Google Street View Comes to Stornoway

The Official Residence of the Leader of the Opposition

(click photo to enlarge)

Dewey Decimal Dame

I bought new reading glasses, and I commented to Fourth Dwarf that I like that when I wear them they make me feel sexy - like Catwoman as a librarian.

"Catwoman wasn't a librarian, Woodsy," he responded. "Batgirl was a librarian."

I disagreed with him, and I insisted that I was right. For days I stubbornly refused to Google it. I wanted to trust my memory.

Do you trust your memory? Vote below before you Google for the correct answer.

Who was a librarian?
	Catwoman
	Batgirl
Free polls from Pollhost.com

And the Winner is...

Last week I asked you if you preferred oatmeal or tank tops. As of early this morning the results of the poll indicate a tie - 19 votes for each. So today, you get a picture of Woodsy in a tank top with a bowl of oatmeal. For those who had issues with last week's oatmeal, this week it is plain oatmeal with milk and maple syrup.

Nursemyra, since you showed me yours, I am now showing you mine. That's my little snowman. He's always this happy when presented with a bowl of oatmeal.

Wishing you all a lovely whatever it is you celebrate at this time of year, and a happy 2009!

Beaded Black Lace Tank Top
A top that I like to think Édith Piaf would have worn

Tank Top Tuesday Poll

A couple of weeks ago, Skylark suggested that I conduct a poll between oatmeal and tank tops. Being that I am a great fan of his blog, I will oblige him...

Oatmeal

Tank Top

Do you prefer oatmeal or tank tops?
	Oatmeal
	Tank tops
Free polls from Pollhost.com

It's All for Your Future Pleasure, So VOTE!

At a recent gathering which included a few men and women in their forties, the consensus was that they preferred the natural look on a woman's coochie. I have not had the opportunity to ask the younger generation what they prefer, but of course I am curious.

Men and women of all ages, this is your chance to let the ESIs know if you prefer the Garfunkel, the Mr T, or the Larry look on a woman's revered mons veneris.

What is your preference?
	The Garfunkel
	The Larry
	The Mr T
Free polls from Pollhost.com

The Politics of Elgin Street

Sure, we all know Ottawa Centre was won by the NDP in the last two elections, and that before that Mac Harb represented the Liberals for a few rounds of Parliament. And you probably even know by how many votes each won by, so that even in this first-past-the-post system, you could get a sense of how strong of a mandate the winner had. For Ottawa Centre, Paul Dewer got 37% of the vote in the last election, beating out his next best rival, Richard Mahoney (two-time loser? Ouch) by almost 8 percentage points. You might have also known that the Greens did not do too shabbily in the last election. David Chernushenko got over 10% of the popular vote in Ottawa Centre, making it among the best performances for a Green Party candidate in any riding.

But here at the ESI, we really could care less about the 90,000 odd electorate of Ottawa Centre. We are far more parochial about our political interests. Even Dwarfie thinks you might as well live in Kanata if you move west of Preston St. That being said, I would like to present, with thanks to folks at Elections Canada, some analysis of the results of Elgin Street from the last election:

Zoom and click on the google map below to get the results for each highlighted poll.

View Larger Map

Poll 116 – Lower Elgin Street, east side

Analysis: The NDP had few problems capturing almost half the votes here. The remaining votes were almost evenly split between the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Strategy: It’s clear that being so close to the police station, these voters have become complacent. They feel safe and secure. The “tough on crime” agenda that usually follows the Conservatives is not working. For the Conservatives, I would suggest things need to be stirred up in this part of town. Home invasions are usually good to scare the odd voter. Maybe those guys you send around to put signs on our lawns could do some double-duty, if you get my drift.

Poll 115 – Lower Elgin, west side

Analysis: The Green’s had their best performance on this part of Elgin Street, getting about 13% of the vote. This is clearly because most of the voters were the homeless people that live on the green space around the Museum of Nature. They have a vested interest in making sure there is grass to sleep on and shrubs close by for other activities.

Strategy: For the Conservatives it’s easy: Pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

Poll 113 – Middle Elgin, west side

Analysis: The NDP got about the same number of votes as the combined Liberals and Conservatives.

Strategy: The western side of the Elgin Strip can definitely be a ‘swing’ poll what with all the clubs and bars located there. I think in this instance, the Liberals and the Conservatives have to combine forces to put pressure on the NDP. That is probably best done at pep rallies with the assistance of some of the (ahem) capable serving staff from any of these fine establishments. Also, they may try keeping those Dippers that drink at the Manx from getting out to vote.

Poll 103 and 104 – Maclaren & Elgin, east side / St. Moritz Apts.

Analysis: The Liberals make huge inroads on this part of Elgin Street getting about 36% of the popular vote.

Strategy: Paul Dewer is going to have his work cut out for him trying to win back these polls. Pool sharks (Maclaren’s Pub) and retired old ladies (St. Moritz Apts) who probably once escorted Mackenzie King to his séances are not easily swayed by NDP-style social justice. However, if the Conservatives can get John Baird and Laureen Harper to knock on a few doors, those old ladies may wax romantically about days of yor.

Poll 102 – Maclaren & Elgin, west side

Analysis: The NDP get strong results here at 40% of the popular vote.

Strategy: This side of the street clashes with its east-side counterpart and probably represents well-entrenched political positions. It looks too Northern Ireland / Palestine for my liking. Best we put up a wall down the middle of Elgin Street from Somerset to Gilmour. It can be are own little Berlin. Years from now, when things settle down, we can tare it down and sell it to tourists to help pay down our city’s debt from the Siemens lawsuits and unfinished transit tunnels.

