July 2004 Archives

It's amazing how some things change and some things remain the same. On the 5th of February 1826 my great great great grandfather, the Rev. William Fidler, wrote the following entry in his diary:

"During my absence a kind and bountiful Providence had blest me with a sweet little daughter; Of course, I think her the prettiest creature I have ever beheld. My dear Wife & her infant are both doing well. Praise the Lord for his goodness to us all."

One hundred seventy-eight years, five months and six days after he wrote those words, I discovered exactly how he felt.

Apparently there are new lyrics to the hit song People:

Barbra Streisand … has rewritten her hit People to include the lines: "We must get rid of Rumsfeld/He's the spookiest person in the world".

See BBC NEWS - 'I'm a celebrity, get me on the campaign' for the full story.

Solenostemon scutellarioides (aka Coleus)

I've decided to experiment with colours for this web page, starting with some naturally occurring schemes. This one consists of brown, pink and light green, and I'm calling it Coleus.

Just in case you don't believe that it occurs naturally, I've included a photograph of its namesake.

My wife and I are awaiting the imminent arrival of our first child, and in an attempt to be well prepared we've purchased a car seat. It was delivered unexpectedly today and immediately bemused both of us.

The Maxi-Cosi Cabrio car seat as shown on its CD-Rom

It's more complicated than any VCR I've ever come across. In fact, the instruction manual is a multimedia affair supplied on a CR-Rom! Luckily there's a traditional, multi-lingual, paper-based version as well, but it's still so complicated that I can't help feeling there must be a course somewhere we can take to learn how to use the thing properly.

I only hope the maternity hospital takes a leaf out of the manufacturer's book and sends us home with an instruction manual and CD-Rom for the next little bundle that arrives at short notice.

In honour of Canada Day, here's a link to a 15-minute discussion on that staple of Canadian food, the butter tart (courtesy of the CBC):

What makes a great butter tart?

Who'd have thought there'd be so much spirituality involved?