Yak, Yak, Yaksman

Things change in seventeen years

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:11:38 GMT

This morning I girded myself for battle.

The last time I entered into the UI offices was 1992. I spent all day sitting in waiting areas (not rooms, just different sections of seats) going from one grumpy person to the next, and all of them did their darndest to wear me down, and convince me that I didn't deserve to get any of the money that I'd been paying into the system for all those years. It was frustrating, humiliating, annoying, and ultimately pointless. I got a job before the first payment was due.

As of last Wednesday, my relationship with my former employer (referred to here has Kobayashi Maru Inc.), came to an end. The severance period ended, and I still don't have a job. I went to the UI website, and filled out the forms. They were full of dire warnings like "If you have failed to [thing I didn't know I had to do] your claim may be denied" And questions like "Why haven't you [thing I didn't know I had to do]?" That one was multiple choice, and didn't have "I didn't know" as an option. I winged it. It also had a lengthy page laying out my responsibilities as an applicant. (I was supposed to keep track of that?) In the end, the site told me I had to submit my ROE. That stands for Record of Employment. Any employer in Canada has to issue one when you leave their employ. I emailed Kobayashi Maru Inc. and was assured that mine was in the mail. [sigh]

Fast forward to Friday, and sure enough, the ROE appeared. So I made my plans for Monday. I would rise early, I would have all my documentation prepared, I would dress for an interview, I would have a good book, an MP3 player, and I would kick bureaucratic ass. I spent a few hours Sunday going through all of the emails and websites of my jobsearch so far. I summarized, and prepared a presentation to prove that I was a good little applicant. I had hardcopies of my termination letter, my application for UI, a list of the jobs I've applied for, the agencies I'm listed with, and the interviews I've been to.

I rose early this morning, put on my suit, grabbed my nice leather portfolio, and headed off to City Hall. When I got there, I got a large coffee at the cafe, and asked the security guard where I should go. She pointed out the Service Canada office, I took a deep calming breath, and ventured into the belly of the beast.

There were two desks, someone was seated in front of one, being dealt with, and the young man behind the other smiled at me and waved me forward. I started to trot out my documentation, but he just wanted my ROE. He stamped it, and told me I was done. No fuss, no muss, just hand it in and have a nice day. WTF?????

I drank my coffee on the walk back home.

A classic, updated.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:14:22 GMT

The webcomic "Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal" has been doing little video skits. Most of them have been okay, and the last one (seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlqDu2cDT0A ) amused me, but the newest one is sheer genius.

Weird morning thoughts

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:11:52 GMT

How would our world be different if God had sent his only begotten daughter instead?

Yeah, that's the kind of thing that my brain catches hold of just as it's booting up in the mornings.

Would Paul have written more complimentary things about women, or would he have been some obscure scribbler who was never included in the scriptures?

Were women executed by crucifixion? I can't be bothered to do proper research at the moment, but I suspect women were just stoned to death, so would good Christians be wearing a little rock on a chain instead of a cross?

We can still assume that Jessa would have been born into the same society that Jesus was, an impoverished woman in a strictly patriarchal agrarian society. That story about being found impressing the scholars with her knowledge of scripture would have to be changed a bit, or at least, it would be a lot more audacious than it is now.

She probably would've gathered twelve women, rather than men, after all, one woman traveling with twelve guys would have very different implications. Their merry little band of religious rabble rousers would have faced some very different challenges. The church might have developed some much stronger prohibitions against rape, much earlier.

Without some of the more sexist verses in the gospel, women in Europe would have had a much greater role in our society. Perhaps they'd have been permitted to take leadership roles in the church. (I can't see them being allowed to hold land, but I can see nuns and priests switching roles.) Imagine what would happen to European history if ambitious second sons, instead of becoming priests, had to make their way in the world. Would it just be a more violent history, or would be see an earlier and more robust rise of an entrepreneurial middle class? Would some of those second sons become shopkeepers and artisans? (Yeah, I know, I'm being way, way too optimistic.)

What about the world today? How would feminism be different? Might feminism be a Christian movement? These days cutting edge feminism tends to be very secular, largely because the major religions all have some strong anti-woman stuff in their holy books. Wouldn't that change if the Christian church was worshiping Jessa?

Now I think it's time for me to wake up properly and start my day, but feel free to play with the idea if it catches your mind like it did mine.

Awesome in different ways

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:46:43 GMT

My last post was awesome for several reasons, this one is awesome for just one, but it's really, really awesome.

