I have always been skeptical when people proclaim that the traditional dead-tree format book (or magazine) is doomed and will soon disappear. I wonder if they realize what issues remain before such a changeover can actually take place.

Thanks to dewline, I discovered an LJ post by seanan_mcguire that sums up many of my concerns on this topic. The most important point ( Read more... )

After continuing crankiness issues with my laptop, I took it in a few weeks ago to have its software and hardware checked (especially after the microsoft.com website suggested a virus might be in the laptop). Fortunately, all the data was backed up.

What I had not realized is that I have been rather busy of late. The shop decided it could not see ( Read more... )

The current situation in the U.S. Government is so stupid, it’s truly bewildering. But that is not stopping the three players in this “Mexican standoff”.

1. In the middle: the U.S. President. He is insisting that any agreement must be a permanent one; he refuses to accept anything that will last less than a year. He is calling on both the other two ( Read more... )

I often think that the traditional concept of nation-state is obsolete, but nowhere does this seem more obvious than in two [now three] news stories that occurred in the past three weeks or so. All involve agents of the Customs department (or, as they are now often named, border guards) in two neighboring countries: Canada and the U.S. All ( Read more... )

Now that "King" Harper has decided to suspend (prorogue) Parliament till Jan. 26, a question that the Liberal Party has yet to deal with looms large ( Read more... )

Like so many others, I have watched in fascination and sadness as the Stock Market Crash has led to the loss of so much money (and may eventually cause the loss of many people’s jobs). I also have wondered how many plans, dreams, schemes and other forecasts may be invalidated, rendered worthless, or otherwise cancelled due to an inability to raise ( Read more... )

... (this past Sunday, Sept. 7) and they’re off! Who will be First-Past-the-Post? Harper, Dion, Layton, May? We’ll see as they round the first turn!!

Seriously, this is a contest that we Canadians cannot afford to ignore. Remember that we live in a Westminster-based parliamentary democracy, which means that the 19th century warning by Judge ( Read more... )

DON YOUR GAS MASKS!

You would think that, in the wake of soaring crude oil and related fuel prices, that everyone would recognize that alternate methods of public transit, such as “light rail” (formerly known as trams or streetcars) and electric trolleybuses, are worth keeping.

Evidently, that kind of common sense does not hold, based on the ( Read more... )