tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66730252011-04-21T18:22:40.448-07:00<i>"Speak softly and carry a big stick"</i> - Theodore Roosevelt<br> Infrequent musings (and I do mean infrequent) about things political (or just about anything that strikes my fancy)...©2004 by D.R. McKay<br> Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comBlogger1651100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1095535950959663202004-09-18T13:32:00.000-07:002004-09-18T12:48:29.870-07:00

Actually, I'm not totally gone (and we can just leave my mental state out of this, thank you). Blogger was a good place to start, but there've been too many recent frustrations dealing with the Blogger interface (little things, like six tries over 45 minutes to republish the blog), so I decided it was time to bite ye bullet and move the blog to a new home. You can get there by clicking on the

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1095459280964246872004-09-17T15:14:00.000-07:002004-09-17T15:23:53.566-07:00

Dubya as Adenoid Hynkel? Priceless! I don't know who did the video editing, but it's pretty good. You can either click here to view or (if I've set this up right) right-click here to save the video. Many thanks to Shaula (again) for this.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1095354481833292782004-09-16T14:15:00.000-07:002004-09-16T18:37:20.486-07:00

So this hockey fan dies and goes to heaven. St. Peter greets him at the Pearly Gates to show him inside, where he is delighted to find that heaven is full of hockey rinks and never-ending pickup games to play. At the end of the tour, they walk by one rink with only one guy skating around, making some nifty moves. "Who is that?" asks the hockey fan. "Oh..." St. Peter sighs, "that's God, but He

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1095287368566984032004-09-15T15:29:00.000-07:002004-09-15T15:54:52.096-07:00

Photo Credit: Two Unemployed Democrats Co. Got this one from a commercial break during the Randi Rhodes Show over at Air America Radio. SeeYaGeorge.com (based in - of all places - Austin, Tx.!) has a pretty good selection of political t-shirts, buttons, stickers, &c., &c., &c. Most of them are on the funny side, but the one that just about put me on the floor laughing was:Democrats are sexy..

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1095213959364866572004-09-14T20:45:00.000-07:002004-09-14T20:52:30.603-07:00

(Click for larger image) Trekkies can show up in the wierdest of places, as Ananova reports:Germany's state-run radio is broadcasting its output in a new language - Klingon. The popularity of the show in Germany and abroad prompted Deutsche Welle network to offer online reports and audio clips in Klingon.It shouldn't be surprising that something like this could happen, considering the effort

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094919768649535072004-09-11T09:22:00.000-07:002004-09-11T10:08:09.393-07:00

Never heard of this band? Not surprising. Just another one-album wonder from way back, right? Well, there's still an interest in the band, maybe not for its music per se, but because of one of its members:The Electras would've almost certainly been relegated to the fuzzed-out annals of '60s garage rock history if not for the post-garage career of bassist (and future Senator) John Kerry.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094843238103629462004-09-10T13:07:00.000-07:002004-09-10T12:49:42.900-07:00

The idiots are at it again. The Great Amurrrican Forgery Scandal, which (as you might expect) the Chihuahuas of Inconvenience are chasing in full pack mentality. One of the Chihuahuas is claiming that "the blogosphere" has "destroyed CBS" (in less than 24 hours, imagine that!). He expands his idea here. Naturally, all of his "information" comes from the "fair-minded" likes of Powerline,

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094678350587041992004-09-08T14:19:00.000-07:002004-09-08T14:32:00.276-07:00

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." - Cmdr. Montgomery ScottA couple of interesting notes to follow-up on the RNC in New York last week:In and around Midtown Manhattan, convention-goers got a taste of life in a society where the overriding goal is to stop attacks at all costs. It was the bitter taste of losing one's freedoms, albeit in this case for the

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094672191022159142004-09-08T13:36:00.000-07:002004-09-08T12:48:51.486-07:00

Photo Credit: NASA The mid-air attempt to retrieve NASA's Genesis Project has failed, according to CNN:The Genesis return capsule crashed in the desert on Wednesday after its parachutes failed to deploy. The craft missed a mid-air retrieval meant to save the spacecraft from hitting the Earth. "The capsule has suffered extensive damage. It has broken apart on the desert floor," said an official

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094471186655046692004-09-06T04:46:00.000-07:002004-09-06T05:28:16.770-07:00

There are certain traditions to this time of year. The first indications of the coming monsoon season in Vancouver; a certain relief on the faces of parents who know that school starts real soon now; the thought that the beaches will cease to be a smorgasbord (mostly). Another tradition, one of recent vintage, is the release of Beloit College's Mindset List™, a sort of thumbnail guide (or

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094469832088960592004-09-06T04:23:00.000-07:002004-09-06T04:35:51.706-07:00

If this doesn't prove the Brits are mad...:Muppets Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker defeated Dr. Strangelove, Dana Scully of "X Files" fame and Star Trek's Mr. Spock to be voted Britain's favorite screen scientists. They beat their closest rival by a margin of 2 to 1 and won 33 percent of the 43,000 votes cast in an Internet poll published in Monday. Spock came in a distance

