Global warming believers build in the escape hatch

As many people have heard, a new study admits that the Earth has not been warming as predicted, but actually cooling off.

But leave it to the global warming crowd to turn this into a win-win for them.

Angry in the Great White North is reworked

As people who have been reading my blog for while know, when I go quiet for a few days, there is usually a major technical change in the works.  This was no exception.  Welcome to the leaner, streamlined, Angry in the Great White North.

Jack Layton catching Stephane Dion's Google wave [and Stephen Harper's too!]

Maybe you have to have worked in the industry, but I am quick to catch evidence of who is taking the Web as a serious channel for information distribution.

Right now, the NDP is clearly laughing at the Liberals, using Stephane Dion's strength as a Google search term to spread the NDP message.

Update: And laughing at the Conservatives too!

Gustav a category 5 disappointment for the global warming crowd

Nothing like a good storm to blame on global warming, Western industrialization, Church-sanctioned misogyny, and the Great Pumpkin.

But when that storm fizzles, you can almost taste the disappointment in the air.

Which is surprising, really.  if you think about it, global warming ought to reduce the intensity of hurricanes.

If you think about it.  But then who has time to think when there is all that fear-mongering to do?

The end of the Internet as we know it?

Imagine that your ISP blocked access to every site on the Internet.  Then as a subscriber, you paid a monthly fee for access to basic blocks of sites, as well as extra fees for other sites not in the basic package.

Apparently this will define access to the Internet for Canadians in 2010.

I know, it sounds nuts.

Part of me wonders if I was directed to this story by someone wanting to embarrass me.

But then the idea has just plausible enough to make me think it could be true.

In any case, it's fascinating, and I figured I can't be faulted for letting you read the story and judge for yourself.

Ah, for all I know, this is just an urban legend I've never heard of before.

Skipping the problem of replacing the fuel source

I swing between amusement and frustration when I read comments from well-meaning environmentalist types who think that if all bought electric cars, we wouldn't need oil.

It belies a fundamental ignorance of how the world works, and makes me nervous about these people ever being in charge.

In particular, I'm looking at a comment on the Liberal Party discussion board, in which the person posting says the world will be so different in 10 years when we stop using petroleum to power transportation having switched to electricity.

I shake my head.  What did they teach these people in science class in high school?

Welcoming James Curran to Intense Debate

Liberal blogger James Curran has installed the Intense Debate commenting system.  Here's hoping it will encourage blog readers to visit blogs from "the other side" more often.

An important consideration when shutting off government funding -- the spread of pornography!

The Conservative government has reduce or cut off funding to a number of programs, including quasi-private special interest groups.  Though I have no problem with the government vacating these areas, there are some unintended consequences to be considered.

In particular, of course, is having government computers help out with the spread of online pornography.

But you knew that's where I was going with this.

Micro-satellites the plan or the compromise?

An interesting report recommends that Canada develop its own launch capability for satellites.  I haven't seen the report myself, but the newspaper report does not mention if the question of a launch facility and where it would be located.  There's the rub.  Picking a launch site is tricky, and it affects things like the size of the payload.  The report apparently pushes for Canada to develop a micro-satellite capability.  That might be a good idea, or it might just the best we can manage being a northern country.

SlickCash, Brian Fabian, Facebook, spam, and Al Qaeda

A Toronto firm is in trouble for allegedly trying to crack open Facebook's data files.  Given the reputation of the holding companies in this porn empire, it seems like they were looking for email addresses.  I wonder if an interest in Al Qaeda four years ago was also just an attempt to get email addresses.

Terrible news as weather deaths continue to drop

How will environmentalists succeed at terrifying people into following them by threatening death at the hands of planetary weather when the evidence shows a steady and dramatic decline in weather-related deaths?

The first thing, of course, is to point out that Big Oil is somewhere in the picture. That way the environmentalists can skip trying to actually refute the data.

Arctic UAVs and the Arrow

The Canadian military is considering the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to patrol the Arctic. Getting our hands on some, though, might be a bit tricky. Maybe we should consider designing and building our own.

A new Avro Arrow for the 21st century? Why not?

And hopefully a happier ending this time around.

Janine Krieber labels the BlackBerry a terrorist's tool

The wife of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, Janine Krieber, recently gave a speech at Queen's University. It was an official Liberal Party event, and the audience was treated to Krieber's insights into the ins and outs of terrorism.

And guess what? Apparently the BlackBerry from Canada's RIM would make a real good tool for terrorists.

