Windows Gossip

Latest tech gossip on Windows. Hey, my keyboard is loosing the battle
and even the virtual keyboard poops out. The weird part: they are connected,
and running the virtual seems to excithe the physical one!?

What the What

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/29/oh-for-the-days-when-it-was-always-brussels-fault-brexit-jeremy-hunt

As I recall how things went, there never was a status quo option.
The Tories under David Cameron had a proposal to change the UK
position within the EU and wanted a clear mandate; but instead of running
an election against status quo adversaries, they called a referendum
against an undefined leave option. They are still in power, because who
better to put together a change the rules package…

Wine and Cheese

Some people are such killjoys!! Been reading a sociological

account, and for once, I totally disgree. The subject: tourism.

How it has become an extension of work, with little surprises

and a burden on visited destinations. Blah, blah.

We are all cpnscious that there is now a phenomenon of mass tourism,

low-cost flights, cheap accomodation which make it possible for large 

numbers of people to vacation, and many do so at the same time. Thus 

overcrowding to the point of nightmare situations as Greece has recently 

experienced. I, for one, have lovely memories of my own explorations.

Granted, it was a unique context: I visited Western Europe in the middle of 

the Cold War, off-season. Indeed, I remember days when my friend and I 

would be totally alone in this or that museum. The Royal Tour, then.

I haven’t been back to Europe since 1975. Because I had my turn at it.

And didn’t look for McDos and diet Coke when I was there, but drank the wine.

That’s the secret, folks.

https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20180718.OBS9887/tourisme-on-part-pour-oublier-le-monde-plutot-que-pour-le-decouvrir.html

Summer Heat

source: Le Monde

author: Simon Roger

translation: doxa-louise

Global Warming seems at work in Northern Europe

For the relevant experts, our extreme temperatures are not only

those of a fickle climate, but human in origin.

For the second year in a row,  experts at  World Weather Attribution (WWA)

have analysed the summer heat wave at work in part of Europe. In September

2017, a study of the WWA, starting from the observation of the extreme heat episode

of July and August in the South and East portions of the continent - characterized by 

temperatures higher than 40°C - had concluded that heat waves of that sort could 

become the norm by 2050.

‘At the beginning of the 1900s, a summer like that we have just been through would

be an extremely rare occurrence, stated Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, from the Royal 

Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands. For all the South of Europe, the probability 

of getting in any one year a summer as hot as that observed last year is already at 10%.’

This year, it is Northern Europe which the group of climatologists is concerned with. 

Absolute temperature records were broken in July for Norway with values around 33°C,

which is more than 15 degrees over normal values, and there were extreme highs near 

the Artic Circle.

In the analysis meant to become public Friday July 27, the WWA experts - group which 

brings together the Environment Change Institute Oxford University (ECI), the Royal 

Meteorological Institute the Netherlands (KNMI) and the Laboratoire des sciences du 

climat et de l’environnement en France (LSCE) - put forward preliminary conclusions 

with respect to the persistence of high pressure systems at the origin of exceptionally high temperatures and drought from Scandanavia to the Netherlands.

To this end, they have isolated, in seven different places, the highest average of three 

consecutive day temperatures from the period between May 1  and July 24, and compared 

the results with those from previous years. The seven chosen cities - Dublin in Ireland, 

De Bilt in the Netherlands, Copenhagen in Danemark, Oslo in Norway, Linköping in 

Sweden and two sites in Findland - make up a homogeneous panel insofar as 

these represent the same quality of information, tells us Robert Vautard, the LSCE 

researcher associated with the study.

The authors prudently agree that we will need to see results from August before

making definitive conclusions about the hot season of the last few months baring d

own on the Old Continent, yet they have identified elements of fact. The researchers 

thus mention a level of heat ‘quite extreme’ ensconced in the Artic Circle, which lessens 

as one travels South of the observation zone.

Many Models

‘For Ireland, the Netherlands and Danemark, observations are clear as to a tendency toward a greater number of heat waves, conclude the principal authors of the study, Geert Jan van 

Oldenborgh for KNMI and Friederike Otto from Oxford ECI. The probability is almost t

wice as strong for Dublin and four times higher for Oslo.’

‘These temperature anomalies which we are seeing in the North of Europe are linked to the meteorological context, explains the French meteorologist. The anticyclone has been 

immobile over Scandanavia for two months and the disturbances pushed toward the 

South and the Mediterranean. But to that we must changes brought by climate change.’

