wolfville we finally got around to starting the seeds. One mistake that we made was to try to start the seeds outdoors instead of indoors. The seriousness of this mistake was compounded by the poor May and June that we experienced. Fortunately, one of the three seeds did germinate, and it started to grow relatively quickly once we moved it indoors.

About two weeks ago we the one successful plant was large enough to re-pot so we finally moved it into a far-to-small-but-the-best-we-could-do pot that is now outside with another of the other plants in our container garden.

So far the transfer to the new pot seems to be going well. The plant has really start spitting out new leaves on a regular basis. If things keep going at this rate the plant will clearly be too big for the pot.

And quite recently I noticed that the plant also finally has finally started to show signs of flowering.

Even though this plant is doing better than I ever thought it would, we are still quiet a ways away from a viable giant pumpkin. And I guess ever having anything even approximating a giant pumpkin was a long shot, it really would be satisfying to at least have something approximating a pumpkin, but I guess we will have to wait and see if even this comes to pass.

And I should probably note that we aren't the only ones with a giant pumpkin plant in the Wolfville area. A few weeks ago Jeannette and I learned that a giant pumpkin plant had secretly been planted in a flower bed in downtown Wolfville.

When we last checked on this rogue pumpkin plant we noticed that even though the flower bed in which it is growing had been weeded it had not been removed. Unfortunately, I don't think that it is getting the water or attention that it needs so, like our plant, it isn't very close to producing a giant pumpkin. I guess we will have to keep an eye on it as the summer progresses to see if anything comes of it later in the season.

This still bothers me

Apparently the Canadian dollar is valuable as it has been in almost four years.

What I don't understand about this is that I don't seem to have the increased purchasing power that I would have expected to go along with a high dollar. I don't seem to be getting more for each dollar. Particularly grating are lower prices for books in the US. Even though Canada has a much more valuable dollar than we did in years past, the gap in prices seems to have remained stable. How is this possible?

And, at least in my experience, prices of general household goods seem to still be cheaper in the US. Even if we accept that things like import duties and taxation will bump up the price a little, shouldn't the price gap have closed at least a little bit?

And shouldn't more people be asking these questions? Are we just so used to paying higher prices in Canada that now that we have a more valuable dollar we haven't thought about the benefits that should be coming from a more valuable dollar?

Conflicting Portrayals

A few months ago I read the second Freakonomics book, SuperFreakonomics, and struck by a section of the book dealing the activities of a company called Intellectual Ventures. Much of the discussion focused on the suggestions that the company has for dealing with tropical storm suppression and and reducing global warming. On the whole, the book provided a very positive portrayal of the company.

In a subsequent two-part episode episode of the Freakonomics podcast this company, and its founder Nathan Myhrvold made another appearance in the Freakonomics canon, this time in relation to the recently published cookbook Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Again, the portrayal was very positive and the focus was on the invention and research side of the company's operations. Actually, if memory serves me correctly, these are the only aspects of the company that are even mentioned.

As a result of these portrayals of the company I just assumed that it was primarily a R & D firm, maybe even verging on a philanthropic venture.

As of last night I have been given some reason to question my original assessment.

A recent This American Life examination of some of the company's patent related activities suggests a slightly different image of the company. From this vantage point the company is portrayed predominately as an owner and licenser of thousands and thousands of patents. They note that the company, or that related third parties, frequently use legal action to secure settlements from companies that are deemed to be infringing on their patents. At times, though I am not sure if the two individuals reporting the story say it directly, the company is compared to a protection racket.

I always love it when I am left with opposing senses of things due to conflicting media reports. It is all the more impressive that these conflicting portrayals are both from New York based public radio shows.

Cases like this always remind me that I need to be a little more critical when consuming media. Of course the problem is that it takes time and energy to be so critical, and I quite frequently don't have the time or energy to invest in these issues. Maybe it's sufficient that I am at least aware of some of the problems with current forms of mass media?

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).

It's summer so that means...

Freshly grown Nova Scotia fruit flies!

And, boy, do we have them again this year. They seem to be particularly fond our our compost containers even though they mostly just contain carrot and celery refuse. Fruit scraps are nowhere to be found in my compost containers.

Fortunately, during the height of last year's invasion Jeannette figured out how to make a relatively simple fruit fly trap that seems to be somewhat effective, at least the fruit flies seem to be attracted to it. Unfortunately, this time around I seemed to make holes that may be a little too small to easily allow the flies to enter.



