Leafs' Berg signs with Finnish club

A full-time job on the Maple Leafs blue line officially became open yesterday.

Aki Berg held true to his desire to raise his children in his native Finland, as his hometown club, Turku TPS of the Finnish Elite League, announced it has signed the 28-year-old defenceman.

'As he had said, this was not for monetary reasons, but for culture and family reasons'. Not exactly a fan favourite during his time in Toronto, Berg never lived up to the expectations placed at his feet after he was selected third overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 1995.

Flag controversy.

The new Tory Government has made an odd policy change this week when it announced the that the flag over the Peace Tower in the Nation's Capital would be lowered only on Remembrance Day, not after the death of any individual soldier.

Although I agree that keeping the media out of the the repatriation at CFB Trenton, I can't understand why this flag policy would be put in place.

Torys in charge of Finance = Bad Move

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whose upcoming budget will lower the GST, has been told by his department that Canada is already out of step with many peers because it relies relatively little on consumption taxes, and heavily on income taxes, to raise money.

Canada raises more of its revenue as a share of [gross domestic product] from personal and corporate income taxes than any other G7 country, Finance Department officials say in briefing books prepared for Mr. Flaherty and obtained under access to information law. Correspondingly, Canada raises relatively less tax revenue from consumption taxes, the tax that least damages productivity and standard of living.

Officials tell Mr. Flaherty that while Canada's "personal and corporate income tax burdens are the highest among the G7 countries, the broader trend favours consumption taxes. In recent years, the tax burden has been moving toward consumption taxes (away from income taxes) in a number of OECD countries".

We knew these cowboys were policy idiots.

American Idol: I think Taylor has a Chance

Alright, I had picked Chris as the Dark Horse winner of it all. But I think Taylor Hicks might also have a chance - both Bruce and myself were thinking of Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" this morning which Taylor performed on Tuesday night.

Maple Leafs fire head coach Pat Quinn

Head coach Pat Quinn has become the first to pay the price for the Toronto Maple Leafs failure to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The team has fired Quinn and assistant coach Rick Ley, four days after the Maple Leafs were officially eliminated from the playoffs. The Maple Leafs concluded a disappointing 41-33-8 season, failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since Quinn took over in 1998-99.

The news comes amid increasing reports that a front office power struggle was developing between general manager John Ferguson Jr. and Quinn. No immediate replacement was named but former NHL coach Paul Maurice, who was hired by Ferguson to coach the AHL Marlies this past season, is the most likely candidate to take over.

Italy confirms ProdiNews so Last Week.

Italy's supreme court has ruled Romano Prodi the country's election winner, after the result was challenged by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

However some members of Mr Berlusconi's centre-right governing coalition are still refusing to concede.
The court confirmed a narrow win for centre-left opposition leader Mr Prodi, nine days after polls closed, after reviewing disputed ballots.

Oil hits $72 on Iran concerns

Oil surged to a record high above $72 today on concern that Iran's nuclear stand-off with the West could cut oil exports from the world's fourth-largest crude exporter.

In London, North Sea Brent crude oil jumped 74 cents to an all-time high of $72.20 a barrel as Iran and the West exchanged increasingly sharp words over the Islamic Republic's determination to push ahead with a nuclear program.

'The Iranian situation is making us all very nervous... We don't seem to be getting anywhere on the diplomatic solutions,' said Deborah White, an analyst at SGCIB in Paris.

Leafs Out.

Oh, the Maple Leafs are out of the NHL Playoffs. Let's see what happens in the summer - I'm hoping for major changes in front of and behind the bench. (The game against Florida was exciting though).

Crude oil price hits $70 a barrel

Oil prices leapt above $70 (U.S.) a barrel today and were on target to settle at a record high after rising more than $1 on concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria and diplomatic tensions between the West and Iran over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

So long as these geopolitical issues are hovering over the market, analysts said it will be difficult for prices to fall too far - unless there is a significant drop-off in demand, which they aren't yet seeing.

Crude futures first surpassed $70 a barrel in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. On Aug. 30, oil prices climbed to $70.85 a barrel, then settled at $69.81.

