"I know a great deal about the Middle East because I’ve been raising Arabian horses," he said.
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"Churchill scholar to the blogosphere" |
Email: mike -at- mikecampbell dot net
The opinions expressed on this website are those of the author alone, and are not necessarily those of his employer or any organization with which he is affiliated.
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Reading Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos" and |
News Resources
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Mike Campbell's The Vampblog
keeping the claret
goblets of blood chilled for the
Bloggish Enlightenment
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada "Of Interest To Me" March 20, 2006
Sunday, October 31, 2004
An All Hallows' Eve is well spent with samplings from the Wychwood Brewery of Witney in Oxfordshire. I've enjoyed the charms of the Black Wych, and am currently squaring off with the Hobgoblin. We just had our first six trick-or-treaters, btw - 5:20pm.
Hobgoblin Strong Dark Ale is "a powerful full-bodied copper red, well-balanced brew. Strong in roasted malt with a moderate hoppy bitterness and slight fruity character that lasts through to the end." 5.2%
Black Wych Spell-Binding Stout is "a beguiling traditional English dark stout, silky smooth, soft and seductive. A heady brew, which entices you to lose your senses and fall for the charms of The Black Wych." It is to be embibed with caution: "A tribute to the Witch Folk of Wych Wood. The mysterious character of The Black Witch in British folklore is mirrored in this beguiling brew, as black as her robes and as opaque as her motives. In folklore, the Black Witch is known to concoct potions of seduction for those lovelorn souls brave enough to approach her. But beware her charms, lest you fall under her spell too deeply." 5.0%
Cross-posted to A Good Beer Blog.
"Dad, you killed the Zombie Flanders!"
Homer: "He was a zombie?"
Last year's jack-o-lanterns, but oh well. The one on the left is a Lord of the Rings goblin, and the other one is Churchill (corncob cigar). Pretty scary, eh?
It's fairly common knowledge that the Christian holy day of All Hallows Eve finds its origin in Celtic religion. Samhain, the autumnal festival, from the Scots Gaelic Samhuinn, meaning 'summer's end'. Hallowe'en is Oíche Shamhna -- the night of summer's end. The Celtic New Year. The Night of the Dead. The night when the veils between this world and the next are thinnest; when the Lands of the Sidhe are close. Costumes to ward off visiting spirits. I make it a point every Hallowe'en to stop for a moment, maybe look up at the moon and the clouds through some leafless old craggy tree, and allow myself, just for a moment, to believe.
But don't believe too hard, Dear Reader, or the Dark Powers may take advantage.
Damian "Damien" Penny links to the scariest movie scenes of all time. Yes, some ghoulishly clever ones in there -- Owoooooo! -- the burning scene from The Wicker Man is indeed scary to New World Celts such as I. A hundred scary scenes ~ some from films I'd never heard of. "28 Days Later" is the scariest flic I've seen in recent years, btw.
For the ghouly on your gift list, you may wish to buy them a book or magazine:
Dr. Comfort has been able to compile this comprehensive study with the assistance of several leaders in the local preternatural community. Through his diligent research it has become apparent that sexual diversity has taken on a new dimension with the increase in vampires, lycanthrops, time-travel, and unexplainable sex partners. Are all the rules we've come to trust simply thrown out the window? This book endeavors to answer questions before you find yourself in a situation where it's too late to ask.
Ghosts
 | How to tell who is possessing whom? |
| Getting him to lie in the ectoplasm spot. |
| Ethereal Sex: Do you still need a condom? |
THE MASTERS LAIR How well do you know your children?; Three Masters share their favorite ways to terrorize minions;
LEGAL ADVISOR How to combat hate groups in your city. (Sorry, folks, we mean legally.); Avoiding extradition;
In Scotland, the town of Prestonpans is going to officially pardon the people put to death (not all that many) centuries ago for witchcraft. 81 people in Prestonpans were executed, and over 3500 Scots, mainly women and children, along with their cats, were put to death for witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries.
"'Most of those persons condemned for witchcraft within the jurisdiction of the Baron Courts of Prestoungrange and Dolphinstoun were convicted on the basis of spectral evidence -- that is to say, prosecuting witnesses declared that they felt the presence of evil sprits or heard spirit voices,"' the court said in its written findings.
"Such spectral evidence is impossible to prove or to disprove; nor is it possible for the accused to cross-examine the spirit concerned. One is convicted upon the very making of such charges without any possibility of offering a defense."
