Pride was Great, but really hot.

The Toronto Pride parade and festivities drew more than 125,000 revellers yesterday, locking down Toronto's downtown core to celebrate one of the world's largest gay and lesbian festivals Sunday under a blistering sun. And it was very hot - after a few hours in the beer garden Karina and I had to retire to the pool. I didn't think that the party started so late last year.

I'd never find a ticket for this game!

The Champions draw was today and Liverpool are to face Welsh side TNS. The winner of the tie will play Faroe Island team HB Torshavn or Lithuanian outfit Kaunas in the second qualifying round. This was physically the closest opponent Liverpool could face, although they might move the match to Millennium Stadium for the second leg. TNS' home base is a village of 1000.

Like such a plan exists, Donald.

During a sometimes contentious hearing yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that it would be a mistake to set deadlines for pulling U.S.-led coalition forces out of Iraq. He said that such a timetable would 'throw a lifeline to terrorists who in recent months have suffered significant losses and casualties, been denied havens and suffered weakened popular support.' With the deaths of more than 1,700 U.S. troops in Iraq, public support for the war has been falling in recent surveys- a poll released Monday found that nearly six in 10 Americans oppose the war in Iraq. Rumsfeld's comments, of course, imply a timeline exists. Which I for one don't believe.

Oil: How high can it go?

Today in history, crude oil touched $60/barrel, after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned against starting a trade war with China, advice that would ensure continued strong demand for crude. Momentum in the oil market has sent futures rallying to record highs in the past week, fuelled by embassy closings in OPEC member Nigeria. Oil prices have shot up 58 per cent in the last year amid fears supplies are outpacing global demand. Futures eased 95 cents on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Department said crude oil inventories fell by 1.58 million barrels to 327.4 million in the week ended June 17. Analysts were expecting a drop of 2 million barrels. Supplies remain well above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.

Qualifying Draw Tomorrow

And I'm thinking perhaps I'll travel for one of these games. In the first round of competition, Liverpool's concerns are not as much the team they will face as the travel time - some opponents are in central Asia. One of the preferred matches is HB Torshavn from the Faroe Islands. The Faroes are easily reached by air - a 90-minute plane journey away - and most of their players actually want Liverpool to progress!

'My big problem is that almost all of my players are Liverpool fans,' said coach Heine Fernandez.. 'They will be saying they cannot play in case they get a result against them. They would have no-one to cheer later in the tournament!' HB Torshavn have reached the second qualifying round of the competition before - but only when their scheduled opponents failed to turn up.

Mr. Mayeda, my response.

Oh, and by the way - I'm not.

Mosley 'wrecked US F1 salvage talks'

The US Grand Prix fiasco could have been avoided but for the intervention of Formula One boss Max Mosley, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart has said. Stoddart said most F1 teams had lost faith in Mosley - the president of F1's governing body the FIA - and repeated calls for his resignation.

He said Mosley resisted all attempts to solve the problem of Michelin being unable to guarantee its tyres' safety. 'Mosley failed in his duty so I have called for his resignation,' he said. 'There is no question in my mind that the farce that occurred... at Indianapolis was the responsibility of the FIA president, Max Mosley, and compounded by the lack of support from (Ferrari boss) Jean Todt. 'Mosley refused to accept any of the solutions offered and that refusal was, I believe, politically motivated.'

In other F1 news, BMW has purchased Swiss Racing Team Sauber to create their own independent racing team. What this means for the Williams Team remains to be determined although the relationship has been stormy.

Michelin teams charged with damaging image of F1

Formula One's governing body has charged the seven teams using Michelin tires with damaging the sport's image by pulling out of this past weekend's United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis. True, it was Michelin's failing to have the right tires on the spot that caused the issue, but it was the inflexibility of FIA in failing to find a compromise that has damaged the sport. I think it's time to set up a new series, boys.

Ben Kerr has died.

Ben Kerr, the T.O. street singer who was a fixture at the corner of Yonge & Bloor, has died. He was the ageless crooner who spiced up the corner of Yonge and Bloor Sts. with his sometimes smooth country singing.

Ouch. Fat Boy Rugby Report.

