Sesame Street Personality Quiz

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz
Hat Tip to Living the Scientific Life

VICTORY!

Last month I lamented the fact that Andrew really started kicking my ass at tennis after I returned from summer vacation. Well, in the weeks since that post things had continued to be in the losing column for me with some truly nasty lopsided defeats. The only bright spot was that my backhand was getting more comfortable and consistent.

Last week I had a breakthrough as my service returned to somewhat better consistency and I sprinted to a 3-0 lead in the set. Andrew battled back but I still had some fire for a 5-3 lead. Then I lost 4 straight to lose the set 7-5. So frustrating.

Well last night I continued my strong play and we battled back and forth all game. It was the server's games last night for the first 6 to make it 3-3 and then he broke my service and took a 4-3 lead. Uh oh, I thought, this is where it goes south. But I came back and broke his service and we then battled back and forth to 5-5 and then 6-5. Finally I broke his service again to win the set.

Some victories are better than others, that's for sure.

Hockey Hit

Last night in a game against Philadelphia the Senators Daem McAmmond was hit by Steve Downie and left the ice to go to the hospital on a stretcher. Here is a link to video of the hit.

I know in a physical sport like hockey people get hurt, but it really looked like Downie went head hunting on that hit. Thoughts?

Writer's Block

Every once in a while I'm stuck with nothing to blog about. I mean, things are happening in the news and in my life but nothing big enough to write a post about. That's when these dry spells happen. So here are a couple short items.

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On Saturday the in laws came up and Kim went to town with her mom for some more clothes shopping while Mike and I did the trim on the basement bathroom. Now all we need is the plumber to connect the sink and toilet. I'll be so happy when this project is over.

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Baby furniture is expensive.

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Read this post over at Pharyngula called Why We Need a Secular America. Isolated incident? Maybe, but still kind of freaky/weird.

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The trees are changing colour, I'm going to have to go out and get some photos this year.

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That's all, carry on.

Hybrid Hysteria

Mainstream media is a joke in my books these days. All to often they go for sensationalist headlines, subtly distorting the facts into something that will sell more copies but misrepresent the true story.

Take for example this headline found on Canoe.ca:

Is tampering with humanity OK?

Hmmmm, seems serious. Check out the sub-headline:

47% APPROVE 'PLAYING GOD'

And:

Cdns support human-animal research

If you have visions of pig-men and talking gorillas in your head, that was the intent I'm sure.

The story is mostly about the poll they had were they asked if people supported animal-human embryo research and how the response changed when people were informed such research could lead to cures for serious diseases. I said mostly? I meant entirely. The only part that provides any real information is this:

The poll was conducted during the first week of September, after British regulators gave the green light for scientists to create hybrid embryos by inserting human DNA into animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells.

Of course, that sentence leaves out the fact that they completely remove the animal DNA first. To me its like having a bag of potatoes, removing all the potatoes and replacing them with apples. Have I created a potato-apple hybrid food? Of course not, but if they reported it like this polling story you'd certainly think so.

Back to the headlines. In the actual story I searched for 'playing god'. Then just playing. I did find the word 'tampering' in this context:

Anderson said the poll results illustrate that it is not just religious Canadians who are casting a wary eye at the notion of scientists tampering with what it means to be human.

The word 'tampering' was not in the poll questions asked to the public, it was in an opinion statement by the president of the polling company. I think that is misleading in the extreme.

Let's get this straight. This research is not about 'playing god' or 'tampering' with what it means to be human. This is not combining or splicing DNA from different animals. This is about finding new efficient ways to grow stem cells. Period. And if people realized that, this would be a non-story.

Which is exactly why it is not reported that way.

Construction Hell

So I had to run across town today to St Laurent mall to drop off some stuff. No problem, the traffic is light at lunch and I get across pretty easily.

The way back, however, was not so pleasant. First I discover that the exit I usually use from the parking lot is blocked by construction. So I have to travel halfway around the mall to another exit. I get to the St Laurent Blvd and discover that the on ramp for the Queensway is also closed by the same construction. So I end up taking a ten minute detour through the forgotten back roads of Ottawa to get to Riverside and finally get on the highway.

Blood pressure is just getting back to normal when I hit a pack of pokies just near Bayshore because they are slowing down for... wait for it... more construction!

A trip that took 20 minutes on the way there took 40 minutes on the way back. Almost makes me want winter back.

Election Blues

Or more like politics blues.

So we have a provincial election coming up this October and I find myself severely apathetic to it. None of the candidates are particularly attractive to me; Dalton and the Liberals haven't impressed me with their term in office (health premium = tax you liars), Tory and the tories (sounds like a band) have disturbed me with their stance on funding more private schools (I prefer we go to one publicly funded school system rather than several), and the NDP and I are never going to see eye to eye.

Worst of all, the media and the Liberals seem to have decided that the school funding thing is going to be the "issue" of the election. Sad really, they focus on that instead of the hundreds of other issues that require debate.

I guess some day soon I'm going to have to read the platforms and decide for myself. Sigh. Assuming they are not lying through their teeth... again.

Work Overload

Lack of posts due to work being exceptionally busy last couple days. Suffice to say Kim is still pregnant and milking it for all its worth. Hopefully back to normal tomorrow.

