Word on the street is that talks between the bus union and the City have broken down again. This is getting ridiculous. If the so-called negotiators on both sides of the imaginary table are incapable of carrying on the kind of serious and sustained discussion that leads to a successfully negotiated contract, they should get out of the way and let better people do it. Grrrr.
As far as I’m concerned, there are only three good things about this strike:
- David Reevely’s coverage of it, which is balanced and interesting and at times humourous.
- Some people are discovering they love walking to work.
- There is no third thing.
By the way, you might have noticed that I made a few changes around here, including firing one of the sheep and promoting Duncan. There’s still lots of tweaking to do, but I have decided not to indulge my erratic perfectionist tendencies at this time.
More changes are forthcoming. For example, all the posts have to be re-tagged, and I have to do something about making some more space around the images.
Speaking of erratic perfectionist tendencies, Duncan likes that I promoted him but he doesn’t like that I accidentally chopped off one of his ears and replaced the other one with a sheep’s ear.
What do you like and not like?
Love it! And it’s got something I wasn’t even expecting… the Basement. I didn’t know you had a pool table AND a rabbit. Does Duncan know about THAT!
Digging your piece at Irene’s. I can see it from my usual bench seat. I like how Lonesome Paul is in there.
I love the new layout! I actually went “aww, Duncan” when it loaded.
and I still hate this bus strike bullshit.
Nice theme! I like the borders, especially.
Love the new banner! I also love that I’m categorized as an “Ottawa ex-pat!”
Y’know…
Something that has finally struck me about Hizzoner the Mayor’s negotiating tactics with the ATU after 50-odd days (I’m a very dull and slow coyote, sometimes… expecially in January) is that he seems to be constitutionally incapable of actual give and take.
I don’t know which side is more responsible for this. I don’t really care. Days are short and dark, and I’m tired. But I find it striking that since the beginning of this strike, Larry seems to have relied on only two tactics.
One has been to try to restate pretty much the same position in ways that he seems to regard as cleverer – or at least different – in hopes that the union will finally bite on it. So far it hasn’t. Suggesting either that ATU members are smarter than he gives ’em credit for, or he’s dumber. Your choice.
The other has has been his team’s repeated attempts to execute end-runs around the alleged negotiations, by punting the situation into the feds’s laps, to try get them to make it go away for him.
I don’t get a real good sense that he and his team have actually tried to address the things that the union is on about, and, you know, compromise. Like, uh, concede something here, to gain something there…
They might wanta try that. Because maybe they haven’t yet. I’m just sayin’…
I love the site too! AWESOME! Duncan definitely deserves his promotion! The only thing for me is that half my screen is mustard, thanks to my gigantic widescreen monitor! LOL
I love Duncan in the header (and thanks for keeping the sheep…)
Everything looks great… I’m sure it’ll all look even better once you’ve highlighted my blog in your blogroll. My only concern is Duncan’s head is totally out of perspective. We all know he’s at least, at least, twice as large as the average sheep.
You’ve got the “published by Zoom!” information both on top and at the bottom of the posts. There. I said it.
Love the colours! (I do rather like blue).
I agree with Gabriel about Duncan’s size. It’s not nearly representative enough. I think you should have Duncan lounging on top of the Knitnut.net lettering staring intensly at the sheep. Somehow that would seem more Duncan-like.
Bus strike. Middle of winter. They do know how to go about it, don’t they?
I love the whole new site but most especially Duncan. He should have a place of honour.
Aw, give the boy his ear back.
Okay. I won’t sugar-coat my opinion like others here: Duncan is out of his element. I love ‘im…but…give us back our three sheep and put the cat somewhere else. Of course, you already know that.
Miss the sheepies! They always enlivened your blog. Duncan,though charming he definitely is, isn’t quite the right element there… my two cents.
Very nice and clean! Great job!
Hahaha… I love the ear! (And the walking)
I too am a little concerned about the 3rd sheep. I hope you gave him a good compensation package when you handed him his walking papers. He’s not unionized is he?
pretty new spiffiness. Does Duncan baa too?
Bus strikes teach people 4 things: to exercise, to cooperate, to buy cars or to realize buses aren’t so key.
Poor Duncan, he doesn’t deserve to have his ears cropped. He is a handsome cat not a sheep. Otherwise I love it. Good luck tonight, but most of all Enjoy!
Ah, you also need space for avatars/gravatars… and then there the ‘highlight my blog’ thing. No pressure. And what’s the “Register” page for?
GC, you know me pretty well, but I can still pull a rabbit out of a hat when I need to.
Shanker, you like it? Really? Did you notice that in addition to Lonesome Paul, there’s also Drew Nelson and Stogie in there? They’re elusive, but they’re in there. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, by the way.
Em – stupid strike.
Milan – I used a color utility to find a border colour exactly the opposite of the blue in the header. I think it’s called “Opposite Color.” I would never have picked that colour on my own, but it passes the complementary colour theory test…I think.
Wandering Coyote, I’m glad you like it. But you’ve been an Ottawa Ex-Pat on my blog for months!
Coyote, that’s exactly right. The Mayor has been trying every tactic he can think of to avoid actually going the proper route, which is collective bargaining. He just keeps trying to get the feds to end it some other way, while endlessly repeating his mantra about how fair and reasonable the City’s offer is. This morning I heard him on CBC and it sounded like he was prepared to wait the weeks or months it might take John Baird to end the strike with new safety legislation. O’Brien just doesn’t get it.
Arden, I’m glad you like it. Sorry about the mustard though…
Valerie, it seems the Pro Duncan side spoke out first, and now the Bring Back the Sheep contingent is weighing in. We might have to vote. Or negotiate.
Gabriel, I would SO highlight your blog if I knew how. I don’t have a lot of control over the widgets, which is what’s controlling the links now. But I’ll see what I can do. I won’t give up. As for the “Published by Zoom” at the bottom and top of each post. Yes. I don’t like it either. But the default was to have that whole chunk of meta-data at the top of each post. I wanted the date and Published By stuff at the top, but the link to the comments at the bottom. I couldn’t figure out how to separate the meta-data so I opted instead to have it all in both places.
Wow is this font size ever tiny. I have to change that.
Melinda, I’d love to have Duncan lounging at the top like you suggest. I’ll work on that.
Kat, I hope you’ll vote in the Should Duncan be in the Header poll. Coming soon.
Mosprott, it’s too late, the fired sheep ate Duncan’s ear.
Tom…you’re so certain, you’ve almost got ME convinced. I will admit I miss the other sheep. (He was fired for a very good reason, by the way.)
Susan, what would you say if I told you that other sheep was a voyeur? Didn’t you ever notice he was looking at you funny?
J – thank you.
Stella – I think the vote is going to be very close.
Bonnie, the sheep WAS unionized. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be fired. I’ve been documenting him for awhile now. He was actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Pearl – Duncan’s not baa-ing, but he’s teaching the sheep how to purr.
Lissa, I’ll see if I can hone my Photoshop skills enough to salvage Duncan’s ear.
Gabriel – there’s a Register page? Really? Where?
is it my turn to say something? ‘kay. now that i have your attention. i’m up to my whiskers with you people. ‘kay. i want my photo removed. are we going to be civil about it? or must i begin litigation?
(tough about the other sheep. ‘kay. he was one helluva tender meal, though.)
Really? You don’t see the “Register” tab at the top of the page? Tabs: Knitnut.net; BANPC; Basement; Register. I have a screenshot to prove I’m not nuts. Hey, I should give it to my psychiatrist. Hey… this comment box font really is small. WTF is with that?
JEG beklager. ‘Kay. Nei overlegg Ã¥ krenke. Meg advokat oversatt meg foregÃ¥ende bemerkning. Fra nÃ¥ , Jeg vil skrive med blekk meg innfødt omgangssprÃ¥k sÃ¥ der er nei misforstÃ¥else. ‘Kay?
Register means that you sign up to be a registered user here at the site – and you login with it if you so choose to do that (WordPress calls them subscribers)
Denne er en beskjed Ã¥ Duncan Skogkatter fra Duncan Donut det Vidunderlig Dogcat. Du tydelig har en meget tid opp pÃ¥ din hendene. gÃ¥ fange en musen. Jeg er lei meg hvis JEG krenke du. ‘Kay?
Okay, so this is sad. It took me several minutes to figure out why Duncan would be speaking Norwegian. Oh yey, the font in the text box is bigger now!
I do like the idea of re-hiring the sheep, or at least hiring a lookalike that’s ACTUALLY a sheep, and not a wolf, if Duncan could be featured drooping over the letters, or something similar!
Pölkkypää , kehua olla päälle hänelle , raivo hankkia -nsa oma foorumi joten aivan toukokuu hyödyttää polveutua -nsa asiantuntemus. Vastuunalainen.
Joost me-a, oor hes zee Scundeenefiun Cet Meffeea ooferroon thees blug??? Bork Bork Bork!
Bork! Bork! Bork! Ha ha ha ha ha!