Poll 94 – Elgin Street, upper east side

Analysis: Liberals edged out the NDP by only 1% point.

Strategy: Maybe it’s the similarity between Belgian waffles at the Mayflower to Liberal policy that gives them the edge on this part of Elgin Street. Maybe it’s the closer proximity to Parliament Hill for Canada’s natural governing party. Either way, the NDP could get the jump here with a few key moves. The former Goldsteins grocery store is vacant and must have some possibilities for buying votes from the electorate. How about a platform of returning it to its former glory, but this time employ the panhandlers from the neighbourhood as check-out cashiers. For once, they would be giving us some change.

RNDP 10: Recycling and Rules

Moving away from Histocompatibility for now, the next Google hit to explore in the world of new dating paradigms shows up in a comment to a livejournal posting. 30-year-old featherynscale asked her readers:

If you are friends with someone, and they break it off with a person they are dating/sleeping with/married to/whatever, is it okay for you to pursue their ex?

She broke her question into sub-questions and created several polls that 32 of her readers responded to. She also invited her readers to leave comments expanding on their answers and to describe circumstances that would make it okay or not okay.

Her first commenter, saffronhare, replied:

This is one of those areas where it always depends on some other shading of relationships. If both people of the deceased relationship (dating or married) still travel in the same social circles, then one would perhaps want to maintain some amicability in any new dating paradigm. You know, and *talking* to the people involved. But I bet you already knew that. :)

4D Analysis: Saffronhare is using the phrase "new dating paradigm" to refer to a new dating situation that a person might be in, in this case, with a person who used to be involved with a friend, not to a whole new model for dating. You might assume that, because Saffronhare and Featherynscale are not endorsing this model as a new paradigm, I also wouldn't endorse it. But let's not sail away from this port before seeing all the sights.

2 out of a non-random sample of 32 people say it's not okay to date a friend's ex even if the friend is dead. I hope these two are in happy relationships that last until they die and if after their death their widows or widowers get involved with a friend, there really is no afterlife so they won't ever know about it.

A majority (20/32) say it can be okay in certain circumstances, but this also means they think it is not okay in other circumstances. I assume that they are all referring to it being morally not okay. Not to it being practically not okay.

Because let's face it, while dating a friend's ex may have pitfalls like possible fistfights, slashed tires, and late night hangup phone calls, it also has benefits like already knowing the person you're dating and knowing what you can do to compare favourably to the last paramour. And you can date a stranger and get the pitfalls anyway.

If you've got a screening list like Kirshenbaum, Coyote and Milan do, you might be tempted to add not a friend's ex to it, or if you're not a hardliner, not the ex of a friend who says it's not okay.

What I ask if you have a screening list is, do you actually want to date? Or are you trying to come up with reasons to justify not dating? Sure we don't want you getting involved with an ax-murderer or somebody you'll come to despise, but at the pre-dating stage, where you are trying to find somebody to go out with, a list of criteria that removes people from consideration may just keep you from getting involved with somebody wonderful.

Encouraging AndrewZRX

There were 25 responses and the poll is over so I have sent the following message to our friend AndrewZRX:

Andrew,

Hello from me and your friends at the Elgin Street Irregulars Blog.

How are you? I trust you are well and that the reason we haven't heard from you is that your life is full of fun and excitement. If you are under the weather, I hope you are taking your vitamin D to compensate for the lack of sunshine in your day.

I realized we haven't given you much assistance with your blog posting prize so I ran a poll to see what our readers would be most interested in.

You can see the results at this link.

The bottom line: Somebody out there would like to read just about anything you write unless it's about politics.

You'll notice that 10 people would like you to divulge "an embarassing sexual incident" from your recent past, but I would take this with a grain of salt. I know some of those people and there are plenty of sexual incidents they have no desire to hear about.

So far, four people, one of whom would have to be your friend Zoom, say they would like you to write a posting that concisely touches on all the topics in the poll. I say that these people are demanding and greedy and should not be pandered to. Essentially they are asking you, a complete novice, to write the ultimate (or Platonic ideal) blog posting.

Instead, why not tell us about your pet?

Your friend,
Fourth

p.s. I'll be posting this on the blog and suggesting that readers use the comments to the posting to encourage you, ask questions, or make suggestions.

Let's give AndrewZRX more help

We haven't heard from AndrewZRX for a while. I suspect he has blogger's block. I also suspect that, with the wide range of things he could write about in his one posting on our blog, he doesn't know what he should go with.

That is why I have placed a poll in the side bar. Please take a moment to read the list and vote for your choices.

I believe I can add items to the list until the poll closes, so feel free to suggest additions in the comments to this posting.

Don't Worry, I know who I can count on

Hmm, 9 votes and only 6 ESIs on the internet this week. I'm going to assume that only one of my fellow ESIs would let me twist in the wind. And let's just say I've got a good idea of who that would be.

That individual might want to investigate Political Misery Syndrome.

And while I'm giving out links, like a straightforward blogger, here's one that is only for you Coyote. (Seriously folks, you don't want to click on that link.) Normally, I wouldn't give you any encouragement in this direction, but I feel it won't be likely to harm me as you're lying low, laughing in the grass as it were. (Isn't there some other animal known for hanging out in the grass?)