test blog #10

We did it!!!! For the first time since 1995, the Boston Red Sox have won their division. This means I got half of what I wanted - the New York Yankees are still in the playoffs, having won the wild card - but it's the half I wanted most. In order for Boston to clinch the division last night, they had to win and the Yankees had to lose. After Boston won, every Red Sox fan switched over to the Yankees game and rooted for the Baltimore Orioles. At Fenway Park, the Yankees game went up on the video screen, and the crowd that had just seen the first half the equation stayed for part two. In a dramatic finish, the Yankees blew a late-inning three-run lead, and lost in extra innings. And Red Sox Nation exploded. Because of the wild card - in existence since 1995 - both Boston and New York have been in the playoffs many times in the last 12 years, something that was previously impossible in this age-old rivalry. Those years include Boston losing the American League pennant to the Yankees ...

Does this ever happen to you? You see a news item and think, "This is something [name of blogger you read] would blog about." The item itself might interest you, but you think of it primarily in terms of how a particular blogger would approach it? I just saw something on CBC News and thought, This is the kind of thing Impudent Strumpet would write about. In fact, writing this - that I saw something on the news and thought, this is the kind of thing that Impudent Strumpet would write about - is the kind of thing Impudent Strumpet would write about. This is getting very postmodern! I was folding laundry ( again with the laundry! ), watching CBC News from Eastern Canada, because I must watch TV during laundry-related activity. The anchor was speaking with the editor of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald about a recent wave of violent crimes in that city, a time his paper has named "The Summer of Fear". I will paraphrase briefly; bold emphasis is mine. Suhana Meharchand fo...

From BBC News, via AW1L: Yale University has agreed to return to Peru thousands of Inca relics that were excavated at Machu Picchu from 1911-15 by a history professor, Hiram Bingham. Peru demanded the artefacts back last year, saying it agreed to their removal on condition they would be returned. More than 4,000 pieces, including mummies, ceramics and bones were taken to the US university. Under the agreement Yale and Peru will co-sponsor the first travelling expedition of the collection. Yale will also act as an adviser for a new museum in the Andean city of Cuzco, close to Machu Picchu, where the exhibition will be installed after its tour. The museum's opening is planned to coincide with the centennial celebration of Bingham's rediscovery of Machu Picchu in 1911. During three trips to Machu Picchu, Bingham dug up thousands of objects, including silver statues, jewellery, musical instruments and human bones. The agreement between Peru and the Connecticut-based university cam...

There's a gripping picture on the front page of today's Globe and Mail , and on newspapers and websites all over the world. That's a Japanese news photographer lying face-up on the ground, holding his camera; a member of the Myanmar military stands over him with pointed gun. At least ten people (probably many more) were killed, including the cameraman in the photograph and several Buddhist monks, as troops fired into the crowd and clubbed protestors in the latest crackdown in Rangoon. Newspapers and television stations have been shut down, internet access is cut off, hundreds of Buddhist monks and their supporters have been arrested and taken away. The current round of protests has been going on since mid-August, but the struggle for a free and democratic Myanmar has been going on for decades. China, Myanmar's largest trading partner - and its military government's leading arms supplier - could apply economic pressure to speed reform. Supporting democracy in Myanmar...

We're home. It was lovely - altogether beautiful and relaxing. And now back to reality, which isn't so bad either. I have a bunch of odds and ends I've been waiting to post, so here we go. Loyal wmtc reader and news source James sent me two random notes from the Can You Believe Anyone Is So Stupid Department. Both are related to race relations in TGNOTFOTE. First, from Oliver Willis (yet another terrific blog completely despoiled with advertising), quoting a chat in The Washington Post , about the situation in Jena, Louisiana : When did nooses become racist symbols? When I was a kid we'd always make nooses in scout camp in Virginia to "string up the rustlers." It was a Western symbol with roots in all the Western movies we grew up with -- something dangerous that knot-tiers could make, but always about the Old West. Later in high school depressed friends would make them for what you'd now call "Goth" culture, but back then it was more Alice Co...

