I mention these examples because I think the world needs another ridiculous rule to solve some big problems. And it’s no fair saying my new rule is ridiculous because that’s exactly the point. The new rule would be this: Any land controlled by a country for 50 years straight is legitimately theirs. It’s like a statute of limitations for armed resistance.

Is it too soon to suggest that Dilbert be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

Well, it’s July, which means half of 2010 is gone. So I thought it would be useful to do a quick update, to see what kind of progress I’m making.

1. Go to Morocco. - Made it there, thanks to volcano, almost didn’t make it back
   
2. Go camping at least twice next summer. - does camping out on a couch count?
3. Find my dream apartment and move into it. - still looking
4. Get my own washer/dryer and finally stop dragging my laundry around like a friggin’ nomad. - see #3 above
5. Get a dishwasher. - see #3 above
6. Replace my 12-year-old car with something newer and zippier. - zoom zoom
7. …or else get rid of it and join CommunAuto. - opted for the new car instead
8. Successfully fight that unfair, BS speeding ticket. - still waiting for a court date notice; they can take their time as far as I’m concerned
9. Complete and edit my NaNoWriMo 2009 project. – um, not so much
10. Participate in NaNoWriMo 2010. – we’ll see
11. …and win. - well, duh
12. Buy those new dishes I was eyeing at the Ottawa kitchen store. – not yet, but hoping to shortly
    
13. Buy a spice rack. – maybe when I get a new kitchen
14. Paint my kitchen yellow. (I’ve always wanted a yellow kitchen, for some reason.) – see #3 above
15. Go skiing at least three times. - went twice. so close, yet so far.
16. Go snowshoeing.
17. Visit Cathy. – not yet, but Bluesfest starts soon
18. Visit Andrea and Jim. - yay Mars!
19. Convince Andrea and Jim to come visit more often. - mission accomplished
20. Host Etrek Montreal-fest 2010. – y’all are welcome
21. Eat breakfast (other than coffee) more days than not. - coffee and a granola bar counts, right?
22. Buy a vegetable steamer.
23. Find a new volunteer project.
24. Celebrate Canada Day someplace where people are actually happy to be Canadian. - yay Mars
25. …with fireworks. - yay Martian neighbours
26. …and some typically Canadian music like Blue Rodeo or Great Big Sea. - when I’m up I can’t get down
27. Buy new socks and throw out the ones with holes in them.
28. Reprise Buy Nothing Week.
29. Roast marshmellows over a fireplace. - does a backyard fire pit count?
30. Have a board game brunch. - several times over
31. Eat crepes at CDL. – mmm, crepes
32. Host a wine and cheese. - mmm, cheese
33. Host a fondue party.
34. Make homemade sushi.
35. Play poker.
36. …and win.
37. Finish reading Don Quixote. – I gave up
38. …in time for the January book club meet-up. - yeah, not so much
39. Watch the rest of the UK version of Life On Mars. – gotta find season 2 on DVD, anyone have it?
40. Attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade - but of course
41. …and fail to remember much about it later. - wow, I was far too sober this year
42. Turn 30. - kinda inevitable
43. …with minimal freaking out. – 30 actually feels pretty good
44. Go to New York City. (I heart NY). – maybe this fall
45. Go to Quebec City. – maybe this winter
46. Get through the winter without succumbing to the winter blahs. – it was a short winter, so that helped
47. …and weighing less than I do now. – hah!
48. Win tickets to something on the radio. - haven’t really tried
49. Get a letter to the editor published in the newspaper. – haven’t submitted any. Wow, I’m lazy!
50. Attend the Salon Passion Chocolat. - not till the fall
51. …and the Jazz Fest. - yep
52. …and the Comedy Fest. - next week
53. …and Bluesfest Ottawa. - next week
54. …and Nuit Blanche. – it was too bloody cold
55. …and the FrancoFolies. – it rocked
56. …and FantasiaFest. – later this month
57. …and a bunch of other festivals. - Beerfest!
58. Keep walking to work every day, as long as I live within walking distance. - it’s the only way to travel
59. Pack lunches and avoid the takeout trap. – managing on average four out of five days – not too shabby
60. Pay someone an undeserved compliment. – won’t say who
61. Learn to sew well enough to hem my own pant legs and sleeves.
62. Don’t get the flu. - epic FAIL
63. Call my grandfather. - often
64. Learn CSS.
65. …and update the look and feel of this blog so it’s not so ugly.
66. Blog more often. - does this post count?
67. Read the Israeli news headlines more regularly. - in spurts, but I try to keep up
68. …in Hebrew, to keep my language skills from going completely rusty. – I think my reading skills are nearly gone, sadly
69. …and listen to online radio or watch online TV broadcasts in Hebrew, too, for the same reason. - doing better on this score
70. Update my online (Flickr) photo albums. - mostly up to date
71. Update my offline (printed) photo albums. – yeah, not so much
72. Buy fruits and veggies from the farmers’ markets instead of the supermarket. – I heart Marche Jean-Talon
73. Vote. - there haven’t been any elections
74. …in an election where my vote actually makes a difference. - yeah, like that’ll happen
75. Visit the Contemporary Arts Museum on freebie Wednesday.
76. Go to at least one rock concert. – does FrancoFolies count?
77. …by a band that has been around for less than 15 years. - who?
78. Watch the Cannes Lions winning ads.
79. Carry on an entire conversation with a francophone without letting on that I’m anglo. – this works better in Morocco than it does in Montreal
80. Try 10 new restaurants in Montreal. – I’ve lost count but surely it’s been more than 10
81. Find a good answer to the inevitable questions about my name that doesn’t involve exasperation, or a long backstory.
82. Clean the oven.
83. …using baking soda (?) - sorry Urban Green Girl, but it doesn’t work as well as you said it would
84. Organize my DVD collection.
85. Set out to buy clothes and actually end up with clothes. – some of them are even pink
86. …and no shoes. – I think I did this once
87. Master the art of the experience brief. - I didn’t, but Jasmin is working on it
88. Get more (consumer) insightful. - oh, definitely
89. Retrieve my old electric keyboard and actually remind myself how to play it.
90. Reduce the procrastination to a manageable level. - Sporcle is evil
91. Pay my taxes. – they come off my paycheque automatically, so this one has been easy
92. …and put the refund towards travel. – see #1
93. Win my 2009-10 fantasy hockey pool. – I placed second
94. Draft Ovi in the 2010-11 fantasy hockey pool. - not yet, but wait till September
95. Go to at least one Habs’ playoff game – contingent on them actually making the playoffs, of course. – went to three of ‘em. Helped that the Habs made it to the conference finals.
96. Keep kosher(ish) for Passover. – um… the less said the better. my mom might read this.
97. Couchsurf. - repeatedly
98. Host couchsurfers. – several of ‘em
99. Help at least three friends plan trips. – it’s the next best thing to traveling myself
100. Invent a new smoothie recipe. - bananas and kahlua – surprisingly good together
101. Watch the Olympics on TV. – glued to the set
102. …and see the Canadian team win the hockey gold. (Hey, I can hope, right?) - epic WIN!
103. Improve my Spanish from a 20-word vocabulary to at least a 50-word one. - still on the to-do list
104. Watch Mad Men Season 4. - it starts in two weeks, can’t wait!
105. Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. - on my netbook, but not on my desktop yet
106. …preferably without losing my mind in the process. - TBD
107. Go apple picking in the fall.
108. Sell my old backpacks.
109. Clear out my closets and drawers. – now I have no clothes left
110. …and participate in a clothing swap.
111. …and donate whatever I cannot swap to charity.
112. Drink more green tea instead of coffee. – I heart david’s tea
113. Finish the pile of books that are sitting on my “to read” shelf. - pile keeps growing
114. Get my grandmother’s chicken soup recipe from my mom.
115. …and learn to make it.
116. Convince my mom that the world isn’t going to end in 2012, regardless of what the Mayans said. - I’m still not sure she’s entirely convinced
117. Go karaoking. - we all live in a yellow submafine
118. Go kayaking.
119. Laugh a lot.
120. Spend less time in front of the computer making these lists, and more time actually doing the things on them. - been too busy to blog, does that count?

So, by my count, that’s 55 items out of 120 that I can cross off the list as having done so far. That adds up to about 46% of the list accomplished, with 50% of the year left. Not too shabby.

Now I gotta start working on finding that apartment. And learning Spanish. (Hmmm, maybe an apartment in Spain?)

Fuck Stephen Harper and the Conservative government for thinking that hosting this summit in a major urban centre was an appropriate use of over a billion dollars of taxpayer money.

Okay, rant over.

The Toronto Star has a photo essay from this weekend. Sometimes, pictures really do say a thousand words.

Of course, with fifty million potential gunshot wound victims without health insurance, one would think that the Founding Fathers might have anticipated the need for a universal right to healthcare in the Constitution too, no?