Because Robert Vautard as well as his European colleagues are of the view that

‘climate change of human origin heightens the risks of heat waves as we have experienced 

in 2018 in Scandanavia, even when it remains complicated to quantify precisely to what extent’.

To back up their analysis, the experts at the WWA ran many climate models which

integrated expelled greenhouse gases in the atmosphere attributable to human activities. ‘It is important to realize that what contributes to the heightening of temperatures is not 

fluctuations in the emission of greenhouse gases, but the quantity of CO2 already there, 

for a long time, in the atmosphere’, points out Robert Vautard.  Consequently, one should 

not expect to see a lowering, but in the best case scenario, a stabilization of temperatures, 

according to the LSCE researcher.

Good and Bad

There's good news and bad news: the current radar mp for the US shows
that this grey shroud we have been living under is lifting, but there is
bit more to come, perhaps tomorrow...

Number 1

The number 1 you tuber in France is Cyprien. Likeable ☝

Current Weather Satellite

Two maps with quite different informtion. The satellite image on the
top shows us - visually - where there is cloud cover. The radar image on the
bottom is  different technology (return time for a radio or microwave);
 it allows us to see where it is currently raining…

https://weather.com/maps/currentusweather0

Walmart Decision

One can see -  from the below New Yorker article - how steel tariffs are having
an impact on the American industries that use steel. In effect, it permits steel prices
to remain high, if not move even higher. So a lot of jobs downstream might eventually be
afected.

Walmart makes deals prices well in advance, and won't accept increases out of a hat. So the
people who supply them may look to Asian suppliers. In effect, not really to preferred
resolution for the initial decision...

I am not second guessing the Trump administration. They are making decisions for the 

long term about the industries they want to foster. but all this seems a bit unreal from 

(cold-weather) Canada, where jobs are jobs for all major parties, and displaced workers 

are worried about!

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-company-owner-asks-his-customers-for-understandingand-helpafter-raising-prices-in-the-wake-of-trumps-steel-tariffs

Trade War

The Banque de France - France's National Bank - just put out a study to the
effect that a trade war would cost the world GNP 1% of its value in two years.
In terms of volume of trade, the  cost would be 3%.

https://www.msn.com/fr-ca/finances/economie/une-guerre-commerciale-pourrait-amputer-de-3percent-le-pib-mondial-selon-la-banque-de-france/ar-AAAjyDE?ocid=spartandhp

                                               *     *     *

The Center for Automotive Research has published to the effect that tariffs on imported cars and
car parts would slow down sales, and cost jobs to the US.


https://www.msn.com/fr-ca/finances/economie/les-tarifs-automobiles-de-trump-seraient-n%C3%A9fastes/ar-AAAjLbf?ocid=spartandhp


                                             *     *     *

I was asked what this GNP by volume business was.  Here is the formula:

PIB en volume = PIB en valeur / Indice des prix

In periods of high inflation, GDP may be going up simply because the price
of things is going up, not because there is more being produces. To counter
this misperception, one can divide one's GNP number by the consumer
price index factor for the period. Voilà the true change in quantity!!

http://www.davidmourey.com/article-36399485.html

B No Deal

source: Le Monde

author: Cécile Ducourtieux

translation: doxa-louise

Brexit: the European Union prepares for the worst case scenario

The Commission published this Thursday its plan for Great Britain leaving the EU

without a deal. Both parties are facing a March 2019 deadline.

Proof that things are getting serious: Thursday July 19, the European Commission 

published a document meant for the twenty-seven member states to explain to them

what to do in the case of an absence of agreement on the divorce conditions with London, 

expected to come into force at the latest March 29 2019.

There are only eight months left to finalize a divorce treaty, but given the political 

chaos in London, where the Prime Minister Theresa May, had the greatest difficulty 

imposing on her own party her latest vision of Brexit, fears of no deal have gone up 

dramatically in Brussels the last few days. ‘Preparations for a no deal must be put in 

place immediately, at all levels, and take into account all scenarios’, explains the 

Commission in its document.

‘We are working day and night to reach agreement, but economic actors and member 

States must be ready for all possible outcomes’, further explained Mina Andreeva, 

Commission spokesperson, Thursday. It is not the institution that initiated the document 

but the twenty-seven themselves: they explicitly requested that this be worked on at the 

last meeting of the European Council, June 29.