This pic rocks in so many ways

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:26:07 GMT

http://thereifixedit.com/2009/09/29/epic-kludge-photo-call-of-the-open-road-doesnt-discriminate/

Sad morning

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:00:54 GMT

Last night "Fast" Eddy, my beloved feline passed away.
I wish I could say it was peacefully, but he loved being out on the balcony, and he loved exploring. He fell, and injured himself badly.
I also wish I could say that I was there for him, but I'm in DC for the week, visiting fatesfolly. My dear friends dchip39 and mistress_gir were looking in on the beasties for me, and found him. They rushed him to a vet, but there was little that could be done for him. I asked the vet over the phone not to let him suffer any more.

While he was with me, Eddy became fearless and aggressive. He was confident, strong, and loving. He was affectionate, demanding, and he was my little buddy. He was with me for far too short a time.

RIP buddy.

If I put one of them there hippity-hop rap videos on my LJ, does that make me gangsta?

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:15:23 GMT

Shamelessly stolen from mistress_gir because it made me laugh.

Busy few days

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:17:24 GMT

Let's see, my last post was Thursday, so here's one of those tedious "cheese sandwich" posts, just to keep me posting.

Friday night I met my old friend Lori for beer at a nearby patio. Had a great time and maybe a couple more drinks than I really should've.

Saturday I was as usual volunteering at subspace, and had a good time looking at pretty young things, didn't get home 'til almost 4.   (As I was walking along Queen with a smog dog, some guy took offence to my kilt, but kept his comment quiet, as if he wasn't sure if he wanted me to hear it or not. That's the closest thing to a hassle I've ever gotten for wearing it in Toronto.)

Sunday was, of course, the Pride parade.   Despite being grey and drizzly, and many of the big corporate sponsors having backed out, we managed to have a good time. I'd left my squirt gun behind as redundant on such a rainy day, but the_berserker had fun shooting people.   Then our little group sat in the pub and socialized.

Nothing much happened on Monday, but I made up for it on Tuesday.   pencil_mig_in met up with me in the morning, and the two of us journeyed off by TTC to meet with Berzerkie and Suzanna. Then the four of us hopped into Berzerkie's car and headed for the 'shawa.   Those of you familiar with Oshawa may be perplexed, why on earth would anyone want to go there?   According to the ladies, the best BBQ in the GTA lays there.    I was, of course, skeptical, but curious. Turns out, Buster Rhino's has some damn fine BBQ. They're really not set up for retail, they're in an industrial unit, near the GM plant, and only open for lunch.   They're more about wholesaling to restauraunts and the like.   Still, if you're in the 'shawa, it's worth checking out.   Then we hit a local comic book store, called wyldstar.   Great selection, and just about everything was on sale.   By the time we headed home, it was a pretty darned good afternoon.

That night, I had a lovely time with J, who as far as I know, has no LJ.   So basically, Tuesday rocked.

Wednesday, was an entirely different story.    I had planned to go to Ribfest with dchip39 , but he had to cancel, so I hung out at home.   Chatted online with my lovely lady, and things did not go well.   We had a fight, and I ended up believing that she'd just dumped me.   I went to the pub for dinner and some sorrow drowning, then came back home and called her.   We talked, a lot was said, and right now, the very next day, she's on her way up here to see if we can patch things up.   Wish us luck.

Poking my head out ...

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:15:56 GMT

Hey, I'm still alive.

Sorry for the stealth mode lately, that whole unemployment thing seems to've knocked me out a bit.    I have had some good stuff happen in the last while, but I've mostly been a bit ol' ball of nuthin. :-(   I'm working on that whole inertia thing.

In the spirit of getting my arse out and about, there are a couple of things coming up that I'd love to get some of my pals together for.
much_ado 's play, "Les Liasions Dangereuses" is opening next month, I was thinking of getting a zipcar and heading out to see it. (Did I not mention that I got my G2, and a zipcard? I'm mobile baby!) I'm free for most of the evenings it's happening, so I'm wondering who else is going and which nights.

On a slightly more ... earthy note, the Toronto Beer Festival is coming up Aug 6,7,8, and 9.   Saturday the 8th is already sold out, so I'm thinking Sunday the 9th, but I'm flexible on that.   Who's up for beer and BBQ?   (Just don't tell fatesfolly I called it that, she's picky about the word "barbecue".)