While I was purposely giving myself a break from news, a certain west-coast couple has received some Very Big News. Daniel and Alan of Would Be Canadians are in ! These men have had a long, anxiety-filled wait. But once again, the US's loss will be Canada's gain. Many US-to-Canada-bloggers report that this leaves only West End Bound and "drf" to get their acceptance. (Any day now, guys!) While that's true of our little blogging community, there are at least two dozen more families emailing me progress reports - but not blogging - as they make their way to Canada. And obviously that's a tiny fraction of the whole . One such family moved to the GTA in late August, just as Allan and I were celebrating our two-year mark. They've invited us over for Thanksgiving (the Canadian one), so we'll soon meet them in person for the first time.

Yesterday we walked on some trails on the property here, a short, flat walk and enough activity for the day. Allan and I spent the rest of the day on lounge chairs overlooking the lake, either reading or being entertained by the pups. Cody spent the day lounging on the grass, chewing sticks. And Tala spent the day exploring or chasing tennis balls. Tala was off-leash the entire day and did beautifully! She's established some territory for herself on the lake-front and seems content to stay within it. If she wandered out of sight, we'd call her - and she'd appear. It helps that we're the only family staying here this week, so there are no other people or dogs to distract her. But even so, she never could have done this even a few months ago. Tala loved trotting out to the end of the dock and watching birds or canoes go by. She barked at motorboats, and "chased" them a little from the shore, but she seemed to know it was futile to really give chase. A few times ...

What made me think Tala would let me sit and read outside first thing in the morning? At home she'd be prancing around her fenced-in yard, but the smells and sounds of new territory - and the inconvenience of a tether - was too much for her adolescent brain to handle. She drove me crazy for a few hours, and then, at the end of my tether, I realized I was asking too much of her. I woke Allan, and announced a change of plans: let's get the dogs a lot of exercise first, then relax afterwards. Should have thought of that in the first place. We drove to nearby Petroglyphs Provincial Park and did a nice 5.5 kilometre hike. Cody did great, and she seems fine this morning, which could mean the new meds are agreeing with her. After the hike, the pups were sufficiently tired out that we could leave them in the car and go see the petroglyphs without worrying. Being able to see these rock carvings is a real stroke of luck. As you might know, Allan and I both love ruins, carvings or any p...

Ahhhh. The country. I just learned that even if you live in the suburbs and have a big backyard, getting away is as relaxing as ever. Even the drive here was lovely - once you're off the 401, it's all farmland, the same landscapes I've seen all my life in New York State. For some reason, I thought we were going farther north, so I imagined the fall foliage would be in full colour. It's actually the same here as in Mississauga, partially turned and partially green. I'm just glad there are leaves on the trees. I have a bad habit of planning drives and hikes too late and seeing mainly bare branches. The cottage is larger than we expected, with a high peaked ceiling and whitewashed walls, and an open, loft-style design, making it feel very spacious. All the cottages are very close together, but it doesn't matter, because we're the only ones staying here this week. Nice! Our big front window faces the little lake, which Allan says is a pond. Between the cottage a...

We're heading out this morning to Lake Edge Cottages , near Peterborough, Ontario , for a few days in the Kawarthas . First we're going to a local dog park, to work off a little Tala energy . Most of our stuff is packed, so Cody already knows what's going on. She's watching me expectantly: is this the kind of packing where I go with, or that other kind, where they leave without me? When she sees her bowl and food go in the car, she'll be ecstatic. The less experienced Tala knows something's up, but doesn't know what. We really shouldn't be going. Money is tight, and I "should" be visiting family in New York and New Jersey, as I have done in previous Septembers. Plus, in our former, highly urban existence, our annual upstate trips were the only time we had any sizeable outdoor time, to sit in fresh air, grill our dinner, relax outside together. Now we do that almost every day! This feels like an indulgence. But why not indulge? I'm feeling ...