During the last two world cups, I was in Europe, in the middle of the frenzy. This time  I’m in Montreal, so I imagine it will be somewhat different. As usual, Damian says it best: “For Canadians, the World Cup is like a really awesome house party that we’re longingly watching through the window.” Well, Damian, if we have to press our faces up against the glass, might as well make it the glass of a big-screen TV in a pub, with plenty of beer.

Four years have passed since the last World Cup, and that means four years’ worth of digital technology advances. Some cool tools and toys for this year’s World Cup enthusiasts include:

• Marca.com’s World Cup Wheel (via Sean) – extremely cool interface providing an overview by country, date, city, group and stage.
• BBC Sport’s World Cup Predictor (via Adrien) - make your picks and watch the magical, hypnotizing, colourful lines.
• That Nike commercial that everyone’s been talking about.
• Watching the World Cup for the first time? Never fear, The Onion has you covered. (Via Ken)

And in case you’re wondering where my loyalties lie… Go England!

Here was the scene in McLean’s Pub with about a minute left in the game:

Penguins are going golfing. Habs are moving on to the conference finals for the first time since 1993. And – say it with me – we all know what happened in 1993.

The whole city is partying right now. Think I’ll go join them.

GO HABS GO!!!

A new survey of Quebecers’ attitudes on education shows that two out of three prefer to have the right to send their children to any school in the province they choose, public or private.

The poll, conducted for The Gazette by Léger Marketing, asked whether students other than those now allowed, including franco-phones, should have access to English-language schools if they wish.

A total of 66 per cent of a representative sample of Quebecers agreed that they should – including a 61-per-cent clear majority of francophones.

Non-francophones were even more overwhelmingly in favour, at 87 per cent.

It’s about time that the francophone majority realised that they’re the ones getting most hurt by the current policies. After all, their kids will grow up learning French at home regardless, and without a strong foundation in English, their opportunities will be very limited in today’s world. Then, there are the anglo parents who would prefer to send their kids to French school so that they could grow up fluent in French, but opt instead to send them to English school in fear that their children will lose their right to choose.

This poll is long overdue and I hope the provincial parties will actually take notice, rather than resorting to the same rationalizations as the SSJB. The protectionist stance that the Quebec government has taken with schools has not preserved the status of French; it’s impeded the potential of Quebec. Unfortunately, it’s not likely to change anything in the short term. But in the long term, it may demonstrate that there’s a real willingness to embrace change and institute policies that open doors instead of chaining them shut.

Eamonn Brennan, chief of the Irish Aviation Authority, warned of “a summer of uncertainty” in the air due to the continuing eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano.

In Brussels, European Union transport ministers held another emergency aviation meeting and emerged vowing that reforming the continent’s patchwork air traffic control system into a one seamless airspace was a “top priority.” Germany and France also demanded binding rules to determine when airspaces should be closed and planes grounded because of volcanic ash.

Airlines and airports complained bitterly that EU uncertainty during last month’s volcanic crisis grounded too many flights for too long last month. In all, more than 100,000 flights were canceled, inconveniencing 10 million travelers.

As one of those “inconvenienced” 10 million travelers last month, I can say that being stuck overseas with no way home was at once memorable, and an experience I don’t wish to repeat anytime soon. Word of advice to those with travel plans for this summer: Check your insurance policy carefully. Include the fine print.

Meanwhile, I have to admire columnist Christopher Elliott of National Geographic Travel for having the courage to tell it like it is when it comes to one of my pet peeves: screaming babies on airplanes:

The problem is as old as air travel itself: Adults seated next to misbehaving kids while confined to a pressurized aluminum tube. But it seemed like until now, at least, we knew whose side the parents were on. Like the mom on Meador’s flight, they did everything they could to keep their offspring from driving the rest of the passengers quietly mad.

Today, you can’t be so sure.

[ . . . ]

“Today’s parents think that their little darlings have the right to scream, pound on the backs of chairs, hit passengers on the head and do whatever else amuses them,” says psychiatrist Carole Lieberman. “This comes from parents feeling entitled and being too distracted by their own fears, worries, computer work, movies, and so on. They think of the flight attendants as their own personal baby sitters.”

Airlines already blacklist passengers for all sorts of reasons, from bad behavior to breaking their ticket rules.

Perhaps they should add inept parents to the list.

Thank you, Mr Elliott! I have nothing against children, but listening to them screech and cry and scream for hours on end ranks up there with root canal on my list of least favourite things in the world. I once spent a 12-hour flight from Japan to the USA seated next to one baby who did nothing but cry and spit up on me, and in front of another baby who interspersed her crying with pulling my hair and kicking on my seat.

Flying is uncomfortable enough as it is without having to add putting up with other people’s kids to the equation. If you’re a parent, please, please spare ten seconds to think of the rest of the passengers on the flight before you decide to take your baby on an airplane. Thank you.

Team Canada wins Gold - Vancouver 2010

It was the shot heard from coast to coast – Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal to win this hockey game 3-2 and secure the record-breaking 14th gold medal for Canada.

A fitting feather in the cap of what have been incredible Olympic games. And they couldn’t have scripted it any better. Perfect photo finish.

A moment, to salute all our  Olympic medallists.

Now, let the celebrations begin!

Our athletes are impressing the hell out of everyone, on the skating rink, the ski hill, the hockey arena, the bobsled track, hell, even the curling rink. (Is curling even a sport? Debatable. But we are pretty damn good at it. Even if the Norwegians have those awesome pants. But I digress.) The figure skaters have captured our imagination, from the near-perfection of Moir and Virtue to the inspiring courage of Joannie Rochette. And of course, in hockey, our women have claimed gold, while the men have just advanced to the finals against the USA on Sunday, with tonight’s nail-biter of a 3-2 win over Slovakia.

Everywhere, the red and white waves, crowds burst into spontaneous renditions of the national anthem, and the entire country from coast to coast has come together to cheer on our Olympians.

Has there ever been such a display of Canadian patriotism in recent history? Not that I can remember.

The Olympics had a controversial staging, a rocky start, and endless debates over cost overruns, podium pressure and everything under the sun. But leaving all that aside, it’s been a pretty incredible couple of weeks. And I have to believe that this has done a lot to buoy pride in the red and white in this country of ours, which, you gotta admit, is really fucking awesome.

There are two more days left in these Olympic games. Whatever happens – in the hockey finals or elsewhere – I’m really proud of our athletes and our country. Go Canada Go!

According to the researchers, 28 percent of the study participants smoked at least one cigarette a day, around 3 percent said they were ex-smokers, and 68 percent had never smoked.

The smokers had significantly lower intelligence test scores than non-smokers, and this remained true even after the researchers accounted for socioeconomic status measured by how many years of formal education a recruit’s father had completed.

The average IQ for non-smokers was about 101, while it was 94 for men who had started smoking before entering the military.

IQ steadily dropped as the number of cigarettes smoked increased, from 98 for people who smoked one to five cigarettes daily to 90 for those who smoked more than a pack a day.

The size and scale of this study, as well as its provocative findings, are sure to generate discussion and debate among the scientific community.

I have no basis to evaluate the scientific claims, and I’m not going to try. But I’m very sceptical, for one reason: Does anyone really find it believable that 68% of Israeli teenagers have never smoked?

Ouch. ‘Nuff said.

*Sigh*. Onto the qualifying game, and hopefully we’ll get a chance for revenge.

Update: Canada fared somewhat better at Hockey Night in Kandahar; the morale game for soldiers serving in Afghanistan resulted in a 16-2 “ass-whooping” of the US by Canada. Too bad that’s not the score that counts in the Olympics.

He and Michael Bublé sang their unique take on the national anthem. He’s done mock tryouts for events. He cheered on Shani Davis of the US speedskating team (which he sponsored) when he won his gold medal. He’s getting more press coverage than some of the top athletes. AP has called him “his own Olympic event“.

I’m not sure which is funnier: Stephen Colbert on his game, or the legions of people who don’t seem to understand that it’s satire.

“There is widespread support for Fatah,” Dr. Jamil Rabah, director of Near East Consulting in the PA, told The Media Line. “They support the Fatah political process and don’t think Hamas is on the right path politically.” 

[ . . . ]

“It doesn’t surprise me that the sentiments of the people are in this direction,” Abdallah Abdallah, chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council’s Political Committee, told The Media Line. “Over a year has passed since the Gaza war and still people are living in the streets. People want those responsible for this to go and I think the sentiments of the people after three or more years of this is that it’s about time that those who are not capable of running the affairs of the people – go.”

Hamas swept to power in Gaza first by exploiting people’s frustration with the corruption of the Fatah administration, and then through a violent show of force. Popular support for suicide bombings and attacks on Israeli civilians was high, and Hamas was able to claim to the world (though maybe not with an altogether straight face) that it was a “legitimate” political party. Now, after promising to “crush” Israel and succeeding in doing little more than crushing Gaza, it seems that the Hamas option has lost its shiny lustre to a lot of disillusioned Palestinians.

