From my American friend Maggie comes a pointer to this story about an American eBay vendor refusing to sell to a Canadian, giving the reason as “we do not ship to, or accept bids from, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany or any other country that does not support the United States in our efforts to rid the world of Saddam Hussein. If you are not with us, you are against us.”

While I’ve never subscribed to the “big blue marble” theory of happy world togetherness, images like this do force me to think twice.

Jim Lea is President & Chief Executive Officer of Maritime Electric, the electrical utility providing power to all of Prince Edward Island but Summerside.

Last night I emailed him a question about why Maritime Electric buys their power from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I was just a curious consumer.

This morning there was a response from Jim waiting in my email box. It was thorough and well-worded, and answered my question exactly.

This is amazing customer service. Thank-you.

The award for the “Best Use of Background Image on a Website” goes to Brittany Ferries.

I think “mass customization” is the way of the future. Jones Soda leads the way.

“Bill Graham”	James Cromwell
Ed Broadbent	“John MacCallum”

Careful photographic analysis has revealed that the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs we are told is “Bill Graham” is, in fact, noted actor James Cromwell, star of Hollywood movies like Babe: Pig in the City and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

And that’s not all.

Rather than going to the trouble of finding a brand new cabinet minister, the Liberal party somehow convinced former New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent to go undercover in the roll of “John MacCallum,” the putative Minister of Defense.

The rationale for this subterfuge is unknown, and the jig has been almost universally ignored by the media.

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission released its audit [1.7MB PDF] of Maritime Electric today. One of the interesting things you will find in the audit is this:

Every utility will use the cheapest source of power to satisfy its own energy needs first. For example, hydroelectric power will always be used, if available, because it is cheaper. As the need increases, a utility will obtain more energy from the next cheapest source available, with oil-fired generation generally being the last and most expensive source. The nature of the new 2001 energy supply contracts with NB Power and Emera generally requires Maritime Electric to purchase the most expensive power being used at that time, since NB Power and Emera will use the cheaper power to satisfy their own energy needs first. This arrangement forces Maritime Electric to manage energy purchases carefully, and indeed, this is done on an hourly basis at the Energy Management Centre.

What this means is that Prince Edward Island is basically getting what’s left on the table once New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have doled out the cheap power to their own residents.

After seven months of e-silence, Catherine has fired up the boilers at CatherineHennessey.com again. Welcome back.

I’ve created an RSS Feed for her site for all your XML speaking readers.

Tonight on Charlie Rose:

• David Martin, National Security Correspondent, CBS News
• Evan Thomas, Assistant Managing Editor, Newsweek
• Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker (from Baghdad)
• Walter Russell Mead, Council on Foreign Relations

Among the best documentary reporting you will find on American television is the PBS programme Frontline. They have a special section of their website called The Long Road to War with links to all of their pieces on the war against Iraq.

Not only is the reporting well-produced, balanced and comprehensive, but they also have, in Will Lyman, the best narrator around.