I Blame Myself: I’ve Been Driving To Work Too Much

A month of driving to work and look at the consequences. I will make up for this.

March of Penguins Turning Into Trail of Tears
By Alexis Madrigal January 26, 2009 | 5:00:02 PM

Emperor penguin colonies will face extinction if the warming trend of the last 50 years continues over the next century.

Despite dwindling concern among Americans about climate change, the warming climate continues to change life for animals, particularly at the Earth’s poles. In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, biologists report that the penguins are in trouble.

“To avoid extinction, Emperor penguins will have to adapt, migrate or change the timing of their growth stages,” they write. “However, given the future projected increases in [greenhouse gases] and its effect on Antarctic climate, evolution or migration seem unlikely for such long-lived species at the remote southern end of the Earth.”

Neko Case is Paste Magazine’s Cover Girl

Neko Case makes the cover of this month’s Paste Magazine suggesting that anticipation of her new album is high. The new single was released this week, and the album is due on March 3rd as is the new release from a band many have heard of named U2.

Frankly, I’m more excited about Neko…iTunes doesn’t have it for pre-release purchase yet, but they will, damn it, they will.

According to Paste Neko’s bought a farm property near Montpellier, Vermont. I love New England, and for years I’ve said that New Hampshire was my favourite state, because I liked the mountains better than in Vermont. Vermont’s Green Mountains are rolling and tree covered while New Hampshire’s White Mountains are rougher and sharper, and include Mt. Washington, an impressive peak.

Vermont has Neko now, and I think my loyalty might have shifted.

The Slippery Slope

I kind of liked living in one of the only cities that didn’t have a Wal-Mart. Having taken over an old Costco location, Vancouver now joins that slippery slope.

Wal-Mart conquers Bastion Vancouver
By Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun, January 21, 2009
 
Just inside the front doors, there was a bin of navel oranges going for 44 cents a pound. Dozens of shoppers swarmed around the big pile, attacking it when they could, reaching in when they found an opening, then backing away, like a pack of sharks in a feeding frenzy. Only a fool would have waded into the middle of it.

Where Have You Gone Mats Sundin / The Nation Turns It’s Lonely Eyes to You

Ok, wasn’t Mats Sundin supposed to save the Canucks? On another note, did anybody publish a story today that didn’t include a superfluous reference to Barak Obama’s inauguration?

Canucks lose to Sharks in last-minute heartbreaker
BY BRAD ZIEMER, VANCOUVER SUNJANUARY 20, 2009
  
SAN JOSE — On the day the United States and its new president began what Americans hope will be a journey of renewal, the Vancouver Canucks continued down that bumpy road to ruin.

The Canucks played the San Jose Sharks extremely tough Tuesday night, but surrendered the tying goal with 40 seconds left in the third period and then lost…

Ottawa’s Kathleen Edwards dedicated her song Copied Keys to Sundin on Friday night. The opening line:

This is not my town and it will never be

She’s a funny lady.

Obamicons

I’ve avoided Obamicon until now. I can’t see how. A great way to kill 15 minutes at the end of my day.

Continue reading "Obamicons"

Hope

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

“At the end, when you’re holding the pedal down, let’s let it roll so we get some extra frogs.”

And With Him, a Million Dreams of Vacationing on a Bed of Corinthian Leather

Ricardo Montalban has passed away. Perhaps most famous for his portrayal of Mr. Roarke, and equally so as a Chrysler spokesman during the late 70s and early 1980s, Montalban will always be remembered as Khan Noonien Singh, one of James Tiberius Kirk’s most famous foes. Sentenced to exile on a desert planet, Khan built a civilization.

Hervé Villechaize is dead of suicide: no word on whether they’ll be buried beside each other.

Nortel Files for Bankruptcy

About damn time.

Nortel files for bankruptcy protection
ANDREW WILLIS and JACQUIE MCNISH AND MATTHEW HARTLEY, From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
January 14, 2009 at 8:35 AM EST

Former technology titan Nortel Networks Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, a move that will likely see what was once Canada’s great corporate success story broken up and sold to foreign rivals.

Nortel’s board of directors was meeting last night to deal with a financial crisis, as the economic downturn translates into a sharp drop in orders from phone company clients. The telecom-hardware manufacturer failed to find buyers for a number of divisions that were put up for sale in September, and faces the prospect of paying $107-million (U.S.) of interest on its debts tomorrow.

That Much Vaunted Credit Rating

For years the NPA and senior Vancouver officials couldn’t stop raving about how well run Vancouver was, and the great credit rating the city had.

I never did like Sam Sullivan.

Vancouver’s credit placed on watch due to Olympic Village project
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 | 12:07 AM ET, CBC News

An independent credit rating agency has placed Vancouver on a credit watch and may even downgrade the city’s AA+ rating as a result of potential debt coming from the beleaguered Olympic Athletes Village project.

Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday issued a bulletin about the city’s finances, saying the impact on the city’s debt could be significant if it borrows money to fund the remaining construction of the village.