Multiple and Fearsome Consequences

All the while, insisting on this document on the day when the chief negotiator 

for Europe, Michel Barnier, meets his new British peer, Dominic Raab, does seem 

to be a way for the communitarian institution to force the British government to 

become conscious that the catastrophe scenario risks becoming reality if it does not arrive

at a clear vision of its version of the divorce.

In the absence of an accord on divorce terms, explains the Commission in its 

communication, the transition period requested by Britain to fine-tune its ‘future relation’ 

with the European Union, meant to begin on Brexit D-Day, March 30 2019, and end 

December 31 2020, is nul and void. As of March 30 2019, Great Britain will be 

considered a State outside of the EU.

The consequences are multiple and fearsome. European and British expatriates? No 

particular arrangement will apply to them the day after Brexit: Europeans living in 

Great Britain will have no guarantees on right of residence, same thing for the British 

living within member States.

The latter will need to ‘re-introduce border controls for the flux of goods and persons 

coming or going to Great Britain‘(border controls but also phytosanitary, and sanitary ones), 

points out the document out of Brussels. Economic actors will need to take into account 

that these controls will ‘severely impact transports’, ‘create significant delays’ and 

‘difficulties in ports’.

Warning small and medium-sized enterprises

If major actors are already gearing up for this, for example in the financial sector, the 

Commission wants to work particularly with small and medium-sizes businesses. ‘A

number of these have no experience in dealing with outside countries, because they only 

do business within the common market.’ But these players will have to, once Great Britain 

is out, ‘deal with procedures (customs declarations), with which they have absolutely 

no experience but which become necessary in dealing with foreign countries’.

If the Commission has already hired tens of experts for a no deal, the burden of preparation 

costs lies with the States. It is up to them, as well, to diconnect Britain from their various 

data banks, on Brexit D-Day...some have already started. Ireland in particular, probably 

the State most affected by a future Brexit with half of its agricultural production going to GreatBritain. Dublin has put up a Web site (prepareforBrexit) for small and medium-sized 

businesses, helping them evaluate the impact of Brexit on their activities. A System of 

loans of up to 5 000 euros is also in place to help them prepare.

Japan-EU

An awesome new trade bill between Japan and the EU was just signed.
A large number of products - including food - will  now have access to
Japanese markets; in return, Japanese cars will be sold freely in Europe.
In effect, the two partners now agree on definitions and standards, including
'protected'  denominations.

In all, a third of world production is involved in this agreement!!

http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2018/07/17/20002-20180717ARTFIG00140-face-a-trump-l-ue-et-le-japon-scellent-un-accord-commercial-historique.php

Avoidance

So here we go again, discussing Trump and his alledsgedly
shameful mistreatment of the American Intelligence community.
Even read in Libération that an ex-director of the FBI had called
his press conference behavior 'shameful'.

How I see it: the communications environment in which we live has radically
changed. So now - thanks to Twitter - I am watching the evening news in the company
of Donald Trump, pretty much everyday.. And interestingly - also, thanks to Twitter
 - I am having dinner with an ex-FBI director, as well.

Because this is what we are getting: what a tired old dude needs to get off his chest
at the end of the day. And at the end of the day, the mainstream media are not very helpful,
but more intent on fanning the flames.

To be brutally frank, what I am ashamed of is the lack of sophistication about this. Because it
seems to be serving us well up to a point. But it can also lead us to situatiions a little
perspective might help us avoid!!

                                   *     *     *

Following up on that devilish meeting, President Putin magnanimously
offered the US access to the interrogation of the intelligence officers
returned to Russia. I did a double take on that. Yes, intelligence officers exist
but since when are they on an Amabassy payroll. We are definetely in a
different Twitter account, here. Voir in an nenirely different political culture.
That is the benefit of a blurt-it-out President. He invites confidences in return
and we witness all kinds of things...

Yes, on thinking back, Russia did meddle in the election. I remember
during the campaign seeing all kinds of truly bizarre anti-Clinton messages
popping up on Facebook.I remember thinking at the time that the US must
have a large population of recent Russian immigrants (trying to learn English)
I didn't know about. Srly, I actually thought that. Silly me: they were bots!

Not necessarily Russia. Actually, Cambridge Analytica wanted the good
performance marks. To each his own.

Novichok

source:Le Monde
translation: doxa-louise

What is Novichok, the Soviet neurotoxic substance?

Two British citizens were exposed tro this substance, near the city
where two months earlier the ex Russian (double)agent Serguei Skripal was
poisoned.

