From Snopes.com: “Although it went into hiding for several years, the one-day “gas out” craze is back — and with it a reminder that protest schemes that don’t cost the the participants any inconvenience, hardship, or money remain the most popular, despite their dubious effectiveness. ...

I’ll take a break today from sports entertainment news for a story about the National Capital Commission (NCC), the federal entity charged with improving the federal lands in our city. I wrote them a letter on Monday, April 19: ...

From Patrick Crozier’s Transport Blog : There are no good bus stops. They range from the bearable to the truly appalling. At best you get an only-partially-vandalised shelter with some plastic seats and an LED display - the accuracy of which I wouldn't like to vouch for. ...

Dull, vapid elevator music is being pumped onto Rideau Street in Ottawa, in front of the Rideau Centre. The intent is apparantly to keep people from loitering in the area. Rideau Street is notorious for teenagers the homeless, drug dealers, and other people who business considers ‘undesireable’. ...

Wired has a good obit on the death of Webmonkey – the site where I, along with thousands of other Web designers, learned how to make my first javascript rollover, write my first stylesheet, and maximize GIF compression.

** We left a bottle of olive oil outside in the car over night. It’s defrosting now – will it still be any good? ** (Send your answer here .) ** 2. Is olive oil made from olives? ...

Vancouver won the bid to host the 2006 World Juniors, apparantly because they also are hosting the Olympics in 2010. That’s bad news for Ottawa hockey fans (including me), who had purchased more than 18,000 seat deposits for the event. Not quite as bad as losing in the playoffs, but still not good. ...

OttawaCarPool.ca, the site that Derek & I launched amidst the looming threat of a transit strike last year, turns 1 year old this week. Nearly 900 people have posted a ride offer or ride request on the site.

From Milkman’s Tuned In : After a four-year hiatus, MAULER (aka Jeff Mauler) is returning to 106.9 The BEAR Ottawa. Mauler will assume the mid-day position. SCOTT LEAR will move to senior swing. This will be effective February 9th. ...

OC Transpo supervisors - the people who make sure buses run on time, and schedule bus repairs - have voted against the latest contract offer from the City of Ottawa. They can legally strike as soon as June 21, 2003. ...