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094402387589504492004-09-05T09:39:00.000-07:002004-09-05T09:39:47.590-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094324089146044822004-09-04T13:15:00.000-07:002004-09-06T11:58:41.336-07:00

Some years ago I used to hang around a tobacconist shop owned by Ye Olde Phart. One of the semi-regular customers was a guy whose ostensible income (so he claimed) was stock promotion (this was in the bad old days when the Vancouver Stock Exhange, considered by many to be one slight step above "bucket shop" status, was still running). He was a slick talker, always dressed in sharp suits...the

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094253624887301422004-09-03T16:15:00.000-07:002004-09-03T16:24:37.436-07:00

Yes, absurd and dumb may be the best way to sum up the Republican National Hate Fest Convention. Dumbest move: Letting Zell Miller (supposedly a Democrat) deliver the keynote speech on Wednesday. Some white sheets are best left untouched. Absurdist theater: The two interruptions of Dubya's speech by protesters. Monumentally embarassing fuck-up on the part of security? Or staging for

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094241647729955392004-09-03T13:52:00.000-07:002004-09-03T13:00:47.730-07:00

I should think not:The world’s first fully-functioning inflatable pub will be unveiled to the public this weekend, it was revealed today. The blow-up mock Tudor pub, complete with lattice windows and fireplace, measures 40ft long, 19ft wide and 22ft high and can house up to 100 drinkers. [LINK]This is from the same guy who created The Inflatable Church. His next project will apparently be an

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094072324184976702004-09-01T13:58:00.000-07:002004-09-01T14:12:19.896-07:00

I'm gonna be away from the computer for a couple of days doing a few non-blog things, and then there's the long weekend (doing other non-blog things)... Then I'll be starting a project involving a steep learning curve, so posting will be (to put it charitably) erratic, but in the end the results for the blog will be worth it. Hopefully I'll have the changes underway in a couple of weeks.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094055025217603662004-09-01T09:01:00.000-07:002004-09-01T09:41:08.760-07:00

Ach so. The Governator gave his big speech last night at the RNC. Most of the left-wing blogs are commenting appropriately about it (I have been blissfully avoiding the coverage of the convention, although I have had a couple of accidental exposures whilst channel-surfing), but you can find a couple of choice quotes over at The Talent Show. If The Rude Pundit ever gets his wish regarding

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1094053042374530122004-09-01T08:37:00.000-07:002004-09-01T18:08:19.516-07:00

Hollywood's insane tendency to turn video games into motion pictures strikes yet again with Doom: The Movie. As a general rule, movies based on video games suck. Super Mario Bros. is probably the worst of the lot but even some of the better ones, such as Final Fantasy, just seem to come up short. Note, though, I said as a general rule. I can cut Street Fighter some slack for the late Raul

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093957465110156292004-08-31T06:04:00.000-07:002004-08-31T06:24:14.696-07:00

The film version of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is in production, with a release date projected for sometime next year (unless the Vogons show up). Here's the official movie site. The actual site kinda sucks (in the same way that bricks don't), but the go-to page carries on a tradition inherent in the various incarnations of H2G2 (and I'll let you figure that hint out

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093898220107129112004-08-30T13:37:00.000-07:002004-08-30T13:45:12.936-07:00

A specimen from The Ugly Zoo. The page may take a while to load, but it's worth it. There's some truly weird visions here. (A User Friendly Link Of The Day)

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093886373815041752004-08-30T10:19:00.000-07:002004-08-30T13:47:22.893-07:00

Photo Credit: Christine T. Nguyen/The Herald-Sun (click for larger image) The "gentleman" with the microphone is Bob Dumas, morning jock for G105.1, and the organizer of the "het pride parade" that was held in Raleigh, NC on Saturday. You can find the coverage of that event by one of their local papers here. I have to admit that the photographer has a nice touch for irony (and timing). The

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093781469261261992004-08-29T04:55:00.000-07:002004-08-29T05:18:30.970-07:00

If you thought the stretch Mini was weird... Get a load of the Starbike Enterpoop. What a horrible thing to do to a Vespa (the thing out-weirds Salvidor Dali's Vespa hands down).

