This post brought to you by bitter, bitter tears. “Mr. Speaker, the issue of war requires moral leadership. We believe the government should stand by our troops, our friends and our allies and do everything necessary to support them right through to victory.” – Stephen Harper, supporting the American invasion of Iraq, House of Commons, April 1, 2003. “In terms… Read more →
Year: 2006
Damn
CBC just called it. Damn. I need liquor now. Read more →
Election Beer #3
This post brought to you by Fuller‘s London Porter. So, here’s my perception of the parties at play in this election. Google will bring you all kinds of other perspectives, but here you get the McLaren view ™. Liberals – The least dangerous party to be in power–they’re generally progressive on social policy (most often when Prime Ministers start to… Read more →
Election Beers #1 and #2
This post brought to you by McAuslan St. Ambroise oatmeal stout. OK, all the predictions before the polls started closing (and I can’t legally talk about election results yet, even though I can see some of them now for Atlantic ridings) were that the Conservatives would end the night with a minority government. Before I go into a little Canadian… Read more →
Heading out to vote.
I am on my way out the door to vote in the federal election. My plan for tonight is to sit around watching CBC, and getting really drunk. I hope I don’t end up needing the loving oblivion of the bottle, but if the results go the way I (and the pundits) think they will, there’s no way I’m going… Read more →
Now that’s a short-list!
The short list is up now for The British Science Fiction Association Awards, and what a list it is. 9Tail Fox — Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Gollancz) Accelerando — Charles Stross (Orbit) (Free ebook edition) Air — Geoff Ryman (Gollancz) Learning the World — Ken MacLeod (Orbit) Living Next Door to the God of Love — Justina Robson (Macmillan) I’ve actually… Read more →
Hanging Around The House 3: Finishing The Basement
So, remember almost a year ago when I started the “Hanging Around The House” series? The idea was to take some quick digital snapshots to show things I have on the walls around the house, and give me an excuse to talk about them. I did a post on the things hanging in my office, and then another one on… Read more →
Top 5: First Blush
So, the question is “Ever get nostalgic for those first few blissful moments of being infatuated with someone? What are your top 5 songs for beginning a relationship, or looking back fondly thereon?” Let’s see… The first thing that pops into my head is the Oysterband tune “The Drunkard’s Waltz“. It’s the wild (and maybe just a little self-destructive) crazy… Read more →
Halifax’s Best Salesman
Everyone has to give in to web-crack every now and then, right? Ten Top Trivia Tips about Mike Drake! Mike Drake is the male seed of a flower blossom which has been gathered and treated by bees. In his entire life, Mike Drake will produce only a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey. It’s bad luck to whistle near Mike… Read more →
A short pause
There may be a short break in service over the next week as I am about to enter a period of intense time commitment at work–I’m preparing materials to teach a whole team of new developers about our product, which has a pretty huge history and codebase, and then I’m teaching them. I really hate when I have to do… Read more →
North End Hangover Survival
I’m still laughing (on the inside, occasionally) about the Mad Russian’s advice for surviving vodka overconsumption, and it has me thinking about “hangover cures” and survival strategies. The days when I kept Ibuprofen on the headboard to prevent me having to make the painful choice between getting out of bed (and thus increasing the pain) or just enduring the pounding… Read more →
Conspicuous Consumption (this time it’s a double entendre)
So, I found out today (via Cool Hunting) about eCreamery where, among other things, you can design and order custom ice cream. It is ridiculously expensive–like $100 (US) for a gallon (perhaps easier to think of as $12.50 a pint), not including the FedEx price to get it to you (if you live in America). So even though I will… Read more →
The Darkening Ecliptic
I have no interest in commenting on the current book frauds. The blogosphere has both James Frey and JT Leroy covered. However, I do want to out Christopher Moore. Read more →
Conspicuous Consumption
My first thought on seeing this thing in one of the hundreds of mail order catalogues that comes to my house–I buy a lot of stuff online, which apparently means that my address ends up on a lot of “hot prospect” lists or something–was “damn, that’d be pretty cool”. My second thought, upon seeing the price of the thing ($17K… Read more →
I Am In The Wrong Country Next Week
Sigh. Blackwell on Charing Cross Road 18th January 7pm An evening with Michael Moorcock, in conversation with Alan Moore Tickets £6 normal, £4 for leeches on society. Buy them from the shop or call 0845 456 9876. This is totally going to be the Battle Of The Beards: versus Read more →