Does anyone else iron? You know, you take a piece of wrinkled clothing, put it on an ironing board, and use a hot metal object to smooth it out? Am I the only person left who does this? A few times I have mentioned ironing, just in an offhand comment to a friend - I have to do the ironing, or, don't look at all the clothes hanging there, that's just ironing - and they've reacted with disbelief. "You iron?? Who irons anymore?!" Me. I iron my own clothes, and those of my partner. (Allan and I split the household chores very equitably; this just happens to be my domain.) We wear cotton tees, both long and short-sleeve, and button-down cotton shirts, and they get wrinkled in the wash, and I iron them. I don't like how our clothes look without it. Ironing is boring drudgery, and it helps to have something to watch on TV while I'm doing it. That's the problem: what to watch? I can't watch just any old crappy TV; it has to be something that holds my inter...

I've been accused of blaming the media for much of what's gone on in the US. They're surely not the only culprits, but their complicity in the Resident's agenda - no, their blind embrace and zealous salesmanship of it - cannot be overstated. I often think Canadians don't, can't, fully appreciate what the US media is like. On our first trip to Toronto, we turned on the television in our hotel room and stared at CBC with our mouths hanging open. It's easy to bash Fox News, they're cartoons. But what of CNN, CBC, NBC, the supposedly liberal The New York Times and Washington Post ? If you have time and patience for a long, juicy article on Colin Powell, David Petraeus, the selling of war, the censure of MoveOn.org , and how the media keeps the ball rolling, I highly recommend spending some time at Media Matters : " Did that voice inside you say, 'I've heard it all before'? ". In August, Sidney Blumenthal noted similarities between Gen....

Tala's doing really great. She's come such a long way since we brought her home at the end of January. Dogs are amazing creatures, so smart and adaptable, so tuned in to our every thought and action. It's been fascinating to watch Tala settle in - through a combination of training, time and consistency, how she's learned what's expected of her, what we want, how to get along with Cody. And it's been wonderful to see her bond with us strengthen, to feel her trust deepen and grow. Tala listens really well, but she's also a little devil. She likes to make mischief, knowing full well she's doing something wrong, laughing at me and waiting for me to tell her to stop. I like it. We had stopped crating her for a while, but then came home to destruction a few times. She doesn't have separation anxiety (thank goodness), but perhaps an evil squirrel was teasing her on her lawn, and the only way she could vent her frustration was by chewing up all the cables be...

We had an interesting trip to the vet this week. I used the occasion of going up north next week to get Tala microchipped . Our local Animal Services is really pushing the microchipping, by giving a huge reduction on licensing fees. This also seemed like a good occasion to talk to the vet about several changes we've noticed with Cody . For a while now, Cody has seemed stiff and uncomfortable (perhaps in pain?) after getting a lot of exercise, such as at the dog park or a hike. I'm familiar with this, as arthritis and hip displasia is very common in large dogs. I've been giving Cody an aspirin when she seems uncomfortable, something I learned to do with our first dog Gypsy. We've also been giving her Cosequin - glucosamine/chondroitin developed specifically for animals - as a preventative for several years. Cosequin gave Gypsy at least another two years of life, so we swear by it. But I didn't want to keep medicating Cody without at least talking to the vet. More d...

Red Sox fans are breathing again. I am happy. I am confident. The division is within reach.

Judging from the emails I'm receiving, while I was babbling about CNAMEs and URL forwarding , I obscured the most important part of the change to wmtc, from a reader's perspective. So here it is again. The site is no longer redirected using frames. Those of you who had problems with frames will no longer have those difficulties. If you have wmtc.ca bookmarked, it should automatically redirect to wmtc.blogspot.com. If you use Google Reader or other feed service, http://wmtc.blogspot.com/atom.xml will probably work best. Any of these URLs should get you to my scintillating blather: wmtc.ca, www.wmtc.ca, wmtc.blogspot.com, www.wmtc.blogspot.com. I'm still using Blogger; it's all I've ever used. I've tried WordPress, but neither the online version nor the downloadable version works for me, for very important reasons. Any other questions, ask away.

