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.

The return of the Occupy Nova Scotia/Halifax media coverage

It seems that after about a week without coverage mainstream media has come back to the Occupy Halifax/Nova Scotia protests in the Grand Parade. I am now curious to see if the other media outlets in the city will provide an update now that at least one source has? Also, isn't just the fact that a tent city has sprung up in downtown Halifax something of a newsworthy story locally? I imagine that this is having at least some impact on the thousands of people who work in the surrounding area.

Interestingly, so far I haven't seen mention in the mainstream media of the occupation's associated publication, Occupy Magazine. An notable development since yesterday on the Occupy Magazine front is that the publication is now available online. Apparently the print only idea only lasted a day or two before cheaper distribution mechanisms were decided upon.

The upside of Occupy Magazine being available online is that I have now had a chance to see the type of material it contains without actually having a print copy in my hand. And at least for their first issue they seem to have gone with content relating to the Occupy movement first published in other venues. Only a small portion of the magazine was comprised of content written specifically for this publication. I guess we will have to wait for subsequent issues of the magazine to see if this model is continued or if they are able to source original content from international contributors, as seems to be their goal.

In related news, there seems to have been an 'Occupy'-themed "open the House of Assembly" protest at the confederation building in St. John's today.

At the moment it seems that Atlantic Canada is just full of excited Occupiers.

An unexpected development at Occupy Halifax

After my last post I continued to search the internet for signs of life at Occupy Halifax/Nova Scotia. I eventually found evidence that the protest has given life to a new print-only publication, a magazine called Occupy Magazine. It seems that the co-op responsible for publishing the magazine are interested in having their publication distributed internationally.

The first issue was released only yesterday and I gather that they are already thinking about subsequent issues. Of course, the magazine's Twitter feed suggests that the magazine is in the red. I guess given the current state of the print media this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

Because the magazine is new and because it is not available online I still don't have too much of a sense of exactly what it is or what it contains. Maybe in a few days more reports about its content and origin story will make their way to the web. I am also curious to see if the national and international distribution plans come to fruition.

Has Occupy Halifax fizzled?

Last week's news coverage of the Occupy Halifax event spoke of protestors who were dedicated to the cause and interested in spending days or weeks on the Grand Parade (at least they would be back this weekend). Interestingly, there seems to have been little to no mainstream media coverage of the protest since last weekend (or at least any coverage that I can find through Google News). I was starting to wonder if the protest even made it much past last weekend

I did just find a post that suggests that the protest lasted at least 6 days. Of course, as this was posted about two days ago I don't know if the protest is still ongoing or if they have packed up camp and moved on.

Twitter activity does suggest that as of last night there may have still been something happening Occupy Halifax-wise, though the extent of the occupation is completely unclear to me.

What seems a little clearer is that news outlets that were covering the event a week ago seemed less inclined to cover the event through the week. And can such an event continue without relatively widespread media coverage? Given media disinterest how long will the Occupy Halifax event be able to hold out?

A rather bold statement for a former Governor General?

Earlier today while skimming my Twitter feed I happened to see a Tweet from Canada's former Governor General Michaëlle Jean.

The content of the Tweet, while not inherently shocking or any more radical than the normal anti-status quo jargon, surprised me because of author's previous job atop the Canadian governmental hierarchy. Is there is a position in the Canadian governmental system that might be more associated with the maintenance of the status quo than that of Governor General? Not only is the Governor General representative of the Queen, a person whose financial stability can be attributed to nothing other than to have been born heir to the throne, but they also personally sign all government legislation.

I can't help but wonder if she could have been more complicit in the maintenance of the system about which she is now complaining?

In the vein of the Durham Report quotes

I am in the process of skimming through a book, The Least Examined Branch: The Role of Legislatures in the Constitutional State, on the roles of legislatures in constitutional democracies when I came across the following passage in the forward:

This distinction between judicial and legislative roles is not therefore between principle and policy, because both institutions can and should act in principled ways. It is rather between ruling narrowly and legislating broadly, whether the rulings are a matter of principle or policy. This distinction is fundamental to understanding the difference between how courts and legislatures are typically designed to work and how they work best in supporting a constitutional democracy. Legislatures most often make egregious mistakes when they try to rule on single, high-visibility cases for politically expedient purposes. Courts correspondingly most often make egregious mistakes when they rule in ways that go far beyond what can be confidently inferred from the merits of the actual case or cases at hand.