Ms Dewey should just shut up and search!

Check out Ms Dewey, and then you'll understand why Google has nothing to worry about.

Mickey Mouse's two-dimensional ears

Just a post about a curious observation about Mickey Mouse. Rendered in 3D, Mickey's ears are stubbornly two-dimensional. I wonder how much trouble that was for modern animators.

Another redesign of the blog

Yeah, I did it yet again. I just can't seem to hit that point where I'm totally satisfied with the way Angry in the Great White North looks and performs. Sometimes when I fiddle with the design I move farther away from that mysterious point. This one, I think, is getting closer. Let me explain some of the changes.

China warned off cheating at the Olympics but the focus is on drugs and not genetics

Dick Pound of the World Anti-Doping Agency is warning China in no uncertain terms that if they are caught sending doped athletes into Olympic competition, then the Olympics will be a disaster.

True enough. I think the Chinese will work very hard to hide their doping program. But then what about the genetically-enhanced super-athletes?

Huh?

Newton, Leibniz, the Kerala School, and the gulf between invention and contribution

The question is raised about who invented calculus.

Let me answer that question. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz share that honour. The Kerala School might have come up with the Taylor expansion of trigonometric functions, but that is not the same as calculus. Nor did they contribute their discovery to the body of human knowledge.

No need to rewrite the history books on this one, even if it means evil Westerners retain the credit for something good.

Cialis (tadalafil) warning from Health Canada targets all-natural male potency product Zencore Tabs

The latest Health Canada warning is one of a long line of warnings targeting male potency products. Marketed as all-natural, Health Canada seems to repeatedly find that these products contain medically significant concentrations of sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra), and tadalafil (Cialis). These compounds are effective, but also require a prescription, since they all have serious side effects and interactions with other drugs.

Checking out a bit about this industry, I wonder if these health industry manufacturers routinely spike their male potency products in order to make they work. I say routinely, because I found a scientific paper on how to efficiently check for this problem, suggesting it is a widespread problem.

Of course, having had absolutely no reason whatsoever to have used any of these products at any time, I have had to depend on what I could find out on the internet.

Reinvigorate your blog statistics

I've been using a new statistics and metrics package called reinvigorate. Here are my impressions, and what I've learned about site metrics using this package that can apply to anyone.

Stephen Taylor's amazing newspaper viewer

Web 2.0 meets the Blogging Tories with Stephen Taylor's newspaper viewer. I can't really explain just why the application is so darned addictive. Maybe it's that sense of walking through recent history, or the hunt for a notable day to recall how the major papers covered the story.

Read Stephen's post on the the creation of this application, then visit it yourself.

E3 AWACS overflying my house

It's not something you see every day. The kids got all excited and told me to look up. You're right, I said, that is a weird looking airplane.

The distinctive shape of an E3 AWACS, flying relatively low, the radome clearly visible, tracking from west to east over Cambridge, Ontario. And directly over my house.

Launching the Canadian Conservative Ad Network

The Canadian Conservatve Ad Network is recruiting both potential advertisers and member blogs. Advertisers and bloggers can find out more information here, and advertisers can visit the BlogAds Hive Home of the network to review the growing list of member blogs and purchase advertising.

Wrapping up the Adriane Carr fake website story with an apology

Looks like a disgruntled ex-Green Party worker, presumably Jayun McDowell (though this has not been confirmed), was responsible for the faked website at Adriane Carr's old domain. And Jim Harris has offered an apology to Liberal Hedy Fry for accusing her of being somehow responsible for the website.

Funding for the Canadian Journal of Urology to go to Africa

In a followup to a post on AORTIC, the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer, I have received a letter in which a major Canadian medical journal has been asked to attend the conference and issue a special supplement covering the conference and the papers presented.

I've argued that this sort of aid to Africa, focusing on helping Africa become an integral part of the modern world, has more potential to solve Africa's social problems than the cycle of lending African countries money, watching the money frittered away but corrupt officials, and then forgiving the loans in order to start the cycle again.

Adriane Carr website almost certainly under the control of Webtide Internet Solutions

A detailed look into the IP addresses and mailservers associated with adrianecarr.ca, the website that formerly hosted the website of former BC Green Party leader Adriane Carr, now the candidate for the federal Green Party in Vancouver Centre, suggests that the site is still firmly in the control of Webtide Internet Solutions, as it has been since its inception. That's significant in determining who would have changed the site to show a strong endorsement of Liberal Party incumbent Hedy Fry by her opponent Adriane Carr, an endorsement claimed to be fraudulent by the Green Party.