Shaking the Sleep from my Eyes

I've been having a hard time getting the engines started today, even though the architect's music has been really awful today. (It's mid-afternoon!)

HW's health continues not to be the greatest, so this weekend was spent in concern as to whether to head to the hospital (eventually she was taken, but nothing new was initiated). Otherwise the weekend was a lot of dim sum and furtive attempts to put structure around things.

Guess I should get back to my work. But first, let's look at Neal's Christmas List. Boxing Class tonight.

Iran enriches Uranium, Defiant

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that Iran will not halt work on its controversial nuclear programme.

He said the country would not back down "even one iota", despite mounting international pressure after it announced that it has enriched uranium.



From yesterday - Dancers hold capsules of uranium hexaflouride, or UF6 gas, during a ceremony in Mashhad, Iran’s holiest city, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the country has successfully enriched uranium for the first time.

WeightWatchers - Another Successful Week!

Dropped another 2.2lbs this week! This brings total weight loss to 27.8 lbs! Hooray! My (adjusted) target of 169lbs is so close!

Bush touted WMD find despite doubts[When is the call to impeach?]

The Bush administration claimed trailers captured soon after the fall of Baghdad proved Iraq had weapons of mass destruction even though U.S. intelligence officials had strong evidence that was not the case, The Washington Post has reported.

The Iraqi Survey Group later concluded from the inteligence evidence the trailers were 'impractical' for biological weapons production and were probably intended for manufacturing hydrogen for weather balloons, the paper said.

When the two small trailers were seized in late May 2003, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq. The administration said they were mobile 'biological laboratories,' and Bush declared, 'We have found the weapons of mass destruction.'

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was cited at the time as supporting evidence for the decision to go to war.

Trade surplus widens unexpectedlyBut this isn't a positive report

Canada's trade surplus with the rest of the world unexpectedly rose in February as imports tumbled more than exports, Statistics Canada said Today. The surplus swelled to $6.31-billion from a revised $6.16-billion in January. Statscan had originally reported that the January surplus was $6.35-billion.

The surplus grew as imports of metals, chemicals, trucks and some machinery tumbled after they had surged in December and January. Imports had reached a record in recent months. Exports, meantime, declined for the second month in a row in February.

A Liverpool Trophy Room

Prodi may yet win in Italy

Italy's centre-left leader Romano Prodi says he has won the right to become the country's prime minister following a narrow victory in the general election.

Latest results give Mr Prodi's bloc 49.8% against 49.7% for the ruling centre-right in the lower house.

Final confirmation of the result will hinge on results expected later on Tuesday from Italian voters living abroad (in countries like Canada). They elect six senators to the upper house, and whether those senators join Mr Prodi's or Mr Berlusconi's coalition may prove crucial.

An aide to Mr Berlusconi demanded a "scrupulous" investigation into why an estimated 500,000 ballots were annulled. Mr Prodi's bloc is thought to have won the vote in the lower house by just 25,000 votes.

Option: U.S. nuclear attack on Iran

Dan Plesch, Research Associate at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, has said that nobody doubts that the US is determined to stop Iran from become nuclear-armed.

He gave a speech analysing the options recently and told the BBC News website: 'The United States has the capability to come out of the clear blue sky and destroy the Iranian military infrastructure.'

He went on: 'You can say we are being hysterical and are a band of doom-mongers. But I fear the US has lost confidence in the UN or the EU to solve this. And it could do it militarily.

All this does not mean it will happen. It does mean it is being debated. "

Berlusconi Out (Maybe?) [revision at 5:53pm EST]

Italian center-left candidate Romano Prodi appears headed for victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in parliamentary elections. According to exit polls, Prodi's coalition took between 50 and 54 percent of the vote in both the upper and lower chambers of parliament

Canada reasserts Arctic sovereignty - Apr 10, 2006

Canadian forces on Sunday wrapped up a two-week exercise designed to assert sovereignty over the Arctic at a time when climate change is fueling international interest in the desolate, mineral-rich region.

Five patrol groups started off at separate points in the west and central Arctic and traveled a total of 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) by snowmobile over snow and jagged sea ice through a region that is almost totally uninhabited.