But it would be a mistake to take this polling data at face value. People vote out of ideology, sure, but also out of self-interest. And in the Palestinian territories, where hatred is a powerful weapon that can be stirred up almost at will to redirect people’s frustration, these things can shift quickly. There will be those who will back the strongest horse, those who go looking for the options that are even more extremist than Hamas, and those who will get disgusted with voting altogether in a place where democracy doesn’t exactly have deep roots.

We’ve seen this before. Support for a political approach rises among Palestinians when there appears to be no threat of any progress actually being made. The minute this threat arises – whether at Camp David in 2000, or after Oslo or Wye – the people balk and something triggers another wave of violence. And if it’s not Hamas out in front, then support will go towards whoever is shouting the loudest, shooting the most, and inspiring the most fear.

And what the poll won’t tell you is that the bigger picture in the Middle East is also a factor – maybe the factor. As Iran battles Saudi Arabia for regional dominance, Hamas is engaged in something of a proxy war against Iran-sponsored Hezbollah, jockeying for power using the gruesome metric of dead Israeli civilians as credentials.

But, for the moment at least, Hamas’s popular support is way down. And if the Palestinians actually had real elections, this might actually have implications.

The U.N. nuclear agency on Thursday expressed concern for the first time that Iran may currently be working on ways to turn enriched uranium into a nuclear warhead, instead of having stopped several years ago.

Its report appears to contradict an assessment by Washington that Tehran suspended such activities in 2003. It appears to jibe with the concerns of several U.S. allies that Iran may never have suspended such work.

Really now? What tipped them off? Ahmadinejad has been playing nuclear chicken with the United Nations for years. What exactly caused the U.N. to wake up today and tentatively acknowledge blazingly obvious reality, instead of continuing to close its eyes as it has been all along? Why now?

That’s the big question, after all. For the United Nations to even make such a statement, there has to have been a sea change somewhere else behind the scenes that triggered it. If China or Russia is prepared to put more pressure on Iran, this could be indicative of a change in the game, even if the U.N.’s statements are, in and of themselves, essentially worthless. The world will be watching closely, that’s for certain.

M. Bouchard est persuadé qu’il ne verra pas un autre référendum sur la souveraineté de son vivant. L’ancien chef péquiste est toujours souverainiste, mais la souveraineté est devenue une question hypothétique; elle n’est donc pas une solution aux problèmes du Québec.

Bouchard also blasted the PQ for intolerance towards religious minorities, claiming that they were fishing for votes among former ADQ supporters and that the debate around reasonable accommodation was really nothing more than thinly-disguised racism.

Predictably, Bouchard’s comments have caused a stir. Gilles Duceppe is playing spin doctor. Jean Charest is cozying up to his former rival and colleague. And Pauline Marois reacted to Bouchard’s racism charges by opposing a Liberal plan to allow Jewish schools to teach on Sundays. Way to prove Bouchard’s point for him nicely, there, Pauline.

Even in the worst divisive moments of the lead-up to the 1995 referendum, Bouchard still commanded respect among federalists, in a way that the bumbling buffoonery of the Jacques Parizeau set never did. I can’t and won’t ever agree with Lucien Bouchard on his politics. However, since leaving political life, he has shown that he isn’t afraid to speak the unpopular truths, whether it was speaking out for Israel at the 2003 Yom Ha’atzmaut rally (to a staunchly federalist crowd, no less), or calling for a “Québec lucide” in 2005. It’s ironic, perhaps, that the man responsible for bringing Canada to the brink of breakup has somehow emerged as something of a voice of conscience of the sovereignty movement.

With the PQ in opposition and sovereignty off the radar of most Quebecers, Bouchard’s comments may actually have an opposite effect, stirring the pot and re-igniting a dormant debate. And he’s shrewd enough that you have to wonder if that was his intent. Although, I’m more inclined to believe that he meant what he said, and that he’s calling for some soul-searching in a movement where intolerance has always been one of the dirty little secrets. When Bouchard speaks, people still listen, though what difference it will make is anyone’s guess.

But, we all know Canada is much cooler than the lame-ass CBC-heritage-moment crap we saw tonight. Way to represent.

So, here’s my top five list of things that they could have done to better showcase what Canada is all about:

5) Joe, from the Molson Canadian commercials. That watered-down imitation preacher guy was just stealing from his material anyway. I mean, Zed, not Z? If I were Molson, I’d sue.

4) A 3-hour Arcade Fire concert. Yes, believe it or not, we have musicians who are more recent than Bryan Adams. How about getting some of them on stage?

3) The Canada-USA gold medal game from Salt Lake City. Get the teams back for a re-enactment. Or, hell, just show video footage on a big screen.

2) Festivals from coast to coast. A medley of acts from everything from the Montreal Jazz Festival to Toronto’s Caribana to the Calgary Stampede.

1) Cirque du Soleil… we friggin’ invented it, why do other Olympic games get to use them and we get some random dude faking flying while held up by wires?

And it hasn’t gotten any better, either. Us Canadians are still among the most vacation-deprived people on earth, ranking dead last among 40 countries studied in terms of the amount of vacation time that the average worker is entitled to receive.

I think I need to move to Finland, France, Lithuania, or Brazil.

“I’ve done my best and now it’s time for me to pass the torch,” Gainey said on Monday. “I believe that the general manager position requires a long-term vision and a long-term commitment. At this point, I’m not prepared to make a commitment of four or five or six more years in this position.

Assistant GM Pierre Gauthier has been promoted as the new GM.

Gainey took over the role in 2003 to great fanfare greater expectations. At first, he battled the naysayers and started the long process of rebuilding the team, achieving first place in the East two seasons ago.

But many of his decisions have been very questionable of late, and the trust was gone, namely, ill-timed overconfidence in Carey Price, the failure to secure big-name free agents despite public efforts, firing of Guy Carbonneau and hiring Jacques Martin in his place, and of course the great shake-up during last off-season.

I think a lot of people were fed up with Gainey. He won’t go down in history as the Habs’ worst GM (I’d say that role belongs permanently to Rejean Houle). He had an overall winning record, and he did do a lot of good things for the team, which was in shambles when he took the reins. But his legacy is mixed, at best. And of course, nobody ever remembers what you do best; they only remember what you do last.

Bye bye, Bob. Best of luck to you.

Can we keep it up? Let’s hope so. Go Habs!

The Lancet published the controversial paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues in 1998. British parents abandoned the vaccine in droves, leading to a resurgence of measles. Subsequent studies found no proof the vaccine is connected to autism.

Ten of the study’s 13 authors renounced the study’s conclusions, and The Lancet has previously said it should never have published the research. “We fully retract this paper from the published record,” its editors said in a statement on Tuesday.

Predictably, the Jenny McCarthy conspiracy theorists are dismissing this as a… you guessed it… conspiracy theory.

But, crackpots aside, hopefully this will finally parents who just want what’s best for their kids that getting them vaccinated against disease is the responsible thing to do.

Well, here you go, Ryan. Your wish is granted:

(Oh, and woohoo, Go Habs Go!)

Pretty much all the major relief organisations are accepting online donations, including MSF, the International Red Cross, UNICEF, and a special relief fund through Federation CJA. Please give what you can.

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Ian Paul doesn’t think that Google will actually pull out of China. But whatever ends up happening, the implications of this statement could be huge – both for Google as a business, and for China. Stay tuned.

THE swine flu scare was a “false pandemic” led by drugs companies that stood to make billions from vaccines, a leading health expert said.

Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claimed major firms organized a “campaign of panic” to put pressure on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic, UK tabloid The Sun reports.

He believes it is, “one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century”, and has called for an inquiry.

Maybe Wodarg should go hang out with Jenny McCarthy. I bet they have loads in common.

The folks who run the National Center for Atmospheric Research have a great rundown of the details of the AO Oscillation. In short, high pressure in the Arctic forces the jet stream south, and it drags cold air with it, chilling North American and northern Eurasia. In its opposite mode, those same regions tend to be much warmer. Right now, we’re in such an extreme high-pressure event that the readings have run off the scale of NOAA’s AO index. Fortunately for those hoping to warm up a bit, the AO is a weather event—it often changes states multiple times within a single season, and there’s no clear evidence linking its behavior to climate trends.

(Hat tip: Sera).

In an interview on BNN yesterday, the Prime Minister suggested that prorogation gives him the opportunity to do the serious business of the nation without the distractions of democracy – Commons committees and having to answer those pesky questions from opposition MPs in Question Period.

Yeah, that annoying democracy. Makes it so gosh darn hard to govern when you have to actually, y’know, answer to people.

