I just took a look at the Franktown weather radar to see where the incoming weather is and saw this:

Ick.

And the forecast looks equally wonderful:

TAF CYOW 230238Z 2303/2324 04010G20KT P6SM BKN040 OVC180 TEMPO 2303/2305 P6SM -RA
FM230500 04015G25KT 6SM -RA BR OVC025 TEMPO 2307/2309 3SM -SHRASN OVC010
FM230900 04020G30KT 1/2SM SN VV005 TEMPO 2309/2314 3SM -SNPL SCT005 OVC012
FM231400 03015G30KT 1SM -RA BR OVC004
FM232100 36007KT 2SM -SHRA BR BKN005 OVC010
RMK NXT FCST BY 230600Z=

I’m driving to a meeting early Monday morning and it looks like I could be driving in sleet or snow, possibly with pellets mixed in for good measure.

I hate this climate.

I picked up my bike from Fresh Air Experience at lunch on Wednesday and headed out after work with a friend for the first ride of the season. We followed one of my regular routes, which starts at the north end of Parkdale, follows the bike path along the Ottawa River to the locks below Parliament Hill, continues up the hill beside the locks, heads through the NAC and the along the path next the canal to Dow’s Lake. From Dow’s Lake it heads a couple of hundred metres along Prince of Wales to the greenspace just past the O-Train cut, through the greenspace and then along Sherwood and some local streets to home. It was nice to be back in the saddle and with the early spring I’m looking forward to many more rides.

2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. There are lots of festivities taking place over the next few months to commemorate it. The Manotick Amateur Radio Group is going to be operating special event station VX3W from Fort Wellington National Historic Site in Prescott, Ontario on Saturday, May 19th from 10:00 to 16:00 EDT (1400-2000Z). We will be operating on various bands and modes, depending on the conditions. Any station making contact with us is welcome to send a QSL card and a postage stamp (if in Canada) or an IRC for anywhere other than Canada. Any cards received without return postage will be sent via the Bureau.

MARG has set up a page on their website (http://www.ve3rix.ca/vx3w.php) which will be updated with more information as the date approaches. In addition to the page, there’s also a VX3W forum linked to from the info page and you can follow @VX3W on Twitter, too.

Hope to hear you on the air!

The final issue of the Dark Matter mini-series was released this past Wednesday. Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie of Stargate fame, the series has taken us from when the crew of a spaceship wakes up with amnesia in the first issue, to learning about who they were in DM #3.

At the end of Dark Matter #3, the crew was split into two groups: one that was on a planet making a delivery and the other which had to leave them on the planet to avoid getting into a battle with another ship.

In Dark Matter #4, our heroes manage to get back together without getting blown to smithereens. They also manage to save the settlers on the planet before riding off into the sunset, so to speak, with an implied “to be continued”. (If you want more details then you’re going to have to visit your local comic book shop and pick up a copy for yourself!)

Overall, I enjoyed the series and I’m sad to see it end. It’s well-written and the drawing it top-notch!

Joseph Mallozzi has mentioned on his blog a number of times that Dark Matter is being pitched as a television series. Personally, I’d like to see it on tv, but I hope that Dark Horse Comics decides to sign Dark Matter up for a long run, too!

Read my review of Dark Matter #3 here.
Read my review of Dark Matter #2 here.
Read my review of Dark Matter #1 here.

Hey, it’s the second Friday in April 2012, which means it’s Friday the 13th!

If you happen to suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia then you’re basically screwed today. You should immediately throw salt over your shoulder and tap doorways three times before passing through to  ward off the bad luck.

If you don’t suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia then you might want to read about the lore surrounding Friday the 13th in a blog entry I posted in 2008.

Oh, and if you happen to live in the UK, you should check out this article in the British Medical Journal that observed that although there were consistently fewer vehicles on the road on Friday the 13ths compared to Friday the 6ths, the number of admissions to hospitals due to traffic accidents was significantly higher. The abstract for the article included the following:

CONCLUSIONS–Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52%. Staying at home is recommended.

Enjoy!