Had an excellent run last night with the U of T Alum, although not having my contact lens was a bit of a disadvantage. And I was only stepped on twice. Retiring to the Duke afterwards, we had a good and wide-ranging conversation that was accompanied by pints... of water of course! :p

Played poker with the Walshes last night and played another wildly aggressive game which saw my stack nosedive, surge upwards and then fantastically flame-out. I really need to do some reading on betting strategies.

Pride Approaches - Sunday, June 26

A gigantic event on the Toronto scene, the annual Pride Parade is set for Sunday. This year's theme is - Pride: 25 years and counting! - and no doubt it will be a colourful and flamboyant party, part of Toronto's Pride Week celebrations.

Weekend Plans.

Had an excellent time on the weekend attending Drew & Carrie's storybook wedding in Stratford. Karina has a cold and was getting progressively worse as the day went on, but that didn't stop her from hitting the dance floor. On the drive back, I broke down and agreed to eating at McDonald's - for the record, the McVeggie Melt is OK, and has little to no protein (they gave it to me for free!). Sunday night saw me rewarded for some absolutely mad poker play - bluffing a 3H,7S I managed to pair up twice on the turn and river. I then used my big stack to push the Walsh sisters around. My mad play continued when I ran against Amanda and her good hand but again I managed to draw her out. A reckless night. Yikes!

A dark day in F1.

The US Grand Prix turned into a farce on the weekend when Michelin tires were deemed unsafe and F1 and Ferrari wouldn't back a unified bid by the other teams to add a chicane. In the end only the three teams on Bridgestone tires took part in a laughable race that will undoubtedly hurt the sport - perhaps even killing it in the US. Nick Heidfeld said it was 'a disaster' for F1 in the USA, and his boss Frank Williams said the sport was 'damaged, maybe irrevocably so' in the country.

Driver Jacques Villeneuve said he had every sympathy with the angry reaction of the fans. 'If I was a fan out there I would do the same,' he said. When asked how long he thought it would take the sport's reputation to recover, he said 'In America, I don't think it will.' Shame on F1, shame on Ferrari. Max Mosley, you must resign.

Michelin
46, rue du Ressort
63100 Clermont-Ferrand
France
www.michelinsport.com

FIA
8 Place de la Concorde
F-75008 Paris
www.fia.com

Formula One Management
6 Princes Gate
Knightsbridge
London SW7 1QJ
United Kingdom

Oil soars to record high

Oil prices shot up to a record high of $58.60 (U.S.) a barrel Friday, extending a week-long rally driven by what one analyst described as irrational fear that global demand is outpacing supply.

Crude oil for July delivery jumped on the New York Mercantile Exchange to the highest intraday level since futures began trading. They finished up $1.89 at $58.47 a barrel, also the highest close on record. The previous intraday high of $58.28 was set on April 4 and the previous closing high of $57.27 on April 1.

Growing deserts 'a global problem'

A new UN-produced report on Global Desertification (part of a series examining the state of the world's biological resources) was released on the eve of 'World Day to Combat Desertifcation,' which marks the 11th anniversary of a UN agreement to tackle spreading deserts. The report said that that up to 20 percent of those areas had already suffered some loss of plant life or economic use as a consequence of desertification. It said that global warming was likely to exacerbate the problem, causing more droughts, heat waves and floods. But human factors have also played their part, with over-grazing, over-farming, misuse of irrigation and the unsustainable demands of a growing population all contributing to environmental degradation.

UN Experts warn that some of the world's poorest populations were likely to be among the worst affected, with large swathes of Central Asia and the areas to the north and south of the Sahara in danger of becoming unsuitable for farming.

Iraq War Memo Inquiry

A group of US congressmen are holding a hearing into a leaked UK memo which suggests President Bush had decided on war with Iraq eight months in advance of the invasion. Bush denies he had made up his mind at the time to attack Saddam Hussein.

The British Sunday Times newspaper published the so-called Downing Street Memo (dated 23 July 2002) on 1 May, after it was leaked by a former UK foreign policy aide. In the memo, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is quoted as saying Mr Bush had made up his mind to take military action even if the timing had not yet been decided. A second memo, published by the paper this week, says UK ministers were told that they had no choice but to find a way to make the war in Iraq legal.

One Bitten... well Often Bitten

This weekend's journey up to the Parents' house involved less work, but many more bug bites than anticipated. My itch suppressing cream has now worn off and these bites are driving me crazy!