More on the Adriane Carr website

Another look at the adrianecarr.ca website, currently the subject of interest since it started to show a message from Vancouver Centre Green Party nominee Adriane Carr endorsing Liberal Party incumbent Hedy Fry, reveals it's long history, and the changes it has undergone, but more important, the changes that have not happened.

Adriane Carr fake website -- Constructed by one of Carr's supporters?

The Green Party candidate for Vancouver-Centre, Adriane Carr, is the target of an online joke in which the domain adrianecarr.ca offers a strong endorsement of Liberal Party incumbent Hedy Fry.

The Green Party is claiming that the Liberals are behind it.

An analysis of the website, though, points to one of Adriane Carr's supporters.

The limits of environmental action as defined by Severn Suzuki

The world is about to collapse. The environment is on the verge of complete and utterly irreversible destruction.

We are all going to die!

But there are still limits to what humans can be asked to do avoid this calamity.

Well, there are limits to how much Severn Suzuki is willing to do. The rest of us, of course, have to carry the load.

The power of blogging to affect change

A retrospective on the recalls of products that have happened in Canada makes a comment that speaks to the potential of blogging to tip stories and to change behaviour.

AORTIC Conference an opportunity to do good in Africa

Irish rocker and professional holier-than-thou busybody Bono is demanding more, and more, and more Canadian aid money to be sent ot Africa, paid out our taxes (taxes he doesn't pay in tax-free Ireland).

Watching the responsible response by South African pineapple farmers to damage to their crops inclicted by bad Chinese fertilizer, it strikes me that Africa could really benefit from an attitude adjustment -- by us and not by them. And that includes Bono.

Though large swathes of Africa are suffering greatly from poverty, and much of that is a result of poor self-serving economic decisions by despotic tyrants, there seems to be other examples, like those East Cape pineapple farmers, where Africans act in the best Western traditions, it seems.

Maybe instead of shovelling money at the problem and then writing it off after seeing no benefit, Western governments ought to look for opportunites where Africa is excelling, and helping to enable and amplify that.

There is an opportunity with the African Organization Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) Conference taking place in Cape Town in October.

Shell Chemical plant struggling with substandard Chinese parts

I have a report from Shell Chemical detailing a shocking problem discovered in Holland. Chinese-made piping for a major chemical plant was discovered to have been deliberately reworked to hide serious flaws that engineers believe could have resulted in disastrous consequences.

Canadian bloggers still having trouble getting credit for their contribution

I keep reminding myself that the most important thing is the Canadians are now learning that they might have dangerously defective tires on their minivans and SUVs. That's what matters. But as an aside, I have to say I feel a bit cheated that the work I did to reveal that this might be the case has not been credited.

I shouldn't be this thin-skinned, but then all bloggers are cheated when this happens, so it's not just about me.

Art and business duke it out at Disney

The only-beauty-matters artistic element at Disney has won a major battle over the bottom-line-is-king business faction with the announcement that direct-to-DVD sequels of animated theatrical releases will no longer be produced. I'm curious to see if Disney can find a way to make both sides happy.

Supersmart dolphins chomping down on stupid humans

A diverting bit of news of humans being attacked by dolphins.

Nigerian compelled to provide real registration information

After I wrote about the strage constellation of websites registered by A Bojali, I was contacted by Bojali, who was getting heat from hosting companies over the suspicious registration information.

I offered some advice, and it looks like it was taken.

Google AdSense serves up a Nigerian scam

This is Adewale Bolaji. She is trying to sell you bogus AdWords advice via my blog. For that I apologize. She might also be the face of Nigerian 419 scams. It makes for an interesting trip through the internet.

Test driving Safari for Windows

I've been using the new Safari browser for Windows, and I have to say I'm impressed.

Here is revealed the end of the Harry Potter story

How will the Harry Potter saga end? I can reveal at least one important ending that we will see soon enough.

Entropy and Population and the Unspoken Solution

Just some thoughts about entropy and energy usage and how it links to population and the environment.

David Suzuki says Canadians want to pay more taxes; Angus Reid says otherwise

David Suzuki says Canadians are willing to pay, nay, are demanding that they be forced to pay, carbon taxes. An Angus Reid poll suggests exactly the opposite.