Oh, and do me a favour.   If I go ... let's say three days without posting something, someone email or call or something and get on me about it.   Maybe if I keep communicating, I can get myself moving.   Thanks muchly.

Missing the point

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:24:11 GMT

Congratulations to the thousands of environmentally aware folks who drove downtown last night to participate in a huge concert at Nathan Phillips Square to celebrate turning off the lights in their living rooms.

You have created a new definition of irony.

Let me just make sure I understand this

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:39:03 GMT

Back in 2001, the U.S. was attacked by 20 lunatics pissed off by their foreign policy.

When they determined that the folks behind that attack were hiding out in Afghanistan, we sent troops to help dig the fuckers out of their holes and bring 'em to justice. So far, I'm good with all this, it's a good thing to do for your neighbours and allies.

Then, they took the bulk of their military off on a new war that their chowder-head president made up excuses for, and left us holding the bag in Afghanistan, a country that's been invaded dozens of times, never successfully. We stayed there, with the few Americans that were sticking around, and we've been there ever since. The mission is scheduled to come to an end in 2011, ten years after it started, and our military is reporting to the government that they're tapped out. They've used up their resources supporting our good friends, and they'll need at least a year to get back up to strength.

Then the motherfuckers at Fox air this crap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJn5XlbSFk&feature=player_embedded

I know there are decent people in the U.S., so I'd just appreciate it if you'd take care of kicking these simpering jackasses in the genitals for me. If not, well, I'll be down there next month anyway, do you know where this is filmed?

Nice economy ya got there ...

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:37:37 GMT

it'd be a real shame if someone were to shut down these auto plants, wouldn't it?

Am I the only one seeing GM's announcements as a protection racket? The unions have voted in huge concessions, and the federal government is writing them a giant cheque, all so they'll keep their plant open for another year, honest, they promise, and we can trust them this time.

I haven't done the research on this, and with my company's new internet policies, I can't really do it during the day, but it seems to me that for all the cash we're shoveling at them, we could just buy the plants that they're going to shut down anyway. Canada already gets called a socialist country, despite privatizing Air Canada, so why not start up the Can-Car. Do we have some talented engineers somewhere around here who could design an environmentally friendlier car? Do we have lots of workers who'd love to get out from under US ownership? Do we have consumers who'd like to buy a car without worrying about the exchange rate?

The automotive industry is currently a lead weight tied around the neck of our economy, in part because it's based in a country whose regulators failed to prevent a sub-prime mortgage crisis. Couldn't we benefit from loosening some of our economic ties with the US until they get back on their feet? Before November we were being told that the Canadian economy was well positioned to ride this out, but when the loans hit the fan down south, we got spattered along with our neighbours.

I'm not suggesting we isolate ourselves, or cut all ties, just that we look at ways to take control of our own finances. Am I crazy? Tell me about it in the comments.

Less Grumpy Thoughts

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:41:42 GMT

I've recommended a book to a few people called "Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)" It's an examination of the self-justification that we engage in to convince ourselves that we're pretty decent, intelligent people. In the book, the authors keep coming back to an image of a pyramid, with a point of decision at the top, and the increasingly convoluted self-justifications pushing the individual further and further from their simple decision as they descend.

Last week, my insurance company angered me by betraying our business relationship to sucker me into a telemarketing call. I snapped at the hapless telemarketer on the phone. just a small step away from the peak

Then, when I went to purchase my lunch (in a rush because I had to be back at my desk by a set time), I became annoyed when the counter staff tried to upsell me. (She was almost certainly as aware as I was that it was a waste of time, and that people were waiting behind me, just as I had waited, but company policy for most major fast food chains requires that ALL customers be upsold, because a few do actually spend more money that way, and the assumption is that counter staff are incapable or unwilling to take initiative on the company's behalf. ) I responded as if this foolishness were her idea. sliding is fun

When I got back to my desk, it seemed like a fun thing to write about these incidents as an overarching pattern, and propose some overreactions. When I started typing there was still some whimsy in the thought, but by the time I finished that section of my post, I almost thought some of these ideas made sense. Wheeee

Very shortly after the post went up, some of the folks on my friends list, all of whom really are decent, intelligent people, called me on my own shit. I normally try not to be a dick, and they were drawing my attention to the dickishness of my post. Why are these people throwing ropes at me? I'm having fun.