A Post Just For Tammy

Stupid Evil Bastard writes: Mozart songs you've probably never heard of: "Leck mich im Arsch"

Enjoy!

Which Marvel Superhero Are You?

Meh. I like Spiderman better.

Courtesy of Kim.

The worrying, it never stops!

So, yeah, Kim is officially pregnant with good hormone levels and good health and everything looks great. Of course, we are now where every normal couple starts and have to worry about the normal pregnancy things. Great, just what we need, more worries. Kim said from here on out the worrying never stops.

We are not telling everyone except immediate family right now until the first trimester is over. And well, the internet but you people on the web know how to keep a secret, right? If any extended family members are reading this, I trust you can keep quiet and then act all surprised when we announce it at the beginning of December.

Well, now I know....

... and I am HAPPY!

The Verdict is In...

... I just don't know what it is yet.

Kim and I went in for the blood test this morning and we agreed she would not call me at work with the result when she got it this afternoon. So its safe to say she knows by now and I'm at once dying to know and terrified to know.

I thought I could concentrate on work but its pretty hard now. I'll probably leave early and rush home to either get the good news or commiserate with my love.

Same Word, Different Meaning

John Tory, leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, opened a can of worms with this comment recently.

"It's still called the theory of evolution," Tory said after touring a 100-year-old Jewish school in a Toronto suburb.

"They teach evolution in the Ontario curriculum, but they also could teach the fact to the children that there are other theories that people have out there that are part of some Christian beliefs."

Of course many Liberal supporters jumped on him for promoting the teaching of religious beliefs in science class and in order to spin the brewing media storm away he:

...clarified his remarks to say that he meant creationism could be taught in religion class, and that he did not mean to suggest the two theories would be given equal weight in a science lab.

At which point I sighed heavily.

Most people, when they use the word "theory" are using it based on this meaning: "contemplation or speculation", or "guess or conjecture". But in scientific terms when one uses the word theory as in the theory of gravity or the theory of relativity (or theory of evolution) the word means "a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena".

My point is that saying creationism and evolution are "two theories" is misleading. One is "contemplation or speculation" supported by little to no evidence or research, and the other is a "coherent group of general propositions" that is supported by over a hundred years of observations, experiments, and evidence.

Two Things:

The First:
On the way into work this morning I was listening to the radio and the hosts were talking about dog fighting and how in some parts of the States it was not seen as a bad thing just like how in some parts of the world cock fighting and bull fighting are acceptable forms of entertainment. At which point one host says*:

"But we are not talking about some other part of the world, we are talking about the United States of America, and there should be one belief system."

At which point I gaped at the radio with disbelief. You'd be lucky to find a consistent belief system in any individual much less one amoungst 300 million people spread over the fourth largest country in the world. And even assuming she's not talking about actual belief but morals and ethics, its still very "absolutionist" (yes I made that up) of the host to demand that everyone in the country have the same moral and ethical boundaries.

While I appreciate the sentiment that cruelty to animals for our sport is unacceptable, I prefer to depend on laws created by elected officials to determine what's right and wrong for others instead of my opinions.

* = from memory


The Second:
I'm not a fan of Dalton McGuinty and his Ontario Liberals, and I'm never been fond of the NDP, but I have to express some support for the proposed Dental Insurance act that the Liberals stole from the NDP this week. Like medical wellbeing, healthy teeth should not be dependent on your financial standing. I know some people who don't go to the dentist because food and mortgage payments are more pressing concerns and I worry for those children who have seen a dentist once years ago.

We are a first world country, we should act like it. I'd pay more in taxes to insure basic health coverage for all.

Busy Worrisome Weekend

We are in limbo. Or more specifically, PUPO: Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise.

Kim has been having some cramping which the clinic tells us is normal as her ovaries return to normal but which has both Kim and I worried as last time the failure of the IVF was preceded by cramping as well. We spent the weekend keeping Kim relaxed and thinking good thoughts while I was sent to the coal mines to work my ass off.

Saturday:
First a morning trip to Walmart and Rona for supplies. I needed stone dust for under some patio stones that have had the stuff under them erode away making them loose and dangerous, and some weed killer as the grass and weeds had turned a slow incursion of our back patio into a full scaled invasion. The afternoon saw me spraying a bottle and a half on the weeds and then down on my hands and knees working on the 10-12 patio stones. It wasn't a professional job but not bad for a first try. May get my father up some weekend for another go at it with real tools.

Sunday:
The bushes at the front and side of the house had gotten out of control since their trimming last year so out came the hedge clippers and I went to work. That took two hours and was very hard picking up the debris of the rose bushes. A few thorns found their way into my hands. In the afternoon I took out the screens of the windows and attached a Windex outside window and surface cleaner to the hose and sprayed them down. I was not overly impressed with the final result because while the bulk of the dust is gone they are not crystal clear as I expected. Looks like I'll have to get the ladder and do it by hand. Also made a run to the store for the grocery shopping.

Monday:
Running on fumes by this time, I finished the patio by getting on my hands and knees and pulled over weed and grass on the patio I could find and get a grip on. More pokes in the fingers from dried spruce needles. By the time I was done pulling weeds and spraying the stones down it almost looked like we had our patio back. I'm going to have to keep it up this time. The rest of the day was taken with more mundane chores like a couple loads of laundry.

By Monday night I was thinking I needed to go back to work to recover from my long weekend!