The court declared pardon to all those convicted, "as well as to the cats concerned."
The Salem Witch Trials Archive reveals lots of spooky and disturbing stuff. Here are the transcripts of the trials. Martha Corey was executed on September 22, 1692. Abigail Williams gave evidence against her; poor Ms. Williams,
was much disquieted by the apparition of Martha Kory,
by which apparition she was sometimes haled to & fro. & somtimes
pinched, & somtimes tempted to put her hand to the Devils book,
& that she hath several times seen her at the Devils sacrament
One is sure that the testimony of Martha Corey's husband Giles Corey was more damning,
sitting by the fire my wife asked me to go to
bed. I told I would go to prayr. & when I went to prayer I could
nott utter my desires w'th any sense, not open my mouth to speake
My wife did perceive itt & came towards. me & said she was com-
ing to me. After this in alittle space I did according to my measure
attend the duty.Sometime last weake I fetcht an ox well out the woods. about
noone, & he laying down in the yard I went to raise him to yoake
him butt he could not rise butt dragd his hinder parts as if he had
been hiptshott. butt after did rise.I had a Catt somtimes last weeke strangly taken on the suddain
& did make me think she would have died presently. #[butt] my
wife bid me knock her in the head. butt I did not. & since she is
well.Another time going to duties I was interrupted for aspace. butt
affterward I was helpt according to my poore measureMy wife hath ben wont to sitt up after I went to bed, & I have per-
ceived her to kneel down to the harth. as if she were at prayr, but
heard nothing
Ooo, scary for Canada's environment as hordes of American SUV drivers threaten to head north of the border if Bush wins. But, you'll move back in 2008 right? Right?!?! Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Ghoulish evidence points to Bruce Springsteen and Michael Moore as actually being minions and doing the evil bidding of Karl Rove, the Monty Burns of the Bush administration.
Like Michael Jackson's date running towards the spooky house as the zombies chase her in the knockoff of "Night of the Living Dead", Canadian content providers are equally frightened by this ruling ~ you can hear their eerie screams. This won't affect "Corner Gas" will it? Ahhhhhhhh!!!!
Dave Barry points to the horrors of traffic,
FACT: Commuting by automobile now takes so long that many workers have no time to do any actual work. When they reach their place of employment, they grab a cup of coffee, spend a few minutes discussing the previous night's episode of The Apprentice with their co-workers, and immediately start the long commute home, unaware that their jobs were outsourced to Asia months ago.
FACT: In the past year alone, commuters whose car radios were tuned to ''classic rock'' spent an average of 347 hours -- more than two weeks -- just listening to the song Takin' Care of Business, by Bachman Turner Overdrive. The statistics are even more chilling for Black Magic Woman.>
FACT: Gridlock is so bad that as many as 15 percent of women drivers now pass the time by picking their noses. (The figure for men remains steady at 100 percent.)
Tim Blair points to the frighteningly clever Patrick Swayze,
Swayze criticized the United States for being “insensitive” and "disrespectful" in Iraq.
Via The Corner, a "Cartesian rationalist" discusses the scariness of organic agriculture in Scotland. (Lomborg has a good chapter on this in TSE ~ a switch to organic farming would result in an enormous increase in price for fruit and vegetables, a large increase in the area required for planting as agriculture became less productive, and a significant increase in cancer rates among the poor as they could no longer afford the good quality foods.)
Perhaps I'll add to this post as the day goes on. The witching hour will soon be upon us.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
The Central England Temperature record
Via Mark Wickens, who is back blogging I'm happy to see, Enviro-Spin Watch links to an article discussing global warming, particularly warming that happened 300 years ago in England.
The most impressive warming evident occurred from the 1690s through 1730s with the running mean climbing almost 2°C! We imagine that was a significant relief in the depths of the Little Ice Age although 1740 was obviously a bummer. Abrupt warmings also occurred in the 1770s; 1810s/20s; 1890s and 1990s. Abrupt coolings are evident and a relatively sustained warming in the first half of the Twentieth Century. With our 10-year running mean showing warmer than the series mean for almost the entire Twentieth Century it is fair to say there has been a net warming over the record period. Some argue that warming is a problem and we will not dwell on our contention that warming is distinctly preferable to cooling.