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093707609619846992004-08-28T08:26:00.000-07:002004-08-30T10:47:55.760-07:00

As I write this post the "heterosexual pride parade" I posted about in Raleigh, NC has, if it occurred on time (or at all), probably happened. Here's a quick follow-on to my second post on this item: After writing that second post I had a thought, so I went and offered the suggestion in the AMERICAblog comment stream that maybe the two posters who lived in the Raleigh area should go cover the

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093650834864184872004-08-27T16:53:00.000-07:002004-08-27T17:29:13.960-07:00

"Kamikazi Rocket Mouse" by Jeff de Boer"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. What? Look, somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here. Boom, sooner or later. BOOM!" - Susan Ivanova (Babylon 5 episode "Grail")The "death ray" has long been a staple of science-fiction. The military has long wanted one, presumably since the days of Nikola Tesla. Looks like they

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093632563859830792004-08-27T11:42:00.000-07:002004-08-30T14:02:45.010-07:00

My favourite Minnesotan, Garrison Keillor, sets his sights on the Republicans:The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants,

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093625135512499262004-08-27T09:45:00.000-07:002004-08-27T11:50:46.766-07:00

Back in the mid-1980's when I lived in Calgary a rather strange little apparition appeared on the streets, which I thought had to be the silliest bit of automobilia, bar none. It was a Chrysler K-car (a Reliant, if memory serves) that had been stretched out into a limousine. I thought "What is the point of it?" Fast-forward to a couple of years ago in Vancouver. I saw a couple of stretch

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093544640382320382004-08-26T13:15:00.000-07:002004-08-26T13:31:54.506-07:00

Since posting the item about the heterosexual march and sending a heads-up to John over at AMERICAblog about it (while I may not have been the only one to e-mail him on this, I do thank him for his "thank you" reply), John posted the item and since then there has been at least one response from the station (hey, he gets way more readers than I do!). Read the station's response (as well as the

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093531426704253192004-08-26T07:43:00.000-07:002004-08-26T09:35:37.580-07:00

The Guardian has published lists of the top ten best science fiction movies and authors, as chosen by a selection of Britain's top scientists:The Authors: 1 Isaac Asimov 2 John Wyndham 3 Fred Hoyle 4 Philip K Dick 5 HG Wells 6 Ursula K Le Guin 7 Arthur C Clarke 8 Ray Bradbury 9 Frank Herbert 10 Stanislaw Lem The Films: 1 Blade Runner (1982) Dir: Ridley Scott 2 2001: A Space

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093528037310810752004-08-26T06:47:00.000-07:002004-08-26T12:29:09.640-07:00

MUSIC UP: Onward Christian Soldiers (instrumental) MIX/w:SF/X: Sounds of a Klan cross-burning SF/X: Crowd sounds of a revival meetingANNOUNCER: "This march is brought to you by Bigotra...the pill that helps you "get it on" for your cause!" MUSIC OUTLike I said...it was bound to happen. A radio station, owned by Clear Channel (gee, now there's a surprise!), in Raleigh, NC is sponsoring a "

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093496451448514122004-08-25T22:00:00.000-07:002004-08-25T22:02:29.146-07:00

Photo Credit: Agence France-Presse Yesterday I had an interesting meeting with another Doug (he of Doug's Dynamic Drivel fame) who is down here in the Lower Mainland for a visit. Among the (many) topics of conversation was a diversion into the consequences of science, both of us agreeing that science is essentially neutral, with two troublesome caveats on that: 1) It's impossible to control

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093478368735627002004-08-25T16:59:00.000-07:002004-08-25T17:08:40.516-07:00

The above logo leads to a (very funny) parody of a real UK government site, and it would appear that officialdom is a tad upset about it. (And another thank-you goes to Thagg for the alert)

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093476877638877702004-08-25T16:34:00.000-07:002004-08-25T17:10:57.333-07:00

According to what Bruce Schneier tells us, you just can't get away from the old ways:Want to help fight terrorism? Want to be able to stop and detain suspicious characters? Or do you just want to ride your horse on ten miles of trails normally closed to the public? Then you might want to join the George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) Airport Rangers program. That's right. Just fill out a form and

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093455928779619312004-08-25T10:45:00.000-07:002004-08-25T10:53:45.126-07:00

The staid old BBC has come up with an intriguing new way to bring culture to the masses: If the people won't go to the opera, bring the opera to them... and when they least expect it. In a somewhat unorthodox addition to its autumn television schedules, the BBC has announced that next month it will surprise commuters by staging an opera at an unnamed London rail station, without any warning.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093346131465085492004-08-24T05:00:00.000-07:002004-08-24T05:29:52.573-07:00

On Christmas Day you can't get sore, Your fellow man you must adore. There's time to rob him all the more The other three hundred and sixty-four. - Tom Lehrer ("A Christmas Carol")Every so often I go check out the comment streams on certain sites (even FreeRepublic on very rare occasions - it's that "know thine enemy" thing) just to see if there's anything, you know, interesting. I spotted a

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093302201775944652004-08-23T16:20:00.000-07:002004-08-23T16:54:35.486-07:00

For those of us who knew we'd be disappointed by this year's Thunderbirds movie and wisely decided not to go see it, there is a movie coming out October 15th that will probably blow Thunderbirds away. And rightly so... The movie is Team America: World Police and it's done by the madmen who do South Park. There's a good article about it in the New York Times:Last month in the vast hangar

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093268779133020592004-08-23T10:00:00.000-07:002004-08-23T19:11:11.666-07:00

