“That’s actually a significant and commendable improvement. While I have no reason to visit the website, there’s...” 
“Tina do you know what it’s like to be killed for looking like someone else? Yea nor do I but it’s probably a whole lot...” 
“It turns out that the plugin broke with 2.8.1. in July which “tightens security for plugin administration pages.” The...” 
“This plugin is partially broken by the 2.8 update to Wordpress. The settings page no longer works. Attempts to modify result in the...” 
Observent readers of Blogawa will notice that I’ve added El Maks (of swapbox fame) to Blogawa. El Maks, (no relation to the awesomeness of Maki), is, well, awesome.
As always, suggestions for new blogs can be made to erigami@piepalace.ca.
Years ago, I contributed policy to the Green Party of Canada on media. In it, I stated (words to the effect of) “media is a business like no other, it has a responsibility to be profitable, but more importantly, it has the responsibility to hold our public offices to account.” The policy items were my rough attempt to discourage the rise of large media conglomerates, and to support regional media outlets.
Yesterday, one of CTV shut down evening newscasts in Ottawa, and did similar things in Barrie, London, and Victoria. In doing so, they have cost Ottawa yet another media outlet, and yet another avenue for paid journalists to keep our politicians, bureaucrats, and corporations honest. Coincidentally, kottke.org has linked to a story describing how the cuts to Baltimore’s daily newspaper has made the police force less accountable:
Half-truths, obfuscations and apparent deceit — these are the wages of a world in which newspapers, their staffs eviscerated, no longer battle at the frontiers of public information. And in a city where officials routinely plead with citizens to trust the police, where witnesses have for years been vulnerable to retaliatory violence, we now have a once-proud department’s officers hiding behind anonymity that is not only arguably illegal under existing public information laws, but hypocritical as well.
And this isn’t just an American problem. As the Dziekanski enquiry is proving, Canadian police reports can sometimes differ dramatically from reality. Without an engaged, and well funded press, there will be no one to hold these officers to account.
What solutions do we have? A CRTC-mandated carriage fee for cable broadcasters? Preferential tax treatment for smaller news organization? Increased funding to public broadcasters? There are solutions, but we, as an electorate have to wake up to the fact these cuts don’t just cost jobs, they are a danger to our public institutions.
Telephone poles know the truth. This one, seen on Bank street, provides the 411 on who Jesus hates. The list is pretty long, but here are a few of the highlights:
- Christian rock, rap, techno (then again, who doesn’t?)
- catholics
- yoga and martial arts
- lotteries
- tolerence
- “dirty human rights commissions/tribunals”
- Canwest Media
- buddhists, scientologists, hindus, muslims, wiccans, etc.
(There’s the usual rants as well. We hear those often enough that I won’t bother repeating them)
It sounds like heaven is a pretty lonely place.
The Slaughter Daughters (née Bytowne Blackhearts) have joined Blogawa. Welcome aboard ladies.
And what do you mean there isn’t a league game until May 30? Awww…
A Midwinter’s Dream Tale is a fantastic play. The plot is loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and A Winter’s Tale. Fairy king Oberon is horrified that his fairy queen Titania has borne him a child, and orders it taken away by a pair of bumbling mortals. The mortals make off with the child, and Titania follows after them. In that, you could kinda/sorta say that it has something to do with the original Shakespearean plays.
The two mortals: Pommes Frites (an oaf) and ‘Restes (an idiot) are a mix of Bob and Doug McKenzie and Inspector Clouseau. They stumble through the plot wonderfully, never quite understanding what’s going on, or what they should be doing. Coincidentally, they happen to be the core of the Company of Fools company, and some of the stronger actors.
A Midwinter’s Dream Tale isn’t Shakespeare redux. The dialog is fast, modern, and (kinda) witty; there are more dance numbers than soliloquies; the pacing is quick; and the characters are fun.
Go see this play. Pick up the phone, call the Gladstone Theatre (at 613.233.4523) and order tickets. Seriously. It’s only on until Saturday, and this is probably the best play that’s going to be produced in Ottawa this year.
Phew. The upgrade worked. I’ve redirected the old feed URL to the new URL, and everything should be smurfy on Blogawa itself.
Of note:
As far as I know, all of the feeds imported properly. Let me know if there’s anything amiss.
I just got a pushy call from a telemarketer telling me that I was getting a “second notice” of my car’s warranty expiring, and that I should re-register it through them. I’ve never owned a car. They refused to tell me where they got my phone number, anything about the car in question, or the company they are working for. It sounds like a scam (and the RCMP thinks so too).
The call was from 1.916.219.81631. It comes about five days after I moved the number to Rogers’ wireless service. I hadn’t received any phone spam in my 2.5 years with Virgin Wireless.
Anyone else gotten these calls?
Woohoo! My first hate mail!
So you think Asperger’s syndrome is some sort of fucking joke for you and your jackass nerd idiot friends?
What do you have that we can make fun of? Impotence? A huge ass?
Feel free to mock: my insouciance, my wacky political beliefs, my gadget addiction, not owning a car, the amount of time I spend in front of a computer, the amount of time it takes me to answer my email, etc.
This love-in brought to you by the Pie Palace AQ Test.
“As a guest, the best part of the wedding was the giggling bride and groom. 
” 