I think that this is probably a pretty good way of thinking about the respective roles of legislatures and the judiciary. I am a little embarrassed that I hadn't explicitly thought about such distinctions before now.

Edit: The more I think about it the more I realize that this perspective is a little ahistorical, at least in the Canadian/Westminister tradition. Private Bills, for quite a while, were a major component of the legislature's work. And I can't help but think that issues relating to the setting of precedents are reasonably somewhat relevant to the rulings passed down by the judiciary.

Maybe my early excitement was a bit hasty.

Apparently there was an Occupy Halifax event

I guess I shouldn't be surprised to learn that there was, in fact, an Occupy Halifax event, and that it was conducted with the support of the Occupy Wolfville crowd (which explains the weak showing on the Occupy Wolfville front).

And while I would have guessed that such an event would take place in Cornwallis Park I guess it makes a little more sense that it took place on the Grand Parade.

What seems to set this protest apart from the original is that long-term occupation doesn't seem to be the goal. Instead of occupying the Grand Parade for close to a month the Occupiers seem to plan to head back again in a week.

I can't help but wonder if such a protest wouldn't have more of an impact both in actual and media terms if it were to be held on a business day?

A Few Quick Notes 551

-I guess I have to say that today is a pretty nice day, though it is a little cooler and not quite as bright as I might consider ideal.

-Though Jeannette and I have driven past the set of the HBO Canada show Call Me Fitz countless times we have still not yet had a Jason Priestly sighting. I guess I can't say that I am particularly surprised that I haven't had such a sighting because I really don't have much of a sense of what he looks like.

Maybe more than having a Beverly Hills 90210 alum in our midst, I like that New Minas is serving as a stand-in for Detroit.

-Assuming all goes as planned, Jeannette and I will be playing some pick-up Ultimate this afternoon. Assuming things keep getting colder, this could be one our last such events for the year.

-For some reason it has been about three weeks since I last posted an entry in this series. Sadly, a mass outcry relating to the paucity of these posts did not develop in the way I might have expected given the longevity of the series. It is almost as though we don't have a particularly active or large readership here at Montifax.

-Last night I heard that various Occupy X protests were being shut down or picking up. For some reason I haven't yet heard much follow up today. Maybe the situations are still unresolved? All I know is that even though the streets of Wolfville were teeming with people last night, by this morning things seemed to have cleared up. I guess there just isn't much of an Occupy spirit in Wolfville these days.

(Apparently there was supposed to be some kind of Occupy Halifax event yesterday. I wonder if it happened in Cornwallis Park?)

-Now that I have passed my comps I have to start working on my thesis. So far things haven't moved particularly quickly. Hopefully that will change in the very near future.

This is even more shocking

A few days ago I posted justifications Kathy Dunderdale gave for not opening the House of Assembly until the spring.

It seems that since that post she has given even more ridiculous statements about nature of the House that really indicate that she doesn't understand the role of the legislature.

CBC is reporting that Dunderdale suggested that:

If the house of assembly was just about question period, where most of the accountability takes place, then we could go and do that in a month's time

First of all, though it is probably already obvious, most of the 'accountability' does not take in question period. It's my opinion that question period could be completely eliminated with out having a significant impact on the ability of the members of the legislature to hold the government to account.

The members of the House have a much greater ability to hold the government to account through things like the Public Accounts Committee and the estimates committee. Of course, whether or not these mechanisms are used effectively or not is another matter altogether.

And maybe most importantly the legislature is the place where the government of the day has to introduce, defend, and justify its legislative and budgetary proposals. The members of the House, whether they are government or opposition, have the responsibility to examine these proposals and engage in a public discussion of their merits.

If anything, the existence of Question Period allows all parties to act as though it is the important function of the House, that it is where accountability takes place. And they can do this because the quotes and fast-paced exchanges that take place in Question Period are what make the news. Sadly, Question Period is nothing more than a facade of accountability that distracts from what most members, opposition and government, aren't doing, which is effectively holding the government of the day to account through the various means available to them.