Questions about the JFK fuel line terror plot

Law enforcement officials in the US have foiled a plot to ignited the fuel supply to John F Kennedy Airport in New York. But I have to say that I'm confused by just what the alleged terrorists thought they could accomplish.

Just what is up with Cullis-Suzuki's Skyfish Project?

The Skyfish Project is an "internet thinktank" set up by Severn Cullis-Suzuki, David Suzuki's daughter. But it is really a parked domain with spammy links for alien t-shirts and bizarre pseudo-Catholic end-of-time prophecies.

Environmentalism, the Middle Class, the Middle Ages, and Dynasties

Ever notice that the world the environmentalists want us to live in is a lot like Medieval Europe? And in more ways than you might think?

My Saturday shock thanks to Star Trek

So the wife and kids went out for a quick drive on Saturday afternoon, and I found myself allowed to put on whatever I want on TV. A rare treat indeed. I browsed through the program guide, and found an episode of the classic Star Trek on one of the HD channels starting in a few moments. Not that a 60s era TV show on HD amounts to anything more that what I recall seeing on old-style over-the-air broadcast TV when I was younger, but I put it on anyways. The stories were always more engaging despite the not-so-special effects.

And my jaw dropped in utter shock.

Joost invitations available

You want to try Joost? Just ask...

Joost invitations available

You want to try Joost? Just ask...

Stephane Dion standing in for Team Martin?

A web page at the Liberal Party (Alberta) website for Team Martin refers to Stephane Dion. At first, I assumed that this was just a bit of confusion over routine website maintenance on the part of the person looking at the site, but now that I've had a chance to look myself, it seems like the confusion is on the side of the people tasked to maintain the website in the first place.

Moving to full content feeds

The prevailing wisdom has been that by offering a feed of teasers, more content is driven to a blog. But the evidence suggests that this is not the case, that more traffic will come if all the content is offered, and that there is more traffic to be had from even further search engine traffic.

I'm going to see for myself.

Social bookmarking decision -- going with Facebook

One of the things I've been experimenting with is different forms of that Web 2.0 phenomenon, social bookmarking. I've decided that there is only one that seems to be working for me.

ebay phishing hack collecting user names and password

An ebay phishing hack is collecting login information. Interestingly, the phishing page is reached from a hacked ebay page, which is something I've never heard of before.

Update: Apparently you can add Java to your auction page, and ebay will happily serve that page up. Sheesh!

The new Liberal Party website gets a thumbs up

The Liberal Party has rolled out a new home page. It's a nice piece of work.

L’etat, c’est moi

Just a little curiousity about the way Canada's federal parties have set up their websites.

Mining Google for low-brow humour (and nose picking videos)

Looking for a laugh? Don't forget to watch your visitor logs for Google searches hitting your site. It's fun to see what people are looking for online.

Does Joost mean watching TV alone?

I'm a Joost beta tester. Though the people behind Joost are interested in my technical evaluation of this convergence of television and the internet, I'd like to share some early thoughts about the Joost experience.

Dealing with the proliferation of social bookmarking with the Socializer

I've made a minor change to the social bookmarking scheme for the posts. Both bloggers and readers might find it useful.

Test driving MyBlogLog

You might have noticed a couple of new widgets on the right-most rail of Angry in the Great White North. They are toys provided by MyBlogLog, which is a serious attempt to build a community of people interested in blogging -- both bloggers and readers.

Merchant Circle: MySpace meets the Mob?

A business-oriented website provides the ability to create unique pages in a shared domain, one per business, not unlike MySpace. But in the case of Merchant Circle, there is a reputation management component, and the way it is implemented certainly seems to leave the door open for abuse.

Some people are certain that Merchant Circle blew through that door a long time ago.

How shooting Stephen Harper sells ringtones, and how to make sure your page rank and links aren't caught in the crossfire

A blog that gained some notoriety a couple of weeks ago for calling for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be shot was shut down, then resurrected as a spammy page for selling ringtones. The reason why a spammer would go to the trouble of using the domain of a dead blog is an interesting study in the interaction between links and page ranking, something everyone who is serious about blogging ought to be familiar with.

HTML validation and Google rankings

I've been doing some housekeeping today, focused on something I've wanted to tackle for some time, and that is cleaning up the HTML on my pages. Why? Because you'd be surprised just how important it is for getting ranked well.

David Suzuki's air travel restrictions -- only one-and-a-quarter times around the globe this year

The David Suzuki Foundation responded to a survey to an NGO researching just how environmental groups were reducing air travel. But the travel itinerary of David Suzuki shows little sign of being throttled back.

