Bad but perfect

Taylor Tree Farm Homepage

Now here's an example of a terrible website - one that could have been built 10 years ago. It reminds me of the first site Barney and I put up on Compuserve. Truly bad by todays standards.

ITS PERFECT!!

The photography and copy say it all - no need for fancy design or functionality. I'll be there this weekend - I'm sold. It is somehow exactly what type of site I expect to see from a Christmas Tree Farm. No bullshit, just facts. Simple and beautiful.

This one's for you Anchi

PEEP and the Big Wide World

Hours (Hopefully), Minutes (Probably) or Seconds (hope not!) of fun for you and Alex. Enjoy!

Arrrghhh - Where are my tags???

del.icio.us/tobypilling

Oh man - I hope they fix this issue. What's the point of del.icio.us if the tags go bye-bye?

I'm waiting.....

UPDATE:10 minutes later I think they gave the servers a kick - it all went down for a while. Then 20 minutes later, my tags came back within my profile. Now they even appear on the post page. Phew, don't do that to me again!

Words

this, wow, kaka, dig, digger, vroom, up, down, on, off, push, bish, ding, bong, woosh, mummy, daddy, nana, baba, deda, socks, ducks, what, why, yes, no, beebaa, rocks, i know, i want, what is this, see mummy now, one, six, eyes, hands, head, bye, me, now, stop, boots, boy, in, dump, go, man, oh man, no way, go, stop, big boy, d, i, e, s, we are, click, bowl, book, ball, march(march-ch), bear, peep, kick, hello, hit, big, cookie, baby, bed, book, work, wee

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament Asked To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations - Yahoo! News:

"Hellyer warned, 'The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, 'The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide.'"

This almost sounds like a load of bobbins. I'm sure there are many Canadians that wish this story was fiction.

Comparing US Administration to Nazi Regime

Benjamin B. Ferencz: An outspoken ICC supporter and defender, Ben Ferencz graduated from Harvard Law School in 1943 then went on to fight under General Patton in every campaign in Europe during the Second World War until the final Battle of the Bulge. As the war neared its conclusion, Ben was transferred into the newly created War Crimes Branch to gather evidence of Nazi brutality. He witnessed the horrors of Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Dachau and shortly after his honourable discharge in 1945, he was recruited for the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, where he served as the Chief Prosecutor for the United States.

Very interesting interview I heard on Dispatches (CBC Radio One) last night

Here's some of the converstion:

"I don't want to compare anybody in our administration with the Nazi administration - they are not really comparable **BUT** the arguments being advanced by the current Bush administration is that in the face of presumed peril, whether it be weapons of mass destruction or other peril, the United States is justified under its current policy to unilaterally take whatever steps are necessary to pre-empt such an attack in the defense of the nation.
In the case of Iraq, the United States did not wait for a second Security Counsil Resolution regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction before they decided to attack. It called for an explanation and this explanation has not yet been forthcoming. And it pains me enormously to hear the arguments being made by our current administration particularly since the United States now rejects the Nuremberg principals by repuidiating the International Criminal Court and trying to do whatever it can to destroy that tribunal."

"The most important thing that came out of Nuremberg was that aggressive war which previously had been a national right became an International Crime"

George Best - 1946 - 2005 - The Greatest Footballer Ever

George Best - Wikipedia

Today is a very sad day for many across the world with the passing of a truly global football icon. Still a hero to so many, the Belfast Boy had struggled with the well-documented grips of alcoholism for the past 30 years. Having met George in Toronto back in 1998 when he came with his wife to sponsor a children's "soccer" camp, I feel as though I can breathe a final sigh or relief for the man. He seemed desperately unhappy and the slow descent from superstardom must have been a constant reminder for a man of such brilliance that his glory days were behind him. Today's news could have been predicted decades ago and battling with such a beast must have been a tremendous burden to bear.

Rest in Peace Georgie. May your like be seen again someday.

Video clip of Georgie in action.