“I once put this question to Jacques Duchesneau (the former head of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority): say there is a bag with Play-Doh in it and two pens stuck in the Play-Doh. That is `Bombs 101′ to a screener. I asked Duchesneau, `What would you do?’ And he said, `Evacuate the terminal.’ And I said, `Oh. My. God.’

“Take (Toronto’s) Pearson (airport). Do you know how many people are in the terminal at all times? Many thousands. Let’s say I’m (doing an evacuation) without panic – which will never happen. But let’s say this is the case. How long will it take? Nobody thought about it. I said, `Two days.’”

A screener at Ben Gurion has a pair of better options.

In light of all the controversy in the news this holiday season about full-body scanners, a near-total ban on carry-on luggage to the US, and security lineups lasting several hours (except for celebrities), this seems even more timely.

On my flight to Tel Aviv last winter, an American passenger, going through the second layer of security at the gate specifically for flights to Israel, started to take off her shoes. The Israeli security officer just laughed at her. Israel also doesn’t give a rat’s ass about liquids on-board; my Ahava product purchases and my bottles of Yarden wine were just fine out of Ben-Gurion, but I had to transfer them back into my checked luggage in Toronto for the one-hour flight back to Montreal. No, instead, I get asked questions like, what were you doing in Israel? Where did you learn to speak Hebrew? What was the name of your first-grade teacher? It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for them to ascertain that I am exactly who and what I say I am, and after that, lots of time to shop duty-free.

Or, to put it another way, it’s nicely hassle-free to travel to and from Israel… as long as your flight doesn’t go through the United States.

The trouble is, implementing Israeli-style airport security in the US would mean that security personnel would actually need to be highly specialised and trained. Rights groups would get up in arms about profiling (done openly by Israel, disavowed publicly by the US), and the unions would scream bloody murder about their staff being replaced by people who are actually competent.

And hey, it’s so much more fun to lock down entire terminals, right?

Bakri said that the ban was ”the gravest mistake,” describing his group was peaceful think-tank whose younger members would be pushed toward violence if it were driven underground.

[ . . . ]

”We (were) never involved with any violence, yet,” he said.

Yet, eh? Sounds awfully close to a threat, there.

Now, normally I would be inclined to agree that banning any group for holding views, however offensive or despicable, is a violation of freedom of speech as long as no other laws are being transgressed. But in this case, we’re not just talking about pissing people off by marching:

Bakri’s group argues that, as Muslims, they’re not bound by British law and has expressed support for bin Laden and al-Qaida. In its previous incarnation as al-Muhajiroun, the group was linked to several terror suspects and was accused of recruiting British Muslims to fight in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Bakri has acknowledged that some of al-Muhajiroun members have engaged in militant attacks but says the group can’t be held responsible for their actions.

Bakri, who was deported from Britain in 2005, added that, whatever happened, his followers could regroup under a different name.

”Tomorrow we can call ourselves whatever we think is suitable for us,” he said.

He’s right, of course. Banning the groups won’t erase the sentiment. But allowing them to openly collect funds and organise isn’t the answer either. The British government might have reacted to the wrong thing – moral outrage at the group’s planned (and cancelled) protest march through Wootton Bassett – when they implemented the ban. But it’s clear that we’re not just talking about distasteful speech here, but illegal actions. And that’s where the line gets drawn.

And they can always ban whatever the group decides to call itself tomorrow, too.

A nuclear physics professor who publicly backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June presidential election was killed Tuesday when a remote-controlled bomb rigged to a motorcycle blew up outside his home.

State media identified the victim as Masoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, a professor at Tehran University, which has been at the center of recent protests by student opposition supporters. Before the election, pro-reform Web sites published Ali Mohammadi’s name among a list of 240 Tehran University teachers who supported Mousavi.

And of course, despite the public call for the assassination of opposition voices by the Iranian leadership, three guesses who they’re blaming for this one. Don’t need three? Got it in one? Yeah, I thought so:

The government blamed the rare assassination on an armed Iranian opposition group that it said operated under the direction of Israel and the U.S.

Cause, like, sure, that makes sense. Then again, when has logic ever been a factor in cases like these?

As much as I sympathize with people with nut and peanut allergies – and yes, you know who you are – I have to wonder, isn’t this a little bit like offering non-smoking areas on flights? I mean, everyone’s breathing the same recycled air everywhere on the plane, right?

I also have to wonder, does “nut-free” refer only to the food, or will slightly-crazy passengers and crew have to change seats, too?

Gaza’s Hamas rulers have suffered back-to-back setbacks with Israel’s successful test of a rocket shield and Egypt’s push to block smuggling tunnels.

The Iron Dome rocket defence system, reportedly to be deployed near Gaza in May, would deprive Hamas of its main leverage against Israel – the threat of rocket salvos. Egypt’s underground anti-tunnel barrier of steel beams, now under construction, could eventually cut Hamas’ supply of cash and weapons.

The looming double squeeze is poised to limit Hamas’ options and change the rules of engagement on Gaza’s volatile, blockaded borders.

But, inspired by Andrea’s gargantuan list, I have decided that, new decade, new attitude. This year, I will actually set out some lofty goals for myself, and hopefully even achieve them. So, without further adieu, here’s my list of 120 things to do in 2010:

1. Go to Morocco.
2. Go camping at least twice next summer.
3. Find my dream apartment and move into it.
4. Get my own washer/dryer and finally stop dragging my laundry around like a friggin’ nomad.
5. Get a dishwasher.
6. Replace my 12-year-old car with something newer and zippier.
7. …or else get rid of it and join CommunAuto.
8. Successfully fight that unfair, BS speeding ticket.
9. Complete and edit my NaNoWriMo 2009 project.
10. Participate in NaNoWriMo 2010.
11. …and win.
12. Buy those new dishes I was eyeing at the Ottawa kitchen store.
13. Buy a spice rack.
14. Paint my kitchen yellow. (I’ve always wanted a yellow kitchen, for some reason.)
15. Go skiing at least three times.
16. Go snowshoeing.
17. Visit Cathy.
18. Visit Andrea and Jim.
19. Convince Andrea and Jim to come visit more often.
20. Host Etrek Montreal-fest 2010.
21. Eat breakfast (other than coffee) more days than not.
22. Buy a vegetable steamer.
23. Find a new volunteer project.
24. Celebrate Canada Day someplace where people are actually happy to be Canadian.
25. …with fireworks.
26. …and some typically Canadian music like Blue Rodeo or Great Big Sea.
27. Buy new socks and throw out the ones with holes in them.
28. Reprise Buy Nothing Week.
29. Roast marshmellows over a fireplace.
30. Have a board game brunch.
31. Eat crepes at CDL.
32. Host a wine and cheese.
33. Host a fondue party.
34. Make homemade sushi.
35. Play poker.
36. …and win.
37. Finish reading Don Quixote.
38. …in time for the January book club meet-up.
39. Watch the rest of the UK version of Life On Mars.
40. Attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
41. …and fail to remember much about it later.
42. Turn 30.
43. …with minimal freaking out.
44. Go to New York City. (I heart NY).
45. Go to Quebec City.
46. Get through the winter without succumbing to the winter blahs.
47. …and weighing less than I do now.
48. Win tickets to something on the radio.
49. Get a letter to the editor published in the newspaper.
50. Attend the Salon Passion Chocolat.
51. …and the Jazz Fest.
52. …and the Comedy Fest.
53. …and Bluesfest Ottawa.
54. …and Nuit Blanche.
55. …and the FrancoFolies.
56. …and FantasiaFest.
57. …and a bunch of other festivals.
58. Keep walking to work every day, as long as I live within walking distance.
59. Pack lunches and avoid the takeout trap.
60. Pay someone an undeserved compliment.
61. Learn to sew well enough to hem my own pant legs and sleeves.
62. Don’t get the flu.
63. Call my grandfather.
64. Learn CSS.
65. …and update the look and feel of this blog so it’s not so ugly.
66. Blog more often.
67. Read the Israeli news headlines more regularly.
68. …in Hebrew, to keep my language skills from going completely rusty.
69. …and listen to online radio or watch online TV broadcasts in Hebrew, too, for the same reason.
70. Update my online (Flickr) photo albums.
71. Update my offline (printed) photo albums.
72. Buy fruits and veggies from the farmers’ markets instead of the supermarket.
73. Vote.
74. …in an election where my vote actually makes a difference.
75. Visit the Contemporary Arts Museum on freebie Wednesday.
76. Go to at least one rock concert.
77. …by a band that has been around for less than 15 years.
78. Watch the Cannes Lions winning ads.
79. Carry on an entire conversation with a francophone without letting on that I’m anglo.
80. Try 10 new restaurants in Montreal.
81. Find a good answer to the inevitable questions about my name that doesn’t involve exasperation, or a long backstory.
82. Clean the oven.
83. …using baking soda (?)
84. Organize my DVD collection.
85. Set out to buy clothes and actually end up with clothes.
86. …and no shoes.
87. Master the art of the experience brief.
88. Get more (consumer) insightful.
89. Retrieve my old electric keyboard and actually remind myself how to play it.
90. Reduce the procrastination to a manageable level.
91. Pay my taxes.
92. …and put the refund towards travel.
93. Win my 2009-10 fantasy hockey pool.
94. Draft Ovi in the 2010-11 fantasy hockey pool.
95. Go to at least one Habs’ playoff game – contingent on them actually making the playoffs, of course.
96. Keep kosher(ish) for Passover.
97. Couchsurf.
98. Host couchsurfers.
99. Help at least three friends plan trips.
100. Invent a new smoothie recipe.
101. Watch the Olympics on TV.
102. …and see the Canadian team win the hockey gold. (Hey, I can hope, right?)
103. Improve my Spanish from a 20-word vocabulary to at least a 50-word one.
104. Watch Mad Men Season 4.
105. Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7.
106. …preferably without losing my mind in the process.
107. Go apple picking in the fall.
108. Sell my old backpacks.
109. Clear out my closets and drawers.
110. …and participate in a clothing swap.
111. …and donate whatever I cannot swap to charity.
112. Drink more green tea instead of coffee.
113. Finish the pile of books that are sitting on my “to read” shelf.
114. Get my grandmother’s chicken soup recipe from my mom.
115. …and learn to make it.
116. Convince my mom that the world isn’t going to end in 2012, regardless of what the Mayans said.
117. Go karaoking.
118. Go kayaking.
119. Laugh a lot.
120. Spend less time in front of the computer making these lists, and more time actually doing the things on them.

