[canada] centre on the brink of recession

The Ontario economy has nearly stalled and, with the U.S. slowdown breathing down its neck, Canada's biggest province could possibly fall into recession, a new forecast from economists at Toronto-Dominion Bank warns. “There is a chance of recession in Ontario. We have some numbers that are getting close to the line,” said Derek Burleton, co-author of the bank's latest provincial forecast. A recession is typically defined as two successive quarters of economic contraction, and is frequently associated with rising levels of bankruptcy, company restructuring and job loss across many sectors.

[richard hammond] some better news

Richard Hammond, 36, has been transferred from the West Yorkshire hospital by air ambulance to Leeds-Bradford International Airport. He appeared to be laughing and chatting. "He is continuing to do well and was obviously stable enough to be moved," a Leeds General Infirmary spokeswoman said. Well, thank goodness for that. Some will put the recovery down to his robust constitution. The wise will put it down to his robust constitution and the power of prayer.

[cricket] nambi-pambiness in it's worst form

So Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has been cleared of ball tampering but banned for four one-day matches for bringing cricket into disrepute. What a load of b-ll-cks. Either he was guilty ... or he was not guilty. This blog is vehemently anti-nambi-pambiness in any shape or form and this is one of the more gratuitous examples of it. Add this one to the Pope's little about face on Islam and a store of treasured idiocy is slowly amassing.

[awb charge] western agency funded saddam hussein’s bunker for dead kurds

The AWB could face criminal charges linked to terrorism offences, amid fresh claims some of its staff knew money being funnelled to Saddam Hussein's government could have been used to build bunkers to bury dead Kurds. In its closing stages today, the Cole inquiry has seen an AWB document which reveals the Iraqis in 2001 wanted foreign currency to build 2,000 concrete bunkers. Who is the AWB? American War Board? Association of Women of Britain? No, as every Australian knows, it’s the Australian Wheat Board. Wheat. The stuff we use for bread. What, may I ask, was a wheat board doing with dead Kurds?

[wallace] it wasn’t the question – it was the smirk

That outburst by Bill Clinton last Sunday, when he referred to the smirk on the face of Christopher Wallace, has puzzled many. It’s so easy to understand. He brought Clinton in under false pretences, his attitude from the beginning was mocking behind his obsequious ‘sirs’ and he simply wished to provoke, then turn around and innocently ask of all and sundry, ‘Whatever have I done wrong?’ He placed himself on the same intellectual plane as Clinton and in the smirk was overweaning arrogance and deep disrespect for a man who has strutted the world stage whilst Wallace himself has done zilch in any creative sense. He wasted the other man’s time and time is not a thing any of us have to waste. I’m not a Clinton fan but he was 100% right on this one. And for this last reason of wasted time, over here yesterday, I refused to deal with a particular group of people again. Life’s too short for such rubbish.

[blogging] the long and the short of it

There are nice pieces by Mr. Worstall and Mr. Olives today about blogging as a viable medium. A blogger also e-mailed me today with the view that he preferred the short, pithy piece to the long-winded, e.g. my piece on said Mr. Worstall. Another wrote yesterday that he preferred not to quote or link [if I understood correctly] as it defeated the purpose of a blog. Another answered him that it showed solidarity with the thoughts of the liked writer. A non-blogger said today that the beautifully presented piece in a garden blog setting detracts from its authenticity and that he favoured the scribbled memo style on an awfully designed background, as long as the man is an acknowledged expert. I read and listen and learn as I go.

[la gioconda] was she pregnant

Presume you saw the Forbes piece about the parturient la Gioconda model. "Thanks to laser scanning, we were able to uncover the very fine gauze veil Mona Lisa was wearing on her dress. This was something typical for either soon-to-be or new mothers at the time," explained Michel Menu, of the French Museums' Centre for Research and Restoration. Seems far fetched to me. Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the wealthy Florentine silk merchant was 24 when Da Vinci began painting her in 1503; she outlived her husband and had five children. The portrait may have been commissioned to commemorate the birth of her second son. Da Vinci was still working on the piece when he emigrated to France in 1516 and is believed to have finished it just before his death three years later. It’s not the first time the idea has been raised.

[sony] ibm and lenovo recalling batteries

The situation just won’t die. Forbes reports that International Business Machines Corp and Lenovo Group have said that in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission they are voluntarily recalling around 526,000 lithium-ion batteries worldwide manufactured by Sony Corp. Lenovo said the batteries can overheat, posing a potential fire hazard. It said it will offer free-of-charge replacement batteries for all recalled batteries. The recalled batteries were sold with or sold separately to be used with some models of ThinkPad notebook PCs, it said.

[film reflects life] blade runner remembered

Do you remember the film Blade Runner where replicants, robotic humanoids who did all the dirty work for humans, were invented by, in Russell Ebert’s words, "a slimy leader of an evil megacorporation", Joe Turkel? When they discover that Turkel has programmed into their circuits an early death for them, they decide to pay him a visit. Do you remember the moment when Tyrell asks the replicant, after they’ve tricked their way into his penthouse apartment, "What seems to be the problem?" "Death," responds Rutger Hauer, the cerebral psychotic. He then proceeds to slowly "execute" Tyrell. Well Tyrell’s corporation reminded me today of Blogger and I see myself in the role of Rutger Hauer. If only I can work out where they’re hiding out, I'd like to pay a visit to the Blogger programmers.

[hewlett packard] le successeur est mark hurd

La directrice juridique de Hewlett Packard a démissionné jeudi suite à l’affaire d’espionnage qui secoue la direction du groupe informatique. Contrairement aux autres dirigeants, elle refuse de témoigner devant une commission du Congrès, et pointe du doigt le directeur financier du groupe. Moins d’une semaine après la démission de l’ex-PDG de HP Patricia Dunn, c’est au tour de la directrice des services juridiques Ann Baskins de quitter ses fonctions, après 24 ans au sein du groupe. Suivez ici.