Still studying the master

After acquiring the Intégrale collection, I am now one of the world's top scrobblers of Django Reinhardt.
Click here if you don't know what I am talking about.

Empty ships signal global economy still shrinking.

The largest ever gathering of maritime ships - bigger than the US and British navies combined - anchor empty and without crew off the coast of Singapore.

A couple of years ago those ships would have been steaming back and forth, going at full speed. But now you've got something like 12 per cent of the world's container ships doing nothing.

Some experts believe the ratio of container ships sitting idle could rise to 25 per cent within two years in an extraordinary downturn that shipping giant Maersk has called a 'crisis of historic dimensions'. Last month the company reported its first half-year loss in its 105-year history.

Read the piece here.

Talk about 6 degrees!

Greens get it.

"We get that (as a wise man once said) the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way round. We get that the pursuit of economic growth at the expense of environmental security is a fool's bargain that betrays the health and prosperity of future generations of Canadians." From here.

Breaking in a new artist.

Milky Way Rising

Who doesn't like star gazing? Who prefers a good night's sleep to sitting in a dark field all night? Well, watch this HD Vimeo clip in full screen instead (and turn out the lights).

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

The Luongo Deal

12 years, sixty-four million dollars. Oh yeah.
More here.

Baratza Vario grinder - home barista's dream.

Sure, $450 Canadian is a chunk for a home grinder, but oh, what a grinder! 230 'steps' completing the range from the finest espresso (or, say, Turkish) all the way to french press and everything in between. Coffee devotees or curious folks with time on their hands, read the details here.

Sean's jazz starting 5

With Team Canada announcing their invitations to camp and the summer jazz festival season winding down, I thought I'd combine threads to list my "starting 5" of jazz, alive or otherwise. Thoughts and dissenting opinions savagely encouraged.

Drums - Art Blakey
Sax - John Coltrane
Guitar - Wes Montgomery
Trumpet - Miles Davis (Wynton Marsalis off the bench)
Piano - Thelonious Monk (Herbie Hancock as alternate)

New weather symbol - smoke!

What a strange symbol. Never saw that before.

What's behind the HST?

Since 2005 Ottawa has increased program spending at twice the rate of inflation. Even before the wheels came off the economy last fall, federal spending had hit the highest point ever, under Stephen Harper. Despite pledging in the last election he would not allow an annual deficit, it’s now going to be at least $50 billion (a record), and will take years to reduce.

The Parliamentary budget officer estimates at least $200 billion will be added to the national debt. That debt is financed mostly by bonds. When the government is forced to flood the marketplace with new bond issues, it competes for capital, and forces mortgage rates up. That interest on $600 billion debt is tax money, transferred from your income to the pocket of investors. It doesn’t buy a single new MRI machine, fund a school or fill a senior’s prescription.

Thanks Garth Turner.