On The DEWLine

Missing Person Call from CBC News

2009-07-10T21:37:44Z

Ladies, gentlemen, respected others:

We have a call for assistance from the CBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/technology-blog/2009/07/moon_landing_space_anniversary.html

Can anyone help them find this person?

B-Day Wishes

2009-07-09T01:41:35Z

To evilvillan_1: Hoping you've had a good one today!

Why Politicians Ought to Be Drafted

2009-07-08T21:19:28Z

D. Simon Jackson touches on part of my reasoning in a column for cbcnews.ca.

The more I think about it, the more tempted I am by the idea of drafting, rather than electing voluntary candidates. Don't even let them volunteer as candidates for parties, either.

Am I wrong? Am I right?

Odd Attachments

2009-07-06T14:51:41Z

Some weird things get done to newspaper boxes...

Look closer...

The National c. 1978

2009-07-05T22:25:17Z

This dates me more than I want to admit.

I got a history/memory refresher courtesy of insidethecbc.com a while ago, with a selection of YouTubed "opening titles" sequences used by The National, CBC's main late-night newscast program from over the decades.

This one in particular whacked me over the head with the "Do you remember when...?" vibe:

I cannot yet recall the name of the typeface they used. I've seen the name, probably in some Letraset catalogue or Corel font library booklet. But cannot yet remember it.

Help?

If that link/embed doesn't work, let me know, okay?

Sketch Nights at Algonquin I

2009-07-04T20:15:54Z

Sketch Nights at Algonquin I
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

Every so often on a Tuesday night in the summer months between semesters at Algonquin College, instructor Rich Lauzon holds forth in B Building's Rotunda/Portable Feast room, inviting animation, game design and other arts students past and present to get together and sketch whatever suits'em.

I happened to be there for the session the night before Canada Day 2009.

If you're an artist yourself, and the Algonquin Campus off of Baseline Transitway Station's within easy reach for you on the right night of the month in the summer, you might want to have a look.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12032267235

Speaking of National Birthdays...

2009-07-04T17:25:34Z

Wishing my friends in the American Union all the best of the day, and much enjoyment of many, happier returns to come!

VIA Rail Dream Map 2020 version 2

2009-07-02T19:41:41Z

VIA Rail Dream Map 2020 version 2
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

As shown on viarail_fandom

Revised edition of the earlier map. Added in are the routes serving northern Québec and northern Manitoba, as promised earlier. Also included are direct connections feeding between Toronto and North Bay and Sudbury.

As to the note attached to version one, my apologies for getting the relative positioning of Ottawa and Cornwall wrong. However, I do believe a direct rail link between Ottawa and Cornwall should be on the dream-shopping list for VIA down the line.

Confederation Day Plus 142!

2009-07-01T14:39:02Z

In the spirit of the national birthday...

Hoping you all have a good one, people!

(Source material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Canada.svg If the Trade Marks Act of Canada trumps my little celebratory gesture, I'll take it down. I hope the government won't mind, though...?)

Trek Novels, Mogadishu, Canada Day, the CBC and Me

2009-07-01T04:20:24Z

Lots of accidental connections here, triggered in part by bill_leisner's new novel for the Star Trek office at Pocket Books, TNG: Losing the Peace.

So, the novel in question shows up at Perfect Books on Elgin in Centretown this week, and today I picked it up. Speed-reading racer that I am, it's demolished in a day - in the good way, Bill! - and some of the things I note below are accidental connections. Not sure if they constitute meaningful coincidences, and at some points, it's going to look like random babbling.

Pleased to note that Geordi LaForge finally gets a home town of his own. This is the first of the accidental connections forming: the town in question is Mogadishu, Somalia. Whence also hails one of the real-world musicians performing in the 9 PM show on Parliament Hill here in Ottawa tomorrow night - Canada Day night - a gentleman of no small talent and informed opinions going by the stage name of K'Naan.

