Someone, somewhere presumably deep in the grey bowels of Parliament Hill, appears to have got a clue.

The Canadian Government is offering RSS news feeds - nicely chunked up into topic areas such as 'Business', 'Educators', 'Seniors', plus a separate feed for government news relating to each of the provinces and territories.

Nice job.

I think this is the kind of thing that would make Dave Winer go 'bing'.

(P.S. for the technically minded: the feeds don't appear to validate as pure RSS, according to Mark Pilgrim and Sam Ruby's Validator but my NewzCrawler reader has no problem with them).

Original link via David Akin via Tara Calishain's excellent Research Buzz

I tell you, this life of idleness can be bloody exhausting. I'm still quite a long way from being reinstalled anywhere, but I'm busy as heck.

Wish me luck today - got something on the go that may just turn out to be the first scratchy prototype of Michael 3.0.

No time to blog something proper, but in response to early morning email from Chris Locke, I felt this was overdue a pearoast:

“I have seen ten years of young men who rush out into the world with their messages, and when they find how deaf the world is, they think they must save their strength and wait. They believe that after a while they will be able to get up on some little eminence from which they can make themselves heard.

'In a few years,' reasons one of them, 'I shall have gained a standing, and then I will use my powers for good.'

Next year comes and with it a strange discovery. The man has lost his horizon of thought. His ambition has evaporated; he has nothing to say.

I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always.

Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don't be gagged.

The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.”

-- John Jay Chapman's Commencement Address to the graduating class at Hobart College in 1900.

Chris is, of course, one of the chosen few. One of those once-in-a-generation people to actually have the stones to live by these words every second of every day.

If only someone with deep pockets, a hands-off attitude, and a clear mind would hurry up and hire the guy - let him be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but be billing.

Please. The future freedom of the Internet depends on it.

Flash, I love you! But we only have fifteen minutes to save the web!

As I've time on my hands, I'm finally getting around to tweaking and fiddling with the settings on our home WiFi network (a birthday present from my wonderful wife - the wifi wifey).

I'm trying to iron out the blackspots in the coverage without having to pay extra for the upgraded antennae.

At the moment, I get a terrific signal in the kitchen and a few other parts of the house, but the signal drops to zilch when I'm parked on our biggest, comfiest couch at the far end of the living room. The D-Link 2.4GHz Wireless router is up in the main bedroom, at the front of the house (most convenient spot without running extra phone cable for the DSL modem).

Of course, parked on that big comfy couch is exactly where I want to be doing most of my blogging from - in the evenings, anyway.

I know this probably means we're spilling signal into the street for anyone to get a free ride (but we're firewalled in software and hardware, and it's not like our quiet little one-way street sees much through traffic anyway - if anyone's war driving along here, they're lost).

So I'm trying to work out how to adjust the two antennae on the router to get the optimum signal pattern (sort of down and to the right), to cover the majority of the house - especially couch kingdom.

I've no idea how this stuff works. I know it's theoretically omni-directional - but there must be a way to align the two antennae to create the best 'sweet spot' inside the house.

I've Googled extensively, but I'm either finding info that is head-burstingly technical, or stuff that is at the other end of the spectrum and clearly pitched to the...um...executive audience.

If anyone out there can help point me towards some useful info, or offer anything more helpful than 'WTFAYBOA', I'd be very grateful.

Ta.

I do love the Levenger catalogue. (Was tempted to start this by saying: "As a writer, I do love the Levenger catalogue...", but even I gagged on the poncified aroma of that one. *cough*).

I'm a sucker for all of these glossy vehicles of faux useful crap-o-luxe (engraved with up to three initials!!). The Sharper Image, Hedonics - all of that. Think I've ranted on this point before somewhere.

Until today, however, I had not fully appreciated quite how fantastically exorbitant these rags are. I mean - we all know the catalogues tend to be stuffed full of gaudy tat at implausibly high prices, but an item in today's "Thanksgiving Sale" email from Levenger is simply gobsmacking.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I bring you the RoboCalc. Yes, the RoboCalc.




"This clever calculator automatically moves into viewing position. With the push of a button, the cover lifts up and folds back in one fluid motion to elevate the LCD display. (A small spring in the hinge is its secret.) Black rubber grips keep it in place as you press the soft-touch buttons."

An absolute snip at US$9.95 + tax & shipping (was $19.95).

*choke*

I guess the Levenger guys don't get out to too many trade shows then.

No. Theirs is cleary a life of studious idleness - long summer afternoons elegantly reclining on the Island Chaise ($999.00), wafted by the Zephair fan ($229.00); the hand-stitched Thai Book Rest ($49.95) gently cradling the Derrida.

Pah.

If the Levenger buyers had been anywhere near an exhibition hall in the last ten years, they'd probably have (like me) drawers full of RoboCalcs. All of them picked up for free. Most of their batteries are long-since expired, of course - dead as the dot-com companies whose logos they still bear. But not one of them cost me a penny.