Thanks a lot Chris for reminding me about this old photograph that was taken out the back of the International Center in Toronto during the Soccer Expo. Luckily, the booth that I was manning was just beside the door that George and wife Alex used to enter and leave. Oh those were fun times - what great memories I have. That was back when my brother was still living here. Man I miss that.

File under Nepotism

This is a scanned copy of a business card of a gentleman that works for Sarajevo's water/sewage system. Under his name where his title should be it says simply:

"General Manager's son-in-law (zet)".

Magic - wish I had one of those :P

Breastfeeding is 'good for mothers'

BBC NEWS | Health | Breastfeeding 'good for mothers': "Breastfeeding 'good for mothers'


Breastfeeding may cut a mother's risk of type 2 diabetes, research suggests.
A team from Harvard Medical School found one year of breastfeeding was associated with a 15% drop in a woman's risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Dr Alison Stuebe said: 'We've known for a long time that breastfeeding is good for babies.
'In this study, we found that it's good for mums too.
'Based on these findings, we have one more reason to encourage mothers to breastfeed.' The production of milk requires a breastfeeding mother to use an average of 500 calories each day - the equivalent of running four to five miles. "

See that? I'm running 4 to 5 miles a day. Now pass that chocolate...

Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE) Faq

XML Developer Center: Frequently Asked Questions for Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE)

I'm really liking where this is going. And I hope that Microsoft throw a lot more resources at this Web 2.0 thing - For their sake and ours.
Its seems to me that they feel a little left out of the game/discussion/excitement/attention at the moment and the more they help others, the less borg-like they look. Scoble does a great job of putting a face to the corporation but when the CTO is announcing RSS extensions under a Creative Commons license, you can see the effect this bubble's growth is having on them.
They realize that the new waves of students who are dabblling with RSS, OPML, AJAX etc are the future IT decision makers in companies that Microsoft needs to retain (or mend) relationships with. Keep at it Microsoft, I'm with you all the way.

I'm sure that nobody would argue that the world hasn't been altered in a positive way by some of the things that Microsoft has done over the years. There's more to come. Sometimes it just takes a kick in the arse to get things moving in the right direction again.

...and was his name Bora.....?

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Illegal butcher in flat shut down

"An illegal butchery business operating from a flat in County Tyrone has been closed down by the local council.
Environmental health officers in Cookstown said they recovered large quantities of roughly butchered pork from illegally slaughtered pigs.

The authorities were alerted by the smell of smoking pork. About 86kg of pork was found at the flat in a residential area of Killymoon Road. "

Hilarious. I know a few places in Toronto that I think the inspectors need to vist.

Weekend Work (and play)

147 Xmas
Originally uploaded by toby.

Well hopefully Father Christmas will be able to navigate his way to our chimney now that we've illuminated the neighbourhood.
Let's also hope that Alex keeps up his recent behaviour so that he gets on the list of good boys and girls.
Its amazing what a weekend can take out of me with only a few jobs actually accomplished. At least a little sleep was granted by the powers that be. We had to take beans and beer to go this weekend as we had so much to do and Milena is feeling dodgy and didn't want to pass it on the the little uns. At least we got to see Duki, who had been to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Science Center
Check out these before and after pictures that are generated by their Aging Machine. Cool stuff.

Jaden came round to play today for a while - he suggested that we play tennis but only having one racquet posed a problem. He suggested that we dig to see if we could find any buried tennis racquets, treasure and dinosaur bones. I ended up secretly burying a couple of squash racquets for him to unearth - priceless.

5 loads of laundry, shopping, prepared the mussels and 4 Quiches, bit of bishing, bit of Grey, bit of LM3/MH/Golden Gate and lots of Christmas light activity outside has wiped us out. Time for bed!