The next coincidence is found in his Wikipedia bio notes: K'Naan's home neighbourhood back in Mogadishu? Its name allegedly translates into English as "River of Blood". No idea yet if there's truth to this story, although the accidental linkage to Klingon ritual utterances surprised me.

In the acknowledgements, Bill takes a paragraph to pay respect to the work of the CBC on one web resource in particular that he came across in his background work for the book: Anatomy of a Refugee Camp. Another accidental coincidence: Bill had no clue that any of the readership of his novel might maintain active connections to CBC. Such as myself.

I used to do courtroom art for the local Broadcast Centre's news arm, back when the TV news people were largely based out of Lanark Crescent over by Westboro Station on the Transitway. The work was irregular, it lasted about four years, and I miss it terribly.

I still keep in touch with some of the reporters I worked with on assorted stories back then, although the contact is irregular at best due to the pressures of our respective workloads and other obligations. That's okay. They're doing good work, and so it is with much of the rest of the news division elsewhere across Canada.

It seems important to remember this, seeing as the CBC's been under a lot of budgetary stress - a lot of stress in general - these last few years. They deserve all the respect they get for getting the job done in spite of that stress, and more besides in my already admittedly biased opinion.

I don't know if any of the people who worked on that specific item Bill referenced for Losing the Peace are still at CBC, what they're doing now, or if any of them are Trek fans.

But it seemed right to put the word out.

You never know.

Bill, for the record: you did good work here. Thank you.

VIA Rail - A Dream Map c. 2020

2009-06-30T14:45:22Z

VIA Rail - A Dream Map c. 2020
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

Here's something I'd been working on for a couple of months after I bought Adobe CS4. It served two purposes:

1) Put down in "concrete", printable form thoughts of mine on what I want to see VIA Rail's service network become over the next decade or so.

2) Learn-by-doing with Adobe Illustrator now that I actually have it in hand to work with.

Thoughts on either aspect of the project, anyone?

(Please note: I'll be revising the map to add in the existing routes serving Northern Manitoba and Québec shortly!)

Squirrels: the Factions are Fighting

2009-06-28T22:25:27Z

Squirrels: the Factions are Fighting
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

Lest any among us fear a squirrel takeover.

Seen not more than a day ago in an east Ottawa backyard.

Memorial Anniversary: Terry Fox

2009-06-28T19:18:58Z

But for CBC, I'd almost forgotten...

http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/06/28/

Requiescat in pacem, Terrence. Your Marathon continues.

A Question: Apollo XI Plus 40

2009-06-28T13:00:37Z

Cross-posted from ottawa_sf:

On my friendlist this morning, there was a reminder of an Event like few others thus far in human history and its upcoming anniversary: the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo XI landing on the Moon.

We ought to do something as a group to mark the occasion.

So. Suggestions, please, and quickly!

DCU Geography: Liberty Hill

2009-06-27T12:10:53Z

Continuing an irregular series on fictional comics geography...

If you've been reading Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink, then you've heard of this addition to the roster of DCU cities and towns, Liberty Hill.

In Ink # 1, it's described as being "in the shadow of the (American) nation's capital". In # 2, now on sale, one of the main TV stations in Liberty Hill's region is Baltimore. So Maryland's not a bad guess for the town's host state if anyone's interested.

Starship Art - A Call to Spend!

2009-06-23T01:00:04Z

If you're a Trek fan who likes to look at Cool Spaceship Art, get your browser's backside over to Doug Drexler's blog for a sneak peek at the 2010 Ships of the Line Calendar.

Now.

Book Fairs

2009-06-20T14:57:31Z

I'll be running a table today from noon to 5 at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair's 2009 edition. It will, as usual, be held at the Jack Purcell Community Centre just off of Elgin Street in Centretown.

Further details here or here.