Indeed, he's been traveling farther in recent years.

Not so much MySpace as TheirSpace

For old-school bloggers like me, there is no substitute for a bare-bones content management system like Movable Type, and generous server space like I enjoy. There is no safety net, but then I have virtually unlimited freedom to create a blog in whatever form I like.

Indeed, the only real limitation is the one imposed by my primitive HTML skills.

But for every old fogey like me, there are possibly hundreds of would-be bloggers who have no clue about how to create a blog on a technical level. So they depend on pseudo-blog services like MySpace. But MySpace is really TheirSpace, not YourSpace. And now MySpace is taking control of the pages, essentially punishing those users who have learned a little more about web programming.

That move might backfire, though, since users are likely to up and leave. Why? The pages are created in seconds. They don't represent any true investment of effort, and so have little value to the owner, regardless of the millions of people who travel through MySpace.

The ant-like world of David Suzuki

What would the world be like if David Suzuki had his way? We are to think that we would be living in harmony with nature, surrounded by butterflies and squirrels and such. But when you look for the clues, expend some analytical effort, and do a bit of reading, the reality is that the butterflies and squirrels will be happy, but you and I (or whoever is allowed to live) will be living a regimented communal existence, with little that we can call our own. If you don't like it, well, that's not really relevant. Your free will, and all that comes of that, like your opinions, is an illusion anyway.

Melanie McGuire: Search Engine Forensics

Melanie McGuire of New Jersey is on trial, charged with the murder and dismemberment of her husband, William.

What is remarkable is how the Web has played a role in the investigation and arrest, and now in the trial itself.

Canadian Blogosphere Search Page: Custom search engines for Canadian bloggers and their readers

Searching for the Canadian blogosphere's reaction to the last news on Belinda Stronach? Use the Canadian Blogosphere Search Page.

YouTube Fight Video: "Happy slapping" has come to Canada

A little-reported incident in Ottawa might actually have been an example of a disturbing internet phenomenon sweeping Europe. "Happy slapping" is posing a challenge to parents, school administrators, law enforcement, and civil rights advocates alike.

The site cycles again, and takes a conservative approach

Angry in the Great White North morphs again, and this time tradition wins out over wacky ideas.

Seven steps for making Google AdSense work for you

I've decided it's time to make a risky move and move my revenue channel over to Google AdSense. Let's see how it works out. Suprisingly, I already have some results to share, mere hours after deploying the changes.

NDP wants to ban the incandescent light bulb

An NDP MP is putting forward a bill to phase out incandescent light bulbs.

Bravo!

An article from 2005 makes a direct reference to Stephane Dion's pressure from lobbyists

I added some extra elements to my bromine timeline, and in doing so, stumbled across an article in The Walrus in which the author Paul Webster, makes an explicit reference to Stephane Dion's lack of action because of intense lobbying.

A timeline of environmental (in)action

In doing to cleanup research on the question of bromine lobbying by key Liberals, I assembled an interesting timeline. It is revealing.

For five bucks you can be an environmental hero just like David Suzuki

I decided to figure out just how much it will cost uber-environmentalist David Suzuki to drive his monster bus across the country and still be carbon neutral.

The results were surprising, and frankly, they made me laugh at the whole Suzuki circus.

Kyoto targets an unachievable fiction: Liberal insiders

By 2012, Canada's emissions must be 6% below 1990 levels in order to meet the Kyoto targets. Of course, we all know that in the years since the Liberals ratified the treaty in 2002, emissions have risen by over 30%. As Stephane Dion has plaintively cried, priorities were elsewhere. It wasn't his fault.

Actually, he's right. No one could meet the targets. Eddie Goldenberg, a senior Liberal advisor, has revealed today that the government of Jean Chretien always knew that the targets were unachievable. Worse yet, another source explains that the targets were set in a completely capricious manner, unconnected in any way to any kind of science.

It seems to me that the sooner Stephane Dion realigns his priorities, the better. He's a fool if he continues to carry the standard of Kyoto, now understood to be an utter fiction, and foisted upon him by his Liberal Party predecessors who no longer have to answer for their decisions.

Stephane Dion: Dim bulb

Australia, not a signatory to Kyoto, takes concrete action under its Liberal government.

Canada, signatory to Kyoto, achieved nothing in a dozen years of its Liberal government.