Yes, I know the original post had 201 things and this one only has 120. But it was all I could think of. Besides, if I manage to do even half of these things this year, it will be a very productive year.

The new law defines blasphemy as:

 “publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted.”

In other words, a complete trampling of the notion of freedom of speech. In fact, this blog post probably violates that law. Good thing this site isn’t hosted in Ireland.

The best response to this that I’ve seen so far? Atheist Ireland published 25 blasphemous quotes by everyone from Salman Rushdie to Richard Dawkins to Christopher Hitchens to Jesus Christ to the Pope, and even Muhammed. My favourite is this one:

Micheal Martin, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, opposing attempts by Islamic States to make defamation of religion a crime at UN level, 2009: “We believe that the concept of defamation of religion is not consistent with the promotion and protection of human rights. It can be used to justify arbitrary limitations on, or the denial of, freedom of expression. Indeed, Ireland considers that freedom of expression is a key and inherent element in the manifestation of freedom of thought and conscience and as such is complementary to freedom of religion or belief.” Just months after Minister Martin made this comment, his colleague Dermot Ahern introduced Ireland’s new blasphemy law.

If they’re looking to prosecute people under the new law, I suggest they start in their own backyard.

If this list of the 100 best songs of last decade by Rolling Stone is any indication, the new decade can only be better cause it sure can’t get much worse.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has apologized to the American Jewish community for ’stigmatizing Israel’ and asked for forgiveness for his actions, the JTA reported on Monday.

“We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel,” Carter wrote in a letter to the JTA.

“As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so,” Carter wrote, referring to the prayer said on Yom Kippur in which Jews ask God for forgiveness for any sins.

That’s all very well and nice but it’s tough not to be skeptical. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. Here’s Meryl’s take on the whole thing:

 The Jimmy Carter apology is deeply suspicious and seems utterly insincere. In order for a person to receive forgiveness for his actions, he needs to atone for them. There is no atonement, as can be seen in his anti-Israel op-ed in the Guardian two days after he offered the “apology.” And the timing of the open letter is very suspicious. It coincides with his grandson’s run for office in Atlanta (though Carter denies this has anything to do with it), but it’s also nothing to do with Hanukkah.

[ . . . ]

It sounds to me like it’s an apology of expedience, nothing more. Once again: Apology not accepted. I still think Carter’s problem with Israel is that there are Jews in it.

I’m inclined to agree with Meryl. Actions speak louder than words, and Carter’s have spoken pretty loudly.

(Hat tip: Rae.)

With only a few days till Christmas, people are scrambling to finish their shopping and their preparations before heading out to visit their families. Or else they’re pack for all-inclusive trips south to a sun destination. For me, it’s none of the above – but I am very much looking forward to a few days off to catch up on my sleep. That is, if I can manage not to get sick in the meantime.

The good news – other than the Habs’ two wins in a row, that is  – is that from today onwards, the days start getting longer.

Montazeri’s death pushed Iranian authorities into a difficult spot. They were obliged to pay respects to one of the patriarchs of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the one-time heir apparent to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

But officials also worried that Montazeri’s memorials could become new rallying points for opposition demonstrations. The ayatollah broke with Iran’s clerical leadership and became a vehement critic, denouncing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and calling the postelection crackdown the work of a dictatorship.

Mourners shouted “Death to the Dictator” and other slogans in displays of anger against Iran’s ruling establishment during the procession in Qom, a city of shrines and clerical seminaries about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Tehran, witnesses said.

The Iranian election and subsequent protests were named the top Twitter news event of 2009, with #iranelection the top trending news hashtag.

KRAKOW, Poland – Polish police said Monday they had recovered the Nazi German “Arbeit macht frei” sign stolen from the former Auschwitz death camp, but said five arrested suspects had no neo-Nazi links.

Andrzej Rokita, commander in the southern Polish city of Krakow, told reporters that “from the information we have none of the five belong to a neo-Nazi group nor hold such ideas”.

The five suspects, aged 20 to 39 and with previous criminal records for theft or violence, faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted, police said.

The thieves themsevels seem to have been hired guns, in it for the money. It remains to be seen whether they were hired by someone with more sinister motives. In any case, the whole episode was extremely bizarre.

But for those asking what kind of scum of the earth would do such a thing, I’d have to say that question should more appropriately be asked of those who perpetrated the crime of Auschwitz in the first place.

Update 01/04: The theft was apparently ordered by a British neo-Nazi, in yet another example of hate being stronger than cash.

• A cyclist (you have to be pretty hardcore to cycle in this weather) wearing a full ski helmet, ski goggles, and a ski face mask, every inch of his face protected against the cold.
• Two women, both wearing their jacket hoods with faux fur pulled over their face and eyes, walk smack into each other in a pedestrian head-on collision, neither one willing to brave the wind enough to watch where she is going. They apologize, of course.
• The underground city tunnels about as crowded I’ve ever seen them, full of pedestrians who, like me, have decided that walking through shopping malls and government buildings is preferable to braving the cold for too long.
• A man belatedly stringing up Christmas lights outside a storefront, cursing and swearing to himself as he tries to assemble them without removing his gloves. Good luck with that, buddy.
• The guy handing out the free metro paper outside Square-Victoria metro is reportedly sporting a runny-nose moustache.
• Endless greetings in multiple languages that are variations on “F—, it’s cold!”

I love winter. But I love it more when it’s warm enough to snow. Where’s this global warming thing that they keep talking about, anyway?

Cheques will disappear within eight years after the Payments Council decided today to abolish the 350-year-old payment method by October 2018.

[. . . ]

The decision will save banks hundreds of millions of pounds a year, as each cheque costs banks about £1 to process – that is four times more expensive than electronic payments.

So far, no sign that Canada plans to follow suit. But it wouldn’t surprise me too much. Just to give you an idea of how often I actually write cheques, mine are so old that they still have my previous address… from two moves ago.

What, you mean rumours leaked by the organization itself?

“We are absolutely determined to do whatever we can to protect our customers from this appalling, unjustified decision from Unite,” BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in a statement. “We do not want to see a million Christmases ruined.”

The planned strike, from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2, follows a dispute with cabin crew over job losses and changes in work practices. BA plans to cut 1,700 jobs, freeze pay for current staff and offer lower wages for new employees.

The airline is appealing to the courts for an injunction to stop the strike, on the grounds that there were “voting irregularities” in the balloting. But if you’re one of the millions of people with a BA airline ticket for Christmas break, you’ll probably want to watch this one carefully.

One of these days, labour and management will figure out how to have it out without getting millions of bystanders trapped in the crossfire.

Update 9/17: A court injunction has been awarded to British Airways to block the strike.

Generations of Sunday school teachers have turned Hanukkah into the story of unified Jewish bravery against an anti-Semitic Hellenic empire. Settlers in the West Bank tell it as a story of how the Jewish hard-core defeated the corrupt, assimilated Jewish masses. Rabbis later added the lamp miracle to give God at least a bit part in the proceedings.

But there is no erasing the complex ironies of the events, the way progress, heroism and brutality weave through all sides. The Maccabees heroically preserved the Jewish faith. But there is no honest way to tell their story as a self-congratulatory morality tale. The lesson of Hanukkah is that even the struggles that saved a people are dappled with tragic irony, complexity and unattractive choices. 

