Quebec Gazette June 21 1764

This is the a copy of the first number, printed June 21, 1764 of the oldest continually published newspaper in North America. The Quebec Gazette eventually became the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph and is still published! I saw the original and it was in good condition - I think it was printed on hemp based paper and was brown but not crumbly. Here is the link to the pdf file: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25000544/Quebec-Gazette-June-21-1764

How to download BBC videos in Ubuntu

It's nice being able to keep a copy of a video for reference on your own pc - you can't  do this with the BBC's site using the firefox add-ons that work with youtube, but you can in Ubuntu's Linux using get_iplayer and flvstreamer - both of which you can find in Synaptic Package Manager (it's "get-iplayer" , not "get_iplayer" in Synaptic).
Then follow the instructions here: http://linuxcentre.net/getiplayer/documentation and if you just want to download from the BBC News' website go down to this section:

get_iplayer --modes=flashnormal
  --pid 'tv:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8104086.stm'

(put in the url of the page you want the embedded video from)

It will copy an .avi file to your home folder.

Huzzah!

The sound of a 50 calibre machine gun firing! It's New Years! I only hear it on New Years - they might even have tracer rounds...... wonder what the owner does with it the rest of the time.

Asian Canadian girls remarkably cheerful about getting STDs.

It's just a bad choice of a stock photo - I think I saw the same pair of models on a earphone package. One would expect a more serious expression on the cover of a pamphlet dealing with a virus that can lead to cervical cancer!

H1N1 intimations of mortality

A little boy was looking at an elderly man leaving the clinic after the flu shots - he asked "Look at the old man - Why is he old?". His mother said everybody, including him, was going to get old.
"I don't want to walk with a cane!" he said.
"Maybe if your bones stay strong and your spine stays straight you won't have to." she said.

I had both the H1N1 and the seasonal flu shots today - neither has given me any real discomfort. There were a lot of Mohawks at the clinic, since the news says that natives are most affected by this virus.

Tilley Socks do keep their promise

Tilley Walking Socks are supposed to have a three year guarantee against holes - mine did get one only a few months after purchase - it didn't look like hole developed from wear - it looked like some type of chemical had eaten away the material - but they did replace it with a new pair although I only mailed in one damaged sock and did not charge me for postage.

Stew Cameron

Stew Cameron - possibly the only victim of Socred inspired terrorism - was a cartoonist who published editorial cartoons that enraged the Social Credit premier of Alberta, "Bible Bill" Aberhart in the early 1940s.  Stew's house was torched by persons unknown while he was away. But he mostly specialized in cowboy cartoons - here's a detail from "Square Dancing", date unknown.