But remember, the Liberal Party of Australia is centre-right, that is, conservative. Canada's Liberal Party is centre-left, that is, ineffective.

Ajax loads of home page content and a quick survey

Some more news on the new design, as well as a request for an opinion on a specific design element.

Layout Changes (continued)

More changes and corrections and improvements.

Oops, I did it again -- Angry in the Great White North is re-re-launched

You all know by now that if I haven't posted in a few days, it's either because I'm moving, or I'm rebuilding the blog. This time, it's rebuilding the blog.

NDP calls for advice on effective blogging

The NDP has started to solicit opinions on how Canada's left-of-centre party should use blogging more effectively as a means of delivering its message.

Funny they should ask, since there is a clear example right now of just how the NDP message is being sabotaged by the current crop of NDP bloggers. It's too bad, because I really want blogging to succeed, regardless of the political views espoused by any particular blogger. I think bloggers for the Conservatives and the Liberals are by and large a decent bunch of bloggers. But the NDP has some serious problems. This is just one of them.

Google: The virtual battleground in the War on Terror

You know that the Web 2.0 has come into its own when it hosts the the war being waged by the forces of civilization against the terrorists.

In one week, we have learned how both sides are using Google in particular as a means of striking at the other side.

The Liberal Party's Billion-Dollar Museum

The Liberal Party is annoyed that the Conservatives are not willing to spend a billion dollars on a museum. Of course, spending great wads of taxpayer cash has always been a profitable business for the Liberal Party of Canada.

Wikiasari: Search Engine of the Future, or every Black Hat SEO's dream come true?

A new search engine is about to be launched. Unlike the top-down model of Google and Yahoo, Wikiasari is a community, bottom-up approach, in which the community of users build the engine.

It's an interesting idea. But what is that thundering noise? Every Black Hat SEO running, not walking, to start working Wikiasari over.

My towel has CSS printed on it, and I'm throwing it in

My attempts to tame CSS have come to naught.

Faster than the French decided in June 1940 that sauerkraut really does go well with just about any meal, I have decided to give up the fight to make a CSS-only rounded button.

Well, it's not that bad, but for an old Ada hack, the state of CSS is very distressing.

Web Site Design: Serving all the customers is a good idea

If you have been to Angry in the Great White North in the recent past, you'll have no doubt noticed that the site has undergone yet another change. It was prompted by my commitment to make sure the site is as accessible as practical to as many web surfers as possible. In this case, the problem was with the 3-in-5 people who come to this website who have monitors set to lower resolutions.

Conservative's new Chemical Management Plan: Stephane Dion's lousy first week just got worse

Stephane Dion has had a rocky start as leader of the Liberal Party. Most of the energy coming out of the leadership convention has been expended on the question of citizenship. And now his number one reason for being prime minister -- to save the environment -- has taken a blow as the young Conservative government of Stephen Harper has released detals on a new initiative to regulate dangerous chemicals.

At least one environmentalist points out that the plan is long overdue. One guess to remember who the minister of the environment was for nearly two years before the Conservatives came into power.

Search engine pay-per-click advertising being used to fund terrorists?

Is Google being used as a funding source for Islamic terrorists?

According to a news conference held yesterday, the AdWords programs is being used to generate funds for terrorists.

Alexander Litvinenko: Where did the polonium come from?

The Russians are circling the waggons, refusing to cooperate in the investigation of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. The former spy died in Britain, after being exposed to a lethal poison incorporating the radioactive element polonium-210. You know the Russians are hiding something when they resort to bald-faced lies. The Russian Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika made the outrageous statement that the poison could not have come from Russia. That would only be true if the Soviet space program used up every last bit of polonium for the Lunokhod moon walker program. They certainly had enough polonium on hand in 1970 to keep not one, but two moon rovers warm through the frigid lunar night.

Google Analytics: Free professional metrics for your blog

Like many bloggers, I used Sitemeter as my main means of tracking traffic. Sitemeter is very appealing -- nice graphs, real-time updates, some rudimentary analytical capability. But since I rolled out the new version of Angry in the Great White North, I decided I needed something a bit more professional. Consistent with my desire not to spend any serious money blogging, I discovered that Google Analytics suited my needs perfectly.

Effective Online Advertising: NDP ad as a case study (and some free tips)

Maybe it's my new job, but I spend a lot more time paying attention to ads on web pages. The Globe and Mail has a large spot for a paid ad at the top left of the page, just below the search box.

