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Napanee Summer Vacation - day 5 at EveryTrail The last day of my pre-vacation, and it's the return home. We took the slow route from Napanee to Cobourg, then hopped on the highway to boot it home faster. Zoom in on the map and click to see some photos.

Sandbanks Provincial Park Summer Vacation - day 4 at EveryTrail This morning, we went to Sandbanks Provincial Park. It was my first time there. Totally amazing, the sand dunes. And that was really all we explored of the park. There is so much more to see and experience. Zoom in on the map above or the EveryTrail link to see some photos. Note: the GPS data seems to be screwed for the photos. Not sure what happened, but for the first time, none of the photos are located properly on the map. Updated: July 28, 2009 I've re-uploaded the photos, and they are now correctly placed on the map.

Napanee (Kingston) Family Vacation - July 26 at EveryTrail Another day, spent mostly in Kingston. Zoom in on the map to see the pics. I had to drive back to Oshawa to hit the GO station, but made it back in time for the "sunset cruise."

Napanee Family Vacation - Jul 25, 2009 at EveryTrail It was quite the vacationing day today, with the highlight for me being the 2009 Tattoo at Fort Henry. It opened with a CF-18 flyby, then followed by the rain pouring down on the performers. Quite spectacular, even if it ended early. Earlier in the day, we visited the International Hockey Hall of Fame, dropped by Gananoque and spent some time in Kingston. It was a busy day. 48 of the hundreds of photos from today has been uploaded to the map above.

Napanee Family Vacation at EveryTrail Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community Day one of the family vacation ... or as I prefer to have it known, my pre-vacation for my two weeks away in August. I picked up a GPS recorder, Sony's GPS-CS3, and used it to record where I've been. I turned on the recorder after we arrived in Cobourg in the late morning. There wasn't a whole lot of picture taking happening, but photos are embedded in the map. You need to zoom in. This is beta testing for next month. So far, it seems to be working, and wasn't too hard to get the hang of.

"Honour" ... honour is such the wrong choice of word for murder. Maybe it wasn't murder. Maybe the car did manage to miss every obstacle, leave no skid marks behind and plunge into the Rideau Canal to kill the three girls and their aunt . And maybe Canada does need the death penalty to deal harshly with such honour crimes. The girls were 19, 17 and 13 years old. They had all of their lives ahead of them. Now they have nothing. This shit pisses me off to no end. The three murderers need more punishment than Canada is going to give. Canada needs to make a bigger effort at cultural integration of those from higher risked countries immigrating here. More of this happening around the country in new immigrant families, where the old world rules still rule the house. It has got to stop. Read more .

The Y chromosome is rapidly losing genes , and could eventually disappear completely -- in a few millennia. For the scientific illiterate and other creationist types, the Y chromosome is what makes men, men -- in the genetic sense of the word. Men, currently, are still an active participant in the propagation of the species. If the Y chromosome disappears, we will have some serious problems keeping the species going. Of course, with enough genetic engineering, the ladies should be able to continue just fine, without us guys. Alas, the disappearance of males is not likely -- at least not due to the continued deterioration of the Y chromosome. There are many other forces arrayed against the males of our species -- mostly chemical in nature. If the Y chromosome was to disappear, most likely a new pair of sex chromosomes will rise to replace the X and Y. At that point of course, the human species may have ended, only to be replaced by another.

China Miéville continues to amaze me with his imagination. I had only recently completed the Iron Council , and didn't know which book to take off my shelf to read next. Iron Council left me on such a fantastic high, I didn't want to risk coming down fast with a disappointment. So for a couple of weeks, I didn't pick up a book. Then unintended trip to the local used bookstore by my work a couple of weeks ago, presented me with a new Miéville book: The City and the City . I started reading it that same day, on the way home, and I couldn't put it down. While I don't have much time for pleasure reading, I stole time and even pulled a couple of late nights on Friday and Saturday to find out where Miéville was taking me. I'll refrain from delving too much into the premise of the book, because I think part of the pleasure was the journey Miéville takes the reader on. If you'd like a well written review, head over to The Mumpsimus . I will tell you howeve

Liberty in the Age of Terror: A Defence of Civil Society and Enlightenment Values , by A.C. Grayling. I haven't read the book, but it's certainly of interest, although, like such books, it will already be speaking to the converted. Like so many things, I wonder if we're not continuing the polarization of ideas and positions. Grayling takes on the British government's invasion of civil rights and the public's acquiescing of the intrusion. And besides, even now many supposedly sensible people lazily believe that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. If a few Koran- toting chaps with beards and funny names get banged up in Guantánamo or have to put up with a "control order" to stay in Britain, so what? It is this complacency that Mr Grayling, with passion and elegance, takes on. He describes the if-you-have-nothing-to-hide argument as "one of the most seductive betrayals of liberty" imaginable. The assumption behind it is

I am truly a product of Hollywood in-breeding. When two celebrities mate, someone like me is the result. George Lucas ruined my life. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Remember the white dress I wore all through that film? George came up to me the first day of filming, took one look at the dress and said: 'You can't wear a bra under that dress.' 'OK, I'll bite,' I said. 'Why?' And he said: 'Because ... there's no underwear in space.' He said it with such conviction. Like he had been to space and looked around and he didn't see any bras or panties anywhere. He explained. 'You go into space and you become weightless. Then your body expands but your bra doesn't, so you get strangled by your own underwear.' Among George's many possessions, he owns my likeness, so that every time I look in the mirror I have to send him a couple of bucks. That's partly why he's so rich. Funny stuff, that Carrie Fisher writes

"I'm tired of the media, which spent years making fun of him, suddenly acting as if losing him is the greatest loss we've ever had to bear. And I'm so tired of the false sanctimony of those who will tell me that they are genuinely grieving." MJ is dead ... the only people who give a shit are those that will profit from his death, and those thinking up ways to profit from his death. Since I won't profit from his death, I don't give a shit. How about you?

Well, this is neat. Without much lifting of the finger, the blog has now been audio enabled. Under each post title, you should find a little Odiogo button that will open a little podcast player and read the post to you. If this sort of thing turns you on, you can subscribe to the podcast of the blog and take it on the road in your very own mp3 player. Totally cool!

The Daily Galaxy has a post on a Stephen Hawking lecture, in which the physicist postulates that humans are entering a new phase of "self design evolution" -- in which we purposely affect change on our genetic code to some , hopefully, useful end. (I will refrain from making any intelligent design jokes at this point.) It is an interesting idea, but Hawking downplays the role of the traditional Darwinian evolution in his next phase of evolution. I'm actually surprised at that, because, while it's true that evolution does take a damn long time, it should be noted that our evolutionary history to modern humans was a result of two factors -- random mutations & natural selection; and, reproduction. Reproduction prior to modern humans was limited to smaller populations. So, if the rate of random mutations has stayed the same, the reproduction rate of our species has increased exponentially since the industrial revolution. A result from this should more changes

I've posted about this before ... and reading on Wired has me stirred all over again. Water is essential to human life, and every human born of this planet should be guaranteed enough water to live. It's just as important, or more important than freedom and free speech -- rights that we hold dear in the West and wouldn't debate for a minute, our inalienable access to those rights. Yet, why are we so fucking ignorant when it comes to a right that is fundamental to human life? Why then have we allowed water privatization schemes to continue? The United States and Canada are especially guilty of running interference to UN declarations that would strengthen international recognition for this right. Countries around the world continue to horde drinking water for various industrial uses rather than ensuring their population's access to life. It will only take the deaths of millions and the danger of a revolution before we wake and do something about this.

Happy Canada Day! Song and video produced by, Julia Bentley & Andrew Gunadie.