Two British citizens were found in critical condition, in Amesbury
(Wiltshire,Great-Britain), after exposure to Novitchok, that very poison
used four months earlier against an ex Soviet spy, Serguei Skripal, and
his daughter, in the neighboring city of Salisbury.

How does it work?

Novitchok belongs to a very dangerous family of nerve gases. It 'results in a
slowing down of heart rhythm and an obstruction of breathing airways until
death occurs' explains to Reuters professor Gary Stephens, pharmacologist at
the university of reading (Berkshire).

In activity, this poison halts cholinesterase, an enzyme which allows the nervous
system to communicate with muscles; because of this problem with 'transmission',
the victim can no longer breathe.

Specialists know of liquid versions ( a colorless fluid which can be mixed in with food
or thrown at the skin) and solids ( an ultra fine powder inhaled through the nose, or
via patches on the skin) of Novitchok.

How dangerous?

Depending on how it is administered, first symptoms can manifest between thirty seconds
and two minutes after administration, according to "Responding to Terrorism: a Medical
Handbook".

Even though emergency treatment can save the person before the heart stops, the
lack of oxygen can causes irreversible damage to the brain.

Novitchok isconsidered more lethal by a factor of five to ten  than the other two
well-known nerve gases: Sarin gas (used by the regime of Bachar Al-Assad against
his adversarie in Syria) and VX (responsible for the death of the half-brother of the North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un), according to American diplomats.

Where does this poison come from?

Novichok, whose name means "new-born little one", was developed by researchers
for the USSR during the 1970s and 1980s, in the context of the program Foliant.
This work was a major strategic effort for Moscow: looking good in discussions limiting
chemical armement, while secretly developing superpowerful nerve gases, resistant to
any known antidote.

Drugs from the Novichok family were composed of ingredients permited individually,
who only became dangerous when combined.This charactersitic was doubly advantageous:
the ingredients could be transported securely to the site where they could be assembled, and
they were quasi impossible to detect if anyone tried to investigate.

Work on Novitchok continued even after the USSR agreed to end its chemical arms
program, and its exisence was only discovered by the international community because of
defectors in the 1990s.

At the end of the Cold War, Russia played along by asking for the help of the
United States in dismantling its arsenal of chemical wesapons, as told by the American
organization Nuclear Threat Initiative. Moscow chose to break this patnership in 2012,
which fostered doubts about the sincerity of their commitment. Officially, Russia is meant to
complete the dismantling of its arsenal by December 2020.

What were the repurcussions of these poisonings?

The British government views this latest instance of poisonings in Amesbury "very
seriously". A special meeting was convened, Thursday July 5, of the Cabinet, and the
antiterrorism police continues to investigate.

The Skripal Affair had provoked a major diplomatic crisis. Britian and its allies attributed
the assasination attempt to Russia,which denied everything. This led to a major round of
crossed expulsions of Russian and Western diplomats.

B Day

Today is July 14, Bastille Day in France. Everyone is holding their breath
for Sunday's football match against Croatia for the Coupe du Monde, which
promises to be epic. Yo les Bleus!!

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1018059951439302658


                                           *     *     *

As a consequence of the Bleus having made the World Cup Finals,

French President Macron will get to meet with Vladimir Putin on Sunday,

one day ahead of the Trump-Putin encounter. On Macron’s agenda, Syria,

and making it possible for the two blocks concerned to harmonize their approach,

starting with humanitarian aid. Paris is also concerned on the issue of poisonings 

in Great Britain.

when used together.

https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2018/07/14/emmanuel-macron-rencontre-vladimir-poutine-dimanche-a-moscou_5331487_823448.html

Tea Menu

I got curious, what might be served for tea at Buckingham Palace. There
is public information about the annual Garden Parties that are held for some  eight
thousands of citizens every year. Below:

About the menu:

https://www.royal.uk/queens-buckingham-palace-garden-parties

https://whatscookingamerica.net/EllenEaston/RoseGardenTea.htm

About Restaurants

The below video put things in perspective for me about the whole
dining out issue and current weight problems. In France, right after the Revolution,
all the master cooks were suddenly without jobs. The only possibility for them
was to open restaurants, which they did, in Paris, in great numbers. Under Napoleon,
the elite started dining together in those expensive restaurants: one needed money
to afford this intimacy. This help explain why Paris is - to this day - a great place to eat out.

England had a different experience. If Waterloo is documented as a military encounter, one
of the great takeaways for the French was that those English soldiers were actually eating the
meat of beef!?  French soldiers were on vegetable-rich soups and bread. This ultimately lead
to the proliferation of cattle breeding on the Continent, and meat soon became available for
all...

