Stencil graffiti in Truro.

Stencil graffiti in Truro., originally uploaded by john durrant.

This graffito done by stencil and spray paint has the look of a virus or a space station.

Who trusts the Harper government?

They lost my trust when Harper broke his own newly minted law to call an election when he happened to be ahead in the polls. It was an opportunistic attempt to get a majority, which failed. He thinks he can make and break therules to suit himself.

He’s also saying that it’s inappropriate to share power with a bunch of separatists like the Bloc Québecois, but his own party signed an agreement with the Bloc in 2004 to share power. So he’s a hypocrite. The other parties do have a right to form a government if they can, by calling for a non-confidence vote.

The opposition parties say he’s not moving fast enough to ameliorate the economic downturn. That’s a bit of an excuse, but o save his bacon, he’s asking the Governor General to suspend Parliament until late January. That will stop all activity to take swift action.

Election results

Conservative minority government

The CBC’s interactive map has online voting results. You can click on the map, enter your postal code, or just check the summary, which refreshes every 30 seconds.

Election night

Add up the Liberal and NDP votes in many ridings and they would overwhelm the Conservatives. Sigh.

Canada’s national Do Not Call registry

1-866-580-3625

Finally, people in Canada can call a number, give their phone number, and tell telemarketers not to call them.

Here’s what you need to say::

1. “English” or “français”
2. Your number, starting with the area code, one digit at a time (or beep it in)
3. “Register”

You can listen to the rest, which is mostly a long legal disclaimer, or hang up.

The telemarketers have been lobbying against it and have managed to get some exceptions:

• Political parties
• Charities
• Newspapers trying to get subscribers
• Any business that you’ve dealt with in the last year

Those you must tell individually, yourself, to take you off their calling lists. To register a number, you must call from it. What that means, of course, is that you can’t register Ident-a-call numbers with special rings by telephone. But you can use the web site: National Do Not Call Registry (Canadian).

It takes 31 days to get the message to telemarketers but is good until November, 2011.

Ironman Canada is today!

Canada’s Ironman triathlon is running in Penticton, B.C. today. I’m watching the streaming video & audio (announcements and their choice of music on the speakers at the start/finish lines! Check it out at Ironman.com. Just keep following the links to live video. The results/transcription window pops up automatically.

The competitors are divided into professionals (pros) and amateurs (age-groupers). The pros compete for the overall win. The age-groupers have separate prizes for each age group (about a decade).

Ironman criteria:

• Swim 3.8 km or 2.4 miles
• Bike 180 km or 112 miles
• Run a full marathon (42 km or 26.2 mile)
• Cut-off time, 17 hours

The youngest competitor a woman of 18 and the oldest a 78-year-old nun. The oldest man is 77. I saw one man with a full grey beard, no one with large breasts.

I won’t be able to keep it on all day as I’m driving to Peterborough and back.

Founding of Quebec, 1608

July 3rd, 1608 was the day when Samuel de Champlain landed at the site of Quebec city and founded the first permanent settlement of Europeans in Canada. Bells rang all over Canada at 11:00 a.m.

Happy Canada Day!

Or Dominion Day as it used to be called, because Canada was the first Dominion – a free country within the British Commonwealth, created by negotiation and not revolution.

Leslie Street Spit: “Toronto’s accidental treasure”

Or so says Christopher Hume, writing in the Toronto Star: “Toronto’s accidental treasure“

I love the Spit: it’s a bird sanctuary, wilder than most city parks, looks a bit like Scotland with its hills and fjords, I mean lochs. It’s a good place for a walk or a bike ride. Who cares that the park exists only on weekends or that it’s built out of landfill?

BC highway cameras

Here’s a link to some British Columbia webcams: BC highway cams.