The home of things fat-headed

Pots and Kettles all over the bloody place

pimephalis — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 15:05:52 +0000

The Globe is reporting that the Conservative Party of Canada will start airing a television ad attacking the Liberal Party for (get ready) possibly, sometime in the future, launching a television ad attacking the Conservative Party.

My goodness, the Conservatives must be truly are terrified of the Liberals exploiting their greatest weakness (their leader’s charisma and character, or lack thereof) to launch such a clearly oxymoronic advertisement.

Technorati Tags:
Canada, politics

It’s like watching toothless dogs fight …

pimephalis — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:47:18 +0000

I recall early in my academic career one of my adjunct supervisors preparing me for what was going to be an uncomfortable presentation (I had to speak to a group of scientists who would strongly disagree with what we were examining). He used the following similie to try to prepare me for what was going to happen:

You don’t need to worry, as this is going to be a lot like being attacked by a toothless dog. There’s going to be a lot of fury and yapping, but at the end of the day, all you’ll have is some saliva on your pant leg.

Those words have stuck with me over the years, and they bubbled to the surface of my consciousness as I read the following exchange between two young-earth creationist cooks.

(Via this DKos post.)

Technorati Tags:
science, creation, evolution

Pollution in the North Sea: plastic in 95% of dead birds

pimephalis — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 03:59:55 +0000

From the Scotsman, we hear that a recent study has found that 95% of dead fulmars from the North Sea had plastic in their stomachs.

The headline is slightly misleading as it implies that 95% of all the dead birds from a certain area were found to have plastic in their stomachs, while the study focussed on a single species. Despite this, the incredibly high percentage highlights the issues surrounding pollution of the North Sea.

Technorati Tags:

science, ecology, pollution

The Boxing Day Shooting

pimephalis — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 13:16:34 +0000

Another, better take, on Toronto’s Boxing Day Shooting.

(Via The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Joey deVilla’s Weblog.)

Technorati Tags:
Toronto, Canada, crime, gun

This is an excellent example of how to piss money away

pimephalis — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 22:51:47 +0000

The CBC is reporting that the Canadian Shooting Sports Association will continue with its plan to spend $100,000 on an advertising campaign despite the recent Boxing Day shooting at the Eaton’s Centre, in Toronto.

Now, I’m not the most rabid fan of the proposed anti-handgun legislation (as I fear it will be costly and less effective than one might hope), any public relations campaign needs to consider the receptiveness of the audience it’s trying to affect. I’m sure that the CSSA is hoping to get their policy position on the voters’ radar, but given the recent death of an innocent bystander this PR campaign will be for naught.

They’d be better off spending $100,000 on quiet lobbying of individual politicians in the hopes of affecting votes in the next parliament.

What happened to propriety?

pimephalis — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:56:28 +0000

Despite serious allegations of misconduct, Ralph Goodale says he won’t step aside. Some choice quotes from the article:

“This is not an allegation of jaywalking; it’s an allegation of something much more serious than that,” he said, “but it is just that, it is an allegation.

“It is not by any means proven and I know I’ve examined my own conduct in this matter and I’m confident that conduct is consistent with 30 years of integrity and trust in public life.”

But …

Questioned repeatedly about why he won’t step aside until the investigation is complete, Goodale said RCMP officials aren’t at the root of the allegations. “The opposition have made those allegations.”

You know, where I work we still abide by the old dictum that the appearance of impropriety is almost as severe as true impropriety. Apparently we are held (and hold ourselves) to a higher ethical standard than the feds.

Harper on veterans’ rights

pimephalis — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:31:18 +0000

I don’t tend to agree with the conservatives on many issues, but this is one that I think that Harper has gotten right: Harper commits to a veterans’ bill of rights. War veterans sacrificed greatly for our country, and they deserve to be respected and protected.

Technorati Tags: politics

My desire to see no electable parties is coming together

pimephalis — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 13:58:27 +0000

Turns out that the Green Party, despite a phenomenal showing at the polls in 2004 and standing a strong chance in January’s election, has decided that now would be a good time for some serious infighting.

I was speaking with some friends and family just the other day about what a conscientious person is to do in January’s election. Supporting the Liberals is out based on their association (direct or indirect) with horrific fraud. The conservatives are just a thin veneer over some seriously bat-shit crazy folks who will attempt to implement U. S. style social conservatism at the first opportunity. The NDP deserve nothing but scorn and derision for having played chicken with Paul Martin rather than seeing their agenda advance as party to a minority coalition. And I couldn’t vote for the Bloc if I wanted to (in passing, here’s a funny parody site).

So, like many other voters, I find myself casting around for a party to support based on any moral principle, sound policy or even a good vision. The Green Party looked like it was fitting the bill. Now is really not the time for infighting, guys.

Technorati Tags: politics

Enhancing Apple’s iCal

pimephalis — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 04:07:20 +0000

Robert Blum (aka Groby) has written a little application to ‘fix’ an annoying bug with Apple’s iCal: default setting of reminders. I have to say that this will make life a heck of a lot easier for me, as I always forget to do this. Not such a problem at work, as I’m shackled to Outlook, but I use iCal to manage my family’s calendar. Having the calendar warn me by default will help ensure that I don’t miss any hockey games, family visits or what-have-you.

The horror …

pimephalis — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 13:35:20 +0000

During boxing day shopping, a 15 year old girl got killed at the Eaton Centre by some gunmen. At a footlocker, no less. Apparently she had nothing to do with the conflict in question, and just happened to be a bystander. My wife already wants us to move to a smaller town, and stuff like this only make its more likely. Scary.

From the article:

“I think it’s a day that Toronto has finally lost its innocence,” Toronto Police spokesman Det. Sgt. Savas Kyriacou said at a news conference Tuesday. “It was a tragic loss and a tragic day.”