Trump Clear

President Donald Trump is always clear about the American interests
he represents. His reticence vis-à-vis Nord Stream 2 - the project to transport
gas form Russia to Germany by building a pipeline under the Baltic sea - is a case
in point. Because in the last ten years, the US has gone from being an importer to
an exporter of gas ( shale development). His administration has even hinted as economic
sanctions for those countries going the Russian way.

The traditional entry of Russian gas into Europe has been through Ukraine,
which gets revenue from this activity.

source: Le Monde

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/behind-nord-stream-2-the-russia-to-germany-gas-pipeline-that-fueled-t.html

NATO Issues

European commentators are closer to the action than we are in America
on many of the issues under discussion during the Trump visit. Below,
a piece form the UK Times on NATO. I have aso included the link because the
comments section is informative as well...

                                       *     *     *

MICHAEL BURLEIGH

July 11 2018, 12:01am, The Times

Trump could give Russia everything it wants

Michael Burleigh

Nato allies fear that a disaffected president will warm to Putin and unpick the postwar order
The World Cup in Russia has been a triumph of soft power. Foreign fans have been surprised by the gleaming stadiums, clean streets and friendly hosts, while TV commentators have obliged with snippets of Soviet history, without mentioning the kleptocracy that has ruled Russia for nearly two decades. That regime (or operatives it cannot control) reaches out and poisons people, fatally.

Dire predictions about the “ultra” fans of FC Spartak Moscow running amok or of police auxiliaries wielding whips against unruly crowds have proved false. As extensions of Putin’s security state, they can be turned off as well as on.

Instead, Vladimir Putin has presented “an open, hospitable and genial” Russia during the World Cup while keeping his own appearances to a minimum. He sat next to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as Russia crushed Saudi Arabia 5-0, but then declined a seat next to the (very tall) King Felipe VI of Spain when Russia triumphed again.

There will be scarcely a pause between the end of the World Cup in Moscow on Sunday and another global spectacle, the hard power meeting of Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki the following day. Trump chose Helsinki because Vienna is too close to Munich for comfort, with its memories of 1938. Putin meanwhile will regard Finland as home turf, one of those fake countries, like Ukraine, which somehow in 1917 escaped Tsarist rule and Russia’s cultural orbit.

The summit is to include a private session between the two presidents, with only interpreters present. Trump would not be the first US leader to fall for Putin’s feigned sincerity, though do not expect any bizarre revelations about reading the Russian’s “soul” from this all-surface president.

This is the part that most worries Nato allies, who will have noted that all Trump extracted from the Singapore summit with North Korea was a promise from Kim Jong-un to return the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean war. In return, Trump undermined his own Japanese and South Korean allies by cancelling joint exercises on the peninsula, which is the main reason why the leaders of those two countries are booked in for a trilateral “hedging” summit in Beijing in December.

European allies worry that, fresh from a Nato summit which is likely to be acrimonious, with Trump complaining that the US taxpayer is being ripped off by Germans who produce too many Audis and not enough tanks, the president will respond to vague offers of détente by cutting training exercises, or worse.

Worse could be a general delineation of spheres of influence, which for starters could give de facto recognition to the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s special needs in the post-Soviet space. It could also mean a free hand to help President Assad wipe out the remnants of Syrian rebels the US once supported, in “deconfliction zones” such as Daraa.

The Russians might offer to respect the neutrality of Georgia and Ukraine, so that they are free to choose economic partnerships but not military alliances. Putin could also offer to restrain his Iranian friends (and rivals) in Syria, while reducing the Revolutionary Guard’s military footprint near Israel’s borders. Trump in turn might refrain from executive energy sanctions on Russia in order to damage Iran, a goal Moscow shares since it does not want competition from Iranian gas in future. Both men might also tentatively explore how to counterbalance a risen China, a challenge that must unsettle Putin as much as Trump, regardless of the cordiality of his relations with Xi.

Much will depend on how Russian policymakers assess what Trump is in a position to give, without seeming to confirm the suspicions of collusion and corruption which underpin the Mueller investigation. Arms control is a suitably technical subject susceptible to bold gestures, which are not followed up in practice nowadays.

Both leaders are busily lowering the threshold for use of “low yield” tactical nuclear weapons. The Russians are also worried by Trump’s boosting of anti-missile defences, while the Americans are rattled by Putin’s boasts this March about a new generation of hypersonic missiles that could take out much of Florida, as one video charmingly illustrated.