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Anyway, even with its flaws, this thing is much better than nothing. Now that I think about it, I wonder why we don't set up a second trap to handle the overflow from the first one?

Gaping plot holes aside...

Yesterday Jeannette convinced me to attend a screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. And while I am normally disinclined to see popular movies on opening weekend (it will be the movie in a few days, but with a smaller audience) I allowed myself to look forward to the event.

Almost as soon as we arrived at the theatre for the late show it became clear that the movie was incredibly popular. Not only were all kinds of people leaving the theatre with brooms, quite a number of departing movie viewers were also costumed in costumes of varying quality.

Soon after entering the theatre we also noticed that lines were forming and that people weren't being allowed into theatres as early as might normally be the case. We soon learned that the most prominent and longest line was the one that we would have to join. Fortunately, we only had to wait in the line for a few minutes before being allowed to enter the theatre.

And while the line that we had been standing in wasn't particularly long (it wasn't hundreds of people long) it was long enough that by the time we entered the theatre most of the seats in the middle rows of the theatre were taken. We did eventually get fine seats, but they were closer to the back than I had originally expected based on the length of the line.

Almost as soon as the movie began it became clear that this wasn't a movie that was going to recap aspects of previous movies in the series, or even things that had happened in the first part. Viewers were expected to be relatively familiar with the story/franchise. As I am not an obsessive fan of the series I found that this meant it took me a few minutes to get up to speed with what was happening.

And then almost immediately we were exposed to one of the first major plot holes/continuity issues. In a scene they establish that Harry and his friends have a certain wand. In almost the next scene this wand is requested and Harry and his friends seem unable to produce the wand, though no explanation is given for this strange behaviour. Of course, when we came home Jeannette uncovered reasons for this behaviour that were included in the book but that didn't seem to make the movie.

For the next few minutes I was a little rattled by this strange occurrence, which just struck me as odd (as the first wand scene turned out not to be particularly important to the rest of the movie).

As the movie progressed characters were either omitted given minimal screen time. In some instances it seemed as though the filmakers were content to just show that certain characters still existed, even if they weren't given any lines or a reason for being shown.

Of course, another major problem is that a character seen at the beginning of the movie turns up at the end but how she came to be in the new location is not explained or dealt with (though it seems to have made more sense in the book).

Anyway, I am sure that there are a few more issues that particularly detail-oriented fans might have with this movie, but I guess I was just disappointed with the lack of attention payed to the general coherency of the film If we found two disorienting sections I presume that are even more, and two already seems like a high enough number as far as such problems are concerned. And didn't anybody with power who had seen the movie before its release not notice these problems and ask for a new cut of the movie?

I am sure that in many regards this movie will be largely review proof. No matter how bad the reviews it will make money (and based on the numbers available on Wikipedia it seems to have already broken even). Had the success of this movie not been almost guaranteed I wonder if the resulting movie might not have looked a little different and if some of these problematic issues might have been addressed more effectively (or if they might be remedied in an alternate cut to be subsequently released for home video).

Note: I think that I forgot to discuss many of the aspects of the movie that I had intended to, including the overall sense that I got from it. Of course, I am sure that people don't really care what I think about an already successful movie so I am not particularly inclined to go back and revise this to reflect the fuller examination of the topic that I originally intended. Those who are interested in what I have to say on the topic will have to accept this somewhat scatter shot treatment.

A Few Quick Notes 546

-The summer weather that we were recently enjoying seems to have slipped away and been replaced with temperatures in the mid-teens and grey skies and rain. I guess that in at least some ways this is preferable to 30 degree temperatures with high humidity.

-A few days ago Jeannette and I were finally able to make our first harvest from this year's container garden. Earlier this week we picked about 10 Purple Queen beans (basically green beans). In the next few days we should be able to get a strawberry or two and some leaf lettuce. Unfortunately it seems that our cherry tomatoes are still a ways away from being ripe, and our giant pumpkin even further. Our carrots and corn are also just about as far away from a successful harvest. (Why do I keep trying to grow a number of types plants in pots that shouldn't be grown in pots?)

-For breakfast I made another batch of pumpkin bran muffins. I give myself another few months before I have burned myself out on these and I never want to eat them again. And because I now have an open can of pumpkin puree I will have to find a use for the remainder of the can in the coming days.