One Good Change in Art Supplies

2009-06-17T01:34:00Z

One bit of relatively trivial good news amidst all the Bad Craziness across the planet is this: my general neighbourhood in the east end of Ottawa - east of the Greenbelt - is going to get a Wallack's store at long last.

Years overdue, this is, and grounds for some small celebration for artists of many stripes in east Ottawa.

Oh, and you'll find it at Innes and Tenth Line. Starting August 15th.

About the Iranian Situation of June 2009

2009-06-17T01:31:59Z

I'd like to adopt the question of the protestors as my own re: the recent elections in that nation.

Where are their votes?

Surrealism Day

2009-06-13T19:46:27Z

Surrealism Day
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

Between half of Place d'Orléans Mall suffering a blackout, nude bicyclists having the run of Rideau Street, and sights like this one in the parking lots of the University of Ottawa, I think today qualifies as Surrealism Day in Ottawa.

Trudeau Stories: An Open Letter to the Author/Performer

2009-06-13T02:26:25Z

Brooke,

I went to see your show at the National Arts Centre tonight while it was in town as part of the Magnetic North Festival. Wanted very much to stick around for the Q & A session afterwards, but misunderstood what time it was by the time the show itself ended. Thus, my hasty - and stupidly premature - retreat from the room and the Centre. I could rationalize it by way of my side trip into the nearest Running Room for yet another pair of socks, but that just smells...like socks.

Wet socks.

So. Your show. A piece of your life, as you lived it and remembered it. A piece of the life of someone else dearer to many people than some would care to admit, or in some instances, care to tolerate admissions from others. A man who became a friend to you.

A piece of both lives that you cared and worked to share with us.

I won't speak to the technical details of the craft. Others better suited to that have already done this, I'm sure, and some of the people who read this aside from you and I will no doubt link to it in their replies in due course.

For myself, I'll stick to the response of the heart. I laughed straight into asthma attacks, a peril I'll gladly keep facing if it keeps me sane to do so. I teared up more than once, including right at the start with that photo. If you apologize for those moments, ever, I will not forgive you. Not on this side of the grave, anyway.

I think you found the best use I've heard of a Vince Guaraldi Trio recording outside of the Charlie Brown specials to date.

You made me wish I'd been able to count Pierre Trudeau as a friend of my own.

For that, I thank you.

You've reminded us of why, as is said by others, "he haunts us still" and why that haunting can and should be a blessing.

For that also, thank you.

Be well. Prosper if you can.

Note to everyone else reading this: If you're wondering what I'm talking about, take a gander over here.

On the future of the Net in Canada

2009-06-06T13:53:42Z

duncanmac pointed out a meeting scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday night, June 10th, at the Ottawa Public Library's main branch. Expected to show up are Michael Geist of the U of Ottawa law faculty, MP Charlie Angus, and Rocky Gaudreault of Teksavvy.

Considering the recent efforts by the several of the four major Canadian ISPs to rein in their customers' desires and needs to suit their own purposes, I'd recommend checking out the announced plans for the meeting and - if you can spare a moment - showing up to hear the speakers out.

The oddest tree on Somerset

2009-06-06T02:25:11Z

The oddest tree on Somerset
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

Does anyone know how long this tree's been there?

Seeing it in its present state was what drew my attention to the site, believe it or not. I rarely see such an oddly trimmed tree as this in my travels around this town, or any other in recent memory.

Can anyone tell me...

2009-06-02T00:57:59Z

Can anyone tell me...
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

...what make and model of car this is? Seems as if it's something not quite an antique, but close to it.

Update: Not sure I want to close the comments just yet, given some of the options for entertainment that you've presented over the last couple of days. In spite of having now solved the car ID question that got the ball rolling!

An absurd request

2009-05-30T20:37:20Z

Could those of you visiting or reading this blog please visit the blog homepage once apiece over the next 24 hours or so? Trying to get a better sense of where everyone's visiting from at the moment. Not sure how it's going to be useful yet, but something will present itself...