(Hat tip: Lesley).

It is certainly true that there are a number of ways to interpret the story of Chanukah. It can be read as a tale of the triumph of religious extremism over secularism. It can be read as an anti-assimilationist tale. It can be viewed as an anti-imperialist struggle, or as a divisive civil war.

All of this tends to get lost in the shuffle among most people who simply view Chanukah as the “festival of lights”, a generic, commercialized Jewish version of the equally-commercialized Christmas, a simple excuse for retailers to make money. A view would have likely incensed the anti-assimilationist Maccabees to no end.

Sure, at its core, Chanukah is just another one of those “they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat” holidays that fill the Jewish calendar. And there’s nothing wrong with a little celebration. But it’s important to know what, and why, we’re celebrating.

Happy Chanukah, all!

Spoonman has been “playing” his “instrument” outside Ogilvy for 13 years.

It seems longer.

As one of those eccentric Montrealers who stroll downtown’s main drag without headphones, I endure daily exposure to the Spoonman. The clacking, which was clicking until he switched from metal to wood, is annoying all year round, but never more so than when it provides discordant accompaniment to what is transpiring in the Christmas window.

I’ll say the same thing to Mike Boone that I said to the City of Montreal when they tried to pass a law to silence him five years ago: Let the Spoonman play!

Montreal ranked in second place:

Easygoing Montreal is increasingly popular with foreign travellers, who enjoy the joie de vivre of a place with bilingual ambience, good local beer and even skiing at nearby Mt Royal. Montreal’s irrepressible student population and atmospheric old quarter give the city a light-hearted, Bohemian air. There are Old World cafes, cool jazz clubs, packed discos and late bars to choose from, plus a popular comedy festival each July.

And perhaps more surprisingly – not to those of us who’ve been there, of course, but in the face of the public perception of those whose picture of Israel comes solely from media headlines – Tel Aviv made the list at #10:

Like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, Israel’s second largest city gets going late. The endless bars, pubs and cocktail venues start to fill up by midnight, from which point the nightclubs get revved up with dancing till dawn. Nowadays an international crowd joins Israelis for a mixed bag of funk, pop, house and techno at the city’s dozens of entertainment hotspots. Tel Aviv has a relaxed air, and prides itself on being gay-friendly and outgoing.

Belgrade, Serbia claimed the top spot. Rounding out the Top 10 were Buenos Aires, Dubai, Thessaloniki, La Paz, Cape Town, (surprisingly) Baku, and Auckland.

Some of these may be debatable, but Tel Aviv’s inclusion on the list is a nice sign, especially considering the bad press Israel often gets in the backpacker community.

Of course, that’s a load of hogwash. Supporting worthy causes is important year-round, not just in December, when the idealists get all imbued with holiday spirit and the cynics think about tax receipts. But for a number of reasons – habit, practicality, what have you – millions of people write out cheques to their favourite charities at around this time of year.

Or, don’t write cheques, which is what this post is all about.

An article last spring in the Chronicle of Philanthropy pointed out that online giving growth slowed in the US in 2008, after steady increases in previous years. (Canadian statistics are probably somewhat better, given our relatively stronger economy and our relative technological advancement when it comes to donations). The picture it painted wasn’t bleak, but it wasn’t pretty, either. Among other findings:

• The median percentage of all donations raised online in 2008 was a measly 0.8%. Even if you consider the 80/20 (or, some say, 90/10) rule about major gifts, that’s still ridiculously low.
• Many charities, when they think of online giving, are just converting direct mail thinking into digital, focusing on email solicitation – which, on the whole, works not at all.
• Online giving, while still growing (compared to other channels), saw slower growth – a 28% median last year compared to 42% and 45% respectively the previous two years. Even when you factor in economic conditions, that’s still a significant drop in growth rate.

All of this tells me that there is a great opportunity that is being squandered by cash-strapped charities who are seeing their traditional funding sources wane. Nobody writes cheques to pay the groceries or the heating bills anymore, why are we still expected to do so with charitable gifts?

Now, my perspective when it comes to fundraising is hardly objective, having worked in the field for a number of years. But, from a donor’s point of view and not a marketer’s, I have a few words of advice for organisations seeking donations online:

1. Make sure your website works.
   This year alone, I’ve personally encountered one website that insisted that my perfectly-valid credit card number was invalid (it claimed to accept Amex but was validating for a Visa or MasterCard number format), another that simply returned a 404 error when I hit submit, a third that – despite being a Canadian organisation – did not accept a province or postal code in the address form, and a fourth that double-charged my credit card even though I only hit ’submit’ once; I was forced to phone the organisation to get the second charge reversed.

   And, yes, before you ask, these were all major, reputable charitable organisations, not little maw and paw shops.

   Now, since I’m such a nice person and I believe in the work that these fine organisations do, I took the extra step of donating anyway, even writing cheques and mailing them in a couple of cases. But think of all the people who won’t bother going to the trouble. Now multiply that by your average gift. Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say.

2. Make sure your website is professional and secure.
   Yes, it costs money to have a professionally-designed website that reflects your organisation. And believe me, I understand that you would prefer to direct that money to the work you do, and not to what many people would consider “administration” or “overhead”.

   Having said that, you aren’t going to get people to trust online giving without making a few basic strides. Up-to-date security encryption is a bare minimum when asking people to enter their credit card details. A website that actually looks like it’s run by your organisation, and not by phishing scam #2012, helps too. And, would it kill you to post updates about the work you’re doing to give the people who support it something to read? The converted online brochure with blinking text is just not going to cut it, not in 2009.

3. Make online giving easy.
   Present various donation options clearly. Use easy-to-understand forms, user-friendly navigation, and clear language. Make sure your website is easy to find, ranks highly in search results, and has clear, present donation links from the homepage. Don’t make people have to work at it.

   Really, this is simple stuff – it’s the equivalent to a business reply envelope. The easier you make the process, the more donations you’ll get.

4. Eliminate redundancy.
   If I’m giving online, I’m not also giving by mail. Or by phone. Stop wasting your postage stamps and telemarketing dollars on me; you’ve got me already, and via the most cost-effective channel you’ve got.

   If the left hand is spending money trying to convert offline donors to online while the right hand is still sending out 6.2 letters a year to existing online donors, then invest in better database maintenance because you’re wasting money, not to mention trees.

5. Be open and transparent.
   Charities often come under attack for being less-than-honest about how their funds are allocated, or what their programming priorities are. Of course, all of this information is public record, and with a little digging, you can generally check up on your favourite charities and make sure that they’re above-board.

   But this is no longer simply about posting your annual report in PDF format and calling it a day. If you’re out there in the digital space, you can expect to be called out and taken to task about your campaigns, your programs, your work and your priorities. Are you going to run scared from it and look like you have something to hide? Or are you going to embrace it and look like you have everything to gain?

6. Communication is a two-way street.
   Giving to a cause is no longer just about writing a $25 cheque and forgetting about it all year. What works with commercial marketing works with charities, too. The simple fact is, the more engaged your donors are, the more they will support you – financially, by spreading the word, by volunteering, by getting involved in myriad ways. But only if you encourage them.

   As the rest of the world declares Web 2.0 so very passé, charities are still catching onto what was standard practice online a decade ago. Sure, most major charitable organisations have a Facebook fan page these days, but how many of them really have an active, engaged online community that is supported by the charity? That’s what I thought you’d say.

   A few smart charities get it. They’re the ones looking for innovative ways to reach out to donors, through social media and other channels, encouraging true two-way conversation. But most are still resorting to the opaque, sanitized, digital version of a fundraising letter – support our great work, blah blah blah, have a nice life.

   Well, that and a buck and a half will buy you a pack of gum. If you are a charitable organisation, the people who support you are a gold mine waiting to happen. They’ll wave the flag for you, spread the word, volunteer and organise and raise money for you – all you have to do is engage them and ask them and get them involved. If you’re still just broadcasting as opposed to communicating, you’re basically telling them that you don’t want their help.

Us Canadians tend to be fairly generous people. But we’re not the same as we were thirty years ago. We don’t think the same way, we don’t act the same way, and we don’t expect the same things.

If you’re a charitable organisation soliciting donations, then you’re also a marketer, and you may have noticed that marketing has evolved quite a bit. If you’re out in front, you’re likely reaping the benefits. If not, well, nobody knows as well as you do that competition is fierce for donor dollars. Lapse behind, and you’ll miss out.

Happy December, everyone. Give early, give often.

Before the game, pretty much every living Hab great in history was out there tonight on the ice for the 100th anniversary ceremonies, from Jean Beliveau to Guy Lafleur, from Dickie Moore to Yvon Cournoyer, from Patrick Roy to Ken Dryden. Butch Bouchard and Elmer Lach had their numbers retired as part of the night. Plenty of pomp and circumstance, to be sure, but this is a team whose stories deserve to be celebrated.