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?") - Arlo Guthrie ("Alice's Restaurant")There's an old saying that you can't get rid of a bad penny, and it would appear that saying is horribly true. You may not recognize the pseudo-scantily clad female portrayed above (and you may not WANT to recognize her, either) but she is one of B.C.'s very own "women with a past" and, like that proverbial bad penny

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093204439743367872004-08-22T12:53:00.000-07:002004-08-22T13:05:31.936-07:00

The Buzzworthy blog at the Seattle PI shows us that, yes, news can indeed arrive from an alternate universe:Sometimes the most unexpected press releases pop up in our inbox. For example, today we got one from the Raelians demanding compulsory brain scans for all elected officials and candidates for public office. The stated rationale: "Mental and emotional balance is the least we should expect

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093178131338694462004-08-22T05:30:00.000-07:002004-08-22T13:12:51.043-07:00

Last year, Penguin Books (publishers of the Ace Books line of science fiction, among other things) announced the launching of their "dedicated conservative imprint", called Sentinel. I first heard of this imprint through a comment, which I had noted in passing, on one of the message boards over at Democratic Underground. The comment made brief mention of a report that one of Sentinel's editors

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093145486257494212004-08-21T20:25:00.000-07:002004-08-21T20:39:59.136-07:00

First Brief: The other afternoon my friend Thagg migrated in from the 'burbs for a visit. As it had been a beastly hot day, we spent the afternoon sitting in the relative cool of my living room discussing the abominable state of the universe. Inevitably, the conversation turned to this item:Lawyers attending the Canadian Bar Association's annual meeting were passionate Sunday in their

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093046171984256412004-08-20T16:44:00.000-07:002004-08-20T16:56:11.986-07:00

A space project called Genesis, stuntmen, and a hand-operated skyhook...what could possibly go wrong? Sounds like a tag line for a bad S/F movie (or a slightly lower-than-average Traveller2000 game scenario), doesn't it? Fear not (it's all true):A capsule filled with stardust will be dropped into the atmosphere from NASA's Genesis spacecraft on 8 September. Genesis has collected charged

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093041320995140842004-08-20T16:00:00.000-07:002004-08-21T18:43:22.700-07:00

Fellow blogger Shaula hit me with a question about my previous post:"How does Clinton-hate measure on your richter-scale?"I think the level of "keep the good china packed in foam and keep the bookshelves solidly bolted to the walls" pretty much covers it. It's embarassing to admit this, but I honestly hadn't even thought about Clinton when I was writing my post (and Shaula was quite right to

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1093027477322829312004-08-20T11:40:00.000-07:002004-08-20T11:45:04.446-07:00

It's been apparent to me for some time that the right-wing-nut attacks on John Kerry have gone seriously beyond the line of being just politics and moved into the realm of the personal. The right-wing-nut military types seem to base their hatred in the idea that somehow Kerry personally "betrayed" them by speaking out against the Vietnam war (after he'd gone over there and more than adequately

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092956304802782382004-08-19T15:58:00.000-07:002004-08-19T16:06:35.093-07:00

Being one of the "cat people" myself (even though I'm quite allergic to them), I can appreciate Barry Link's POV in this weeks Vancouver Courier:...as I was sitting at my desk in the newspaper office, a chihuahua ran under my feet. I was reasonably surprised, because in my adult work life I've noticed chihuahuas seldom run under my feet as I'm sitting at my desk in my office. In fact, they never

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092932585639148042004-08-19T09:23:00.000-07:002004-08-19T09:36:57.526-07:00

(click picture for Amazon.ca listing) "Be vewy, vewy quiet..." - E. FuddWhile I prefer my own "Chihuahuas of Inconvenience" label for the right-wing pundits, it looks like this book will be a pretty good read (if the book description at Amazon.com is any indication):Beware the attack poodles—like a mutant invasion, they have taken control of America's airwaves and newspapers. Trained to spring

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092904724531922962004-08-19T01:34:00.000-07:002004-08-19T01:38:44.533-07:00

Another one of the greats is gone: Elmer Bernstein, the versatile, Oscar-winning composer who scored such movie classics as "The Ten Commandments," "The Magnificent Seven," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Great Escape" and "True Grit," died Wednesday. He was 82. [LINK]Damn!...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092903358790919552004-08-19T01:30:00.000-07:002004-08-19T02:20:40.286-07:00

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have us believe that the seizure of pharmaceutical drugs being shipped to the Minnesota Senior Federation is a matter of protecting the American public:A Toronto pharmacy began sending out new shipments this week to replace prescription drugs seized by U.S. Customs officials in Miami. CanadaRx, based in Toronto, shipped the drugs valued at $250,000 US

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092849250480242902004-08-18T10:05:00.000-07:002004-08-18T10:14:10.480-07:00

"I object to all this sex on the television. I mean, I keep falling off." - Monty Python (Graham Chapman, in pepperpot character)Do you get the feeling that someone's....um....stretching the truth a bit here?:Nearly six in 10 Brits surveyed said it was normal for a person in their thirties to have had 10 or more lovers during their single years. Only Germany and the United States recorded

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092847954802595272004-08-18T09:52:00.000-07:002004-08-18T09:57:07.203-07:00

(click on image) I do so love Sinfest. Tatsuya Ishida has a sense of humour that I really appreciate.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092776036831722182004-08-17T13:53:00.000-07:002004-08-17T14:06:35.426-07:00

No contest. ED309 sucks! (and why do I have a Pete Shelley tune running through my head all of a sudden?) Thanks to Gizmodo for the original post (clicking on their picture of the suit links to a really big picture and there's also a link to more pictures of the suit).