Having established that there has been a warming and avoided the question of whether this constitutes a problem, the next and obvious question is: "why has this occurred?"
Tony Blair appears convinced by the enhanced greenhouse hypothesis but atmospheric CO2 levels do not fit changes in the CET at all well. For example, from 1695 to 1733, the annual mean temperature rose from 7.25°C to 10.47°C at a time when there was negligible change in atmospheric CO2 - the running mean did not return to such readings until the 1990s. On the other hand, annual mean temperatures fell from 10.62°C in 1949 to 8.47°C by 1963, a period when atmospheric CO2 levels were measurably rising. Greenhouse does not appear to be exerting a strong influence on the CET.
Interesting that if you cherry-pick dates, going from the end of the last Little Ice Age, 1880, through to 1999, the increase is half that of the period between 1695 and 1733.
Related -- more severe criticism of the Mann et al. 1998 'hockey stick' temperature data reporting in Technology Review.
It certainly does not negate the threat of a long-term global temperature increase. In fact, McIntyre and McKitrick are careful to point out that it is hard to draw conclusions from these data, even with their corrections. Did medieval global warming take place? Last month the consensus was that it did not; now the correct answer is that nobody really knows. Uncovering errors in the Mann analysis doesn’t settle the debate; it just reopens it. We now know less about the history of climate, and its natural fluctuations over century-scale time frames, than we thought we knew.
If you are concerned about global warming (as I am) and think that human-created carbon dioxide may contribute (as I do), then you still should agree that we are much better off having broken the hockey stick. Misinformation can do real harm, because it distorts predictions.
Perhaps I look at Enterprise with somewhat rose coloured glasses, but I didn't mind the season opener with the Time Travel and Alien Nazis stuff. The Temporal Cold War got hot and is now, probably, hopefully, over.
But who can resist the next little story arc?? Brent Spiner as criminal Dr. Arik Soong -- grandfather of Dr. Noonian Soong. Human supermen from augmented (genetically enhanced) embryos left over from the Eugenics Wars take over a Klingon warship and the Klingons are howling for war against Earth. The Augments were further enhanced by Soong himself. Archer's mission is to find them and return them to Earth.
We've got Orions -- a thug society that markets in human flesh, particularly that of their own women who are renowned for their extreme appetites and innate skills. Another throwback to Original Trek, of course.
We've got the Augments as Khan-like supermen, as per TOS episode "Space Seed" and "The Wrath of Khan" film.
We've got Alec 'Paul Muad'Dib' Newman as Malik, the new Augment leader who, like his fellow Augments, follow their "father", Dr. Soong. He fits the bill.
Soong's advice to Archer ~ "learn Klingon". Anyway, I'm keen on Season 4.
Churchill - His Life Through His Paintings
I recently received from churchillbooks.com an excellent book by David Coombs and Minnie Churchill called "Sir Winston Churchill: His Life Through His Paintings".
Picking up the oils when he was 40 years old, Churchill painted over 500 paintings over the course of his remaining 50 years. All known works are included in this book, as well as his excellent essays "Hobbies" and "Painting as a pastime". It also includes a detailed timeline of WSC's painting life.
I was really quite blown away by this book, it's a magnificent compilation. Truly impressed by Churchill's talent, and its very interesting to look at the different styles he employs over the years.
If there's anyone on your Christmas list who is interested in art, this one wouldn't be a bad idea. It's 'coffee-table book' size as well, so all the better to view the reproductions.
Welcome Back Welcome Back Welcome Back
Well, it looks like Bin Laden, talks like Bin Laden, makes goofy threats and uses inane wording like Bin Laden. I guess it's him. Wow, I'm wrong about something! He ain't dead. Tim Blair and Damian Penny have more thoughts. Winston Review is up.
I don't know, to me Bin Laden's appearance doesn't conjure fear. Loathing, yes. But not fear. Derision and contempt, yes. The terrible thing is, I can see many viewing this tape and damn-well agreeing with Bin Laden. "Yeah, that's true! Why DIDN'T al-Qaeda attack Sweden?" "Yeah, like in that documentary, Bush reading the kids book while the twin towers burned!"
Souls of integrity. You sick piece of shit. You'll be pushing daisies soon enough; are you really in Iran? Smart move, mullahs. I know! Al-jazeera's really being run by the neo-con cabal! Who's thinking about missing Iraqi explosives this morning?