Nothing too outrageous going on today as I've managed to make it through my client to do list which leaves me with my Infoware to do list. Perhaps I'll even finish the InControl demo today! Tonight is rugby and considering there is a smog advisory, 62% humidity and an 80% chance of thunderstorms I don't expect we'll be running too long.

Liverpool get in Champions League

As I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath to hear the news, I will provide some relief - Liverpool are in the Champions League next season. Despite providing one of the great sporting stories of this past year, their place was not guaranteed for the 2005-2006 season. So Liverpool have been given the chance to defend their Champions League crown after UEFA handed them a place in the first qualifying round for next season. The fact that it's the 1st round isn't good for the club as it means that they'll have a very busy start to the year - and more play means more likelihood of injury. >sigh<. Read more on the Toronto Branch site.

Back in Black!

News of my website's demise are exaggerated. That is once I renewed my domain name. Once again I didn't manage to transfer my domain registration to my preferred registrant and so again I am stuck with NetworkSolutions who offer very little bang for the buck.

Work has been very busy this week as I have numerous sites either going live or going into pilot. It will be good when it is all over... until then it makes for very busy days. Being so tied up in the delivery side of things I have been all too little involved in marketing activities. Today is in fact the first day in quite some time where I have been able to look at the management of my marketing campaigns. Damn broken links!

In football news, I am still riding the glory of Liverpool's Champions victory. My glee at the Reds' good fortune has been also blostered by the now painful news coming out of Manchester. It seems that the Glazers plans ticket price rises and a spending limit of 25m a year net on player transfers. Tee hee hee. Of course we all know that Manchester United is the richest club in the world. The 76-year-old is reported to have increased ticket prices at the Buccaneers in every season since he took over in 1995, so United fans can likely expect him to do the same at Old Trafford. The question for ManU though will be the continued success of Jersey sales... I have heard that revenue from the royalties is in excess of $100M.

Hum de hum

After an at times very hectic week, things have cooled into the weekend... although I still have much to do. It's going to be a busy weekend, with Bruno's Stag being the main event for tomorrow night. Web development work is going to be the major activity this weekend - both for Infoware and Arodemus.

Hopefully I'll find the time this weekend to finish the excellent book Tuxedo Park that I have been reading the last weeks... I'll give a book report on completion.

Northern Ireland | Man charged with McCartney murder

Charges have been laid in the Robert McCartney murder, which has been a lightning rod for anti-IRA sentiments in recent months. McCartney's murderers are suspected to be senior IRA members or associates of the IRA.

The IRA offered to shoot the offenders, likely showing the pressure they feel within their own communities, which they effectively police, and where there has sometimes been tacit support of punishment beatings of local criminals.

Mr McCartney was stabbed and beaten to death outside a Belfast bar on January 30 after a row broke out over an allegedly rude gesture made at a woman. His family, who have launched an international campaign for justice, has blamed IRA members and said there were up to 70 witnesses in the bar but many were too frightened of republicans to give evidence.

The IRA has previously stated that after "voluntary admissions by those involved", it knew four men were involved - two were IRA volunteers and two were not - and "the IRA knows the identity of all these men".

Yesterday was an exhausting day.

A lot of activity yesterday although in the end much of it was unproductive and it seems I was simply pushing more things into today to do. I am anxious awaiting a call from one client site at 9... this job has become increasingly complicated. I haven't worked out since Monday's panicked run, so that may have some bearing on my overall "unsettledness". Other jobs are also being pushed into critical phases.

Hooligans no longer?

Host of the UEFA Champions League Final, Istanbul may also be viewed as a big winner after the May 25 match. Turkey's footballing capital had been preparing for the final for months, with rooms in local hotels having been snapped up long in advance of the big day. And when the avalanche of fans came - 60,000 of whom descended upon the city for the 25 May showpiece - Istanbul showed that it was ready for them. With the local organisers having allocated Taksim Square for Liverpool supporters and Sultanahmet Square for AC Milan fans, local shops and restaurants reported bumper takings with no major security problems or disturbances ruining an excellent atmosphere around the match.

He was 'Deep Throat' - Jun 1, 2005

The legendary source 'Deep Throat' in the Watergate scandal that brought down a president has been identified by Vanity Fair magazine and The Washington Post (thank you Woodward and Bernstein) as W. Mark Felt.