How predictions for Iraq came true

The BBC's Jeffrey Simpson thinks back to a meeting he had with Saudi Foriegn Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal where the Prince outlined likely challenges of the Iraq Invasion.

"Just over three years ago, when I interviewed the Saudi foreign minister, I asked him why he thought the US was determined to invade Iraq.

He said he had put the same question to Vice-President Dick Cheney. Mr Cheney had replied: 'Because it's do-able'.

It was. The trouble is, undoing the kind of damage the Saudi foreign minister foresaw is proving very hard indeed." [ Article ]

Bob Rae Liberal Candidate?

Bob Rae signaled he is really in the Liberal leadership race with a series of broad hints at a panel for potential candidates Saturday.

Striding to the middle of the stage when it was his turn to make an opening statement in session with 16 aspirants, Mr. Rae, the former NDP Premier of Ontario, quipped: "Thank you, I'm much more comfortable in the middle."

Speaking of the Liberal Party as "us," he reminded the audience that he had a role in triggering the demise of two Conservative governments as a federal MP and Ontario MPP.

Bush under pressure in leak row

President George W Bush is under pressure to reveal whether he was behind the leaking to the press of classified intelligence on Iraq.

Senior Democrat lawmakers have urged Mr Bush to say whether he authorised a senior White House aide to discuss classified material with journalists.

uh, this is big. (Scooter outs Bush)

US President George W Bush authorised the leak of secret intelligence to a newspaper to help defend the Iraq war, a former White House aide has said. The leak was in response to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's account of a 2002 trip to Niger to investigate the Iraqi uranium allegations which "was viewed in the Office of the Vice President as a direct attack on the credibility of the vice president (and the president) on a matter of signal importance: the rationale for the war in Iraq".

Pre-trial court papers cite Lewis "Scooter" Libby as saying he was told to tell a reporter Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure" uranium. Top Senate Democrat Harry Reid called the claim "shocking", and said Mr Bush "must fully disclose his participation in the selective leaking of classified information".

The White House has not commented on the report. The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says once again President Bush is fighting for his political credibility, with Democrats smelling blood. In the past the president has said he does not approve of such leaks and would sack anyone involved.

WW Meeting was Today (A new milestone reached)

And I guess you'd say it's another successful milestone achieved! With a three pound loss in the past week (that's what exercise and good eating can do apparently), for the first time I'm over 25lbs lost. I am now tottering on a reduction in the number of points I'm permitted to use a day.

I'm starting to think that the 169lb target isn't that out of whack.

Gay marriage vote coming, Harper says

This should be interesting.

The prime minister says he'll keep his campaign pledge to hold a free vote in Parliament on whether to reopen the Same-Sex Marriage Debate. But Mr. Harper has signalled it won't happen before the Commons breaks for summer vacation.

“We intend to have a free vote of all MPs on this question during the life of this Parliament,” Mr. Harper told Radio-Canada.

“My preference is to do this sooner rather than later, but not this spring.”

Gay-rights activists want the Conservatives to abandon “a wrong-headed and divisive debate.”

Posts from Prison (well not really)

It's been a while since I didn't yank most of my blog content from one of the sites that I visit, so here I am breaking down and actually writing something. Oh, the panic of the blank screen.

>yikes, just remembered that I forgot to wake Karina<
>she wants to sleep another 15 minutes before her appointment<

The move on the weekend went pretty well - no damage and the job was done in 4.5h so that was pretty much to schedule. I didn't get my room completely cleaned up so I think I'm wearing on David's good nature. I'll need to get over there this evening to finish the job. For my snail-mail correspondents, please note that my address has now changed. The Chairman was unharmed.

>guess I should tell the banks too [cue off screen online address change]<
>cue play on Broken Social Scene CD<
>cue call to Cashin<
>cue call to Karina<

Was part of a commercial shoot at my gym yesterday. This meant that the workout was slightly more intense than usual but didn't really change the workout sequence. My role was to sweat like crazy. In retrospect they didn't use any lighting so I can't imagine what the results will look like. Tomorrow is weigh-in day at WW, so we'll see if I've shed the Liverpool/Cains weight.

Hilary is in hospital this week for the last week of treatment (we hope). The following weeks will determine how successful the course of treatment has been up to this point. It's likely she'll be recuperating for several months.