As everyone in the Toronto area knows, the CN Tower is no longer the world's tallest freestanding structure, bested by the Burj Dubai, which is still under construction in the United Arab Emirates. I can't say this mattered to me, as I have no great love for the Tower, an ugly concrete mass that only looks good at night. I do like the distinctive shape it gives the Toronto night skyline. But I don't know about the whole " structure vs building " argument. It seems sliced pretty thin just to get the bragging rights. But the CN Tower's dethroning was a good excuse for newspapers and websites to break out graphics of skyscrapers all over the world, and to compare tall buildings through history. I really enjoyed that, both for the architecture lesson, and for the New York City memories. Many of the former world's-tallest-buildings have been in New York, and those remain some of the city's most beautiful and treasured places. Click for a larger image. The ...

The Red Sox were off last night (at least they couldn't lose), so after $5.00 martinis at our new local spot , we finally watched "Let Them Stay," the video produced by the War Resisters Support Campaign . If you want to support US war resisters in Canada and educate yourself about the issue, this is the best $20 you can spend . Parts of the video are extremely disturbing, as former US soldiers attest to the horrors they saw in Iraq, and what they were forced to do. The common expression "war crimes" seems like a pale euphemism when faced with the reality of these atrocities. I often say this about the expression "domestic violence". Those words seem a pale stand-in for being beaten up by someone who is supposed to love you. Similarly, can the words " war crime " convey the horror of a pile of decapitated (civilian) bodies, with US soldiers running over them with jeeps? Of a soldier being exhorted to fire into a car at a checkpoint, then, see...

Just a reminder: Iraq Moratorium today. Make your mind visible.

In one of my earliest political memories, I am in the car with my mother, driving around to local stores. We have the AM car radio on, listening to updates about an anti-war demonstration in Washington DC, because my father is there with his union. My mother tells me that, even though it is daytime, we are driving with the lights on: it's The Moratorium. She explains that everyone who is against the war in Vietnam is driving with their lights on today. As we do our errands, my mother and I look for other lights-on cars. I feel proud and happy that my mother has her lights on, and that my father is in Washington. And although I couldn't have articulated it at the time, I feel a proud solidarity with all the other lights-on people. That was part of the famous Vietnam Moratorium . The Iraq Moratorium begins tomorrow. On the third Friday of every month, Americans (and Canadians, too!) will engage in local, decentralized, personal actions against the war and occupation of Iraq. Tomo...

In a few weeks, Ontario voters have a chance to do something historic, and to increase democracy in our province, and in Canada. (I wish I could vote!) In the provincial elections on October 10, there'll be a referendum on the ballot, asking if Ontario should retain its first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, or change to a form of proportional representation called Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP). MMP is more democratic, offers more choice, and results in governments more representative of voters' preferences. One of the best FAQs I've seen on the subject is from Vote For MMP . It addresses all the major concerns about the MMP system, which are largely based on myths and misunderstandings. For example: Won't the new system lead to perpetual minority or coalition governments that won’t be able to get things done? Since a majority of voters seldom support a single party, fair election results mean that seldom will a single party have majority control of government....

Baseball has an old rookie hazing tradition. Before the last road trip of the season, the veteran players pick out outfits for the rookies, which the kids have to wear while traveling to the next city. It's mostly women's clothing, but sometimes silly Halloween-type costumes, too. Every year I look forward to pictures of this. There are always one or two players who really seem to enjoy it. I thought maybe a few non-baseball folks here would enjoy it, too. Here's some video of my 2007 Red Sox getting dressed, and another short clip here . "Hey, you look nice." "Thanks, man." I'm digging my boy Jacoby in that red dress. Great legs!