The worst part of this is that most people probably don't know how unimportant question period is in the scheme of things. They also probably don't know that Ms. Dunderdale's comments betray a shocking lack of knowledge regarding the proper functioning of a parliamentary government. And comments like this won't help them have a better sense of how a legislature can best hold the government of the day to account.

Name two American presidents whose children have written Washington based mysteries?

If you said Roosevelt and Truman you would have been correct.

Margaret Truman, the daughter of Harry S Truman, wrote quite a number of books about murder in and around Washington. It seems that her first mystery was even turned into the classic Wesley Snipes file Murder at 1600.

Elliott Roosevelt, one of FDR's children, wrote mysteries in which a fictionalized version of his mother serves as the 'detective.' Oh, and at least one of these is set in the White House.

And y'all thought that the children of presidents never amounted to much of anything.

Let's hope she's alone on this one

As some of you may know, on Tuesday elections for the House of Assembly were held in Newfoundland. As you may also know, the House of Assembly is Newfoundland's provincial legislature. Another way of getting at the issue is that Tuesday's election dealt with selecting legislators, or people to sit in the House of Assembly and conduct the work of the legislature.

So, given this back story, I thought it was a little funny to see that newly re-elected MHA Kathy Dunderdale has been quoted by CBC when talking about the re-opening of the legislature as saying "I don't find it a place for a very healthy, open, constructive debate to start with." All of this was to justify her decision not to open the House again until the spring.

If she isn't interested in doing this part of her job can we expect her to be declining the approximately $100 000 pay cheque that accompanies the post?

Maybe my only celebrity obsession

For quite a while I have been taken with the melding-of-celebrity-first-names phenomenon that we have seen with Bennifer and Brangelina. While I don't really care one way about the individuals, these guys can't divorce and dissolve these wonderful names.

What has surprised me about this phenomenon is that it has remained relatively limited. Only a select few celebrity couples have such melded names. Why isn't this more common?

To help popularize the phenomenon I have decided to help the process along by coming up with a few possible melded names for your other favourite celebrity couples:

Russell Brand and Katy Perry = Rusty

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher = Demon

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes = Toe

Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds - ScarRy

Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett = Lylia

Unfortunately my limited knowledge of celebrity couples limits the number of these that I can create. Though I'm sure that with these as a starting point you can all go forth and create your own melded celebrity names that you can then try to slip into the vernacular of the day (with the eventual goal of seeing them on TMZ or Perez Hilton).

More from the 2011 Windsor Pumpkin Regatta

While at the 2011 Windsor Pumpkin Regatta I grabbed a few clips of the races.



[Embedded video]

As you can see, even the motorized pumpkins aren't particularly fast.

On a related note, not that it really matters, but at least at points today we have been the first Google Blogs result when searching for the "Windsor Pumpkin Regatta." This really amazes me. I really thought that higher profile blogs would have claimed this spot. Apparently not.

Who knew the construction of a golf green was this complicated?

[Embedded video]

I certainly didn't.

Election Day in Newfoundland

Wow, I am not even in Newfoundland (though I am still a resident) and I am incredibly excited about tonight's election outcomes. I am even a little more excited now that a CBC reporter has just confirmed that CBC's TV coverage will be streaming live.

Oh man, I can't wait to watch the coverage and see how things turn out.

(I wonder how many more of these non-posts/election anticipation posts I will post before the polls close tonight?)

Only one more day to go

After a short three week campaign period the Newfoundland election is almost upon us. While the polls have regularly shown the PC party to be in the lead (and I too think that they are likely to win), I am really curious to see the particularities of the results. Most importantly, I am curious to see how the two opposition parties do.

The recent polls seem to be suggesting that the NDP have seen an increase in support while Liberal support has fallen off. Of course how these changes all play out will be interesting to watch.

I am particularly curious to see if the Liberals have any luck in picking off a few of the rural seats or if the NDP are able to pick up a few more St. John's seats.

Anyway, I guess I will just have to wait until tomorrow to see how everything plays.

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.



[Embedded video]

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.

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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.

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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.