-I guess I should get on with my day.

Easy to misread or It sounds dirtier than it is

Earlier today I noticed that a story about Dildo had recently been published by VOCM.

Now, just a few hours later, I see that CBC is covering a similar story. Unlike the VOCM story, the CBC story has a headline that can easily be misinterpreted.

I have included a screen shot of the headline just in case CBC editors decide that this headline isn't one that will stick.

Why is the internet such a procrastination vortex?

So this morning Neil invited me to a new web service. Consequently I ended up poking around with the settings a little. One thing lead to another and I happened to see that YouTube now has more self-animation features than it did the last time I looked.

Of course I had to try one of them out.



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As you can see, this was a great use of my time. Fortunately, this really only took as long to make as it took me to enter the dialogue text.

Back to work - and hopefully I will be able to avoid the siren calls of some of these newly charted areas of the internets.

Back from Halifax

On about Tuesday Jeannette and I decided that we would make a quick trip to Halifax on Thursday to visit Neil and Rebecca and a few friends.

After dropping Jeannette off at a work function, Neil and I met up with Jess and attended a Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo lunchtime performance at the Keshen Goodman Public Library. Once we arrived we figured out that we would be seeing a 'gym wheel' performance. Eventually it became clear that we would also likely be seeing a Jeep team.

Though the gym wheel performance wasn't particularly long, it was quite impressive.



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The Jeep team performance was a little strange. All the team did was disassemble and then re-assemble a Jeep. Given that it was a stripped down Jeep and they were well practiced the team was able to do the deconstruction and reconstruction in just a few minutes.

After some math stuff on Friday morning all four of us meet a few more friends and went out for dinner and then a movie.

This morning, just before heading to Wolfville, we stopped by another friend's house and picked up a futon mattress (for the futon frame I built a few weeks ago).

It was a pretty eventful three days.

Seems like a strange way to start the day

This morning I woke up early and started working on a batch of soft pretzels based on a Joy of Cooking recipe.

Originally, meaning at about 11:00 PM last night, I wanted to make croissants, but after reading the recipe and directions I realized that such a project would have to wait until I learn to develop a greater sense of respect for cookbook instructions. So eventually I settled on pretzels (and almost decided to start making them at midnight and had to work quite hard to hold off until this morning).

Anyway, once I started the process I began to see that pretzels were also more complicated than I expected, though, I guess, not as bad croissants - and the process certainly didn't seem to be as long.

After the mixing, kneading, rising, rolling, rising, rolling, rising, and boiling I eventually came to the baking part of the experience (note that I omitted the salt sprinkling phase).

While I was originally planning on baking the boiled pretzels on parchment paper I decided to follow the instructions as laid out in the cookbook and decided to bake the pretzels on greased baking sheets. Of course as soon as I took the first tray out of the oven I realized that things had gone horribly wrong.

This first tray of pretzels had become quite stuck to the baking sheets. After some time I learned that the only way to remove even part of the pretzel was to rip the top off (and immediately consume it).

Afte quickly dispatching with six pretzels the second tray was ready to come out of the oven. For some reason on this tray only one of the four pretzels was completely adhered to the tray while the other three seemed just to be more adhered than they should have been (but I did manage to remove them without causing them too much damage).

Fortunately I still had two un-boiled pretzels whose fates had not been consigned to a greased baking tray. For these two pretzels I used parchment paper and they worked out perfectly. I guess I know that in the future I will have to ignore the 'greased tray' baking instruction and just go with parchment paper.

Fortunately, at least if you ignore the sticking-to-the-pan problem, the pretzels actually turned out quite nicely. They all had that nice pretzel flavour that we have come to know and love. They also turned an appealing tannish brown and really look kind of like pretzels.

Hopefully next time I make pretzels I will end up with a batch that results in more than five out of twelve successful pretzels.

A Few Quick Notes 545

-So far today seems like a pretty nice day, though at times I get the sense that things are momentarily not quite as bright as they might be. Maybe this meteorological indecision has something to do with the thunderstorms that are forecast for tonight and/or tomorrow morning?

-Last night Hantsport, as part of its Canada Day celebrations, hosted a hypnotist show in their fire hall. Given my fascination with hypnotist's shows I was quite interested in attending, and Jeannette seems to have felt similarly.

