The world's best cocktail (I won't accept any evidence to the contrary) is now 40 years old. Caesar is celebrating its 40th anniversary this week.

Canadians consume over 40 million litres of Clamato per year, mostly in Caesars. That's over a litre per person, or probably enough to create a small lake.

Despite descriptions it tastes nothing like a Bloody Mary, probably because Clamato tastes nothing like Beef Consommé and Horseradish. =P

The best garnishes are probably the simple ones. Pickled beens are my choice, although a celery stick isn't bad either. Lime is always good. I'll pass on the shrimp, coffee grinds or bacon tho, but those don't seem common here in Vancouver anyway. Celery salt on the rim of the glass is an absolute must, or even better a specially concocted "Caesar Rim".

It has to be spicy, or preferably extra spicy. The Tabasco and Worcestershire are a distinctive combination, so other hot sauces and spices alter the taste significantly.

IMHO, drinking a Caesar celebrates Canadian identity more than Beer, Hockey or listening to the Tragically Hip. It's probably about on-par with ending sentences in "eh".

Oh dear, politics. Canadian politics no less.

I think most Canadians avoid politics as a matter of distaste, which is both understandable and unfortunate. But something interesting is going on.

There's a summary on Wikipedia: 2008 Canadian political dispute

For any Americans that may be reading: This demonstrates how our multiple party system (as compared to two-parties in the U.S.) operates. With several oppositional parties, it's entirely possible for a Prime Minister to get elected with much less than 50% of the votes / seats, but still have the highest split between the various parties: We call that a minority government.

(overly-simplified definition, technically a minority gov't is anything less that 155 seats, but let's not argue the details).

So a "no confidence" vote to remove a Prime Minister is quite possible, as long as most of the other parties get together and agree. Which almost never happens. But here we are: The vote is expected on Monday.

Except our Prime Minister has a loophole plan to avoid the vote by temporarily suspending Parliament (via "prorogue"). That's a pretty rare use of the system too. Technically it can only be done by the Governor General, but that's an appointed (non-elected) position that's mostly ceremonial and expected to capitulate to the PM's requests.

Why is Parliament trying to remove our Prime Minister so soon after an election? There are a host of reasons, but the general thoughts are that he's been sitting on his hands while a worldwide economic crisis goes on.

So for the record, as a Canadian citizen, I support the "no confidence" vote and the coalition that is planning it. It's a constitutionally sound mechanic designed for exactly these circumstances. This is our representational democracy at work.

And I'm against Stephen Harper's attempt to block his fate by dismissing Parliament for months on end. Not only is it a dirty political trick (and not his first), but it seems irresponsible during a time when we need action from all portions of our government. His speech attempt to misdirect and stir it up as a French vs English issue doesn't help either, that pretty much illustrates the way he rolls.

Any minority government Prime Minister has to accept that they may be called into a "no confidence" vote of Parliament and further accept the results. You have to be pretty bad for all of these elected parties to agree on ousting you.

To put it bluntly, can we get this clown out of office now, please?

Now is the time when the collective MMO blogosphere takes a step back. After a rash of criticism towards game mechanics in recent games and upcoming expansions, we feel like we've been a bit harsh. After all, we love these games don't we? We have to prove we're not just critics.

In true passive-aggressive nerdcore fashion, we look inward.

It's time to wax philosophical about us gamers ourselves. What motivates us? How many problems in these games are caused by us, the gamers? How well do we treat each other? And what makes us so important anyway?

There are other, far more important things happening in the world, right? The world markets are hurting (don't say collapse). It's election day in Canada. Led Zeppelin isn't really getting back together.

We're just little squigs specs in this great big ol' Universe.

But dammit, joy and creative urges are the best things to live for. Gaming is part of that for me. If anyone asks me to look at a greater perspective, that's my take. So excuse me if (after voting) I queue for some Scenarios.

Now I just need to remember to kill the dude with the thing.