Words

this, wow, dig, digger, vroom, up, down, on, off, push, bish, ding, bong, woosh, mummy, daddy, nana, baba, deda, socks, ducks, what, why, yes, no, beebaa, rocks, i know, i want, what is this, see mummy now, one, six, eyes, hands, head, bye, me, now, stop, boots, boy, in, dump, go, man, oh man, no way, go, stop, big boy, d, i, e, s, we are, click, bowl, book, ball, march(march-ch), bear, peep, kick

There's only one Keano .. but I'm glad he's gone

ESPNsoccernet.com - England - Keane leaves Man United:
"Roy Keane has sensationally left Manchester United by mutual consent, the club announced today.

A statement released by the Old Trafford outfit confirmed that their long-serving captain has departed with immediate effect after it became clear that his future at the club was untenable.
The 34-year-old's representative Michael Kennedy met United chief executive David Gill at Old Trafford to thrash out details of Keane's severance, completing one of the most dramatic departures Manchester United has ever known."

To be perfectly honest, this is really no surprise to me; in fact there's a part of me that is very happy about this. The reality was that Keane is getting older, slower and more bitter with every missed shot or tackle. His frustrations have been boiling hotter and hotter over the years - his ambition hasn't changed but his body, our opponents and the game certainly have.
IMO, its not just the contract talks that have sparked this move. For any team to work effectively, members who poison the pot need to be removed quickly before damage is done to all. This is a critical period for United, with change needing to be welcomed, not rejected, in order for us to cope with the massive obstacles between us and success, on the field and off.
Many large club's have their fair share of motivation issues and its fairly obvious to all when its happening. What most club's DON'T have is an outspoken critic within the squad. Its not a recipe for success. It is the job of the supporters and manager to criticise the club; Roy has overstepped the mark and got away with it too many times in the past and I think his recent comments being pulled are just a realization by Fergie and others that they let this fester far too long.

United wouldn't be United without Alex, Roy and Eric - between them, they singlemindedly dragged a talented bunch of lads through what was needed year in year out. I have nothing but praise for Roy's contributions to the cause - how passionately I've sung in the stands, at pubs and in front of my own telly. It's a sad day but one that had to come sooner rather than later. I think everybody wins here. Roy can hopefully seek help to fill the void of football in his life and take some time off to recover after years of true dedication. Hopefully this will be the approach instead of moving up north to be with Gordon Strachan at Celtic.
Or maybe he'll quickly move into management at Rangers. hahahahaha
Or more seriously, Ireland.

...and when they turn the lights off, scream!

...and when they turn the lights off, scream!
Originally uploaded by toby.

This was a fun night. Alex was feeling very loving once he'd marched to the top of the hill and marched back down again.

Negroponte debuts $100 laptop at UN Net Summit

BBC NEWS | Technology | UN debut for $100 laptop for poor

The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning.

"Children will be able to learn by doing, not just through instruction - they will be able to open up new fronts for their education, particularly peer-to-peer learning," said Mr Annan.

Its good, but its not right

Ah the old classic

Food colour coding 'best option'

BBC NEWS | Health | Food colour coding 'best option'

I'd have to agree - this would even get me to buy healthy foods. Wonder how long this will take to materialize and then make its way over the Atlantic....

Omniture and Webtrends beware

Google Analytics

Google continues to disrupt existing lines of business with their free tools. This time they've pointed the laser squarely at companies like Omniture and Webtrends who both have Javascript tag approaches to analytics these days.

LiveStats - ha! Why bother!?!

What's next? Google Hosting? The Google Political Party?

Mothers 'were right' over colds

Mothers 'were right' over colds

Well who'd have thought... I owe you an apology Anchi

Night terrors and other sleep disturbances

Night terrors and other sleep disturbances

This article seems to be quite close to what Alex is going through. Poor him. Poor us.

"A child may be sitting in bed or be out of bed, with eyes wide open, calling for you, but she does not 'see' you and may push you away if you try to comfort her.

He may continue to cry or shout for a few minutes, sometimes up to 20 minutes, and rarely, for an hour or longer.
Then, quite suddenly he will relax, maybe look around briefly and go quickly back to sleep."

The deed is done

Well after 50+ years of bad eyesight, glasses, contact lenses and all the other annoyances that come along with cataracts, myopia and astigmatism, mum has finally had the second operation to make her now truly bionic.