Andrew Sullivan: The parroting of idiotic Michael Moore points was a little pathetic for an alleged spiritual mastermind.
Via Sullivan, Bill O'Reilly: So Eminem joins Osama in coming out against Bush.
After Man.U. beat Arsenal last week, Pompey is kicking Man.U.'s ass this morning. I was in Portsmouth a few weeks ago, so Go Pompey! And former Everton guy David Unsworth scored the first goal. [I'm into my second season as manager of Everton on PS2 - I had a 29-8-1 record in my first season, finishing at the top of the table, won the League Cup, the F.A. Cup and qualified for Europe. Not a bad season. You earn Prestige Points to spend during your current season for training different players or making trades. I've still got Unsworth, Rooney and Radzinski, so I'm happy.]
Went out to Cora's off Spring Garden Road this morning for a good old greasy breakfast. Visited the new Halifax Pete's Frootique which opened this morning. Nice store, which will be opened 7 days per week. It apparently gets by the Sunday shopping restrictions by having the store broken out into sections each with its own cash register (hmm, seems like any store could that if they really wanted to).
A bit of a later note on the Sunday Shopping issue - which I supported. My wise wife points out that, with most big stores opened until 9pm or 9:30pm from Monday to Saturday, Nova Scotia stores are opened MORE HOURS than, say, many places in Ontario.
Also did some beer shopping, which I'll get to later.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Are you kicking ass in life? These posters should bring you back down to Earth.
Here are a few more -- check out "Dysfunctional".
Here's the entire Despair, Inc. collection!
Well, it's down to the bloody wire
again. As Glenn Reynolds mentioned recently, American voters may well
be casting their vote based more on their own self-image than on any
particular policy matter. I suppose this happens everywhere to some
extent. Here we have George Bush, a most controversial president with
many weaknesses, yet Kerry can't jennifergarner more than half the
vote. Yet, for all those weaknesses, Bush has been a successful war
leader in a time of crisis going up against a very dovish and
unremarkable contender and he can't jennifergarner more than half the
vote.
It could be, too, that we're likely
moving through a period of consolidation in the war; if the election
were held in November 2002, would Kerry have a chance in hell? The
Coalition is readying to assault Fallujah and take out the insurgent
leadership. The likely roads for either president with respect to Iran
and North Korea are the promotion of internation isolation in the one
case and continuing with the Bush administration's multilateral
negotiations for the other (what was that? "multinational"?). Yet the
threat of military conflict may well be brought to the table in dealing
with Iran which has been demonstrating its intransigence, while
ratcheting up the Chinese influence against Kim Jong-Il's regime would
be my guess on the North Korean solution. Would Kerry hold Iran's
feet to the flames to get them to back down on their nuke programs?
Would Bush? Will he?
I'm personally not hopeful that a John
Kerry presidency would do much more than participate in diplomatic talks
around Brussels and New York conference rooms and wave those agreements
around in triumph, letting the dirty work pass to another presidency and
generation. There are many who believe that the fascism that has
spawned modern terrorism can be negotiated with or appeased. Of course
the Euro-statists and the fascist governments of the world are hopeful
for a Kerry win ~ things will get back to normal. No more monkeying
around with democratic imperialist nonsense. No more of this draining
the swamps business. People of the world have different cultures and
views; some prefer to live under fascist regimes, it's just their way.
With the vote coming up fast, it seems
like many blogopundits are dropping off the fence and locking in for
Kerry (and that Kerry is making a bit of a move ... has that debunked Al-Qaqaa
weapons story helped?). I guess we'll see next week if the American
voter wears pajamas. Hopefully it will be decided in the ballot
box and not in the courts.
Happy 2nd blogoversary to The Flea ~ where would the blogosphere be without him (and Kylie)?
Sunday, October 24, 2004
As though prompted by Alan's recent post on fear feeding the political talk these days, Michael Enright's commentary this morning took politicians to task for using fear as a political weapon ~ both sides of the American contest, and Canadian politicians from the most recent election back to Trudeau's wage and price control freeze warnings (how prescient he was).
A very welcome and refreshing show on CBC Radio Sunday Edition this morning ~ the subject of maintaining friendships in the midst of difficult circumstances, arguments and differences. Some good thoughts. I've had a rough time with a few friends over the past few years, although things are not too bad now.