Happy Birthday, Habs!

Let the honking begin…

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s board censured Iran on Friday, with 25 nations backing a resolution demanding that Tehran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions to stop uranium enrichment.

The trouble is, there’s no backup to the “or else”. And Iran knows it, too:

Iran remained defiant, with its chief representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency declaring that his country would resist “pressure, resolutions, sanction(s) and threat of military attack.”

Delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh of Iran shrugged off the vote.

“Neither resolutions of the board of governors nor those of the United Nations Security Council … neither sanctions nor the threat of military attacks can interrupt peaceful nuclear activities in Iran, even a second,” he told the closed-door meeting, in remarks made available to reporters.

Iran can taunt the world and continue to develop nuclear weapons with impunity, in flat defiance of the Security Council or anyone else, because it knows full well that the UN can’t and won’t back up its threats with anything concrete. There’s no action that they can take. They can’t go to war or invade Iran. They can’t attack its nuclear facilities. They can’t even impose sanctions, which would risk alienating the strengthening resistence movement within Iran.

By the time anyone figures out a course of action on Iran, it will likely be too late. If it isn’t already.

I first blogged about this back in 2003, when media monitoring organisations were sounding the alarm about the virulent antisemitic content being broadcast on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera’s Arabic-language station on a daily basis, under the guise of news. The English affiliate doesn’t have quite the same level of bias – certainly, not that much worse than we see regularly from, say, the CBC or the Guardian, or on the other side, from the likes of FOX news. If there’s a demand for the service, and the content doesn’t cross the line, then I have to stand in support of freedom of information.

Besides, this is 2009. Anyone who wants content can get it, regardless of the CRTC’s decision. This decision is really only about whether satellite providers can charge for it, or whether people will have to access it online or through other methods.

I still haven’t forgiven the CRTC for all those years without HBO, though. Segacs to CRTC: this ain’t over, bitch!

Hamas officials refused to say which names were holding up the deal. But the -based Arabic daily al-Hayat said they included Ibrahim Hamed, the former commander of Hamas’ military wing in the West Bank and mastermind of a Jerusalem suicide bombing that killed 11 people in 2002, and Abdullah Barghouti, a mastermind of several suicide bombings serving several dozen life sentences.

Hamas appears to be demanding the release of Abbas Sayid as well, a planner of the Park Hotel suicide bombing on Seder Night 2002 that killed 30 people, according to lawyer Jawad Immawi, a senior official in the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs ministry, which employs many of the lawyers who represent high-level inmates.

That’s right, they mean the terrorist bastards behind attacks like this one. This is the Hamas that the world’s apologists keeps insisting is a “legitimate government” and should be dealt with.

The fact that Israel is even considering such a deal – the fact that it had already agreed to release hundreds of other terrorists from prison – speaks only to the value that it puts on Shalit’s life and the life of every one of its citizens. This, of course, is exactly what Hamas exploits as a weakness. And by negotiating with Hamas, Israel plays straight into its hands.

And of course, it’s tough for Hamas to complain that an Israeli life and a Palestinian life are valued unequally (by the media, by the West, etc.) when they insist on the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one IDF soldier.

Hamas will claim this deal – if it goes through – as a major victory, will use it to bolster its standing versus Fatah, and will argue that it proves that violence works. And really, with deals like these, it’s hard to argue with that logic. How many more innocent lives will fall victim to the newly-released terrorists? How many prisoners will Israel need to swap for the next kidnapped soldier?

I want nothing more than for Gilad Shalit to return home, safe and unharmed. But at what price?

Bob Wolfe and his wife were flying from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to Panama. At the counter, Wolfe was told that his four bags were each about 2 kg or 3 kg over the 32 kg limit, and that he’d have to pay a penalty.

Wolfe was sent to a Thai Airways office where he says a number of employees discussed how much he should be charged for the bags. They argued with each other. They made phone calls. They looked generally confused, he says. More than an hour later, a verdict was rendered: Wolfe owed 66,000 Thai baht, or approximately $2,200.

Of course, it does beg the question of why this couple needed over 128kg of stuff for a trip to Panama in the first place. But, seriously, ouch!

Since last week, it seems that way. Even though the Vietnamese government is issuing denials.

Some Vietnamese Facebook users launched a Facebook group in protest of the blockage, but as of right now it appears to only have a handful of members. Hmmm, wonder why that could be?

Of course, as Barack Obama found out last week after giving a speech in China about internet freedom, protests against censorship have an above-average risk of, well, being censored.

It’s the latest in the long list of changes that have been taking place around here. The first step was my move to my own hosting at segacs.com after Geocities closed. Now, the bigger news is that I have officially migrated from Blogger to Wordpress – a move that was long overdue.

Shiny! New! Features! include:

• Improved post navigation by calendar archive, keyword search, categories and tagging
• Inline commenting, including threaded comments
• Post pages – finally! – with proper permalinks (yeah, I know, that’s so 2005…)
• Improved RSS feeds
• Updated look and feel
• … and more still to come!

Needless to say, you’ll want to update any old permalinks that you still had lying around. Redirects from old segacs.com links should be working, but I can’t do anything about broken Geocities links, unfortunately. So please update them on your end.

The actual blog migration has been a real headache, and is the result of weeks of behind-the-scenes work. And I’m not quite done yet. You may still notice some broken links or images, and I’ll be rolling out a few new features and still tweaking the look and feel in the next little while. But, I’m up and running (and I am feeling quiet proud of that accomplishment, being something of a technical neophyte and all).

Got any feedback on the new look? Any Wordpress tips? Feel free to share suggestions and advice here.

Obama added: “Our expectation is that over the next several weeks, we will be developing a package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran. . . . I continue to hold out the prospect that they may decide to walk through this door. I hope they do. But what I am pleased about is the extraordinary international unity that we have seen.”

Well, that’s nice. Even if it’s nowhere near accurate.

Texas’ gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that “marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.” But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

“This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively “eliminates marriage in Texas,” including common-law marriages.

There’s some sort of metaphor here about how bigots who live in glass houses shouldn’t try to circumvent people’s rights or something. Rather than try to find the words for it, I think I’ll just have a good laugh.

Oh. That’s why.

Algeria became the last African nation to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals on Wednesday, beating Egypt 1-0 in a bruising playoff in neutral Sudan. The breakthrough came in the 40th minute, when defender Antar Yahya’s volley clipped the bar and ducked in from a long cross from Karim Ziani.

Let the games begin…

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Hard to believe that this time ten years ago, we were worried about the Y2K bug, and now we’re worried about the H1N1 bug. Plus ça change…

The next step will be a complete design overhaul of this blog. This template dates back to the blog’s launch in 2002, and it’s embarrassingly outdated. I’m considering migrating to Wordpress, although I’m a bit intimidated by the theme customization process. (For someone who works in Digital, my actual coding skills are minimal and woefully out of date.)

Whether I stay with Blogger, move to Wordpress, or go with a third option, the redesign is bound to be a big project, and I probably won’t start on it until after NaNoWriMo is over. Meanwhile, if anyone has any design ideas or suggestions, feel free to send ‘em along.

The provincial health minister wants to know if swine flu shots were “inappropriately diverted” to the Calgary Flames while thousands had to stand in line for hours for the vaccine.

Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert says he doesn’t know where the NHL team got the vaccine, adding that Alberta Health Services is the only supplier in the province. Team president Ken King says the club contacted the department and asked for the clinic.

[ . . . ]

Alberta’s opposition parties say professional hockey players shouldn’t be getting the vaccine ahead of cancer patients and pregnant women.

Or, more importantly, ahead of other NHL teams like the Montreal Canadiens.

No word on whether Alice Cooper will be releasing a song on the subject.

Gérald Tremblay has won a third term as mayor of Montreal, following a six-week municipal election campaign that was one of the most heated and unpredictable in recent memory.

[. . . ]

At 12:15 a.m., with 3,685 of 4,517 polling stations reporting, Tremblay held a 37 – 33 lead over Vision Montreal’s Harel, with third-place candidate Richard Bergeron of Projet Montréal polling at 26 per cent.

There’s a Kang and Kodos analogy in here somewhere.

You can continue to access this site for now, but stay tuned for updated information within the next few days as I look into a few different hosting options. Wherever I go, I’ll probably continue using the segacs.com URL, so if you haven’t already updated your bookmarks, you might want to at this point. You may find some broken links and images during this transition period, but hopefully these things are all temporary.

I was going to write a lengthy nostalgia post about my first websites back in the mid-90s with animated GIFs and blinking backgrounds and wallpaper… but I’ll spare you.

The Internet Archive Project has preserved a lot of Geocities sites, if you’re looking for something from the distant past.

Even the volunteers know that when they get an anglophone on the phone, it’s a lost cause.

