Last night, after working for almost 8 hours without a break, I stumbled out of my desk to go home. Simultaneously, Steven Garrity galloped downstairs from silverorange. In my foggy PHP-induced delirium, I heard Steven’s gallop, and thought it was me coming down the stairs. Which was very confusing.

This morning, I was reading through comments about my Flickr images, I read this (highlighted text is mine):

I thought this text was actually somebody’s comment. I took great offense.

We’re off to record an episode of Live from the Formosa Tea House now; if I sounded like a jet-lagged bumbler, you’ll know why.

One of the fringe benefits of being leader of the small ineffective cabal working to keep the name Compass in use to describe the CBC Prince Edward Island supper hour television newscast (the show that infidels insist on calling Canada Now) is that I have been able to cultivate agents inside the CBC operation. One such person was kind enough to anonymously drop off the Compass pin pictured here. I wear it proudly.

As a developing parent, I’ve been preparing myself to answer Oliver’s questions about everything from the colour of the sky to how orgasms work. Last night, however, he stumped me.

Compass was running a story about the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s release of their new 5-year economic development plan for the region. Oliver heard the word “ACOA,” and asked me “What ACOA for?”

I had no idea how to respond.

I looked up when I was walking into Holland College yesterday, and saw this sign embedded in the wall above the door:

I thought to myself that if there was a political party — or better yet, a “faction” — I would like to be a member of its “vocational wing.”

Today is the first “Free Skype Day” over at Skype. Call anywhere in the world* for 10 minutes for free. Brilliant marketing.

* Argentina (Buenos Aires), Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Canada (mobiles), Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico (Mexico City, Monterrey), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg), Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States (except Alaska and Hawaii), United States (mobiles) and last but not least: Vatican.

The Vitra Design Museum is in Weil am Rhein, at the corner of Germany, France and Switzerland. The building was designed in 1989 by Frank Gehry.

Copenhagen’s new subway system: www.m.dk.

The Kitchen is an interesting Vancouver-based “funk, rock, soul” band that I found through blogaholics.ca. You can hear some of their music here.

From my Dad, a pointer to Make Your Own Bayeux Tapestry.

Just to clarify my position, here are things I’m not against at all:

• beer
• Alpine-brand beer
• jazz
• musicians
• musicians getting paid
• fun
• people having fun
• people having fun listening to musicians
• closing city streets so that people can have fun
• tourism
• tourists
• earning money from tourists drinking beer

What I am against, however — and what I was trying to speak against here — is the use of public streets as giant billboards for commercial advertising.

As a taxpayer, I’ve paid for a share of those streets. They are a public space. And in a world where we are bombarded with commercial images at every turn, I would like my public spaces to remain an oasis of solitude from messages to buy beer, soap and toothpaste.

I don’t believe any corporation should be able to buy its way into inflating a giant advertisement — be it beer can, condom or combine harvester — at the main intersection of the city, even if that company generously sponsors something which is, in many other ways, a public good.