An interesting discussion between Michael and Christopher Hitchens on how his post-9/11 views has effected his own friendships. "The scum of Islamic fascism", btw, was the term Hitchens used to describe the "so-called terrorists" of Iraq (as I heard them described on CBC tv last weekend).
Hitchens made an interesting point which I'm not sure I've considered, a thought that was there but perhaps not crystalized, that the United States is not in a war on terror, but, instead, spoke of "America's involvement in a civil war in the Islamic world"; a battle against the jihad whose goal is to enslave their fellow Muslims; a battle that has been exported to the West. [The West and its influence must fall before this jihad can be won.] In this respect, he considers it "a just war."
Contrary to fears of Bush's God-fearing ways, American forces are the forces of secularization in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting against faith-based government. With respect to Ashcroft, the "most conspicuous failure" of the Bush administration, Hitchens argues that it was supporters of the war on terror who most criticized the Patriot Act and opposed the extention of state power. Ashcroft won't be around during a 2nd administration (no surprises here). There will be a 'much needed purge' of the Defence Department and the intelligence community, as well.
With respect to the Middle East, Hitchens believes that it may well be too late for a settlement, but that the chances are greater with a Bush presidency. Bush is the only president to have used the term 'Palestinian state'.
Michael Enright spoke of a friend of his who lives in Montana and fears a terrorist attack, referring to this fear as being "insane". Hitchens replied that it's "almost eerie that you say that" ~ the terrorists have as many targets as they want, any school (re: Beslan) or hospital or office, anywhere, anytime. It's foolish to think that any government will be able to keep everyone completely safe, and wrong for politicians to speak of such safety ~ what Hitchens wants is a government that "wakes up every morning thinking of new ways to inflict pain on the other side".
North Korea won't be attacked, as NK has the capability to easily destroy Soeul. If America is as bad as many think, it would be an easy thing to take out Pyongyang's nuclear facilities, but fears of retaliation against the South keep America from attacking the Stalinist North.
In Slate, Hitchens reviews the new book by Saddam's chief nuclear physicist, Mahdi Obeidi, "The Bomb in my Garden". Obeidi had a centrifuge and related documents buried in his garden on order from Saddam. This deception survived numerable UN inspections.
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Hitchens has "no nostalgia" for the "candle in the wind" moment of post-9/11 support from around the world; he found it suspect, and notes that it evaporated quickly when Bush turned the world's attention to outstanding, unenforced UN resolutions in the grave matter of the psychopathic murderer who was in charge of Iraq. It became "no blood for oil" when that was exactly what was happening through the "open sewer" of the UN's oil for food program. As for Hitchens' former leftist fellow-traveler days, he hasn't quite moved away from the Left as decided that coexistence with medievalist murderers and torturers like Saddam and the Taliban is neither desirable nor possible.
Brings to mind a Steve Van Zandt song. We all have different sides and views, and we should be able to live with these in a democracy. I don't know if I'd be on the same side as Steve, but we can figure that out if we put aside all the fearmongering from both sides.
In this jungle we're slaves to politics
And we call ourselves civilized
If you ain't got the muscle
Fear is gonna run your life
Fear makes me wanna hurt you
Fear makes you wanna hurt me
Fear makes you swallow whatever you're handed
Fear keeps you angry 'cause you don't understand it
Got no chance if we're fighting on the wrong side
Got no chance if we're fighting
on the wrong side again
Can you taste it
Tastes like fear
Later: Instapundit links to Mort Zuckerman's comments on the mainly-unreported yet key sections of the Duelfer report,
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Saturday, October 23, 2004
Queen urges Pam Anderson to stop using silicon
I think I got that headline right.
Watched Hitchcock's "Stage Fright" the other night ~ starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Deitrich and Alistair Sim. Great movie, and Deitrich and Wyman are both eminently watchable, but Sim just takes over the screen whenever he appears. "Stage Fright" is from 1950, the year before his Scroogie role. Love him as Scrooge, of course; I may have to look up some other of his film work.
A friend checked at the Halifax Metro Centre box office yesterday regarding tickets for Rimouski and Sidney Crosby's next visit to Halifax in early December -- it's pretty much sold out, there's nothing left below row Q in the upper bowl and the Metro Centre holds about 10,000.
Been enjoying watching some of the Canada Cup '76 series this week that one of the sports networks is airing. Awesome to see these guys in action again -- Bobby Orr and Gilbert Perrault are the highlights for me. Saw the Sweden game and the Russia game. Funny to see them without helmets; Steve Shutt and Marcel Dionne look like the goofs for wearing them.
