YouTube - OK Go - Here It Goes Again

By far, one of the coolest music video's ever made, and certainly one of the lowest budget. OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Photos from Fungineer

I finally figured out how to use "Flickr" yesterday. I'm slow. Anyway, a bunch of pictures that I've taken are now hosted there. Here's the link:
www.flickr.com/photos/fungineer/

The ultimate road trip.

Baby Rock Records

If I had a kid, I'd totally be buying some CD's from 'Baby Rock Records'. I don't, so I might be forced to buy them for other people's kids. Here's a short review of the Metallica Lullaby Albumn:

Bach and Brahms just might enhance your wee one's intelligence, but today's parents are ready to expand beyond familiar horizons -- which is where Baby Rock Records comes in. The label has lovingly transformed songs by some of today's biggest rock acts into soothing instrumentals, rendered by glockenspiel, vibraphone, mellotron, harp, and bells. Metalhead mommies -- and let's just admit it, dads -- will be especially pleased with Lullaby Renditions of Metallica, which takes the edge off tunes such as 'One,' 'Nothing Else Matters,' 'Master of Puppets,' and 'Enter Sandman.' You can get them that Marshall stack when the kids turn five.

more (including samples of each song)...:

Focus on the Republicans

Is Focus on the Family overstepping the normal acceptable activities of a very influential Christian Organization? I'm all for political action, but I think this is going a little too far.

Afghanistan

I'm hoping one of my loyal readers out there can help me out. I'm trying to understand the whole 'Afghanistan War', and Canada's involvement in it, and I find myself underinformed. I'm trying to find answers to the questions "Why are we there?", and "What is the point of our mission there?". And I don't mean that in a frustrated, let's quit, "ahh, what's the point of even trying", I mean, what is the point, the ultimate goal and objective of our military presence in Afghanistan?

Can someone simply explain it to me, or point out a good resource. I think I understand the basics of it, but I'd like to make sure I'm not missing something.

There is much debate these days, across the media and political spectrum, as to whether Canada should even be involved in this mission, whether we should be withdrawing our troops. Before throwing in my two cents on that one, the way things are presently, I'd like to know a bit more.

We're obviously not there in an entirely peace-keeping role. We're not just working in humanitarian efforts - building schools, infrastructure. We're hunting down and killing the Taliban. We're being shot at, targeted, blown up by suicide bombers (suiciders - as GWB calls them), and even accidentally fired on by our own allies. This is the stuff you see in the media every day. This is what's happening. I want to know why it's happening. Why are we there? Why should I support our troops staying there? Why should I support withdrawing our troops? Do we have achievable goals - or are we fighting some open ended, unwinnable 'War on Terror'? Is there a plan for leaving - when certain goals have been accomplished...

If you know the answers to these questions, or where I can find them, let me know. Thanks. I normally would like to think I'm well-informed, but for some reason I feel like I'm missing something on this issue.

I sincerely hope we're not just in Afghanistan fighting a battle that the Americans started post 9/11, in the search for Osama, and then abandonded so that they could go after Saddam and his oil. I sincerely hope there is more to it than that.

Click this. Seriously, who thinks of this kind of stuff. Digital BubbleWrap. I'm putting a link on my desktop for when I need some stress relief.

"spending all day chasing the shade, drinking beer"
"nano-relationship-particles"

just two of the phrases coined at last nights 'resonate greenhouse' meeting.

Clinton officials to ABC: Fix or pull 9/11 miniseries

Well, it only took a few days for this to show up in the mainstream media (MSM). ABC is planning to air a mini-series called 'The Path to 9/11' on the anniversary. They claim it is based on the 9/11 commission report. I'm sure parts of it are. However, Bill Clinton, and several others are voicing their opposition to its attempts at re-writing history. Of particular note is that pre-screenings were only given to those in the media/blogosphere who are right-leaning in their politics, generating generally favorable reviews. Having not seen the 'docudrama' and not knowing all the facts, I'm not really free to comment on the accuracy of the series. However, if, as some are alleging, ABC is distorting history for the purpose of a political agenda, they should be called to the carpet, and defend themselves. more...

Update: Here's what the left is saying.

I went to Kingston for work yesterday, and on the way back I decided to take the scenic route, literally, since I was in no hurry. I took the Loyalist Parkway along the shore of Lake Ontario, took the Glenora Ferry (a short 5 minute ride) accross to Prince Edward County, with the intention of visiting a Cemetary in Bloomfield to locate the gravesite of my Mom's parents. I took a quick detour though, when I saw a sign for a road named "Chuckery Hill Rd". I remembered seeing pictures of a house on that road that my mom and her family lived in when they first immigrated to Canada. Actually, here's an excerpt from my Grandfather's memoirs:

Our crate arrived at the Picton railroad station on Friday November 2nd but it was too late to pick it up before the weekend any more. My boss, Mr. Hepburn made a dump truck with a driver available to me on the next Monday morning and after we loaded the crate on it we drove it to our house via a long detour. Our first house stood along a gravel road, 2/3rd from the top of a steep hill, or about 200 meters, from highway 33. about 2 miles east of the town of Picton. From on front of the house we could see below us the Picton Bay, part of the Bay of Quinte which runs into Lake Ontario. That Friday we had received a good bit of snow and by the time we reached the bottom of the hill we found the hill too steep to climb with the dump truck, then we tried to get in from the back via a long detour, here we got stuck in a snow drift, but a coal truck is always prepared with coal shovels, with the help of these we got through and finally reached the house. Mom was cleaning out the house already with the help of the youngest children, We unloaded, and installed the used cook stove, bought at a Picton hardware store that morning, and a half a ton of coal to get some heat into the place while the driver raised the dump on his truck, neatly dropping the big crate into the soft snow. We opened the crate, took out all our furniture and found a place for it in the house, kitchen stuff into the kitchen, living room stuff into the living room and bedding into the several bedrooms of
which 2 were downstairs and 3 or 4 upstairs, there was lots of room.

So, yesterday I found the house, and pulled into the driveway. I knocked on the door and met the present owner who was kind enough to show me around after I explained to him that my mom lived there 50 years ago. My grandfather describes the house as having lots of room. By today's standards, it's a tiny house. But for a family with 5 kids, they had plenty of room. Incredible. Anyway, here's some pictures, then and now. The new owner has installed a washroom (but kept the outhouse, just in case), and rearranged the interiour a bit, but intends on keeping the look of the house as it is.

Early 1950's:


2006: