Ok, so here comes the second opinion.

My Japanese wife and I went to Maru the other night hoping, based on this review and some other reports from friends, that it wasn't quite as bad as all the other 'Japanese' restaurants we've tried in Kingston.

On the plus side, it is a nice space and all the front-of-house staff were really lovely.

However, in terms of the food we don't have much positive to say. Ramen is simple food - it's really all about the quality of the noodles and the stock. Everything else is extra. All half-decent ramen places make their own noodles. It's not hard. And they use good quality pork stock (what makes ramen places quite smelly) - except in the case of Taiwanese-style ramen, which is made with a soy-based stock. Neither are true of Maru. Standard supermarket ramen in cheap stock. My wife said it reminded her of school canteens and highway rest stops. If you like that kind of thing, fine, but the average person (and I do mean anyone reading this) could do just as well at home.

Oh, and we also had the gyoza. It's hard to do bad gyoza, but Maru managed it. Utterly tasteless filling (except for the aroma of raw garlic), soggy and undercooked. And pretty obviously using exactly the same commercial wrappers as we use at home to make our own gyoza (which are so much better than these were).

If I go back again, I think I would only go to try the Korean food they offer (at the back of the menu). Frankly, I am getting really fed up with what people allow restaurants to get away with here and tired of the poor excuses for Japanese food in Canada in particular. We aren't that demanding, we don't want haute cuisine every time, we just want the basics done right. So I really wish Koreans running these restaurants were able to ignore the consumer fashion for ersatz Japanese food and could concentrate on doing good Korean food, which is exactly what I feel like on a cold winter's day anyway. Unfortunately people seem to want to keep paying for poor quality Japanese food, so that's what gets offered, and nothing gets better.

Sorry, I'd really like to have been able to be more positive but I can't be. However, I would still encourage everyone to try Maru for themselves at least once and make up your own minds.

Classic is a perfect example that somewhere that will survive because it offers something more than you can get online - quirkiness, a fantastic selection, lovely people who work there, and ambiance.

In contrast, take Sunrise records. Zero atmosphere, a completely inexplicable selection of stuff, and shop clerks who seem to know nothing about music (when I was last in there the guy behind the counter had no idea who Rich Aucoin was, despite the fact that his new album is creating waves all over the Canadian music media and beyond, and when I asked if they could get the album in, proceeded to look it up on Amazon!). You have to conclude, sadly, that it won't be long before this store will be changing its name to 'Sunset records'... unless they care enough to transform what they do.

So what could a contemporary CD store be? It could be a place where people who love music meet and share their love of music, where the people who work there know and love music, where you might come across a band who are playing that night, doing an impromptu acoustic gig instore... in other words a place which is not just about soulless racks of random product. That would be a place I would be happy to support.

I suspect that they had to move unexpectedly quickly and took what they could at short notice. The thing for me is that if I have to walk downtown to get my coffee, I'd rather support the Goat and what they stand for as a workers' cooperative that serves great fair trade coffee, rather than another standard private business that serves great fair trade coffee. However, I am really worried that this could be another nail in the coffin for the Goat.

And anyone who hasn't heard just how great Miss Emily Fennell when she does soul rather than country can sound should check this out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jeg-Xk5IxE

Also based on Wolfe Island, the evergreen Chris Brown's Open Hearts Society... http://www.openheartssociety.com/

Out of time, but certainly not out of place... Wolfe Island's own Sheesham and Lotus (& Son)... http://vimeo.com/28234815

It's not so great if you think of it in terms of the university, and it's faculty and students who are probably the main customers. I wish Coffeeco luck in their new location, but they also are now just going to be adding to the existing pressure on The Sleepless Goat (which is also a Fair Trade business - and more), whereas before they were far enough apart for it not to be an issue.

I always enjoy chatting to the huge variety of people who end up being taxi drivers.

On the specific firms and issues, I used to use Modern but now use Amey's largely because of Modern's complete stupidity, as the following surreal telephone conversation illustrates:

Me: Do you have taxis with child seats?
Modern: Some of them do, some of them don't.
Me: Okay, I'd like to book a taxi with a child seat please
Modern: Sorry, sir, we can't do that. You'll just have to take what is available.
Me: But I need a taxi with a child seat.
Modern: We can't do that.
Me: So, what's the point of telling me that some of your cars have child seats if you can't book them?
Modern: That's just the way it is.
Me: Can't you see how ridiculous that is?

etc., with the conversation ending with me telling them that they were a pretty useless taxi company.

So I call Amey's, and the response is 'Yes, Sir, of course' - and the cab is there exactly when I want it with the child seat in place.

I will never book a taxi through Modern again.

What is it with Kingston and yoga? You can't move for yoga studios here. I have nothing against yoga, but it almost seems to be taking over downtown...

So you think the decision to close the farms was made on some credible and rational grounds based on independent studies, do you? Not on opportunist, political grounds? Perhaps you could point me in the direction of the 'facts, reports and studies' which would support the closures then. I've not read anything convincing, in fact the research tends to show that prison programs that involve working with animals and growing food are amongst the most effective in preventing recidivism and generating the kinds of sense of self-worth and responsibility that are most helpful in reforming criminals.

But what do I know? I'm just a researcher who does stuff on crime and justice...