Today, as my grandfather would say, the sadness is upon me. Let’s just say that my growing fear that McCain’s Big Lie tactics will work, combined with my stark and utter terror at the nearly inescapable certainty of a Harper majority, have made me miserable today. I’ve lost faith in my fellow man. Maybe I’ll be chipper tomorrow. Read more →
Year: 2008
Just because I love the answer
Following on from The Colonel (I guess that should be Sir The Colonel, considering his result): Your result for The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test… The Harlequin You scored 32% Cardinal, 46% Monk, 38% Lady, and 43% Knight! You are a mystery, a jack-of-all-trades. You have the king’s ear, but also listen to murmurings of the common… Read more →
I can not afford some Art.
I have survived the day of endless meetings. As soon as the last evening meeting ended, I hauled ass down the road to the bookstore to unwind with some browsing before it closed. I made some weird purchases that I suspect I might not have made if I weren’t dazed and confused from the meeting marathon. Case in point: I’m… Read more →
Casa El Profundo
It’s been a while since I did a “this recent discovery suggests Lovecraftian spookiness” post, so let’s do one of those. According to National Geographic, a series of partially underwater temples—”A labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids in 14 caves”— have been found off the Yucatan. The article talks about how these temples map onto legends of the Mayan… Read more →
The research mindset
I am so jealous of all the people working at the LHC this week. However, the best thing I’ve seen that’s LHC related this week was Hawking talking about his $100 bet against the project finding the Higgs boson. Why do I think it’s the best thing? Well, look at this part of his comments: I think it will be… Read more →
Two Americas
David Simon, the man behind The Wire, had an interesting piece in the Guardian earlier this week, where he helps the British look at the way the idea of “the American experience” is essentially a non-sensical term, as there are now (at least) two distinct Americas. As usual, Baltimore is his lens, and he has the ability to sharpen the… Read more →
Aside
Aside
Man, there’s some stuff in the Bible that’s really not for kids. I’m not even talking about the rules in Leviticus, or the LSD trip in Revelations. Do the fundamentalists know about this?
Post-Storm Scenery
For no special reason, here’s a photo of my second favourite vista on the “backwoods Maine” segment of my drive to Boston: Check out that sky. Oh, and the favourite vista on Route 9? There’s not really a safe place to stop and take a picture. Besides, I kind of like it being this ephemeral thing I have to grab… Read more →
Aside
I thought the whole Bing thing was a joke, until I saw the announcement of McCain’s plan to invade Canada.
Aside
As a general rule I am entirely in favour of freedom of speech and thought, and I look askance at any government attempts to curtail them. I can go on for quite a while about how hate speech legislation is probably a mistake, especially in a country where the current government wouldn’t think twice about blasting down that slippery slope, but… well, there’s one particular group that I don’t mind at all being on the shitty end of that stick. I’m a complicated man–I can live with some shades of grey.
Some Lovely Canadian Music
While I was driving today, I took the opportunity to listen to Tom Barlow’s eponymous album. I’ve mentioned the album here a couple of time before, embedding the song Billion Dollar Rockets in a previous post, and also discussing How Low Can You Get and Married By Elvis in some other posts. So I did a little YouTube digging when… Read more →
Aside
No problem. One hour of mist and fog, three hours of full on torrential downpour and high winds, and then seven hours of lovely fall driving in the “clear after a storm” weather.
Passed six cars in the ditch, and eleven emergency response vehicles with lights flashing during the downpour bit. These are people who don’t slow down even when the highway is under water and they’re hydroplaning along at 120km/h. Thinning the herd.
A/C stopped working in Maine. Windows down, driving fast, listening to Thin Lizzy and the Clash really loud. Excellent.
Aside
You know, I probably wouldn’t be worried about this storm if Jesus was my friend.
It’s hard out there for an atheist.
Road Trip?
In theory I’m driving down to Boston tomorrow. My route will look something like this: The tiny eight ball there indicates roughly where I expect to be at around 2PM local time. Why 2PM? Hold that thought. Normally I take the southern route, going through Saint John, and crossing into Maine much closer to the ocean, but for reasons that… Read more →