Wmtc.ca is dead. Long live wmtc.blogspot.com. Damn. I loved that URL. But I can't get it to work with Blogger anymore. And Blogger is still my best alternative for blogging. So here I am. Here's the longer version, for those who like these things. A while back, when Blogger announced they would support custom domains, they recommended using a CNAME to redirect your domain to Blogger. I already had been using my wmtc.ca address through FTP publishing, but that was problematic, and wouldn't support the new Blogger features, which I wanted. The new custom domain support seemed to address this. However... Blogger didn't mention that using a CNAME means readers will not see the custom domain, but will see a Blogspot.com address. I thought that defeated the purpose of having a custom domain. Many hosts suggested using URL forwarding as a way to work around this issue. I did that. It's been working perfectly for months. The URL forwarding uses frames, which most readers c...

I have two free passes to a Toronto Argonauts game. I can't use them, and I'd be happy to give them to a wmtc reader. They are for your choice of one of four games: September 23 (Winnipeg), October 6 (Edmonton), October 12 (Montreal) or October 27 (Winnipeg). Email me at the address in the sidebar.

The video is hard to watch, in more ways than one. I just want to cry. Thanks to my researcher-in-chief.

This is my favourite time of year in the GTA. The August humidity has cleared, the air is light and breezy, the sun sparkles during the day and you need a light jacket at night. It brings me back to our first month in Canada. After a pressure-cooker of a summer, we spent our days unpacking and leisurely taking care of business, then sat in our first-ever backyard and enjoyed the peace, both outward and inner. Sheer bliss. Next week we're off to our first-ever Canadian cottage experience, which I anticipate being much like our old upstate New York cabin experiences, hence wonderful. Looking at the map, the Kawarthas have to be at least 3 hours from Mississauga. But predictably, the Lake Edge Cottages brochure and website say it's an hour and a half. Ask anyone how long it takes to get anywhere from Toronto, and that's what they'll tell you: an hour and a half. I don't know if this is peculiar to the Toronto area, or if it's generally Canadian, but why does ever...

Well isn't this lovely, posting to a blog that no one can read. Wmtc has been down since Saturday, September 15. URL forwarding is working properly, and my DNS host says everything's fine on their end. That means it's a Blogger problem, so good luck getting it fixed - or even acknowledged. Blogger is good at a lot of things, but communicating with users is not one of them. Please, when and if you read this post, I beg you, I implore you, I beseech you, don't ask if I've considered switching to WordPress or TypePad or anything else. I've explored everything. Blogger is my best (least worst?) alternative. I guess I'll just keep writing. Maybe one bright day in the future, the words will appear on the internet.

In my last "what i'm reading" post, I wrote about Siegfried Sassoon's memoirs, and their connection to Pat Barker's "Regeneration Trilogy". Did I forget that Sassoon was a deserter? I only remembered that he was hospitalized for what we would now call post-traumatic stress, and tortured under the guise of cure. But I didn't remember how Sassoon got to that hospital in the first place. From the back of Regeneration : In 1917, Siegfried Sassoon, noted poet and decorated war hero, publicly refused to continue serving as a British officer in World War I. His reason: the war was a senseless slaughter. He was officially classified "mentally unsound" and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital. There a brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. William Rivers, set about restoring Sassoon's "sanity" and sending him back to the trenches. These books have been on my shelf since Allan bought them for me in 2003. (No coincidence that it was the year the US ...

I had tons of stuff to blog about, I was snowed under at work and wmtc was down, all on the same weekend. What are the odds? Now I have to try to fix the site, plus... I don't know if there are any Springsteen fans among us, but I've been listening to the new album - "Magic," in stores October 2 - and I love love love it. It's warm and familiar, but still new and delicious: comfort food for E-Street fans. We stopped going to big arena concerts many years ago, but I really want to see Bruce this time around. Really really want to. He'll be in Toronto October 15. (It's a Monday, I don't even have to take a day off!) Tickets go on sale today, so I'll be refreshing like mad. I'll see you as soon as I can!

