Not Complaining About Winter

They tell me there's snow falling in Toronto and that it's on the ground in Ottowa. And there is ice on the water at the margins of the lake behind Joe's house where it seems just yesterday there were golden leaves still clinging to the branches of the trees in the woods.

It is that time of year, I guess -- mid-November, when fall makes way for winter, and the sun permanently drops below the horizon in Barrow, Alaska. And even though we were muttering about the heat just a week ago, we now sit with slippers on our feet, blankets on our laps, and sweaters wrapped around us.

My fingers get cold when I click on this keyboard. But here where we are, the sun still crosses the sky. And in the right place in the afternoon, you can still warm yourself in the sun. Snow might be falling in the north, but our coats remain in the closet, and they probably will stay there.

So maybe I shouldn't complain about the onset of winter.

8:49:00 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []  

Owning Ideas

The Guardian on owning ideas and the madness of current trends in intellectual property law:

Guardian/Andrew Brown: The difference between ideas and things is obvious as soon as someone hits you over the head with an idea - so obvious that until recently it was entirely clear to the law. Things could have owners and ideas could not. Yet this simple distinction is being changed all around us.

8:44:11 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []