bagochips

One more,this tree was alive before Columbus first set sail.

Those are great pictures, Heather. I spent three weeks in the Yucatan in 2000 at the end of my three month winter vacation. I really loved it there. Especially Tulum. Here are a few from the trip I did with Jay last summer: Lake Superior Provincial Park On top of Whistler's Mountain Colombia Icefield runnoff Stanley Park before the storm Long Beach Dinosaur Provincial Park

Funniest show on the radio... http://myspace.com/wiretapradio http://www.cbc.ca/wiretap/

Whitey can air-any instrument. That man has some serious talent. What a great weekend. Cheers,all. I would also like to thank Marroush for absorbing the excess alcohol in my system, yet again.

So all of a sudden I have 2 (or maybe 3, Julia?) extra tickets available for tonight. PM me (or call if you know my #)if you want 'em folks.

http://www.myspace.com/clockstrikes

Good times last night. Thanks, nero. I'm psyched for tonight. I just wish I could sleep through my hangover.

I don't know about that...

Scientists unveil first man-made life form Genetic researchers alter synthetic bacteria so it won't be infectious Tom Spears The Ottawa Citizen; with files from Agence France-Presse Friday, January 25, 2008 Scientists have created synthetic life using man-made genes, and their first creation is a copy of a natural bacterium that causes a sexually transmitted infection. They chose Mycoplasma genitalium -- named after the area it infects -- because it has fewer genes than other bacteria. That makes it easier to copy. While the scientists say they hope eventually to build useful bacteria, little M. genitalium does nothing useful. It just causes a low-grade infection, treatable with antibiotics. And the timing is unfortunate. Today's announcement comes as Hollywood is scaring audiences with super-diseases from the lab (Resident Evil; I Am Legend), though this one has been intentionally crippled to prevent infection. Other forms of "synthetic life" will follow, the creators say. The journal Science, which publishes the research today, says it "represents a step toward the end goal of creating synthetic micro-organisms that could be used for producing biofuels, cleaning up toxic waste, sequestering carbon, or other applications." The team that built it works for genome researcher and businessman Craig Venter of California. In test tubes, Nobel Prize-winner Hamilton Smith and his team chemically synthesized large chunks of genetic material, each making up one-eighth to one-quarter of the full gene set, and stored the copies within E. coli bacteria. Then, they assembled these large pieces in yeast, harnessing some of the yeast cells' own machinery for the task of assembling these parts into working cells. In a broadcast for reporters, Mr. Smith said the same method would work for creating other synthetic bacteria as well. They also attached short markers -- DNA bits that don't really belong there -- to identify bacteria with man-made genes. The synthetic gene set contains all the genes that the natural bacterium has, except for one -- left out intentionally so that the man-made bug would not be infectious. The patent was publicized by the Ottawa-based bioethics watchdog, ETC Group. It's the Venter team's second foray into synthetic M. genitalium. Last year, they put real genes in a soup of amino acids to try to build the rest of a cell around the genes. In 2002, when he announced the project, Mr. Venter told reporters: "We will be cautious about how and where we disclose new techniques. We don't want a group of crazies to deliberately make something that is harmful." The project was approved by an independent ethics committee. No one knows yet what the public reaction will be, but there's a precedent. In the 1990s, biotech firms created crops to help farmers. But genetically modified soybeans and corn have been a tough sell in many countries. None were engineered at first for better nutrition. Some were engineered for use with pesticides; others had a "natural" insect toxin called Bt engineered right into them. Crop scientists approved; many shoppers didn't. Now Tim Caulfield, a bioethics professor at the University of Alberta, says the decision to model the first synthetic life on an infectious bacterium is again likely to make non-scientists uncomfortable. "There's definitely a yuck factor to this, in the idea that we don't know the downstream ramifications of this tinkering with life," he said. © The Ottawa Citizen 2008 p://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=c27d505e-43c9-4e26-8337-b00c32e583af

Not to mention "Cereal Killer."

Hey Velvet, you know the guy from the Tummies pretty well. Are they on both nights?

336. Pre-war blues songs about death, without repeating an artist or song. 1. Leadbelly - Death Letter Blues 2. Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean 3. Robert Johnson - Dead Shrimp Blues 4. Tommy Johnson - Big Road Blues 5. Blind Willie Johnson - Jesus Make Up My Dyin' Bed (later remade by Dylan and Zeppelin going by a different name, In My Time of Dying) 6. Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues 7. Bessie Smith - Graveyard Dream Blues 8. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit 9. King Oliver - St. James Infirmary Blues 10.Blind Willie McTell - Death Cell Blues 11. 12.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

I shook his hand once and I haven't washed it since. That was back in '93. Are you coming up for the nero shows, StoneMtn?

So I went to the Ottawa premiere of "I"m Not There" at the Bytowne Cinema on Friday night. Everything I had heard said about this movie lead me to believe that it would be pretty good, but I was still a little skeptical going in. I mean, Dylan is not an easy topic to tackle, especially when he is being portrayed by six different actors, among them a small black boy and a woman. What a fantastic (insert your favorite enthusiastic expletive here) movie! Cate Blanchett is amazing as the young, stressed out Dylan taking it electric. The only possible weak point is Richard Gere'es performance, but to be fair, he doesn't have a whole lot of lines anyway. Dylan fans go see this film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZGseissqX8

Happy Birthday Dave. Rock on.

NY police find 'cashback' corpse Two men face trial after wheeling their dead friend down a Manhattan street in an alleged attempt to cash his Social Security cheque. The sight of two men pushing a partially-dressed, pale, stiff body on an office chair raised the suspicions of a passing policeman. Detective Travis Rapp arrested David Dalaia and James O'Hare, both 65. The dead man, Virgilio Cintron, 66, is believed to have died in the previous 24 hours, the Associated Press reports. A post mortem is said to have proved inconclusive. Mr Dalaia and Mr O'Hare are said to have expressed surprise when paramedics told them Mr Cintron was dead. 'Very dead' They reportedly tried to cash the $355 (£181) cheque on Tuesday, but were told by a clerk that Mr Cintron had to be present. They returned to the flat that one of them shared with Mr Cintron and partially dressed the corpse before loading it into a chair and wheeling it back to the shop, police said. Passers-by watched as they left the body outside the shop and went in to cash the cheque. The clerk again insisted Mr Cintron had to be with them and as they returned to fetch him, they were stopped by Detective Rapp. The officer said he thought the figure was a mannequin or a dummy at first. "I thought it was a joke, honestly," he told AP. One onlooker was not so sure. "I saw this guy sitting in this chair with his head back," restaurant worker Victor Rodriguez, 38, told AP. "He looked very dead. He looked very sick. His eyes were closed. He wasn't moving."

http://www.terminus1525.ca/blog/3651 Is it fair to say: WTF?

In Perú from Huánuco to Tingo Maria, where the road from the Pacific coast across the Andes finds its way towards the Amazon lowlands. This is near the top of the last mountain pass. From there, soapbox rider can enjoy a vertical 1000 meters of gravity assisted ride. As these kids help stranded truck drivers along the road, they're called bomberos (firemen). They transport drinks, food and spare parts to broken trucks. http://www.kk.org/streetuse/archives/2008/01/go_cart_haulers.php

In fact, when they opened up on Preston St (aka Little Italy) here in Ottawa, they had a specialty coffee known as the fuckugino.

Don't get too excited, bokonon, that was probably a typo. I think at Strarbucks they spell it fuckuccino. Their prices should make that obvious.