In fact - you'd really have to work quite hard to be stupid enough to pay $9.99 for one of these. If you really wanted one that bad, you could pick up a hundred of them for around three bucks a pop, over here. Or just drop me a note and I'll shovel a handful of them into an envelope (batteries and disruptive business model not included...)

A little last minute pushing and tweaking from Shelley, and we're all moved in to the new server. Thanks again, Shelley - you're the best.

Wondering if I should spring for some renovations now I'm relocated? Maybe a lick of paint to finally fix those too-hard-to-read permalinks? Freshen the old template a tad? What do you guys think...?

This blog is being moved to a new host server tomorrow - all thanks to the wonderful Shelley Powers.

Access might be a little patchy (for you and me) while the DNS changes propagate through the Net.

More on this (and on the subject of my brand new toy) later.

As I'm working on a borrowed laptop at the moment, I don't have all my usual favourite goodies and widgets installed to smooth my browsing experience. In particular, there's nothing blocking pop-ups on this copy of IE.

It's actually quite entertaining for a change to see some of the crud that appears unbidden - I usually have the Google Toolbar blocking all the nasties for me. I had no idea that some of the stuff I'm missing is just so completely, insanely, brilliantly stupid.

This one that popped up last night is an all time classic - kind of a non-pop-up pop-up. Irritating simply for the sake of it:



Clearly what's happened here is that the scummy dirtwads behind this thing have figured out my general location from my IP address (not that difficult) and, not being able to offer their particular brand of pyramid scheme north of the 49th, they've coded this 'helpful' little pop-up to apologize for disappointing me.

"Sorry - we can't scam you, you're a foreigner (we're weasels, yes: but we're parochial weasels). But here's an annoying pop-up anyway."

What kind of diseased, mudbrained excuse for a marketer came up with this? I mean what, for feck's sake, is the actual point of doing something like this? Are they completely gob-frothingly stupid?

Let's assume for a moment they have a couple of synapses still firing - they must surely have figured out that a lot of Net users will most likely have a negative response to whatever 'message' they're trotting out.

At the same time, they must presumably be getting some click-through traffic from their U.S. pop-ups, otherwise they wouldn't bother doing them, would they?

(Or would they? If they're thick enough to have created a 'sorry you're a Canuck' pop-up, they're probably thick enough to be spending their money on advertising without any thought to measurement).

But in either case - why the hell would they put together a special pop-up that deliberately showcases their inability to annoy you further by annoying your frigging balls off?

"New from idirectnetwork.com - 100% content free spam-lite. All the irritation, half the bandwidth."

Want something even more annoying than this? I can't even track down the toerags behind this witless bollocks thanks in part to the byzantine wonders of the new improved Whois system, and a little added BS mixed in by the mongers over at Sympatico (my ISP).

Used to be the case that you could go to one of a number of Whois-type sites, all of which would allow you to uncover public info about the owner of a particular domain.

Now, thanks to the lovely new shared registration system model, it appears that you first have to do a Whois search to find out the specific registrar for the domain in question, after which you can have the pleasure of running the exact same search again, at the site of the individual registrar of record. How is this better than the old model?

It gets worse, I'm afraid. Turns out that the Canuckophobic pop-up provider we're looking for registered their domain at Network Solutions. Alas, trying the Whois search at Network Solutions' site brings up this:

The IP address from which you have visited the Network Solutions Registrar WHOIS database is contained within a list of IP addresses that may have failed to abide by Network Solutions' WHOIS policy. Failure to abide by this policy can adversely impact our systems and servers, preventing the processing of other WHOIS requests.

Er...what?! The IP address I have is one assigned by Sympatico when I fire up the DSL connection. You know: Sympatico. As in Bell Sympatico - part of Bell Canada Enterprises.

These guys have been abusing the Whois policy? I seriously doubt it.

And yet this is another lovely example of how Sympatico sucks. And Network Solutions too, for that matter. Something's always broken. Most of the time you can't figure out exactly what it is (and you sure won't find anyone at Sympatico who knows how to fix it; that is, always assuming you can actually get someone there on the phone. They really should have a word with the phone company, you know - I can never get through to talk to anyone. Shocking.) - but you just know it's bust nonetheless. It's a great business model: "Give us yer money, we'll give you muzak on hold."

Sigh.

So do me a favour: if you're reading this (and you don't happen to benefit from the joys of Sympatico's services), could you just run a quick search here for idirectnetwork.com - see if you can find me a phone number or email address so I can let them know they're a shower of tossers. Click below to leave a comment.

Oh, hang on: I've just Googled and come up with abuse@idirectnetwork.com.

Thoughtful of them to provide a mailbox specifically for abuse. It would be just rude of me not to oblige...

Everyone else has blogged it already, so why don't I?

Entertaining return to form over at The Onion with this piece.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN—In a turn of events the 30-year-old characterized as "horrifying," Kevin Widmar announced Tuesday that his mother Lillian has discovered his weblog ... Widmar said that the idea of his mother immersing herself in the boring details of his life is just as frightening as the idea of her discovering his misconduct.