My initial reaction to the comments was that they just didn't get my point. After all, if a telemarketer's job requires them to be rude enough to call me about crap I don't want to talk about, then it also requires them to deal with whatever I feel like saying to them. And besides, this is the only way we can strike back at this great injustice. That night I let a fellow who called me about a charity I have philosophical disagreements with have both verbal barrels. Wow, I've covered a lot of ground with barely any effort at all!

Fortunately, before I managed to be a dick to more than one of my friends (sorry minxy), I noticed that I wasn't quite being "congruent" with my usual interpersonal style. Er... maybe I should grab one of those ropes.

Aside: I really liked my brother's diagnosis

So I started thinking about what I'd said, and why I'd said it. Up is a lot harder than down.

Of course, I came up with lots and lots of arguments I could use to support my original position It's hard to get traction on this thing

And I couldn't very well withdraw the whole thing without looking like a pussy. Maybe it's nice at the bottom

But here I am, a week later, and yeah, I was being a dick, which I don't like to be. Parts of it may've been funny, and I'm still annoyed by %$#@ telemarketers, and I do think the strategy of putting the phone down has it's strengths.... but no, I'm recanting. Marketing sucks, but the front line troops usually don't deserve my shit. Usually. I can see the top again.

Grumpy thoughts

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:57:54 GMT

I got an urgent voicemail from my insurance company this morning, so as soon as I got out of a meeting, I called them back. They were careful to confirm my identity, checked my file, and determined what they had to talk to me about. They wanted to know if I wanted car insurance. WTF? Wouldn't I have called them if I bought a car? How was this important enough to warrant an urgent (and ominous) message? I was a trifle rude to the fellow on the other end of the phone.

After that, I went to get some lunch. You would think that if someone walks up to a fast food counter and clearly and simply states their order, they could just get it filled. No, I had to waste more time refusing the upsells than it took me to place the order, all while other paying customers waited in line behind me.

I think it's past time to stop being polite to people who try to sell us extras. Next time someone asks if you want a bigger drink, ask them if your order confused them. Next time a telemarketer interrupts your nightly masturbation session, continue while providing them with commentary. Next time someone stops you on the street to sell you something you neither want nor need, publicly belittle them. The only way we can get rid of this plague is if we make marketing a less appealing career choice than the seal hunt.

If you don't have the time to berate your telemarketer, just waste their time. Respond to their initial pitch with "That sounds great! Just hold on for a second." Then set your phone down and go about your business. After about ten minutes, check and see if they're still there.

Let's take a moment for some perspective on our economy. We've been hit hard, but what are the effects? For most of us, we can't afford to fly half way around the world for our next vacation, or we may not be able to have quite such a lavish meal served to us in a restaurant, or maybe we'll have to go an extra year before buying the latest cool bit of electronics. For the truly hard hit, they may be depending on our society's elaborate safety net for rent and groceries for a few months. It sucks, but bear in mind that there is very, very little chance that the current economic conditions will bring our standard of living anywhere near as low as the planetary median. There will be suffering, but it doesn't compare to a lifetime in the sort of crushing poverty that is the norm in many parts of this world.

Yeah, that sort of philosophical approach doesn't really help much if you lose your job, but it's still a good thing to keep in mind.

Today we had flooding in Union station, Bell Canada lost connection for hundreds of thousands of customers in the 416 area, and large sections of downtown Toronto (including the stock exchange) were blacked out. Here in the office, we barely noticed. I only knew about the exchange because I subscribe to email updates from CityNews, and I was the one who told our trade desk. The Exchange's DRP seems pretty solid now. There's something comforting about knowing that this city can just carry on in the face of that much damage to our infractructure. There's also something disturbing about knowing that all that damage is because it's been warm lately.

Because I'm a sensitive and enlightened sort of guy.

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:28:11 GMT

It would be wrong to disseminate or encourage others to view a video that perpetuated the stereotype of women being poor drivers. No matter how amusing, or how well chosen the audio track. It just doesn't matter how cringe-worthy the impacts are, or how amusing the mishaps, such a video is a bad and unenlightened thing. Indeed, in my own recent attempts to gain automotive skills, one woman in partiuclar has be a great help, assisting me in such necessary skills as motorway communication, and the importance of velocity in ensuring ones social status on the road, and indeed, the use of the A/C to gain that extra little bit of speed.

So I'm just gonna leave this link right here, y'all go on about your business, and don't click on it. Okay?

By rule 34, it must exist.

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:30:23 GMT

So where is the Vader/Artoo slash fic?

