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Special: 100^th Post

Parliament in Winter (2007)
For the past several days I have been wrestling with what topic I should tackle for this blog’s hundredth post. It hasn’t been an easy task, which came as more of a surprise than I expected: first came a rather long exposition on the issue of integrity in this post-modern age of electronica, focusing on the conviction of “Scooter” Libby and the revelation of the fraudulent credentials proffered by a prominent Wikipedia editor.

Chateau Laurier behind Congress Centre (Winter 2007)
As a Canadian that would have been fine, but there is one thing that we discuss far beyond any other news item: the weather. Regardless of how many innocent lives may be snuffed out by the colonial impulses of one nation as it stomps on another or the imperialistic yearnings being expressed by some fanatical despot trying to immortalize their name as yet another megalomaniacal tyrannical mass-murderer, you can always be sure of one thing, the evening news in Canada will lead off their broadcasts (or at least the second story of the night) with something related to the weather (obviously this is not always the case … but it happens very often).

Chateau Laurier behind Congress Centre - closer - (Winter 2007)
We are obsessed with the weather; there are channels on television dedicated to weather coverage, twenty-four hours a day, and you can get weather updates sent to your cellular phone from Environment Canada, just in case you can’t tell that it’s raining while you are standing out … in the rain.
"Where the Hot Air comes from"
So, here we are coming to the end of winter. The Rideau Canal has been officially closed to skaters even though the temperatures are supposed to fall again over the weekend, but that is fine, it was a stellar season for the Canal; it fell one day short of tying the record of staying open the longest number of consecutive days which stands at 46.

Rideau Skaters (Winter 2007)
This time the photo that I am posting of the Canal I took myself, accompanied by some pictures (taken the same day) of our Parliament, the Chateau Laurier (behind the Ottawa Congress Centre) and, a black and white photo of the Parliament, which came out quite well (if I do say so myself).

As a bonus, I would like to include a series called “The Many Faces of Jackson”. Since I moved into my new digs there has been an added fringe benefit … a cat. I am now living with a friend of mine who has a very Kool Kat (sic) – the cat’s name is Jackson, though it may as well be Tinkerbell considering how well she responds to the name. Of course, I’ve had several cats in the past and I can’t recall a single one of them that responded to their name unless there was a promise of food in the mix (which, big surprise, works for Jack-O as well).

Well, it isn’t much of a surprise that I have taken a great deal of photos of this critter, though at times I get the impression that she isn’t so pleased with the process (particularly the flash). Too bad … you’re a cat, I feed you, pose, dam nit. Sorry, I had to get that off of my chest (this little kitty has SHARP feet … yeah, I know, whatever). Thus I present my series, “The Many Faces of Jackson”.

The only comments I have about the pictures are that they were taken with a 6.1 mega-pixel digital camera, and the images have been resized for this post. Many of the images have also been cropped for the purpose of composition, but no other effects have been applied (i.e. I have not used any electronic filtering to sharpen/soften or otherwise enhance the images). The pictures that have been posted in black and white were taken in that mode; they were not transformed afterwards … and now, on with the show! Enjoy the psychotic kitty (about three years old).

The Many Faces of Jackson



































































































































































































































































































































































































Thus ends the 100^th post to this blog. Hopefully there will be more than another hundred in the months to come. Thank you to you, dear readers, for continuing to support this blog with your comments and visits, it is truly appreciated.