Helsinki is an appropriate venue for any attempt to extend the 2010 New START treaty, which limited deployed warheads to 1,550 and expires in 2021, while addressing new generation weapons. “People can sleep more soundly”, Trump could announce, as he did in Singapore.

After the Nato summit has doubtless confirmed the lack of empathy between Trump and democratically elected allied leaders apparent at the G7, the worry should be the affinity he evidently feels for a strongman who, like him, regards the EU as an obstacle to big powers bullying smaller ones individually. Putin does it through social media and mystery money, Trump with the help of his roving disrupter Steve Bannon and some of his new crop of tactless tycoon ambassadors.

Rote Atlanticism from the grandees of Nato, let alone neurotic British guff about a “special relationship”, is manifestly not adequate to the coincidence of Trump and Putin. All the density of intra-institutional ties such as the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and the rest of it could be undone by a maverick businessman who does not know when he is out of his depth.

Michael Burleigh’s updated The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: A History of Now is published by Pan Macmillan

Roger Boyes is away

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trump-could-give-russia-everything-it-wants-n9n2ltphq

Vancouver Map

Getting to know Vancouver, a helpful vlog:

                                         *     *     *

source: Google Maps

B Deadlines (The Economist)

Gassy

Good advice from a nutritionist on feeding oneself in
heatwave:

P Business

Interesting presentation on Canada's porc industry. From Radio-Canada:

https://ici.exploratv.ca/videos/2308-le-marche-du-porc-au-canada/

                                       *     *     *

Another find on Radio-Canada; a new show that will explore the architecture
of Canada's West Coast - Westcoast Modern - a style of building that brings the outside
inside, permitted by the climate particular to that area.

re: Clé en Main

http://blogue.artv.ca/2018/06/la-cote-ouest-cle-en-main/

Some Weather

Some weather, eh?

We're seeing a new configuration of summer weather take place.
Yesterday, it was 110° F in Los Angeles, so a massive heat dome in settling
over the Southwest US. Which will inevitably have consequences for
BC.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/06/monster-heat-dome-threatens-all-time-high-temperature-records-in-southern-california-friday/?utm_term=.e407b1ccc91f

I also came across this weather information inadvertently, from listening to
a fitness vlog. There is a daily thunder storm in Southern Florida, and has
been for at least two months. So that's where the rain is at the moment...



                                           *     *     *

New robot from MIT. Solves some long-standing problems in machine
mobility.

Reverse T

Extreme heat brings out odd chemical reactions. I remember years ago - during
a similar heat wave - having to, one fine morning, throw out every bottle of
cologne in the house because the stench of perfume had become unbearable.
All those lovely bottles, with a bit of perfume left, I was keeping to remember suddenly had to
go. I experienced the same thing a few days a go with alcohol; an open bottle of Proseco in
the refrigerator, from over a year ago, was suddenly inundating the appartment with wiffs of
cheap alcohol. I emptied it and washed in sudsy water, and it is now with my collection of odd
glasses.

So this morning, my vanilla dishwashing detergent is starting to smell pretty strong. This heat
has just got to settle down...

I'm also on my way to Canadian Tire: the plastic toilet handle stayed in my hand in the middle
of the night. I'm pretty confident about repairing this myself. The old handle is off (reverse
threaded is the key). Onwards!!


        

                                          *     *     *

Fair amount of fiddling on getting the chain length; otherwise, fine. Dunzo!

C Factory

We have a foodie winner. The most informative food blog for July 4th, from
Delish. Cheesecake Factory for a trip to the US of A.

Fourth

One of the benefits of living in a globalized society is
that holidays are now two days long... (Picture yourself in Grenwich: the date
changes on the other side of the world 12 hours before it hits you; and
will go on another twelve after you have gone forward!!) Awesome.

All this to say that I celebrated the Fourth of July (thinking of friends and family)
last night, by pimping up my usual evening meal of fruit and cereal and adding tapioca,
coffee yogurt and whipped topping to a bit of Rice Krispies. It was very fine. And
then I might well be stopping in at McDonalds today for their signature fries because,
this is Murica, folks.

                                          *     *     *

Yes, it got hot in the Montreal region. From today's Washington Post:

Another Hot'ne

So, the (internal)temperature of the human body is 37°C. What happens when the environment
reaches or surpasses that point. Do we cook?

Seriously, the inability to cool oneself does feel pretty awful...

Canada D