The Daily Show had a brief sight gag along those lines, and now I must find it. I appeal to the almighty intarweebs! I sacrifice the blood of a user (she was annoying me anyway). Where are the steamy adventures of the Dark Lord, and his forbidden love for a plucky little astromech?

Gimme that old time economics

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:20:30 GMT

http://comics.com/matt_bors/2009-02-04/

"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:47:04 GMT

The bus ads are coming to Toronto.

And of course, the media have been able to find no shortage of theists offended by the idea that some people don't follow their religion. I could understand calling these attack ads if they said "Theists are delusional" or "Religion caused the September 11th 2001 attacks". I could also see some issues if they'd singled out one particular religion, "Jesus doesn't save" or "There's no Allah" or "Odin is no-one's father". The ads say nothing like that. They're a very gentle statement of atheist or agnostic thought. There's no lack of tolerence within the ads, they make no suggestion that religious indoctrination of children is abuse, or that theists should be prevented from operating heavy machinery, they certainly don't suggest (as has been said of atheists) that theists should be denied the vote, or shouldn't be allowed to testify in a court of law.

So what's the problem?

I'm open to your responses, but I suspect that it's about the privileged status of religion. I could get away with saying that anyone who doesn't believe as I do will be tortured for all eternity, and that is a right and just penalty for their crimes, but only if I can weigh my own deeply held faith against theirs. To argue against a faith without measuring it against one of my own is somehow offensive. Several media outlets are running polls about this, and a disturbing percentage of Torontonians think that atheist speaking out is offensive, but see no problem with statements of religious faith. It's all a bit disheartening.

I can scrape together a few dollars for a donation, so I'll do my part.
http://freethoughtassociation.ca/n2ew/

Another thought provoking bit from Delancey Place

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:30:35 GMT

In today's excerpt-early British colonizers of America in the 1600s and 1700s needed laborers for their new colonies:

"They needed a compliant, subservient, preferably free labour force and since the indigenous peoples of America were difficult to enslave they turned to their own homeland to provide. They imported Britons deemed to be 'surplus' people--the rootless, the unemployed, the criminal and the dissident--and held them in the Americas in various forms of bondage for anything from three years to life. ... In the early decades, half of them died in bondage.

"Among the first to be sent were children. Some were dispatched by impoverished parents seeking a better life for them. But others were forcibly deported. In 1618, the authorities in London began to sweep up hundreds of troublesome urchins from the slums and, ignoring protests from the children and their families, shipped them to Virginia. ... It was presented as an act of charity: the 'starving children' were to be given a new start as apprentices in America. In fact, they were sold to planters to work in the fields and half of them were dead within a year. Shipments of children continued from England and then from Ireland for decades. Many of these migrants were little more than toddlers. In 1661, the wife of a man who imported four 'Irish boys' into Maryland as servants wondered why her husband had not brought 'some cradles to have rocked them in' as they were 'so little.'

"A second group of forced migrants from the mother country were those, such as vagrants and petty criminals, whom England's rulers wished to be rid of. The legal ground was prepared for their relocation by a highwayman turned Lord Chief Justice ,who argued for England's jails to be emptied in America. Thanks to men like him, 50,000 to 70,000 convicts (or maybe more) were transported to Virginia, Maryland, Barbados and England's other American possessions before 1776. ...

"A third group were the Irish. ... Under Oliver Cromwell's ethnic-cleansing policy in Ireland, unknown numbers of Catholic men, women and children were forcibly transported to the colonies. And it did not end with Cromwell; for at least another hundred years, forced transportation continued as a fact of life in Ireland. ...

"The other unwilling participants in the colonial labour force were the kidnapped. Astounding numbers are reported to have been snatched from the streets and countryside by gangs of kidnappers or 'spirits' working to satisfy the colonial hunger for labour. Based at every sizeable port in the British Isles, spirits conned or coerced the unwary onto ships bound for America. ... According to a contemporary who campaigned against the black slave trade, kidnappers were snatching an average of around 10,000 whites a year--doubtless an exaggeration but one that indicates a problem serious enough to create its own grip on the popular mind.' "

Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, White Cargo, New York University Press, Copyright 2007 by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, pp. 12-14.

http://www.delanceyplace.com/

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:01:28 GMT

Wow, busy morning.
Between gettig up for every email that came in overnight to babysit an overnight process, dealing with the screwed up transit to get into work, a bunch of issues this morning, and a meeting with the VP trading, I was a bit frazzled.
The good news is that fatesfolly landed safely a few hours ago, and is patiently waiting for me to finish work. [grin]

I did however, want to point out that wiseacre managed to put his finger firmly on what has been bugging me about The Miracle on the Hudson.

