“That evidence and the suggestion that every single Taliban prisoner that was taken into custody and turned over was tortured is simply not credible and cannot be sustained by facts.”

I wonder what was said by the government following the revelations of torture in 1993? Makes you wonder why Colvin would stake his reputation on something “not credible” nor “sustained by facts”.

To MacKay, your definition of “torture” is probably dependent upon what your definition of ‘is’ is.

UPDATE: Of course there was “some” torture.

==

Cell phone providers in Canada can go take a long hike off a short plank. System Access Fee my behind. And “local” TV ads running on CTV etc. right now should be illegal for the same reason; it’s a giant monopoly using our money to tell us we shouldn’t have competition in media.

My main blog is still offline, I haven’t had the several hours to throw at cleaning up whatever problem was plaguing it. I am getting some other important stuff done in the mean time though, and have watched very little TV as well. I did see “Zombieland” [8/10] last night, however. It doesn’t have much of a plot, but is still entertaining.

Last night a fireball flew over the western States. Noctilucent clouds may have resulted from the debris, or could be a coincidence, much as the fireball was. Many people were watching an ongoing meteor shower, and caught sight of the sky brightening meteor impact, which was not related to the Leonids.

==

Also I like selling metal bed frames on UsedRegina. I can’t believe how valuable those things are! A bolt repair here, a nut repair there, and I’ve paid for supper out the next week. Good thing metal frames come by every few months, and spare parts come by now and then too.

Yes, my main blog is still offline, let’s not talk about that okay? ;-)

Happy birthday to Ben H. in case he’s reading.

I tried taking closet doors to the Re-Store today, and they were full up, they didn’t even take the light fixtures or nice metal bench. Value Village got the bench instead.

And why do people put money into the trash exactly? I mean literal money, cash, dough, moola.

My main blog is still down, I hope to have it back running by next week.

==

It’s November 11. I explained this week why we wear poppies to my friend who came from Vietnam. Here are some short stories from WWII:

My one grandfather was a bomber during WWII. He and his crew would take photos out of the bottom of the plane, and since the plane was not designed for this it was very dangerous. Someone held him into the plane as he snapped photos, but one time something happened and he slipped. At the last second he caught himself on the edge of the bomb bay, but injured his stomach. After the war he had to retire to a warmer climate than Toronto, and lived in southern California with his family.

My other grandfather was also injured in the war, before he went overseas. His leg was broken in an accident. In the hospital, to pass the time, soldiers were taught to smoke.

Dear friend,

“Soldiers are very unusual people.

“On the outside, they are the hardest, most demanding people, but underneath that, they are the most human, the most feeling, the most emotionally attached people who exist.”

Those words, my father’s words, come to my mind this Remembrance Day.

They come to mind because as old wars fade from our collective memory and new ones test our resolve, on this day, at least, my doubt is gone.

On this day, I do not doubt that even though my uniform is tucked away, I am still a soldier. I am a soldier because I gave a part of myself completely to my country and that part of me is gone.

That is what you are remembering today. That from the assault at Vimy Ridge to the patrol of a dusty road earlier this morning in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Canadian men and women have surrendered their destiny to this country’s will.

On Remembrance Day, the act of remembering is about stopping and feeling the weight of that sacrifice.

This Remembrance Day, I ask you to stop and weigh the feeling of being ready to sacrifice everything.

Because for Canada’s soldiers, that feeling is not a passing moment. It is their life.

[...]

Sincerely,

LGen the Honourable Roméo Dallaire, (ret’d), Senator (Quebec)

Blog is still down this is for note taking.

It was another warm day in Regina, with the temperature high enough I felt like going for a bike ride. I got my tire filled with the purchase of a $1.00 Presta valve adapter at Western Cycle, and rode home.

The Rider game is on now, and they’re winning by 10 points in the first half.

Yesterday’s temperature almost broke a record, it missed by about 3 degrees, making it to +18 C. After being interviewed by Global Regina News in the morning, I finished working for the week. I went out to Classic Buffet, and had tons of strawberries. Then I was at the Plains bar, and listened to bad karaoke. Then I filled up with $1.049/L gasoline, and went home where I watched Ghost Whisperer.

And all’s been quiet on the Canadian Blog Awards front. It’s strange that there haven’t been the all out blog wars like the last two years spawned, and all we had to do was make the nominations closed to public view.

This is a national emergency! No, not my blog’s crippled state, rather the B.C. salmon stocks have crashed. Less than 10% of a commercially fished animal is still alive? Isn’t that what this means? This should have been the top story on CTV News last night, instead Charles and Camilla’s visit to Hamilton ran before this story! And the inquiry won’t even be finished by the salmon are supposed to spawn again. It’s a disaster unfolding in fast motion in front of an incapable federal government.

What if 7% of 7% show up next season, since that’s the new trend? Oh well, it’s just a unique and tasty life form.

==

I’m on Global Regina News at 6:00 tonight, and on the late broadcast as well. The Regina Car Share Co-operative is commencing full operations this month, and we explain car sharing to Regina this evening thanks to the journalists at Global News, and RCS member Brett who agreed to be interviewed today as well.

==

And my main blog software is still off, so you’re looking at my temporary blog where I can write until the main site is troubleshot and fixed.

Site was causing server problems, so abandonedstuff.com is offline for the moment.

UPDATE: Nov. 5, 2009 Server problems returned suddenly at 1:00PM, so have to troubleshoot and figure out why WordPress is crashing the server before I can keep AbandonedStuff.com online. The site is temporarily redirected to [ tweetcommons.com] Here now, so it does something at least.

Nov 5, 2009

The last few weeks I’ve watched movies I’ve not remembered to put into my blog. “Hot Shots” [9/10] is one of the funniest spoof movies of all time, and contained at least one actor found in the next movie I watched which was… “Transformers” [9/10]. “Block” from Hot Shots is the dad in Transformers. And he makes another appearance in “Transformers II Revenge of The Fallen” [8/10] which isn’t as good as the first movie, but has a lot of exciting plot to it.

Last night a group of my friends played The Game of Things. It’s a great party game, and creates a ton of inside jokes that will keep you roaring with laughter. I’ll never look at centerpieces the same way again.

There’s a server upgrade underway on September 1, 2009 at AbandonedStuff.com

We should be back at our earliest convenience. Hopefully you will be too.

The outage will affect sites affiliated with 1337Hax0r.com

If you are reading this then the Internet is working.

CBC.