Had an early dinner at the Chicken Burger in Bedford today; is there a better spot for cheeseburgers? The Evangeline Inn in Grand Pre perhaps. But the CB is an awesome spot, it's kept it's family/50s drive-in diner feel. Cash only, btw.
Enjoyed the Everton vs. Norwich game this morning. Some pretty goals. I've sort of adopted Everton this year as I started playing them on the Playstation. Granted, it's from last year and there's still Rooney and Radzinski on their roster, but that's fine with me. They're having a good season, despite things not looking so promising at the outset.
Winston Review is up ~ this week's theme is on those who betray their benefactors.
Friday, October 22, 2004
[Battlestar Galactica - new series mild spoiler alert!]
Wow, good news on the Sci-Fi front this month, with The Tripods season 2 coming out on dvd before long, and the Battlestar Galactica pilot is continuing as a series.
The Shape of Days got its hands on an advanced copy of the premiere, and it sounds good ... and by 'good', I mean dark, harsh, unrelenting, hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-our-human-asses tense.
The episode, which is titled "33," begins about 130 hours after the events of the miniseries that aired last December. The refugee fleet has been on the run from the cylons, having to execute a faster-than-light jump every 33 minutes. Nobody aboard Galactia has slept in five days. Tempers are short. The men have week-old beards. Every surface is covered in a sort of grime that makes the viewer think of hydraulic oil and smoke. The corridors are packed with crates. The ship looks like … well, like it's been through a war.For some reason that nobody aboard the ship can understand, the cylons always appear exactly 33 minutes after the fleet makes a faster-than-light jump. Between each jump, the crew of Galactica and of the ship that carries the president — who prior to the attack had been Secretary of Education — and the rest of the surviving civilian government try as best they can to get their bearings. In a particularly grim turn, rather than counting the victims of the cylon attack, the civilian authority counts the survivors. Because that's the smaller number, you see.
The turning point of the episode comes when one of the ships in the refugee fleet, a civilian vessel called the Olympic Carrier, gets left behind during a faster-than-light jump. It rejoins the fleet an hour behind schedule, and the crew is unable to explain how they survived the cylon attack. When the ship, with 1,300 refugees aboard, breaks radio contact and appears to veer out of control, President Roslin and Commander Adama have to decide whether to order the pilots flying combat patrol to intercept and destroy it.
What we've seen from this miniseries ~ including the baddie Cylon sleeper spy being played by Canadian Grace Park ~ we're in for some solid sci-fi. The tone of the pilot reminded me of "Space: Above and Beyond". This is harsh stuff indeed, and has 9/11 allegory written all over it; a human death toll in the billions and a handful of survivors. An attack from without, from beyond your known ways of thinking, an attack from those who care only to destroy you, not to negotiate anything or sign peace treaties for lines on a map. But also an attack from within, holding it together when times get unbelievably rough, holding true to the pillars of civil society in the face of disaster and terror.
The leaving behind of one of the human ships towards the end of the pilot was heartbreaking stuff -- it couldn't make the jump, so those on board were sacrificed, they couldn't even be told where the fleet was headed -- the Olympic Carrier incident sounds like more of the same.
Here's my post on the pilot from January.
Another interesting feature was the LBJ-like swearing in of Mary McDonnell's character as President of the 12 Colonies. She the deputy-secretary of education, 42nd or 43rd in line for the Presidency as far as the overall Colonial administration goes. As Commander Adama calls her, "a schoolteacher". It made me wonder just how committed people would be to the existing forms of government we have in the West in the face of a similar situation (or even something much, much less damaging). We could have easily faced a similar situation on September 12th if another plane had found its way to Washington. Would people hold to their values and allow the secretary of education be sworn in as the new leader? What if she were dead too? What if they had to go down to the 100th in line or further? At what point does it all fall apart?
The miniseries will be out on DVD on December 28th, just in time for the series January premiere! Go here for some trailer fun, including a look at life on Cylon-occupied Caprica.
Brainiac, a ruthless extraterrestrial villain, "the evilest villain of space", became one of Superman's arch-enemies in 1958.
You can read online of Superman's duel with this evil stealer of cities. You can also read of the very un-Smallville-esque first duel between young Superman and the young Lex Luthor. And, who dares to read The Ghost of Superman Future?!