Miracles are the stuff that's beyond the abilities of man. Usually stuff that's so danged unlikely that theists can't see how it could've happened without an all-powerful assist. The goose taking down the jet? That was a miracle. The survival of those 155 people is down to the skill of the pilot and the engineers who designed the safety systems. To credit your favourite deity is to dismiss their training and dedication.

John Stewart said the same thing in a pithier way after the Air France near-tragedy in Toronto "If anything, God wanted these people dead, and was thwarted by the crew's SATANIC COMPETENCE!" (Yes, I stole the quote from theweaselking because it made me smile.)

Where music comes from ...

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:48:35 GMT

A while ago I downloaded a torrent with a bunch of Irish Celtic music, and just recently I put it on my MP3 player. Whoever put the torrent together was/is a big fan of rebel music. So on the way to and from work this week I've been hearing about the brave men of the IRA and the dastardly British. I'm mostly about more cheerful Celtic music, ren faire type stuff, (What is Gaelic for Uncle Tom again?) but there's some kick-ass tunes on there.

This got me thinking about other types of music. Rock music is pretty much a direct descendant of slavery, and much the same can be said of blues and jazz. For that matter, klezmer music is pretty dang catchy. (Although I've probably misspelled it) Seems like any time people are feeling oppressed, they start cranking out great music. So what kind of tunes are they playing in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Gaza these days? D'ya think in a few generations westerners might be rocking out to the rhythms of Jihad?

I need to be clear here, I'm not supporting terrorism, I'm just wondering if their music is any good.

Edit to add: blueshaded_lady, can you point me to some music I might not normally come across?

Well that's annoying

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:06:07 GMT

I was excited about watching CSI tonight. Grissom's last case, and part 1 was pretty cool.

I was late getting home tonight, and had some chores to do, but I wasn't concerned, my DVR records CSI every week, so I can't miss it. Unless of course the networks repeat part 1 in their regular slot, then put the show I really wanted to see in a new timesolt afterwards.

Damnit.

Nobody spoil it for me, I'll be watching it on the weekend, found a station that's airing in the wee hours.

Calm down folks

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:44:09 GMT

The US has introduced some new travel requirements for their Visa Waiver Program.

U.S. visitors required to register online

Note that the article is from LONDON. In this day of global communication, it's easy to get confused, but Canada is not one of the countries affected. Take a look at Homeland Security's website, and you can find this:

Q: Do citizens of Bermuda, Canada, the Marshall Islands, or Micronesia need to apply for an ESTA™?
A: No. ESTA™ will be required only for citizens or nationals of VWP countries.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/about_esta/

Believe me, the Canadian media are very sensitive to new regulations regarding travel to the states, we'd have heard it from the CBC first.

Kinda wish I could sing ...

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:09:30 GMT

From http://capacioushandbag.blogspot.com/2008/07/monday-singalong.html

The New Atheist Major-General

I don't believe in Jahweh, Buddha, Ganesh, Zeus or Allah
And I don't believe in Limbo, Hades, Heaven or Valhalla
I don't believe in Brahma, karma, Rama, Thor or Jupiter
I've studied both the Testaments but can't say which is stupiter

I've got no time for Odin, Ceres, Poseidon or Kingu
They're as fictional as Sherlock Homes or Arthur Dent or Pingu
Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Mars provoke my laughter
The one thing gods are good for is to name the planets after

I think that Christianity, Islam and Scientology
Are all a scam that preys upon a quirk of our psychology
I care not if you curse me in the name of Baal or Shiva,
For I am the very model of a fervent unbeliever.

I don't believe in Atlas, Balder, Freia, Yam or Hester
Or in reincarnation, because when you die you fester
And I think the Holy Spirit as nonsensical as Frigg is
And I'll happily eat lobsters, cows and tasty little piggies (yum yum!)

I thoroughly despise the likes of Donohue and Bakker.
I posit that the Eucharist is just a frackin' cracker.
Though many people call me an insufferable know-it-all
They're equally dismissive when it comes to Quetzalcoatl.

I don't need any mantra, tantra, deity or deva
For I am the very model of a fervent unbeliever.

Xmas for comics fans

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:13:07 GMT

This is a special that will not be making it to the major networks.

With many thanks to flemco