Secretariat – Mar.30. 1970 – Oct.4, 1989

“Memorialize your loved one in 140 characters or less”

Via the Anchoress

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Washington Post, 2006 – “The California Horse Racing Board last week passed a motion that may portend a radical change in American racing, one that could change the nature of the horse-betting game. The board declared that all major tracks in the state “must install a synthetic surface or Polytrack by Dec. 31, 2007” or else have their racing licenses revoked. “
Thoroughbred Times, 2009 – “The report on the Post-Mortem Program at the University of California-Davis for the calendar year 2008 formally documents for the first time more hind-end catastrophic injuries among Thoroughbred racing on synthetic surfaces when compared with those racing on dirt.”

h/t Mike

More on the Windfields Farm closing, in a well-researched piece at the National Post;

Soon, all that is left of the legendary Windfields Farm could be just a small wedge of land with gravestones. Flat, grey tablets, marking the resting place of some of the greatest animals in sporting history, among them Northern Dancer, the most celebrated of all, plus eight others, including his progeny Vice Regent and Archers Bay.
“The plan is for the original area of the farm, the older, more historic, a very small area, to be preserved,” says Windfields director of farm operations, Simon Cassidy. “It will be eventually made into a small memorial park.”
Come November, when Windfields divests the last of its 16 mares and foals in an everything-must-go sale in Kentucky, memorials will be all that remains of the breeding operation made famous by renowned industrialist E.P. Taylor as the place where Canadian thoroughbred racing came of age; and for the astonishing racing dynasty begun in this country. The farm is closing. Its fabled days are over.

(SDA gets results. Thanks, Kevin).

(Update – Unbelievably, 24 hours have passed and the only mentions of this item on Google News come from racing publications.)

Jockey Bill Hartack, aboard Northern Dancer with E. P. Taylor. 1964 Kentucky Derby.
Windfields Farm to close its doors

Windfields Farm, the legendary Canadian breeding operation that bred 48 champions including 1964 Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer, will close its doors following a dispersal of its remaining bloodstock at the 2009 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. E. P. Taylor founded Windfields in Oshawa, Ontario, in 1936. The surviving members of the Taylor family issued a press release on Thursday stating that due to the nature of ownership, their ages, and their interests, they reached the emotional decision to discontinue the Thoroughbred operation. “What my father started has lasted far longer than anyone imagined,” said Taylor’s daughter, Judith Taylor Mappin, president of Windfields. “We have been so fortunate with our horses and our staff that we remained in this business we love for decades longer than expected.

[…]
E. P. Taylor became the first Canadian member of The Jockey Club in 1953. He bred Northern Dancer in his own name, and the Nearctic colt was voted champion three-year-old of 1964, going on to become one of the most influential sires in history.
Taylor received Eclipse Awards as Outstanding Breeder in 1977 and ’83, and Windfields has been North America’s leading breeder by purse money nine times, by stakes wins 13 times, and by wins 19 times.

“UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems”

(Right click to open full sized images).
h/t to Larry Weber, who explains – “The pictures were taken around the Medicine Hat area after a windstorm last week. The bales apparently weigh up to 1600lbs and some were reported to have rolled up to 5 miles.”
Update – commentors advise that the photos are from 2008.

A quick note and photos from SDA reader “Ron from Kelowna”, who remains a safe distance from the fires and advises “We’re ok right here. Forests very dry. Fires are about 3 miles from us. The problem yesterday was the wind. Today so far is calm. Divide the “news” reports by an order of magnitude !!”
Mount Boucherie looking SW


Still, for those with property closer to the fires, I’m sure it’s an uneasy time.

Just another father with a custodial court order worth less than the paper it’s written on…

…the State of Nebraska managed to pass legislation that allows US parents of Canadian-born children to be abducted to Nebraska, and whatever our courts here in Canada decided can be thrown out the window. All you need is a plane ticket an abuse allegation and you’re good to go.

Story here.

From the May 2nd Kentucky Derby – amazing stuff.

In the mail – Wylie’s War. A fictional novel set against a backdrop of Alberta/Saskatchewan separation, by Saskatchewan author Terry Anderson.
Updated: Amazon link

Michael Geist is “Unravelling the Canadian Copyright Policy Laundering Strategy”

This lengthy post seeks to unravel the effort further by demonstrating how there has been a clear strategy of deploying seemingly independent organizations to advance the same goals, claims, arguments, and recommendations. Over the past three years, this strategy has played out with multiple reports, each building on the next with a steady stream of self-citation. The following diagram highlights the key players…

Cool plane pictures here.

America is still not ready for a Rocky Horror Picture Show Revival.

Neet.
h/t

More at Uncle Eddie’s Theory Corner.

Essay Contest for Excellence in the Pursuit of Measurement (link fixed – sorry!)

Measurement should be a key component of any debate on public policy. Measurement transforms issues that are otherwise abstract or obscure into something concrete or tangible. More importantly, measurement facilitates fruitful discussions and productive public debates.
However, the first step towards measurement involves identifying issues that are important enough to be measured. There are numerous issues that should be measured but have not been measured or measured inappropriately.
We want to hear from you on what public policy issues you would like to see measured. In particular, we would like your comment on an economic or public policy issue that you feel has not been measured or has not been measured adequately.

1st Prize is $1,000, with 5 Runners-up Prizes of $500
Entry deadline is May 15th. Details at The Fraser Institute.