Great 1950s Superman stuff brought to you by the Superman: Through the Ages website.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Back on the Bandwagon, Bay-bee!
I'm not really a baseball fan at all. In fact, I'm definitely not a baseball fan. I saw a game at Fenway in June 2001, but the last full game that I watched on television was probably the Jays last World Series win. But, I was a Red Sox fan in my youth, thanks to Bangor, Maine cable stations, and I hereby register my bandwagon-hopping support for Boston in the World Series. May the curse end.
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| Greatest Outfield in History | ||
| Freddy | Jim | Dewey |
Comportment and Deportment in the Bloggish Enlightenment
Alan and Instaguy comment on the need for manners, comportment and deportment in the blogosphere.
One can do worse than to look to the Rules of a social club founded by Churchill and F.E. Smith in 1911 (and still going strong, btw), The Other Club, which include:
8. The Executive Committee shall settle all outstanding questions with plenary powers.
9. There shall be no appeal from the decision of the Executive Committee.
10. The names of the Executive Committee shall be wrapped in impenetrable mystery.
11. The Members of the Executive Committee shall nominate the Secretary, who shall receive no remuneration and shall be liable for all unforeseen obligations.
12. Nothing in the rules or intercourse of the Club shall interfere with the rancour or asperity of party politics.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
The Flea links to what is perhaps the coolest graphic ever posted on the interweb, one which compares the sizes of different spaceships, both non- and science-fictional.
The largest one is the Galactic Empire's Executor class ship at 17,484 m. Ah, but what about Ark from "Star Lost"? At approximately 200 miles in length, Ark is about 18 times longer than the Executor ship. But this would make for a messy graphic.
And what about the Death Stars, you ask? The "official" diameters are 120km and 160km for Death Stars I and II. That's one heckuva "small moon" and no match for Ark.
And, please, no one bring up anything to do with a Dysonsphere. Please.
If an AI civilization built a DysonSphere, they could design it as a single seamless MegaStructure rotating only enough to counteract the gravitational attraction of the star. The computers would be located at the equator and the box would be shaped like a barrel. The top and bottom of the box would have to rely on the solar wind to counteract gravitational attraction. The sides must be angled so that the result of the outward centrifugal force and the inward gravitational force is a force along the curved walls of the box.A spherical design[, by comparison,] would have the top of the walls push straight down towards the plane of the equator; i.e., inwards and away from the walls. Since everything would press down on the equator, the walls of a seamless DysonSphere cannot be made habitable (even with materials like diamond). Avoiding this limit would require using a series of overlapping rings all rotating around the sun but at crazy angles to each other. Dealing with the complex gravitational forces involved would not be easy. Constructing a DysonSphere for biological organisms seems messy, inefficient and extremely complex. --
The Campblog agrees with this last comment and, therefore, does not support the Dysonspherization of Space.
p.s. -- who believes The Dominion would name a class of starship Dreadnought?!
With some lovely mid-October weather holding on, I played golf yesterday at Brookfield, between Halifax and Truro. My favourite little course, really; not too tough, and somewhat scenic in an old-farmer's field, brook running through it kinda way. It reminded me of a day not too long ago when Lori and I had just fallen in love and I was playing out there, seeing her face everywhere, feeling great, looking up at the moon hanging in the afternoon sky as a large dragonfly flew overhead. Had a 91 that day, my best score ever.
Didn't score well yesterday, but felt great to be there. Only my second round of the year, with the other one probably coming in late May or early June. It just wasn't a golf year. But it was beautiful out there yesterday. A gentle day. Lots of high cumulus clouds hanging around overhead, but not blocking out our sunshine too much; an armada of huge white skyships with dark, sinister underbellies, sitting off in the distance. 'Big Sky country' clouds. A fair bit of colour on the leaves, although many had fallen; quite a difference from the 45 minute drive away in Halifax where there's still much greenery. The sun hung low in the sky all afternoon, we teed off at 2pm. Long shadows from the trees spread across the fairways and greens, which were both in lush condition thanks to recent rains and good care by the course staff. As we walked up a long hill on the par 5 17th fairway, a hawk sat on an old dead tree in a nearby field. The brook was high, running along like it was springtime. Higher up the hill, the sun shone down on the cows standing in the adjacent field, with them casting long shadows down the remainder of the hill. We finished off our 18 holes after about 4 hours and the sun was just a few degrees above the horizon. We were a little chilly by the end, no mistaking it was autumn.