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092754880283725772004-08-17T08:01:00.000-07:002004-08-17T08:24:47.226-07:00

An earnest, thought-provoking...and totally off-the-wall question:After watching Dawn of the Dead, I am left to wonder about one thing: If we were to suffer an apocalypse where most of the living became flesh-eating zombies, how long, assuming I survived, would I continue to receive hydroelectricity from my power company? Is it a mean-time-before-failure situation, or would the system

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092735446344895972004-08-17T02:21:00.000-07:002004-08-17T02:40:25.666-07:00

One desperately wishes to avoid phrases like "shop 'til you drop" or "Ask about our lay-away plan" with this one:Whether you're in the market for a good night's sleep or the eternal kind, there's now a discount store somewhere that has you covered. On Monday, Costco Wholesale Corp., better known for bulk chicken and cases of soda, started test marketing caskets along side mattresses at a North

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092734450801179242004-08-17T02:18:00.000-07:002004-08-17T02:20:50.800-07:00

Just what we need: 32 ways to open a beer. Prosit!

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092722523095404792004-08-16T23:02:00.000-07:002004-08-16T23:08:45.913-07:00

Oh, what the heck! Here's Phobos Entertainment's list of must-see science fiction movies, too! I've seen all but two of these (Galaxy Quest and Strange Days) and 36 of them reside quietly in my DVD collection...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092721294953616722004-08-16T22:41:00.000-07:002004-08-16T22:42:41.566-07:00

Here's Phobos Entertainment's list of must-read science fiction. I'm not too sure which is more frightening; the fact that I've actually read 87 of the books over the years...or that I have around 50 of the titles still lurking about in my book collection...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092629804363577982004-08-15T21:13:00.000-07:002004-08-15T21:16:44.363-07:00

Here's a deadly little Flash animation that manages to make Dubya look creepier than he actually is...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092605088075882152004-08-15T14:20:00.000-07:002004-08-15T21:04:04.183-07:00

Close the city and tell the people that something's coming to call Death and darkness are rushing forward to take a bite from the wall, oh You've nothing to say They're breaking away If you listen to fools... The Mob Rules - Black Sabbath ("The Mob Rules")So, the Hive-mind (aka the Republican National Convention) is set to infest NYC at the end of the month and it looks like the opening salvo

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092597512854543052004-08-15T12:14:00.000-07:002004-08-15T12:18:32.853-07:00

I'm sure they can afford the crying towels (the poor dears):Puerto Rico upset the United States 92-73 at the men's Olympic basketball tournament on Sunday, the first loss at the Games for the three-times defending gold medallists since 1988. [LINK]So who says dreams can't die?

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092445177739288302004-08-13T17:57:00.000-07:002004-08-13T17:59:37.740-07:00

Good article by Mr. Vonnegut over at In These Times....

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092435439366568962004-08-13T15:10:00.000-07:002004-08-13T15:21:06.966-07:00

"I would like...if I may...to take you on a strange journey." - The Criminologist (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) Well there's no need to complain, We'll eliminate your pain. We can neutralize your brain. You'll feel just fine - Simon and Garfunkel ("Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine") One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small, And the ones that mother gives you Don't do anything

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092362989348347522004-08-12T18:54:00.000-07:002004-08-12T19:09:49.346-07:00

These days money doesn't just talk, it's the be-all and end-all of the lexicon (and to hell with the peasants, too!):ELYRIA, Ohio -- In theory, Dan Imbrogno shouldn't be a voter George W. Bush has to worry about. Imbrogno, a lifelong Republican, Ohioan and business executive, looks like central casting's idea of the model Bush voter. Imbrogno is president and chief executive of Ohio Screw, a

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092359769622183202004-08-12T18:08:00.000-07:002004-08-12T18:16:09.623-07:00

Interesting item in the International Herald Tribune:You can tell a lot about a people by knowing what makes them laugh. But can you tell how they'll vote? It's hard to know. But there seems general agreement this election year on a few points. One is that political humor has undergone something of a rebirth, becoming a constant feature of this extraordinarily polarized year, with electoral

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092339176356374332004-08-12T12:19:00.000-07:002004-08-12T12:32:56.356-07:00

Molly Ivins does the word "gadfly" proud (ranking right up there with Helen Thomas, of whom I'm also a fan). She has an interesting take on we Canadians and our (or at least Albertans) reactions to the U.S. elections:Nice, polite, calm, reserved, chock full of common sense and living next to us -- what a fate. For them, it's like having the Simpsons for next-door neighbors. A few years ago,

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092337886001935312004-08-12T12:05:00.000-07:002004-08-12T12:11:26.000-07:00

Adding to my previous post on this are a few small screen shots. I'm presuming these are from the MGM print, but even so, R&R has never looked this good!