Unfortunately, many in Hantsport didn't take advantage of the opportunity to attend such a show and we were, consequently, part of a relatively small crowd. Actually, at one point in the show there were more volunteers on stage than there were non-participant audience members.

Eventually, four volunteers were selected as the show's primary participants.

Anyway, though it was a small crowd I am pretty sure that everyone in attendance had a great time. And maybe even more importantly, none of the participants did anything truly embarrassing or crude that they might really regret today of if they look at photos of the event.

-Yesterday while taking care of a few errands Jeannette and I acquired a few new inexpensive house plants which have since been re-potted.

Though it is quite common as a houseplant, I am kind of excited about our newly acquired spider plant. The sprouting of new plantlets in a way of propagation that I find quite fun to watch.

We also acquired some peppermint, another plant that has the ability to spread quickly. I am hoping that will will soon have a full pot of the stuff, not that I really have any plans for using it.

A small African violet was also picked up and then re-potted in a novelty boot shaped pot.

The final type of plant we picked up has a name that I can't remember. I was attracted to this plant because it is supposed to do well in low light and humid environments. It is currently in the bathroom.

-Over the past few days I have been curious to figure out the type of vine that is growing along the property line between our apartment and the neighbouring property. Yesterday I finally took something of a closer look and noticed a pattern of growth that looks something like an undeveloped bunch of grapes. Now that I have done a litte searching online I can see that the leaves are grape leaves and that these structures are likely pre-grapes. Of course, I still don't know exactly which kind of grapes they are of if they ever will be edible but I am kind of hoping that I might be able to collect a few at some point.

-Assuming all goes well and the weather holds, Jeannette and I should be heading to Ultimate this afternoon.

Signage Update

Since my post yesterday about the addition of 'Harper' cut-outs to stop signs in Wolfville I have received reports from both Toronto and St. John's to noting that similarly amended signs had been seen there as well.

I guess that this isn't as exclusively local an initiative as I first thought it might be. Now I am curious how widespread the phenomenon is? And will this be a regular occurrence now that we have a Harper majority government?

I guess I will just have to wait and see.

New Signage for Canada Day

Yesterday as Jeannette and I were making our way through downtown Wolfvill we noticed that many of the stop signs had been modified (perhaps in accordance with the views of the region?).

Throughout the day, as we saw more and more of Wolfville, we noticed that quite large number of stop signs had been modified in this way.

I am curious to know how long these modifications will manage to stick around.

A Few Quick Notes 544

-Today, amazingly, has turned out to be quite nice so far. The skies are blue and the wind is relatively non-obtrusive. Though as we are hitting the middle of the day I suspect that temperatures may pick up and things may become a little less bearable.

-On Wednesday afternoon Jeannette and I attended the Grand Opening festivities of the new location of the Wolfville Farmers' Market. Both of us were a little surprised that this event was held on Wednesday instead of Saturday, the day that tends to be busier and have more vendors present. Anyway, while there were able to see local MP Scott Brison looking very handsome in a nice summer suit - he was definitely be best dressed guy in attendance. Jeannette and I probably should have taken the time to introduce ourselves but we decided against it, at least partly because he was always in the midst of talking to someone.

-Yesterday Jeannette and I played an enjoyable game of pick-up Ultimate. The only problem with the game was the humidity. We all found it hard to play well and run hard given the mugginess. Hopefully our game on Sunday afternoon won't be quite so muggy.

-As this week's weather has been generally quite nice Jeannette and I have taken a number of bike rides. Today we finally made our to the local dykes were we rode from Wolfville towards Port William.

While the ride was generally quite pleasant, we did eventually encounter something of a problem. It seems that the derailleur on Jeannette's folding bike is quite low to the ground and was managing to accumulate plenty of dried grass on a particular section of the dyke. At this point we decided to turn back.

Fortunately, we were able to ride several kilometers before we encountered this problem. And now that we know what to look out for it will be pretty clear in which conditions the folding bike is not a viable option.

-Yesterday for breakfast I made another batch of pumpkin bran muffins. This time I accidentally forgot the pumpkin pie spice. While the muffins were definitely fine without the spice I do think that it really does add something nice so I hope to remember it when I make this recipe in the future.

-This afternoon Jeannette and I are thinking of continuing our holiday celebrations by heading to the local zoo. Hopefully we might finally be able to hit the zoo up for feeding time - I presume that this is the best time to be there as it likely will mean the most active animals.