I don't usually go for this type of thing, but this song is very good. I found it quite moving. More info at the singer's website , and thanks to James for sending.

Every once in a while I like to check in on the exploits of the freewayblogger . This stuff is brilliant. Talk about "each one, reach one". A word in the landscape - a flash, a thought, an entry into consciousness. It's like staging a mass protest for every morning commute, every single day. Each one, reach millions. I love the semi-vandalism, quasi-graffiti quality - the same idea and feel of political graffiti, without actually damaging or defacing anyone's precious property. I love the stealth it must entail. I love the low-budget, do-it-yourself sensibility. I love the simple messages. I love that people care enough to do this, and that they go out and do it. I love this blog that captures and records these acts of resistance, then combines them with further food for thought, to continue the process. Thanks to all the freewaybloggers out there.

The 2006 Canadian census figures were released yesterday, and the statistics show the continuing and increasing diversity of the Canadian family. While some decry this as the end of civilization, I see it as a beautiful, progressive advance. Increasing numbers of people are living lives they create for themselves, on paths of their own choosing, rather than forcing themselves into the narrow confines of a few pre-determined molds. A wider range of choices have (finally) become socially acceptable, and I think we'll see that range widen even further as time goes on. In many ways, Canada is a model of a diverse society, which can only thrive when people value tolerance and peaceful coexistence. The redefinition of family continues apace in Canada, with the latest household figures from the 2006 census showing a significant increase in the number of same-sex couples and a first-ever count of same-sex marriages. At the same time, there are more common-law families, more childless coupl...

We've talked about the role of luck in our lives , how any success is down to some combination of luck and effort, with the balance shifting in either direction, depending on the circumstances. Although I credit my own hard work and determination (with some luck thrown in), for many good things in my life, in the large picture, I feel my entire life is down to sheer random chance. My relative good health and the ability (so far) to use all my limbs and senses can only be chalked up to good luck. More than anything, to be female and able to live a life full of choices and autonomy is nothing short of the best luck in the world. If you are female on this planet, geography is destiny. Ellen Goodman, columnist for the Boston Globe , gives a global report card on gender equality. The column - "A Year of Notable Setbacks for Women" - ran for August 26 , Equality Day , which commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote. An excerpt: ...

The Sutras of Abu Ghraib is a new book by Iraq War veteran and objector Aidan Delgado. From Courage to Resist: 'The Sutras of Abu Ghraib' is the story of a soldier who refused to succumb to violence. In chronicling the struggles of military life and the dehumanizing effects of war, Aidan Delgado examines the attitudes that make prisoner abuse possible and explores his own developing Buddhist beliefs against a brutal backdrop. It is a tale of physical bravery, moral courage, and the cost of holding on to your identity while everyone around you is losing theirs. The book is available for a $25 donation to Courage to Resist .

Tom and Emilio of Canadian Hope have gotten The Letter they've been waiting for . Once again, the US's loss is Canada's gain. Plus they're moving to the GTA so we get to meet more friends. Yay.

Much is being written about what the US anti-war movement lacks and what it needs; why, despite the overwhelming public opinion against the war, the movement itself sits mostly under the radar. I try not to sit from a distance and prescribe "shoulds" to a movement I'm not fully engaged with. When you're an activist, few things are more irritating than non-activists telling you what you should do. In my days of heavy pro-choice activism, I took to saying, "That's a really interesting idea. If you want to start organizing it, I'll be happy to send people your way." That usually shut them up. Suggestions are great, but only when they come paired with time and energy. Still, I can't help but think about why peace activism is not more visible. Of course the media is a huge obstacle. The US mainstream media's ties to government and war profiteering machine give it an an active interest in keeping peace protests off the small screen. That's a re...