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092333194723618352004-08-12T10:53:00.000-07:002004-08-12T11:05:58.786-07:00

A long-rumoured project has apparently been moved to the front burner over at Paramount, according to the Hollywood Reporter:Paramount Pictures is switching its tentpole pictures for next year. "Mission: Impossible 3," which has been plagued by director problems, is out, and "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, is in. [LINK]Wonder if they'll get Jeff Wayne

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1092262120737931452004-08-11T15:04:00.000-07:002004-08-11T15:08:40.790-07:00

Last year (2003) there was a web page up called "The 365 Days Project." It was a project which listed mp3's (one per day) of some of the more, shall we say, esoteric musical offerings that can be found out there. Ubuweb has decided to keep the archive alive (sans mp3's) and you can go frighten yourselves tuneless here.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1091578781199895002004-08-03T17:19:00.000-07:002004-08-03T17:33:09.646-07:00

Image credit: Gaping Void This is probably one of the most intriguing blog posts I've read in a while. This particular item really resonates:6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with books on algebra etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the creative bug is just a wee voice

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1091576308168144892004-08-03T16:18:00.000-07:002004-08-03T16:38:28.166-07:00

My, my, my...but some Republicans sure do seem to want to hate the French. Maybe the fact that both John and Teresa Kerry speak French ("Vive le Massachusetts libre!") has something to do with it.... Of course, if Bill O'Reilly's assertion that the American boycott of France (which he called for) has been so successful, I'm surprised that there's so much left to boycott. Maybe the French are

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1091575073467758042004-08-03T15:57:00.000-07:002004-08-03T16:17:53.466-07:00

An intriguing item in the Albuquerque Journal that I've just come across (hey, I'm still playing catch-up here...):Some would-be spectators hoping to attend Vice President Dick Cheney's rally in Rio Rancho this weekend walked out of a Republican campaign office miffed and ticketless Thursday after getting this news: Unless you sign an endorsement for President George W. Bush, you're not

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1091563344409561442004-08-03T13:00:00.000-07:002004-08-03T13:02:24.410-07:00

Sorry about no posts for a while, but I'm suffering the horrors of a summer cold at the moment (hence the "bleagh!"). I'm hoping to be back on track in a few days (part of which will be spent playing catch-up with news and such)...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1091114766426642672004-07-29T12:45:00.000-07:002004-07-29T13:44:08.490-07:00

No, we are not talking about yet another Tolkien extravaganza here... What I'm on about today is perhaps one of the best, least-seen pieces of Canadian feature-film animation that ever got committed to celluloid. I'm talking, of course, about Nelvana Animation's classic film (See Note #1 below to clear up the title confusion) Being a DVD fanatic who has been told by friends that he needs

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090963520966589432004-07-27T13:32:00.000-07:002004-07-27T14:25:20.966-07:00

Photo Credit: AMERICAblog My friend (and fellow Canuck) Thagg sent me this Wired piece on the "free speech zone" (pictured above) at the Democratic National Convention:...activists have been largely united in one civil action: their boycott of the so-called free-speech zone carved out by the U.S. Secret Service and local authorities, the only spot where protesters will be able to shout their

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090954473540661332004-07-27T12:54:00.000-07:002004-07-27T17:39:16.990-07:00

"A liberal is a conservative who's been through treatment." - Garrison KeillorLet me state up front that I am no admirer of Ann Coulter. My opinion of her "writings" is that she would have been considered an extremist even by the editorial standards of Der Stürmer (and she makes Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS look like a Mouseketeer, too). Needless to say, I was a bit surprised when I heard that The

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090869098775694622004-07-26T12:00:00.000-07:002004-07-26T12:11:38.776-07:00

Now, I'm not a lawyer (did I just hear a deep sigh of relief from somewhere?), but I'm in no way surprised at this result:JULY 26, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Didja see what happened last week in that Michigan courtroom? Sure, Judge Rae Lee Chabot threw out virtually all of The SCO Group's lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler. But that's not the really interesting part. What's really interesting is that,

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090840137484747202004-07-26T04:00:00.000-07:002004-07-27T15:54:39.926-07:00

The "nostalgia" and "reality TV" crazes unite (making for double the suckage in just one show):The Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Veronica versus Betty. The Bradys or The Partridges. For some kids growing up in the early '70s, the issue was an ongoing, raging debate. And the debate continues some 35 years later, as the Bradys and the Partridges were brought together again — or rather, for only

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090778103288699932004-07-25T10:31:00.000-07:002004-07-25T11:00:05.960-07:00