This is all done under a local anesthetic and is not for viewing over breakfast or for those who are squeamish: Lens Implant Surgery
I can't wait to watch all those subtitled films we've avoided with her next time I see her!!

Congrats
xoxoxox

Don't leave me alone

Emma explains that its better when we're around - In her own special way.

Early Morning Practise

Early Morning Practise
Originally uploaded by toby.

Its just sooooo worth it to take the real camera down to the lake. Alex looks like he's shotputting in some of these new shots.
Keep working at it little duder - there's a throwing arm being developed there I'm sure ;)

Words

this, wow, dig, digger, vroom, up, down, on, off, push, bish, ding, bong, woosh, mummy, daddy, nana, baba, deda, socks, ducks, what, why, yes, no, beebaa, rocks, i know, i want, what is this, see mummy now, one, six, eyes, hands, head, bye, me, now, stop, boots, boy, in, dump, go, man, oh man, no way, go, stop, big boy, d, i, e, s, we are, click, bowl, book, ball

How Anchi saved the week (and her sanity)

we were in the bedroom, i said: ok, we have to go now get ready and stuff... no... bye mommy, bye... (meaning, i'll just stay in the bedroom and you go).
anyway, he went downstairs somehow (oh, i reminded him of your talk and how he promised you and that he just has to go, and that tomorrow is the weekend, blah, blah).
he wasn't too happy, he was sulking and trying to get away when i started putting the jacket on
i left emma on his play mat watching leaves and told him " hey, lets get your musical instryuments and walk ove to jaden's house playing and dancing, i bet asha will think it's funny". he wasn't too enthusiastic about it, but he kind of did it. he had the shaker and i had the tambourine,a nd i was singing "asha we are coming, asha we are coming" something like that.
so , no fighting really, just sulking and trying to stay on maria's lawn instead of going in (that's the only time i picked him up)
she'll take him to the park or beach, or both today, cuz it's nice
sorry about the typos, i'm not looking at the keyboard, staring at emma and talking to her

Priceless - I LOVE my family

I'm different!

Its 8 o'clock (hm - why don't people use that term as much as they used to) and I'm at my desk with coffee. This moment has become cherished in the last few weeks as I've become hooked on the latte's which found me a job here at Grey. Yes, I'm a Second Cup addict now - no shame in that.

What sets me apart today is that of the 6 people that I've managed to utter words to, all have mentioned that they're tired because its Friday. Cool! I have a leg up on the world today it seems. I feel as fresh as a daisy so far with Alex sleeping right through the night (after he finally went down at quarter to 10 (hm - why don't...)) He was even in a good mood when I left. I hope its one of those days. I like them.

Its different there... Very different

BBC News: Schwarzenegger accepts vote blame

'If I was to make another Terminator movie, I would tell Terminator to travel back in time to tell Arnold not to have another special election,' Mr Schwarzenegger said.

Background:
Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he holds himself to blame for the failure to win public backing for a package of reforms that he had proposed on issues such as abortion and budget cuts in the US state of California. Voters rejected all his measures.
He said he would learn from the defeat, saying that he has a 'different mentality' to other politicians.

I'd say that's a rather large understatement.
I'd love to find out how this type of message is received in California - do Californians expect this type of tripe from their elected officials? Is it a joke? Is joking about it acceptable? Knobby!

Words

this, wow, dig, digger, vroom, up, down, on, off, push, bish, ding, bong, woosh, mummy, daddy, nana, baba, deda, socks, ducks, what, why, yes, no, beebaa, rocks, i know, i want, what is this, see mummy now, one, six, eyes, hands, head, bye, me, now, stop, boots, boy, in, dump, go, man, oh man, no way

He is REALLY not wanting to go to hang out with Asha and Jaden at Maria's these days. Ana has a physical battle every morning. Jadna ona
This boy needs to go to a Day Care.

RIM to buy Palm?