On the other hand, in an election where our choices are Gerard corruption-is-my-middle-name Tremblay, Louise I-hate-anglos Harel, and Richard cars-and-corporations-are-evil Bergeron, I can’t help but feel that my best bet on November 1st will be to stay home.

The group is circulating a letter of protest and has drawn more than 50 signatures from artists around the world including American writer Alice Walker, Canadian writer and activist Naomi Klein, U.K. filmmaker Ken Loach and American actor Danny Glover.

“Looking at modern, sophisticated Tel Aviv without also considering the city’s past and the realities of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip would be like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto,” the letter states.

Same bullshit, different day. But what’s almost more shocking is the response of the festival organizers:

Festival co-director Cameron Bailey responded with a statement defending the program, although he acknowledged “Tel Aviv is not a simple choice and that the city remains contested ground.”

Excuse me? Tel Aviv is “contested ground”???

There are no words.

An alleged mermaid, said to resemble a cross between a fish and a young girl, only appears at sunset. It performs a few tricks for onlookers before disappearing for the night.

One of the first people to see the mermaid, Shlomo Cohen, said, “I was with friends when suddenly we saw a woman laying on the sand in a weird way. At first I thought she was just another sunbather, but when we approached she jumped into the water and disappeared. We were all in shock because we saw she had a tail.”

There’s a million-dollar reward announced by Kiryat Yam’s tourism board for the first person who manages to photograph the mermaid. No word on whether that reward gets doubled if you present it alongside a photo of the Loch Ness Monster.

And Venezuela continues its steady slide into repression.

Something tells me that the record number of unemployed people might disagree with that assessment.

Better hope that umbrella is big enough to protect you from the ensuing shitstorm, Hillary.

From the minute the sellout crowd booed loudly and rudely through the U.S. National Anthem, I knew it was going to be a long night. There is no excuse for that kind of disgusting display. If you don’t want to sing, fine, but stand quietly and show some respect.

The boos continued all night for the likes of Zdeno Chara and company. The cheers, on the other hand, were loud and boisterous for hits, checks and fights, but were mostly absent otherwise. Last season, the Bell Centre was so loud during the playoff games that you couldn’t even hear yourself think. Not so this season. When the team needed the crowd to rally behind them as they limped their way through a scoreless third, it was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

This fanbase eggs on the likes of Laraque and Stewart and encourages the team to play like thugs. Meanwhile, the so-called “big bad Bruins” beat us on skill, not might.

Yes, it’s true that a good number of our key players were injured. Yes, it’s true that Gainey has made some incredibly questionable decisions, including giving Carey Price a stranglehold on the starter’s job for no apparent reason.

Ultimately, the better team won all three games. Boston has outplayed us, outmatched us, outdueled us in every critical category, and has walked away with the victories fair and square.

And until we fans start demanding better and acting with class, we can expect more of the same. This season, Montreal fans truly got the hockey team that we deserved.

Shame on us.

It’s hard to argue that the Habs’ recent woes can be blamed solely or even largely on Carbo. On the other hand, sometimes fault doesn’t come into it. Sometimes it’s just about shaking things up.

Can’t help but feel bad for the guy, though. I liked Carbonneau as a player and I liked him as a coach. He led the Habs to their best record in over a decade last season, and this season started off promising as well. Then again, I guess the higher you rise, the further you fall.

Did I mention how much I love my city?

One potential monkey wrench: Lieberman made his support of Netanyahu conditional on forming a broad-based coalition. And so far, Livni looks prepared to keep Kadima in opposition.

So, as they say, it ain’t over till Shimon Peres sings.

And in no less important news, at least from a personal perspective, a baby boy was born in Montreal.

My grandfather died four years ago, at the age of 96. He would have been 100 years old today.

We miss you lots, Zaida!

Halak stole that one for us. At least one of our goalies seems to have rediscovered his confidence, even if it’s the wrong one. But that was a really dismal performance by the rest of the team.

Let’s hope that this victory – however undeserved – helps energize the rest of the team to turn things around for real.

Gainey’s got a busy couple of weeks ahead. He’ll need to do something to turn things around before the trade deadline.

Update: The carnage continues.

Meanwhile, without George W. Bush in office anymore, Chavez has redirected his efforts towards the world’s favourite scapegoat: Venezuela’s Jewish community. In the past few years, antisemitism in Venezuela has reached staggering levels, and there’s every indication that things are only going to get worse.

Read between the lines. We have:

• The truce being contingent on the re-opening of border crossings. Translation: Hamas is low on weapons supplies, and wants a time-out with easy access to re-arm.
• An expiry date on the truce of 18 months, after which all bets are off and the whole song-and-dance will start all over from scratch.
• Hamas doesn’t refer to this as a “truce”, but as the Arabic word “hudna”, which has a completely different meaning. It’s got nothing to do with a desire for reconciliation; instead, it’s viewed as a tactical move.
• And of course, no deal for the release of Gilad Shalit.

But we all know what will happen. Hamas will announce the truce with great fanfare. It will then blatantly proceed to ignore and violate the truce daily. Israel will close its eyes as long as possible before finally having no choice but to respond. And then the world will universally condemn Israel for “violating the terms” of the truce.

I wonder if Meryl Yourish will launch another Shudna Watch in her blog?

(Hat tip: Yonah.)

Netanyahu had a commanding lead in the polls and the election looked like it was going to be a wash, but Livni fought back and now it’s almost too close to call.

Even if Kadima wins, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Livni will be the next Prime Minister. She had trouble forming a coalition government after Olmert resigned last year, and conditions now are even less favourable for Kadima than they were then.

Should be interesting times ahead as the post-election political jockeying begins.

The Israeli blogosphere has been up late following the events as they unfold, of course. Aussie Dave was liveblogging all day. Imshin thinks it’s gonna get ugly. And Allison posts her excellent analysis on Pajamas Media.

In a related story, Meryl Yourish has more on what’s passing for journalism at AP these days.

Sometimes, the greatest ideas are the most obvious. (Hat tip: Matt).

About time. Hope they can keep it up.

That’s election-speak, if anything. The game keeps changing and everyone feels like challenges are “unprecedented”, but a leader with some perspective ought to know that there’s nothing all that new about Israel facing an existential threat.

So far, it looks like Kadima’s reaction amounts to “thanks, but no thanks”. But again, what gets said during a camapign and what happens afterwads aren’t necessarily one and the same.

“How long will Arab blood continue to be spilled, only to hear those who admit to miscalculating the scope and scale of Israel’s response?” Mubarak asked in a speech marking Egypt’s national day to honor its police force.

Mubarak’s comment came in reference to remarks reportedly made by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal, who admitted at the end of the three-week Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that he did not anticipate the scope of Israel’s operation. Similar sentiments were expressed by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the end of the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Mubarak went on to say that resistance movements must take responsibility over the welfare of their people. “The resistance must take into account victories and losses. It is responsible for the people, who in turn should settle the score [with the resistance] over the gains it has achieved, but also the sacrifices, the pain and the destruction it has caused,” he said.

The split in the Middle East is heating up, with the rival Palestinian factions serving as proxies, as usual:

The Egyptian president also hinted that Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions are serving the Iranian agenda in the region, especially since the fighting in Gaza ended. “They are trying to take advantage of Israeli aggression to force a new reality on the current Palestinian and Arab situation. A new reality that will alter the equation and reorganize the balance in favor of known regional powers and will serve their agenda,” Mubarak said. His comment came in response to Meshal’s recent calls for the establishment of an alternative Palestinian body, to rival Fatah in representing the Palestinian people.

It’s not much of a secret that there’s no love lost between Hamas and Egypt, which supports Fatah in the factional struggle. Mubarak is appealing to the EU and the international community to try and maintain the regional balance of power. But analysts speculate this could be costly for him at home, where the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (from which Hamas is an offshoot) could make political gains in Egypt at Mubarak’s expense. The peace between Israel and Egypt has always been chilly and fragile, and it’s looking shakier than ever.

As for Israel? As long as Palestinian factions gain popular support by being perceived as the toughest against Israel, Israeli citizens will continue to pay the price for this power struggle.

What city is this and what have they done with Montreal? What’s next, roads without potholes?

If this was the initiative of one lone bus driver, kudos to him. If this reflects some sort of new STM policy – and I highly doubt that it does – then it’s about damn time.

Now if only they could get the buses to show up on schedule…

“Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems,” Williamson wrote.

In other words, “I’m not sorry for what I did; I’m just sorry it caused you headaches”. Has he been taking lessons from Mel Gibson?

People in Quebec seem to like Iggy: The Liberals are up to 31% here, according to the latest CROP poll. That’s double the Conservative support and only three points behind the Bloc. Definitely a good sign.

If Ignatieff can manage to consolidate the Liberal party base and make some key gains in the west, the next election might not be such a wash. Harper needs to tread very carefully.