A couple of days ago I was on about the fictional best places to hang out and, silly me, I forgot to mention Gavagan's Bar and the Draco Tavern. Honourable mention must also go to Milliways, The Broken/Mended Drum and, of course, The Inn of the Prancing Pony. Those of you of a less literary persuasion may prefer the Queen Vic, Moe's Tavern, Quark's, or even (God help you!) The Titty Twister.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090776058107620432004-07-25T10:15:00.000-07:002004-07-25T10:20:58.106-07:00

Ahhhhhhh....it makes one so proud to be Canadian:MONTREAL — The November elections may still be ahead of him but U.S. President George W. Bush came out a big winner yesterday — at the World Stupidity Awards. Bush was a dominating presence at the second edition of the awards presented at the Just for Laughs comedy festival. (snip) Bush took the Stupidest Man of the Year Award and for the second

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090715623891626242004-07-24T17:15:00.000-07:002004-07-24T17:33:43.890-07:00

In his later novels (Friday and To Sail Beyond the Sunset) Robert A Heinlein makes reference to what he calls "Shipstones":Shipstone 1. Common power source. It involved intensive solar collection and energy storage but was not otherwise described. It apparently replaced almost all other sources of energy. The name also applied to the conglomerate that apparently owned most of the corporations on

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090686375461196952004-07-24T09:07:00.000-07:002004-07-24T09:26:15.460-07:00

Yet another big-screen "re-imagining" of a piece of so-so 1980's TV crud:Toymaker Hasbro's popular Transformers action figures will be seen on the silver screen. DreamWorks film company, co-founded by Steven Spielberg, will oversee the live-action movie, scheduled for release in summer 2006. [LINK]I never did see the attraction in the series, but I suppose there are enough brainless idiots

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090685040618380482004-07-24T08:43:00.000-07:002004-07-24T09:04:29.203-07:00

So...Canada finally gets new helicopters...sort of...eventually...SHEARWATER, N.S. (CP) - The federal government, in a bid to calm a whirlwind of political debate, announced Friday it plans to buy 28, bargain-priced Sikorsky Cyclones to replace Canada's geriatric fleet of Sea King helicopters. New Defence Minister Bill Graham announced the $5 billion project, which includes maintenance and

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090521036596142162004-07-22T10:54:00.000-07:002004-07-22T11:30:36.596-07:00

There are those who say that the best places to hang out just don't exist in the real world, and I'm inclined to agree. In reference I can give you The White Hart, just about any meeting of The Black Widowers, or many evenings at Callahan's Place (well, two evenings in particular, but only because I have a near-terminal case of paronomasia...)... Now there's another one: Back in February, a

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090518280546262082004-07-22T10:38:00.000-07:002004-07-22T10:44:40.546-07:00

Playing the name game... (go check out Anagram Genius for more fun)

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090458103428647172004-07-21T18:01:00.001-07:002004-07-21T18:10:20.973-07:00

So...for those of us who've always thought Dubya isn't qualified to be Prezzie, we now have some serious confirmation of the fact...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1090454813908886022004-07-20T17:06:00.000-07:002004-07-21T17:41:46.616-07:00

I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a Communist moon. - Lyndon B. Johnson "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." - John F. Kennedy (speech to Congress, May 25, 1961) "Houston.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089659289692695312004-07-12T11:56:00.000-07:002004-07-12T12:08:09.693-07:00

Well, not so much "slack" as some necessary down-time, implementing a long-delayed (owing to a fractured shoulder) plot to rearrange (maybe that should be re-de-range) my apartment. The major task is to move my industrial-grade brute of a desk across the room, which means the computer will be off-line for a couple of days. I'm going to take a bit of personal time, too (nudge-nudge) and maybe

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089644713158756382004-07-12T07:14:00.000-07:002004-07-12T08:05:13.156-07:00

"We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." - George OrwellSomething I wrote about nearly two weeks ago has finally hit the mainstream media, courtesy of Newsweek:July 19 issue - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089566925673146152004-07-11T13:50:00.000-07:002004-07-11T14:13:19.013-07:00

One of the problems I have always had with the rabidly religious crowd (of the Judeo-Christian variety, at least) is their adherance to the position that the Bible is "God's Law", writ in stone, unaltered by the hand and mind of Man, and that Man must follow "God's Law". If this is so, please explain to me why there are so many versions of the Bible (KJV, NIV, &c., &c...some of which have very

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089463716931654992004-07-10T05:34:00.000-07:002004-07-10T05:48:36.933-07:00

With apologies to T.S. Elliot's "The Hollow Men")This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a...Slurpee®!!?What would summer be without 7-Eleven® (7:30 to 11:30 in Newfoundland)?