Engadget wonders - RIM to buy Palm?:

"And if things should happen to go RIM's way in the suit, then they could always add BlackBerry support to upcoming Treos, something that's been just-around-the-corner for months now anyway. "

Seems like its not just around the corner:



Yikes - the Canadians are taking over!

Boys will be boys

New vidz of Alex being weird:

• Chef in the making?


• Eeeewwwwwww

Microsoft's Mail is Junk

Gallery Opening

Gallery Opening
Originally uploaded by toby.

From left to right:

Alex (the artist):
'Ducks', 'Dig, oo oo', 'Woosh'

Translation:
'Turkey Massacre', 'Diggers with an Owl' (?!), 'A Rocket'

Fluffy Bunny

100_0079
Originally uploaded by toby.

Emma looking just about as cute as a button in Dee's knitted 'hoodie'.

Grey Toronto

Grey Toronto
Originally uploaded by toby.

Waves

Waves
Originally uploaded by toby.

A bit rougher today

A bit rougher today
Originally uploaded by toby.

Words

Sat: Now, stop, boots
Sun: boy, in

Plus he's a very kind, gentle boy again today. What a joy to be around!

Saturday morning bishing ritual

Saturday morning bishing ritual
Originally uploaded by toby.

Reasons for temporary madness

So Alex has been increasingly strange over the past couple of weeks and we're pretty much tearing our hair out trying to figure out what's got into him. Prior to this behaviour, he was progressing very well with new words starting to emerge and a very caring attitude for his little sis. This is our list of reasons in no particulr order:

Summer is over - less outside activity
Jaden is being mean to him
Jaden is a miserable bugger and he's just copying him
Lena slept in his bed and it smells different or something
Clocks went back and he's off kilter
He has an ulcer on his tongue
He has a cough and a cold
He's realized that Emma is, in fact, staying for ever
We shout too much
We're not strict enough
He's not getting enough attention
He's had too much attention
He's scared of his room now
He's bored of his room
He's frustrated that he can't communicate better
More teeth are coming
He's got growing pains
He doesn't need a nap during the day
He gets over-tired because we don't get him in bed at the right time
All of the above?

Mysterious signals jamming garage door openers

Mysterious signals jamming garage door openers
Last updated Nov 4 2005 08:27 AM EST
CBC News


"Many automatic garage doors around Ottawa have suddenly and strangely stopped working, due to a powerful radio signal that appears to be interfering with the remote controls that open them.

The signal is transmitted on the 390-megahertz band, which is used by virtually all garage door openers on the continent.

It's the same frequency used by the U.S. military's new state-of-the-art Land Mobile Radio System. "

Apparently a couple of the city's repair firms have mapped the freak occurrences and have concluded that the source is most likely the US Embassy.

"The U.S. Embassy adamantly denies any transmissions on that frequency. So does the Canadian military."

Right. That's probably because they have no idea which undercover agents are among them, let alone what orders they have.

Words

this, wow, dig, digger, vroom, up, down, on, off, push, bish, ding, bong, woosh, mummy, daddy, nana, baba, deda, socks, ducks, what, why, yes, no, beebaa, rocks, i know, i want, what is this, see mummy now, one, six, eyes, hands, head, bye, me

Is Microsoft playing catch up?

Windows Live Ideas Homepage

Trying to compete with them all: Skype, GMail, del.icio.us, Google Talk, My Yahoo, Google Earth

Is Microsoft playing catch up?

All said, I will use it and probably use Kahuna waaaaay more than HoTMaiL. I may even start using GMail less!

Merry Christmas From Heaven Frame

The Lighter Side : Merry Christmas From Heaven Frame (#62781):

Because celebrating the holidays can be difficult after the passing of a loved one, we offer a touching Merry Christmas From Heaven Frame. This keepsake features a stirring poem along with a beautiful mat that holds a cherished 4' x 6' photograph. Poem reads in part:
I love you all dearly, now don't shed a tear. Cause I'm spending my Christmas with Jesus this year.
Gold painted frame has a glass front and an easel back. Frame can also be wall mounted. 9.5'W x 11.5'H.

wow