I felt like I was playing golf in a Garnet Rogers song. One of those great days to remember.
Monday, October 18, 2004
It's not the East or the West Side
... it's the Dark Side.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
The Campbell Gallery reluctantly announces that the opening of its new Modern Art wing has been delayed ~ negotiations with my niece for a series of her fingerpaints has stalled.
In the meantime, a new acquisition, titled "Antibes possibly" has been, er, acquired. The price tag remains undisclosed. Apologies to Monet.
The leaves are just starting to turn around Halifax. We have a big ash tree in the backyard; although it lost some major branches during the hurricane, it's still pretty much intact. It's always a treat in the fall, as the Virginia Creeper that goes up through the tree turns red before the other leaves start to turn.
Perhaps I will have to try this game and find out. Moohoohoohaahaahaaahaaaa. Mwoohoohooohooohaaahaaahaaaahaaaahaaaaa! ...
Perkins: What's an underground lair look like, sir?
Alan has it right. I support wine for Alan's mother's Sunday roast. I'm surprised at the result of the plebescite. No Sunday shopping say my fellow Nova Scotians.
Since there is no shopping today, I'll have to satisfy my consumerical urges by shopping, er, ah, casually visiting small establishments where I may possibly exchange legal tender for goods or services, at the corner store, Pete's Frootique, any old restaurant or pub, go out to see a movie, buy gas, go see a play (you can't do that on Sunday in London), shops down at Historic Properties and other small shops, coffee shops, pool halls, bookstores. Anyway, there are very many people for whom Sundays are not a 'day of rest'. For them, there is not much choice, not much choice for the rest of us either.
I hope I am not breaking the law in writing this and other posts on the subject. I am not counselling Wal-Mart to open for business on Sunday, no, no.
5 (1) Any person who contravenes, disobeys or refuses, neglects, omits or fails to observe and comply with any provision of this Act is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.
(2) A person who authorizes, counsels, requires, directs or knowingly permits anything to be done in violation of any provision of this Act is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars. R.S., c. 402, s. 5.
In the mayoral elections, I'm glad to see Halifax incumbent mayor Peter Kelly win in an absolute landslide.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The main post-secondary educational institution on Cape Breton Island is the University College of Cape Breton or UCCB. It started out as the College of Cape Breton, and gained the somewhat superfluous moniker University College of Cape Breton as it enhanced its programs.
Two years ago, there was a move to change the name, basically dropping the "college" part. Last month, the school's board of governors decided (eesh, unanimously) on the name Breton University. Not University of Cape Breton or Cape Breton University, but "Breton University".
This sort of reminds me of the French translation of Nova Scotia to Nouvelle ecosse when the province is not called New Scotland in English; people like to pick apart the names of things without considering the origin or meaning of the name, or the simple fact that the name is the name.
Cape Breton Island was not settled by Bretons. It's generally believed that it got its name by the English, naming it for the French fishermen who used to visit there in its very early days. It was called Isle Royale by the French themselves prior to the island returning to British hands by the Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle in 1748.
The name of the island is now Cape Breton ~ it makes no sense to me to take just the Breton part of the placename in naming the university. The provincial legislature has shelved a bill that would make the name change, deciding whether public hearings should be held. Frankly, I think it should be up to the university's board of governors, who are hopefully strongly influenced by the local community and alumni; I just think they're making a piss-poor choice here.
We'll let Dave fill you in on this stuff, but Wired has a piece on WiMax. Online, just about anywhere, all the time. Oh yeah.
A wireless standard that makes Wi-Fi look mini, WiMax is designed to replace your Internet connection with one up to 25 times faster than today's broadband. The technology - officially known as 802.16 - not only transfers data as fast as 75 Mbps, but also goes through walls and has a maximum range of 30 miles. ...
Prototypes are here - major telcos have been testing them in France and Britain, and wireless service providers are offering WiMax in Montana and New York City, among other places. Certified WiMax gear will arrive next spring. The first phase - for early adopters - will use receivers that must be installed outdoors, like satellite dishes. By fall, we'll see cheaper receivers ($200, as opposed to $300 to $500) that can be tucked away in a closet. For 2007, they're promising mobile WiMax with a receiver built into your laptop, as Wi-Fi is now. You should be able to stay connected almost anywhere.