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089462083975677442004-07-10T05:15:00.000-07:002004-07-10T05:21:23.976-07:00

...and here's why (picture links to article):

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089410974411701942004-07-09T14:08:00.000-07:002004-07-09T16:32:18.453-07:00

A couple of days ago I opined about the outing campaign which is currently sweeping Washington D.C. In it I made comparison between certain gays and the "special commandos" employed by the Nazis at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Well...one of those "special commando" types has been heard from, and he is Lynden Armstrong, administrative director for Republican Senator Pete Domenici of

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089384698770814572004-07-09T07:30:00.000-07:002004-07-09T07:51:38.770-07:00

There's an article on the Southern Baptist Coalition's news website which (despite the usual blind moral certitude of the religious right contained therein) has a pretty good analysis of the success of the gay rights movement. Athenae over at Eschaton has a better comment on this than any I could make.

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089361412702225752004-07-09T00:25:00.000-07:002004-07-09T01:23:32.703-07:00

"One Wing to rule them all, One Wing to fright them..." (mondo apologies to J.R.R. Tolkein)I try not to take much notice of the columnists in the Sun chain of papers. When I was living in Calgary (my 5½ years in purgatory) the Sun was a fairly moderate little paper, in that it had columnists of just about every political stripe appearing in its pages. Lubor J. Zink was balanced out by Maude

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089247986844923982004-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:002004-07-07T17:53:06.843-07:00

Aunty (the Austrailian Broadcasting Corporation)'s got the wind up, but I guess it's why Australia has the Outback...

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089245518964373942004-07-07T15:22:00.000-07:002004-07-07T17:16:03.650-07:00

One gets the feeling that knickers are twisting all 'round Washington, D.C. at the moment:The proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage has revived a debate over the ethics of outing those closeted gay men and lesbians in a position to affect public policy. On the day after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) reportedly told Christian leaders that the Senate will vote

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089219625395950732004-07-07T10:00:00.000-07:002004-07-07T10:15:16.336-07:00

Disgraceful:A U.S. fighter pilot who killed four Canadian soldiers when he mistakenly bombed them in Afghanistan was reprimanded and fined Tuesday, a move that relatives of the victims say brings some closure but little comfort. Maj. Harry Schmidt, 38, was found guilty of dereliction of duty and will lose more than $5,000 US in pay, the air force said. Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson, who presided

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089134228749340412004-07-06T10:02:00.000-07:002004-07-06T10:41:43.840-07:00

Magnificent, Moore!: Photo Credit: Michael Moore + Time magazine From the Time article:Can a movie do what a million get-out-the-vote initiatives have failed to do? Will an evening's smashing entertainment turn couch potatoes into political activists? Could Michael Moore's dream be George Bush's nightmare?I most certainly hope so!!! (plus) Murdoch's McCormack Moment: Message to Rupert:

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089062390923120042004-07-05T14:08:00.000-07:002004-07-05T14:19:51.833-07:00

Being a prairie boy from Saskatchewan, living in The Village at the Edge of the Rainforest, I have real empathy with this:For starters, saying people in Berkeley are liberal, is the understatement of a lifetime. I may seem liberal in South Dakota, but here I might as well be Rush Limbaugh's long-lost daughter. A month ago I was surrounded by yellow ribbon-clad cars swearing their support for our

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1089061366938599552004-07-05T11:44:00.000-07:002004-07-05T14:02:46.943-07:00

"Hey, you big bully. What's the idea of hitting that little bully?" - Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx, in A Night at the Opera)Once again Cuba is the pea under the mattress of the Republican Princess:The U.S. government on Wednesday published in the Federal Register regulations that further tighten the embargo against Cuba, pleasing the powerful Florida-based Cuban-American lobby. Acting on the

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1088883992296623042004-07-03T12:36:00.000-07:002004-07-03T12:46:32.296-07:00

This was forwarded to me by my friend Rebecca (thanks,Rebecca!), who got it from the local SCA group message boards:Got this off another list, from someone who sends this back to the Nigerian scam letters. Dougal Dear Sir or Madam, I am an Uruk of Mordor, charged with the discovery of a number of valuable treasures within Moria. It has come to my notice that the mithril hoard previously

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1088871003863408562004-07-03T09:10:00.000-07:002004-07-03T09:26:37.736-07:00

The consequences of stupidity (alleged and real):A Boy Scout troop tried to put a dent in a potential $14 million judgment Friday by selling lemonade at $250 a glass. The federal and state governments earlier this week sued the Boy Scouts of America to recover costs of the 2002 East Fork fire, allegedly started by Utah Scouts. "C'mon, we need your help!" shouted one Scout to cars whizzing past

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673025.post-1088707709529391252004-07-01T14:15:00.000-07:002004-07-01T14:53:20.036-07:00

Photo Credit:Library and Archives Canada It is Canada Day. Our country is 137 years old (although it doesn't look a day over 100...). Good for us. I think it was around 1992 that I started noticing that attitudes toward Canada Day, rather than being regarded as a celebration of the nation's birthday, seemed to be more of the attitude of a middle-aged person; either "I made it through another

Doug Mc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12404592632849190657noreply@blogger.com