>huh, some German has just emailed asking about our Re-Map Path tool<

I have yet to talk to Matthew and find out what's new with him. I understand that his open house went well. And since he's too lazy to change the email address, I also note that he's certainly getting my money's worth with his NetFlix membership. I wonder what "The Green Mile" and "Fantastic Four" were like. At least he hasn't yet deleted "Broken Flowers" from his queue.

>just replied to Mom's email<

Have a number of projects on the go at work this week and month. Surprisingly no one has emailed me this morning regarding these projects - which I would have expected given the flurry of emails I sent last night. This business is very much "hurry up and wait". I also have some tradeshows end of the month so I need to coordinate some new website elements as well as a couple mailings. In fact, that's what I should turn my attention to now.

War on the Planet Update:Golf Courses reverse U.S. Wetlands decline

The nation's wetlands are on the increase for the first time in 50 years -- if you count ponds on golf courses.

The nation's first net gain in a half-century of record-keeping stems from a reclassification of wetlands to include ponds for golf courses and subdivisions to retain stormwater and wastewater.

The Fish and Wildlife Service says it found a net gain of 191,800 acres in 2004 to almost 108 million acres. The last report was in 1987.

Bush administration officials hail the report but state wetland managers and various advocacy groups say it's misleading. No kidding.

Former U.S. House majority leader DeLay quits

Succumbing to scandal, former majority leader Tom Delay intends to resign from Congress within weeks.

Republican officials said Monday night they expect the Texan to quit his seat later this spring. He was first elected in 1984, and conceded he faced a difficult race for re-election.

DeLay was ultimately forced into this course of action by two scandals that have included indictments against him personally. In Texas, DeLay is facing criminal charges for improperly steered corporate donations to state legislative candidates in 2002. DeLay was also implicated in the Abramoff lobbying scandal - Jack Abramoff was sentenced to six years in prison last week.

Marijuana legislation goes up in smoke

Canada's new Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday that Ottawa does not intend to reintroduce legislation to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

Speaking to the Canadian Professional Police Association, Harper received applause when he reiterated that the legislation drawn up by the previous Liberal Party government would not be reintroduced when the new Parliament sits today.

The bill, which had alarmed law enforcement officials in Canada and the United States, died on the floor of the House of Commons after the Liberal Party lost elections in January. The globeandmail comment board is very interesting on this matter.

Antarctic having a heat wave

The air over the Antarctic is warming even faster than other parts of the world, an analysis of 30 years of weather balloon data has indicated.

While surface warming has been reported in parts of the Antarctic, this is the first report of broad-scale climate change across the whole continent, the British Antarctic Survey said in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The weather balloon data show a warming of 0.5 degree to 0.7 degree Celsius a decade over the last 30 years. By contrast, the average worldwide temperature has risen by 0.1 degree a decade in that time, the paper said.

Aeronautical Engineer Responds

As per Ben's request , I have conducted a brief aerodynamic analysis. I have a few additional suggestions that will increase the aerodynamic efficiency:

1. Simply raising the arms does not achieve the full benefit.
   
   A slow flapping motion coupled with a timely craning of the neck (on the down stroke of course) can achieve significantly improved performance. Just try to avoid smacking any other passengers in the face, or hitting your head on the luggage bins.


2. I might also suggest a timely jump into the air during takeoff.
   
   Similar to saving yourself from the impact of a falling elevator, if you jump in the air (I am certain the captain will approve the unselfish removal of your seatbelt) right at the precise moment the plane lifts off the runway you can help the plane to "hop" into the air.When coupled with the aforementioned flapping and craning substantial improvements in takeoff distance can be achieved. (Again, watch your head.)


3. If all else fails, you can aid in aircraft weight reduction (thereby improving performance) by throwing sarcastic fiancés out the window.

Airline News - Westjet gets helping hand(s)

As reported in Saturday's National Post, in an attempt to reduce rising oil costs and help keep tickets affordable, airline Westjet has requested passengers to perform some in-seat maneuvers on take-off (shown below).

Being somewhat skeptical, I have asked my Boeing-Phantomworks employed brother for his professional option. I will post his response when available.