I'm predicting that with a decade, if the European Union has its way, the European economy will go into recession:

Defence chiefs are fighting to prevent the Army's tanks being stopped in their tracks by the introduction of a European directive on vibration and noise at work.

The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations have left officers scrambling to discover if the military's armoured vehicles break the rules.

But with a slim chance of reducing vibrations in a Challenger 2 tank and the Warrior armoured vehicles, the Ministry of Defence will be seeking an exemption from the rules by invoking an "opt-out" clause. Soldiers who travel in the back of tanks and are subjected to substantial jolts and constant noise will have to suffer the discomforts until at least 2010 when the regulations become law.

Thinking about this for a moment. Fewer clubs because of DJs' and bouncers' exposure to loud music. Construction of new universities will take a decade or so be carpenters can only work for a few hours a day. Bus fare will increase because more drivers will have to be hired in order to shorten their shift hours. Desk-bound paper-pushers will be reducing their number of work hours due to all the noise from the printers, computers, copiers, telephones, etc.

Wait a minute. Less work. More play. Ahh, maybe bureaucrats are on our side.

Today's Local Weather Was: Sunny.

From VideoBusiness.com:

20th Century Fox and LucasFilm will release Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, expected to be one of the season’s top sellers, on DVD only. Star Wars will be the first major new release to skip VHS, some say a move that is unsurprising because of its heavy DVD audience.

Today's Local Weather Was: Depressing. And the weather was bad too.

On the weekend I caught Major General (ret’d) Lewis MacKenzie's presentation as part of the "Handcuffs and Hand Grenades: The Use of Force Within and Between Nations" conference from the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs (broadcasted by CPAC's "Public Record"). If you're interested in issues such as United Nations reform, humanitarian intervention, and similar issues I encourage you to at least read the summary of his presentation available on the institute's website.

In conclusion, Major General MacKenzie referred to the case of a displaced Sudanese woman fleeing rape and beheading that would not care less about "Canadian values," which we claim to be exporting. Our priorities must lie in the obvious: defending victims and rebuilding countries, which ought be the focus of the future Canadian military. Classic peacekeeping has hardly existed since the end of the Cold War, and the Canadian military must adapt to address real needs at hand.

Today's Local Weather Was: Cloudy. Rainy. Sunny. Crummy. Pissy. Willowy.

Is it politically correct to use the term firefighter?

How about using "fire douser" or "fire squelcher"? "Fire smotherer"? Oooo, "fire snuffer"!?

In today's CTV News story, Canadians shrugging off CBC lockout: poll a CBC spokesman said:

Still, a CBC spokesman touted the early Decima poll results as proof that the replacement program mix of re-runs, news from Britain and heavy doses of the Antiques Roadshow is working.

"We want to get back to business as usual and put the programming on the air that people expect from us," said Jason MacDonald in an interview.

"But we've managed to mount a schedule that still provides Canadians with the kind of relevant programming that's of interest to them."

Really?!? Is the spokesman saying that programs purchased from overseas are an adequate replacement for CBC domestic programming? Hmmm. So instead of paying salaries, pensions, facilities, broadcast rights, etc. the CBC could theoretically save a lot of money by buying foreign programs. Interesting.

Just thinking out loud.

Today's Local Weather Was: Cloudy but no rain as promised, til late in the afternoon.

Think there's a connection between these two stories from today?

Federal piggy bank swelling

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal piggy bank is swelling with strong early revenues, as Ottawa's surplus so far is already larger than Finance Minister Ralph Goodale projected for the entire year.

Newly released figures show that in the first three months of fiscal 2005-06, Ottawa recorded a surplus of $4.8 billion - including a $1.7-billion surplus in June alone.

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Challenger took PM to fundraiser

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Paul Martin used the government's Challenger jet to attend a $5,000-a-head fundraiser dinner in Oakville, Ont., this year, documents show.

The March 30 fundraiser was at the $3-million home of Ajay Virmani, the owner of Starjet, a high end charter airline.

Nah. It couldn't be that simple could it?

So, can I ask just exactly how many years has the federales been overtaxing the taxpayer running a multi-billion dollar surplus?

Today's Local Weather Was: Surprisingly cool.

First 24 and now Battlestar Galactica. I can understand Space Channel's reason for airing season two of BSG starting in January 2006 (U.S.-only Sci Fi Channel is airing the first ten episodes now and the last ten episodes in January while Space Channel will air all twenty without interruption) but...

...that four frakking months from now!!!

While I've brought up '24', did you know its CanCon continues to increase with inclusion of Peter Wingfield and Geraint Wyn Davies?

Which leads to me to - what Canadian-made TV shows to I watch? Hmmm. Trailer Park Boys. Puppets Who Kill. Any other recommendations? Oh, please don't mention Corner Gas or Robson Arms. I've tried watching them and they are...well, I tried.

Today's Local Weather Was: Warm would be an understatement.