Ode to an Octopus

Octopus, octopus, I love you
Yes I do
I love you

Well, that was rather silly wasn't it.

A Short, Meaningless Note on the Capitals

The Capitals have 16 games left, and they are three points out of first place in the anemic Southeast division. They have the talent and the ability to win the division, but I worry that they do not want it badly enough.

Yummy Yummy Sandwich

I found an idea for a sandwich in a promotional calendar from my local grocery store. I eat a lot of sandwiches since they are about the only thing that I know how to make to put in my lunch bag for work, so I tend to get bored with my menu. When I saw this idea I decided to try it out. The first thing that I did was bake a loaf of bread. It was generic white bread except that I used half white flour and half semolina flour to insert a bit of variety into my life. Once the bread was made I made the sandwich by adding these ingredients onto a slice of the bread.

• guacamole, spread reasonably generously
• a couple of slices of smoked turkey
• a layer of spinach leaves
• a slice of havarti cheese
• a sprinkling of fresh chopped dill weed, not too much
• sliced cucumbers

That's it. I have been eating this for lunch all week, but now the turkey has run out so I need to think of something else for tomorrow's lunch.

Thoughts on the Florida Primary

John McCain won the Florida Republican primary yesterday. For what its worth he seems to be the best of a bad lot, so I suppose that I am rooting for him to be the Republican presidential candidate this year. Not that I am rooting for the Republicans to win in November, but of all the Republican candidates he seems to be the sanest and has the most realistic world-view. His mindless support for the US war in Iraq is troubling, but let’s face it, there is no way that the US can pull its troops out of Iraq without that country, and perhaps that entire region, descending into chaos, so we really have no choice but to stay and help clean up the mess that the botched occupation made. John McCain has the military experience to realize that this will not be an easy job, which is better than some of the other Republican hopefuls who seem to have a bit of a Pollyanna view of the occupation. If we are going to stay in Iraq we may as well be realistic about it. We need to take on advisory and security roles and not try to impose a political or social system on the country. We also need to recognize that the country may not survive and prepare for that possibility. What we need to avoid is getting drawn into protracted combat operations where one faction in the country is attacking one of the other factions. We also need to recognize that we are there to keep the country, and region, stable. We are not there to promote democracy or export freedom, or fight terrorism. John McCain is the only Republican who appears to understand this.

On the Democratic side Florida was supposed to be a non-event. Florida lost its Democratic delegates because it held its primary earlier than the Democratic Party wanted, so all of the Democratic candidates had pledged not to campaign there. For the most part the candidates honoured that. The problem was that Hillary Clinton ran a ghost campaign that essentially said “I am not campaigning, but if I were then this is what I would be saying”. For the most part I think that Clinton would make a good president, and I would be happy to support her if she becomes the Democratic candidate, but things like this make me worry that she is not an honest person. She won in Florida with 50% of the vote. Obama got 33%, and the rest split the vote between them. What really worries me is that Clinton and Obama will battle this out to the bitter end, and that the battle will get more and more bitter as it goes on. This will benefit no-one except the Republicans. The increasingly nasty fighting between the two camps will just weaken the Democratic Party, disillusion their supporters, and provide ammunition for the the right when the presidential campaign starts. Please, Democrats, stop! Both of these people will make good presidents. Let the primary system do its job and stop slinging mud at each other. A Democratic victory in November is not a sure thing. In fact, it is quite possible that the Democrats will collapse on the campaign trail and the Republicans will win again.

I saw this on a bumper sticker today.

A picture of Little Bush Intelligent Design, or Random Mutation

The Star Wars Christmas Special

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the Star Wars Christmas Special from 1978. Enjoy.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Wasn't that fun!

The Big Fight

Here is a short video of a hypothetical battle between a sperm whale and a giant squid. One day, I hope that we will have film of the real thing.

Hockey without the Passion: What's the Point

The November 2007 issue of Forbes Magazine has an article on the Toronto Maples Leafs, from the point of view of team valuation. I picked up the magazine and eagerly anticipated reading something about hockey. After all, hockey is the greatest sport in the world, and is very close to being the greatest thing in the world too. After reading the article I must say that Forbes managed to completely miss the point. Hockey is not about dollars and investments. Hockey is about passion and grit and the unique crunch of a well-delivered body check. The Forbes article managed to reduce the greatest game on Earth to something that made me yawn.

Forbes has a great Web site. It reports the daily news well. However, the magazine is a bore. I am truly regretting subscribing to it.

Big Cuddly Squid

This is what I want for Christmas this year. It does cost $1800 however (the Web site does not say if that is Canadian dollars or not), which is a bit much, even for a hand-made giant squid.

What's with the Capitals?

This has been a tough year to be a Washington Capitals fan. The team has not only stumbled badly, they have been boring to watch, and do not seem interested in playing the game. True, they have suffered from so many injuries since October that I have lost track, but their real problem seems to be that they have just lost interest in hockey. Watching a Capitals game is not fun, it is tedious. I wish that I had some good advice to give the team, but I do not. All that I can say to the players is to get out on the ice and play every shift as if it were the one that history will remember. If they play for the sheer joy of playing, and check their egos at the gate, they just may be able to recover something of this season. The Caps have the raw talent, they just need to learn to use it. I still have hope.