“Put down that sandwich and come out with your hands up…”

Quebec’s Open Source association FACIL(Google Translated) is suing the Gov’t of Quebec because Quebec has refused to open tenders for software and support to local vendors. Quebec is using an exemption in law that allows them to buy proprietary where no other options exist. (Cough, BS.)

Good for FACIL, I hope they win. I also hope that other Municipal and Provincial governments as well as the Federal gov’t get off their duff and start moving towards Open Source Software. Usually it is license free, it is always better code, and service and support can be provided by local vendors because they have access to the internals. OSS allows gov’t to create a more diverse knowledge based economy and allows it to support it’s citizenry rather than the Seattle and San Jose economies.

h/t: Michael Geist. CBC story

Cheers,
lance

Old Pampered European Count: 0*

At 61, in his 9th Olympics, posting a clear round and Canada is into the jump-off with the US for gold in team show jumping. Woohoo!
update: USA – Gold, Canada – Silver, Norway – Bronze
Well done, “Captain Canada”.

Going through some old photos this morning, I came upon this snapshot of an oil painting that was “borrowed” from the art department wall of a now defunct sign company in Saskatoon at around the time I ended work there… (The name of the company was A.G. Neon Art.)

I did the piece as a teenager (from a magazine photo), and while it has no actual value, I’d still like it back. If one of you in this relatively large audience has spotted it in your travels, please send me an email (or mail to the address here). It’s a longshot, but you never know.
I’m not interested in anything more than the painting’s return – so no questions asked.

(video works now)
(Where are you going with this, Anchoress? (link fixed now))

Surfing around this afternoon (I’ve been sick most of the day), I found his page on the official Beijing Olympics site, listing the events scheduled with links to reports, results, etc. Nice clean design, and easy to navigate for those of you interested in the games.

Cough. 6-0 Riders.

Cheers,
lance

Finally, a reason to watch golf!
Update – QOTW comes from Bruce, in the comments;

“The “Improve Your Golf Game with Chris Evert” video should be available in 5-4-3-2….”

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was painting a race ‘vette. A few of you asked for photos – here’s one. My portion of the work (I came in after the black base coat was completed by Lazer Auto Body of Saskatoon) was in painting the molded “bumpers” and “grill” to resemble chrome. It turned out pretty well, by all accounts.
A front and rear view.
(Just found track pics of the Scatrat, which I painted many years ago for Bob of Lazer Auto Body, as well as the Froot Loop, which I think I did in ’06.)

It’s been a productive trip so far. Second day in and my Can.Ch.Minuteman I Love Lucy scored a major, which brings her to within 3 points of her American Championship title.
I’ve tried to check on things when I can, but as you know, the site has been experiencing some outages, and it’s affected my access as much as yours. Thanks for your patience. I don’t receive any notifications from my hosting company, so I don’t know why – but DOS attack is a possibility.
Oh well – this too shall pass.
Wish us luck, please don’t engage the trolls, and thanks again to the guest bloggers who have been keeping the place together as best they can.

Anthony Watts’ cool new blog site.

Dick Martin has died at 86
h/t Cal2

Truckspills.com

If you can endure the “bruised”, “hunkered down” reporting of the Associated Press’s Jeannine Aversa for a few graphs, you’ll get to the meat of the thing: US economy grows 0.6%.

“The economy is weak but not collapsing,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America’s Investment Strategies Group. “A recession can’t be ruled out, although the stars are not lined up at this point to definitively say one way or the other.”
On Wall Street, investors found comfort that the GDP figure was a bit better than expected. The Dow Jones industrials were up more than 100 points in morning trading.

They’ll be kicking wastebaskets around in Democratic campaign offices this morning. Oh well, give the media a few more weeks to work their magic…

With clients’ comments.

Snowboarding gnome?

(image enhanced)
I’m told this is the Travelocity Gnome. Looks like we beat local media to this story.
Nice catch by richfisher.

Many thanks to Mark Steyn;

Until midnight Eastern tonight, for every copy of America Alone sold at the Steyn store, we’ll give 50 per cent of the cover price – ie, our entire profit – to the legal defense funds for the five beleaguered bloggers fighting for free speech in Canada. That’s 50 per cent of the cover price of the paperback, hardback, audio book (in CD, tape or MP3 format) and our America Alone Anniversary Special. And we’ll also put 50 per cent of every other book, T-shirt, mug or anything else we sell today to the Freedom Five. Whatever you buy between now and midnight, half the cost of the item goes to the battle to restore freedom of speech to a land that sorely needs it. And don’t forget every book can be personally autographed to you or your loved one.

Click here for the order page and lots more!
The Shire News Network also has a podcast up of their interview with Kathy and me.
And remember – when the Communists show up to protest the Nazis, you’re supposed to pray for an asteroid, not pick a favourite!

(h/t reader NoGuff)

Invented by Swiss chemists – tested by American animators.

For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, this is not suitable for children.