I was surprised that the NDP was running an election-style ad in that spot. There is no election on, but Jack Layton's face is there, asking me to make a decision that will stop Stephen Harper. So I decided to check on what that decision is that I need to make.

I never did figure that out. But I've got some tips for the NDP on how to make their advertising a bit more effective.

Hold my calls, I'm busy blogging right now

How to get your blog to shed its straightjacket and make it dance

Question: What does a blog look like?
Answer: That's a trick question. A blog doesn't look like anything. It's just content. A website looks like something.

One of the driving forces behind my site redesign was an epiphany I had just over a month ago. Blogging software makes for lousy websites. But then that's not a surprise, because blogging software is not supposed to be used for managing websites. Blogging software manages content.

If you can incorporate that thinking into how you use your blogging software, then you can really make your blog dance.

The Canadian Political Blogosphere Search Page

Wondering what bloggers in the Canadian political area are saying about the news of the day? New to Angry in the Great White North is the Canadian Political Blogosphere Search Page, a collection of customized Google search engines that will search the blogs (as defined by the appropriate blogrolls) for the search terms you specify. I hope the search engines will become a means of driving traffic to those blogs, regardless of their political persuasion, that are not getting the traffic they deserve.

Try it out, and hopefully you'll find them useful.

And though I appreciate the traffic, you don't have to return to Angry in the Great White North for every search. Click the "Add to Google" button and the corresponding search engine will be added to your personalized Google homepage.

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko, social media, and Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a remarkable tool. By allowing the masses to create entries for an encyclopedia, a hugely important online research source has been constructed in record time.

The news that the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko by means of a dose of polonium-210 is a great example of how the Wikipedia plays out. Is it self-correcting? Sure seems to be.

Who wants to buy some C-4 explosive online?

Why would someone from the UK be be looking for C‑4 explosive online?

Rowan Williams: Blogs play a role in Anglican battles between the left and the right

It is fascinating to see where blogs crop up, and just how seriously the content is taken. In this case, the former and current Archbishops of Cantebury, George Carey and Rowan Williams, respectively, are engaged in some serious fighting over the direction the Anglican Church is taking. One of the tools in that fight is a blog maintained by George Carey's son, Andrew. Other Anglican blogs are playing equally significant roles in the fight.

Just as we've seen in the secular political arena, blogs seem to be used more effectively by conservatives to keep up pressure on liberals holding the reins of power.

Charles Leblanc acquitted -- Blogging is a trade in Canada

Canadian bloggers have scored a victory. Charles LeBlanc, who runs a blog known to the police in New Brunswick, was arrested by those police in June 2006 when he took pictures of a demonstration of which he was not a participant, but to post on his blog. Those charges have been dismissed, and the judge decided the LeBlanc was legally engaged in "plying his trade".

Blogging is a trade? Not bad. But ideally, blogging could be considered a profession one day, not unlike journalism. But for that to happen, bloggers will have to establish some ground rules.

How to improve your Google ranking (and Yahoo...and MSN)

Such a little thing has the potential of having such an impact -- your sitemap. I don't mean your navigation bar or a web page listing your pages. I mean that XML file you generate every time you re-index your blog. You are generating an XML sitemap, right? And submitting it to the major search engines -- Google, Yahoo!, and MSN?

If not, read on.

Weird stuff going on with the Pajamas Media Netflix ads [Updated]

As part of the site upgrade, I've been testing all the links, including the ads running on the right rail provided by Pajamas Media. That's when I noticed it. I have never been able to get to Netflix. The same problem is happening on the Pajamas Media page, so I know it wasn't something I did.

What is disturbing though, is that the Netflix ads are taking me to spyware sites and pyramid schemes. Something rotten has infected Netflix, and I'm afraid it is using Pajamas Media and my site to direct people to these unsavoury corners of the web.

Update: Maybe it is redirecting me because my IP address is in Canada? But I'm still disgusted at the stand-in sites being called up.

The Google Search Box and AdSense Precision Matches

The Google search box has be successfully integrated into the new blog structure. Because of my rewrite of the blog into discrete pages, I can do things I couldn't do before, and I hope it turns out to be a profitable change.

Technorati, Tags, and Sitefeeds

A little nugget of knowledge I've recently come across that dramatically altered my understanding of the way Technorati works, and so changed the way I do things on the blog.

The New Look at Angry in the Great White North

Angry in the Great White North has a new look and new functionality. Leave your comments and suggestions here.