"Really, the blog is just a record of what I think about the world and how I spend my free time," Widmar said. "In other words, exactly the sort of information that no 30-year-old wants his mom to have access to."

Heh.

Oh, and if you're out there reading this Mom, don't worry - I actually like the fact that my Mom reads my blog.

Just sorting through the digital shots from my brother Gerard's visit last weekend. One of the highlights of the trip was taking Charlie to his first ever live hockey game - seeing the Leafs hammer the Oilers 4-1 at the Air Canada Centre. Excellent.

Some terrific photos in the pack, but this one stands out (taken just as Mogilny scored the fourth goal of the night):



It's not a great piece of photography from a technical perspective (and the upload to my web space went a bit squiffy too), but it's clear enough for you to see that Charlie sure was excited :-). And with all the baby teeth he's been losing in the last few months, he even looks like a hockey player.

He even lost a tooth in the car on the way to the match, which we knew would be the Leafs' lucky charm. Losing a tooth at your first hockey game. Cool.

Thanks again for the tickets, Gezzie - and for a fantastic weekend all round. We miss you.

Thanks to David Akin for turning up this very welcome piece of news from the BBC.

According to researchers at Wisconsin University: "The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all... A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks."

I particularly like the next point in the article: "Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from Wisconsin University told a conference in the US."

To most Irish people around the world, of course, this is hardly newsworthy.

"The Workman's Friend"

When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.

When money's tight and hard to get
And your horse has also ran,
When all you have is a heap of debt -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.

When health is bad and your heart feels strange,
And your face is pale and wan,
When doctors say you need a change,
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.

When food is scarce and your larder bare
And no rashers grease your pan,
When hunger grows as your meals are rare -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.

In time of trouble and lousey strife,
You have still got a darlint plan
You still can turn to a brighter life -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.

from "At Swim-Two-Birds" by Flann O'Brien

One of the good things about having young kids and living in North America is that just about everywhere you go nowadays, you can usually find a suitable place to change a baby.

There are lots of exceptions too, of course - but in general, most of the places you're likely to bring a small baby (malls, family-friendly restaurants, coffee shops, museums, libraries) will probably have a baby changing table in one or sometimes both of the public washrooms.

As an aside, it's kind of annoying that the norm is to find the changing table in the women's washroom, not in the men's. If you're the kind of Dad who enjoys trips out with the kids without their Mum from time to time, it can be very frustrating to head off to the loo in search of a changing table, only to discover this sticker:



...is only present on the door of the washroom you're not supposed to use. Changing stinky nappies is clearly still considered women's work by many restaurant and other business owners. Grrrr...

But that's not my real gripe here. You can always find somewhere to change junior in an emergency, even if it's nothing better than a clear patch of marble at the end of a row of sinks.

No; there's something else about these baby changing thingies that's bugging me today.

Most of the places that do, thoughtfully, provide a "diaper change station" will usually feature one or other of these fine products:



For obvious reasons, Charlie (6) and I habitually refer to these as "baby smashers" - a fact irrelevant to this story, but included here because it never fails to give him a chuckle.

Back to the point - we were in a nice downtown restaurant for lunch last weekend. Ruairi needed a change so I hitched him onto my hip and trucked off to the bog to do the necessary.

Pulling down the bed of the baby smasher, the first thing that struck me was the number of obvious cigarette burns scarring the grey ABS plastic - including one right next to where Ruairi's little head lay.

My brain did one of those full clarity rewind trips, and I realised that just about every single one of these tables I've used over the past six years of parenthood has had at least one prominent cigarette burn on it.

Since last weekend, I've made a point of checking the baby smashers in every public washroom I've been in. Every single one of them has had a cigarette burn. There's even a burn etched into the edge of the change table in the men's washroom at our local supermarket - an entirely smokefree building.

What the hell is going on with that, at all?

I've just signed up for this free offer from 1&1 Internet in the States. (Thanks to Stavros the Wonder Chicken for the referral).

It seems far too good to be true - completely free web hosting with a bunch of added goodies (500MB of space, MySQL, CGI library, free CRM stuff, etc.) for three years. They even throw in a $25 Google AdWords voucher.

Even as a place to hold backup content, host images, or mess around with new site designs - it's a great deal. The sign up process was simple, fast - and they asked for the absolute minimum of personal info. At no time did I have to even hand over a credit card number.

The deal has been mentioned on Metafilter, in a much-commented thread (here) - no one there seems to have uncovered any serious concerns with the deal. I'd say it's legit, as far as I can tell.

It's a no brainer.

Now I just have to figure out what I want to use it for.

I guess it's strangely flattering, in a way - the number of people who keep pointing out the fact that I haven't written a darn thing here since late October.

Thanks. And sorry.

The truth is - you've no idea quite how busy unemployment can be. Really. Been catching up on overdue house maintenance - and spending time just hanging out with the kids and Leona. Plus a terrific few days with one of my brothers who flew over for a short, fun-packed visit last weekend.

Got lots of bloggage brewing. I'll write some more over the weekend if I get time. Just so much stuff I don't have to do, I don't know where to not start...