Tina Fey & 30 Rock Clean Up

This week’s episode of 30 Rock was a half hour laugh fest, with guest star Salma Hayek. I don’t know what I deserved to have both Tina Fey and Salma Hayek in the same place for a half hour, but I sure was happy about it.

The 2008 Golden Globe Awards were on tonight while I was skiing (and listening to Neil Young scream Rock and roll will never die and it turns out that 30 Rock cleaned up. Best comedy, Tina Fey for Best Actress in a comedy and Alec Baldwin for Best Actor in a Comedy.

I’m hoping for a fourth season, especially with the direction this one’s taking. Keep you fingers crossed.

What To Do With Israel

Naomi Klein outlines a controversial, but eminently reasonable, view on what to do with Israel. The South Africa comparison is not going to win her any friends, but is accurate.

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction
By Naomi Klein - January 8th, 2009
It’s time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

Vancouver’s Olympic Village Funding

Ah, the Olympics. The sporting and athletic aspects of them always seem to come off so smoothly, and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee assured us that the financial aspects of of Vancouver’s games were going as planned.

It looks like, perhaps, this was true from only the most selfish of perspectives: stricly speaking it’s not VANOC’s fault that the private developer behind the Olympic Village appears to have failed, but it certainly doesn’t put the Olympics in a good light. John Furlong can deny responsibility if he wants too, but a the moment Vancouver tax payers are on the hook for a whole lot of unplanned money. With a year to go, the potential for more is high.

Olympic Village may cost Vancouver taxpayers $875M: Mayor
Last Updated: Friday, January 9, 2009, CBC News

The Southeast False Creek development site comprises 32 hectares of land, seven of which will be temporarily transformed into the Olympic Village during the Games. (CBC)
Vancouver taxpayers could be on the hook for as much as $875 million to complete the Olympic Athletes Village unless city council can reopen a loan given to the developer or find new financing.

The city has been forking out money to keep construction going since New York-based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group stopped advancing funds in September to Millennium Development Corp., Mayor Gregor Robertson said Friday.

Pemberton Music Festival

The 2009 Pemberton Festival has been cancelled which can’t come as a surprise to anyone. Pemberton seemed like fun, and I considered going but I could smell those traffic problems—and my accompanying frustration—coming from a mile away (not to mention the other logistical challenges.) 40,000 people taking a two lane highway to a village with a population barely over 2,000 was a sure recipe for failure.

Weekend festivals in remote locations that place prohibitive restrictions on what you’re allowed to bring in have a way of not going very well too. Attendees weren’t even able to bring bottled water in from outside: everything had to be bought on site.

Still, a great concept poorly executed. We’ll see if it comes back for 2010, as part of British Columbia’s post-Olympic hangover.

Best. Headline. Ever.

I just love the headline.

Giddy-up, morning commuters
Last Updated: Monday, January 5, 2009 | 2:16 PM

A lasso might have come in handy during Monday’s commute to work.

Eight horses roamed the streets of Halifax after escaping from a fenced-off area at the Bengal Lancers equestrian club in the central area of the city.

It seems a gate leading to a parking lot on Bell Road wasn’t latched tight enough.

“Horses are a little bit smart. Apparently they opened the gate and left,” said Jill Barker, Bengal Lancers manager and head instructor.

15 Days and Counting

On January 20th, 2009 Barak Obama will be sworn in as the President of the United States of America, the 43rd such man to hold the office.

Perhaps more significantly, it ends the tenure of George W. Bush, a conservative Republican who promised lower taxes and smaller government. So much for the concept of small government.

The result of deficit spending is debt. When President Bush took office, the national debt was $5.7 trillion. Now it is $10.6 trillion—and Congress voted in October to raise the debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion, the seventh such hike since President Bush took office and the second since last July. If, as is quite likely, we reach the new ceiling by January 20, the outgoing president will have managed to amass more debt than all of his predecessors combined.

And even that number may be too small. When the federal government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it also assumed their $5.4 trillion debt. The accounting procedures used by the International Monetary Fund,
and endorsed by the [Congressional Budget Office], normally require that such debt also be taken into account…
- Harper’s, January 2009, pp. 33

History will not be kind. The emphasis was added by me.

Microsoft Zunes Die En Masse

A few days ago, thousands (you don’t really think they’ve sold millions do you?) or 30GB Microsoft Zune’s refused to start up. Slow to acknowledge the problem despite its seeming universality, Microsoft finally admitted that yes it was happening, and yes it had to do with the Zune’s clock not handling the leap year correctly.

What I find amazing about this is how cavalier people are being about the problem. With over 30 years of history behind them, the Y2K problem as fairly recent history and more code monkeys on staff than any other corporation, one would think that clock related problems would have been eliminated quite a while ago. It’s just a leap year, after all, and leap year’s happen every four years.

That this happened only a couple of weeks after the British navy announced they would be running their submarines on Microsoft Windows XP should be a reason for legitimate concern.

William Gibson’s New Year’s Gift

A little gift from William Gibson on his blog which is, presumably, a snippet of text from his next novel.

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