The Oscars, liveblogged at Libertas.

I’m heavily invested in the “work till death” retirement plan;

[R]etirement programs are funny things and they have funny consequences. Especially when ALL of the retirement programs designate financial securities (read stocks) as the only medium by which you can save for retirement.
Let me repeat that again…

Its chartapalooza!

One year after first reports;

… in ConsumerAffairs.Com that the Toyota Prius traction control system can fail to operate properly on a snowy road, Prius owners report the hybrid’s TRAC system is still inadequate on slippery inclines.
One Vermont Prius driver, suffering through a recent January snowfall, described Toyota Prius traction control as “dangerous in mountainous snow country.”
[…]
A Langley, Washington Prius owner told us that her hybrid this month “stopped totally on a medium uphill approach to her driveway and garage resulting in the car falling off (the) driveway into ravine of trees” on a snowy December day.
In Medford, Oregon, Mike is the most recent victim of the reluctant traction control system.
“I am a seasoned driver in the snow. I can drive front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. I am a forester and have been driving in snowing conditions for 28 years, 22 of those years on the job,” he wrote. “I just had my first experience driving my Toyota Prius in the snow today. The engine cut out all power anytime the wheels slipped at all.”
Mike said that the traction control failure made driving the vehicle on an uphill climb almost impossible.
“It was very dangerous as you had no control as other vehicles came toward you, and once I lost momentum and could not start again. This was in 2 inches of wet snow on a 6 percent incline. I finally inched my way home and ended up putting chains on to back into my flat driveway with 2 inches of wet snow,” he wrote.
He concluded that the traction control system in the Prius “is absolutely a design flaw.”

Breaking – Snow hits Tokyo…
Welcome, Windsor Star readers.

OK, fine, but rebuilding a city that is mainly below sea level is — what’s the technical word for it? — oh yeah, stupid.

The only legal expert in the nation who can tell you what David Dingwall takes in his coffee.

Jimmy was a banker;

… and in spite of that he was a buddy of mine. One of the few that didn’t have his head in the sand and instead of just trying to push loans through to get the commission, he actually cared about the likelihood of repayment. He was a brand new banker, and in being such was crippled by his idealism and integrity. One day, obviously frustrated he pulled me into his office, closed the doors and asked me, “Look, I need your help. What the heck is going on here?”

Loser pays.

h/t
(Update: I wish I’d thought of some of those one-liners posted in the comments, when I titled this last night. “Shut up and sing” is a trifle meanspirited, considering that, unlike many of her equally challenged peers in show business, she at least has the good sense not to talk politics.)

Forwarded by a reader in the industry;

The oilfield is a place to make izzy money if you don’t lose it first, while some are asking for their fair share , some are having to lose more than their fair share. There is no royalty rebate on a wrecked truck or izzy money from an insurance company. The price of oil and gas exploration can be high even in a developed country.
(From a collection of 30 wrecks circulating around the oilfield internet.)

(click to enlarge)

*

Nov.6 Update – At least some of the students involved were at the campaign office of Terry Alm today to offer their apologies. They will be helping the SaskParty take down signs after the election.

(click to enlarge)

Description: A political party for the youth of Saskatchewan upset that they can’t run for office or vote in the upcoming provincial election …and for any kids that just enjoy kicking politcal party signs. Also we find it unfair that the Sask Party has 3 times the funding of any other party, so they get all the big signs. We seek to even this out. Come out, show your support, invite your friends, and kick a few signs

Page info shows:
Andrew Rowan (Aden Bowman Collegiate) Assistant Captain
Taylor Andreas (Aden Bowman Collegiate) Assistant Captain
Brennan Rutherford (Walter Murray Collegiate) Co-Captain of Destruction
Mike Pinder (Aden Bowman Collegiate) Driver
David Fodey (Aden Bowman Collegiate) Co-Captain of Destruction
Will Hamilton (Aden Bowman Collegiate) (creator)
You’ll need a facebook account to access the page. Currently, the group has 59 “members” – most appear to be high school students at Aden Bowman and Walter Murray Collegiate.
If you have kids at these Saskatoon schools, you may recognize some names.
Update – “Hey dude, I heard your name on the radio“
The owner of the property in the photo above just called John Gormley Live (linked above). He’s a little ticked off. In the comments – “It’s as if they reported themselves to Crimestoppers.”
In a case of the apple not falling far from…. the apple – ” Do a search on Facebook for [U of Sask Sheaf Editor-In-Chief] Chuck Hamilton. View his friends, and you will see Will Hamilton is listed as his brother. I bet their parents are proud.” (Or it was until Will’s was pulled.)
More at No-Libs.
Update 2 – Now the Canadian Press has picked up the story.
Update 3 – There are NDP family ties to the Fodey kid as well.
(h/t Ryan, in the comments)

Angry Roughneck responds to Ed Stelmach;

First off, drilling levels will be fine through this winter. Companies have already bought their land rights, so they are already committed to winter drilling projects. This will be great for Ed and the Progressive Communist party of Alberta. Ed will be able to sit back on his throne, sometime in mid February and point triumphantly to the record drilling levels and say “see, helping Albertans did not deter drilling. We must not be afraid of the big oil companies”. Most people will cheer and then once summer comes, and the election is over, and pink Eddie is re-elected, the industry will come to a grinding halt, but the pubic won’t be interested in the debate anymore. The lack of drilling will be attributed to a downturn in the industry, a bust cycle, possibly blamed on a high dollar or more access to middle east oil.
The big energy companies like Encana, Talisman, Conoco, CNRL… etc will spend their dollars elsewhere (see Saskatchewan) out of principle. They will make a stand because they know who’s next in line (see looting feds) for their profits. People think it is hard to move a giant corporation like Encana. Well its not, Encana is just a bunch of engineers. Pipelines, compressors and pipelines can be rebuilt (cost can be spread out amonst competitors) or in a lot of circumstance already exist on other parts. All the equipment associated with oil production is owned by Albertans— the rigs, wellheads, pipe, welding units, trucks, trailers, tools, and heavy equipment are all owned by Albertans who rent their capital to energy producers. The energy companies have no stake in any of this capital expenditure.

A different type of discussion here.

Total cost: $595,000 CAD

AP;

Vuttichai said the solar-powered [wind shear alert] systems — which were out of power at the time of the crash — could have made it difficult for the pilot Arief Mulyadi, to judge whether it was safe to land.

US $24.99

“Next to enriching plutonium, the most popular activity in Iran these days seems to be howling at the moon.”

Or rather, silt. Rebuilding on a mistake;

What’s more, that sinking, unstable soil is in a bowl below sea-level surrounded by the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and Lake Pontchartrain, bodies of water that are eating away the coastline at a rate of 25 square miles or more each year.
In September of 2005, I interviewed a geologist who was the former Dean of his southern university’s Coastal and Marine Studies program. His closing, unsolicited recommendation was that New Orleans “should be largely abandoned as a city.”
New Orleans is doomed city, a geographical mistake destined to fall to geologic and hydraulic forces beyond our control. It is sad they we are too arrogant to concede this failed city to the sea, and seem destined to waste the billions of dollars that could be spent moving the inhabitants to higher ground.