Update: I've noticed that IE6 is having problems rendering the margins and line spacing values that define the title and tabs. Nothing that breaks the functionality, but it does look off. I'll work on that.

This is, of course, the problem with browsers. Variations in the quality of interpretation of HTML and CSS directives means that cross-platform funtionality is still problematic. On the other hand, when I was a teen, I could choose from a TI-99/4A, a TRS-80, a Commodore Pet, an Amiga, an Atari-ST, and half a dozen more completely incompatible computing platforms. Cross-platform compatibility? I'll be happy if all I have to do is work on some minor spacing issues. With the migration of applications to online implementations based on AJAX, we'll have the best of both worlds -- multiple hardware platforms all running the same sets of applcations. Now if only someone would create a web-based version of Tunnels of Doom.

mesh meetup

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend a mesh meetup at the Irish Embassy Pub in downtown Toronto.

Geosign's new Blogmaster

If I can indulge in a bit of personal news, I'd like to mention that I'll be starting a new job on Monday.

It is a departure for me, career-wise, and might be of interest to some of you.

DDT and the sum of all fears

The World Health Organization has approved the use of DDT as a means of controlling malaria, a disease the kills over a million Africans every year. But despite the approval from the WHO, some in Africa are opposing its use. Not because they fear it won't work, Not because they fear that DDT poses a threat to humans. But because they fear the fear of others far removed from either DDT or malaria.

Missile defence works (despite what David Suzuki says)

Missile defence passed a major milestone (despite the learned predictions of naysayers).

Greens vs Gaia

The Gaia Hypothesis is one of those ideas that has been shamelessly abused. Now the man who developed it is delivering a smackdown on those people who, until now, have revered him.

The threat from nuclear terrorists

Drudge links to an article in the Wahington Times, warning about the vulnerability of the US to an electromagnetic pulse attack:

A single nuclear weapon carried by a ballistic missile and detonated a few hundred miles over the United States would cause "catastrophe for the nation" by damaging electricity-based networks and infrastructure, including computers and telecommunications, according to "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World."

The EMP danger was highlighted recently by a special congressional commission that has received little public attention and is considered a unique way for rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, or other enemies such as al Qaeda, to use nuclear weapons in the future.

Well, the devil is in the details. While North Korea or Iran might be able to manage something like that, I'm not so sure about a terrorist group. Frankly, a proper EMP is a hard thing to pull off.

Signing Apes

In my piece about the possible up-side to being an isolated branch on the Tree of Life (if the Great Apes do indeed become extinct), one reader responded with what is probably the standard "Why we need to preserve apes" mantra:

I think saving Gorillas is vital to our survival! We can learn so much about ourselves by studying their habits and nature. Any animal that can learn to communicate through sign language deserves to be preserved!

I know his feelings on the matter are sincere, and widely shared. I don't want the Great Apes to become extinct, but I pointed out that should it happen, we must recognize that a known source of potentially lethal viral infections would disappear with them.

But vital to our survival? Specifically how?

Learn about ourselves? Exactly what new insights would we get?

Sign language? Well, that reminded me of an essay I had on my old blog, one that I thought was worthy of posting here, which I have done. It deals with the whole controversry with regards to signing apes, and the salacious lawsuit surrounding the most famous signing ape of all, Koko.

I've reprinted the essay with only minor changes, but as an update, you should know that since the essay was written, a third woman has entered into the lawsuit. No report of a resolution yet, but Court TV has an excellent extended article on the legal case here.

What lawsuit? Read on.

The Hiroshima Bomb: First or Second?

It seems like the media figures that it is of critical importance to make the Hiroshima bombing a "first" (the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the Little Boy bomb passed this weeked on August 6). It was a "first" in many ways, and it was horrific for the people who suffered from it, and it did do much to break Japanese resistance and bring an end to the war without invading the home islands.

But it was also a historic event, meaning that its place in history cannot simply be moved around for the sake of a story headline.

Environmentalists on Mars?

What if there are Martians, for real?

Word of the Day: "Foodist"

In reviewing the news, I came across the story of Tre Arrow, eco-terrorist, in custody in BC, awaiting a decision on an extradition request from the US.

What can be said that hasn't been said before about US deserters hiding out in this country? I was going to dismiss this one and move on, but then I noticed this:

Tre Arrow is a foodist.

My Inaugural Post at the new Angry in the Great White North

Welcome to the new Angry in the Great White North!

Angry in the Great White North by Steve Janke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at stevejanke.com.