Musings of a Canadian Slacker |
|
|
my thoughts, for what they are worth, on politics, history, military affairs, computer gaming..etc. Meryl Yourish A Small Victory Ghost of a Flea The Command Post WarBlog Argghhh!!! Gaming and such Penny Arcade Excessive Overkill news Call of Duty.org Goodfellas (NCR Elite Blog Mafia) Shenanigans Trudeaupia Inkless Wells Autonomous Source Bound By Gravity All Things Canadian Minority of One Ravishing Light Obsidian Tempest Highway 401 Blog The Phantom Observer Italics Mine Contact me E-mail me 
Archives 
|
Saturday, May 31, 2003
New note on Victoria Day...I ran across a calendar printed in Quebec..where it is called Dollard Day. The name refers to Dollard des Ormeaux The link is to a site that basically follows the heroic legend (in French, sorry). As an interesting side note, I recently saw the statue of Dollard in Montreal. It was covered by sk8ers, lounging after a hard afternoon of insolence and skateboarding. Anyways, I found it interesting that English Canada celebrates the birthday of the Queen whose government gave us our independence whereas Quebec chooses to celebrate a guy who basically wanted to hijack some Iroquois canoes and take their furs. And who failed to do even that, in the process getting himself and most of his men killed. At least the Hurons had the sense to get out of the fort.. Ah well, another day in this most schizophrenic of countries. I blame Abbé Lionel Groulx myself. Though I guess Guy Frégault can also be blamed....  Saturday, May 24, 2003
I was reading today's Citizen. Today's edition has a column. by Barbara Yaffe on the subject of meat eating and the recent case of BSE ("Mad Cow Disease") in Alberta. Its mostly the usual drivel about how animals suffer in the meat system. What I have always wondered though is what would happen if these people got their way. After all, if no one were eating meat or drinking milk, etc...the millions of livestock on farms in the Americas and in Europe would lose their raison d'etre. What then? They would all have to be slaughtered..every one of them. And not just the livestock, which are killed as a matter of course, but also the breeding stock, the milch cows and all. Millions of animals killed, and wasted, since no one would want to eat them. And that brings us to another problem: how do we produce enough protein from non-animal sources to sustain all these people? Sure, there is soybean products...but that's something of a boutique industry now..producing for the 5 or so percent of the population who are vegetarians in North America. But enough to support the other 280 million or so North Americans? Another case of people who wish for something without understanding what they are really asking for. As for me, I have to stand with a slogan I saw on a bumper sticker yesterday: "I love animals, they're delicious!" Monday, May 19, 2003
Today is Victoria Day here in Canada. A rather strangely colonial holiday that we celebrate. Queen Victoria was, of course, the monarch when Canada became a country in 1867 and we've continued celebrating her birthday as a holiday ever since. In English parts of Canada ( I mean English-English, not English speaking), there are usually fireworks and so forth on Canada Day{oops, I meant Victoria Day}. One doesn't see that much anymore in most of the country. I spent a couple of hours at the gym then rode my bicycle around for a while. Excellent weather for it. The news is more carnage in Israel. Dang it. Wednesday, May 14, 2003
"It's Cheaper to Send Someone to Penn State Than to State Pen!" Interesting commentary on the state of affairs in California. Check it out at The Irascible Professor. Link from the Invisible Adjunct. When a society spends so much more on its tools of coercion than it does on its tools of nurturing..that is a society in decline. And don't feel smug about Canada being different...the neo-cons that control a good part of the federal agenda, and the provincial agenda in all of the larger provinces are busily working to bring about the same results here. Monday, May 12, 2003
I've been reading a most interesting article on exam writing..and essay questions in particular. Take a look, courtesy of John Cowan via the Invisible Adjunct. (Look in the comments to that post) Sunday, May 11, 2003
I hate Noam Chomsky. (Courtesy of Meryl) Been reading some John Ralston Saul. Profound thoughts on Canada and its weltanschaunng. "All of us, it can't be denied, are victimized from time to time. But this is quite different from believing ourselves to be victims all the time." From "Reflections of a Siamese Twin: Canada at the End of the Twentieth Century." He particularly looks at the whole "two founding peoples" ethos...and throws it in the garbage can, where it pretty much belongs. Just a thought on what I'm reading these days. Another nice sunday..perhaps I should hit the roads again. Too bad I don't have a digital camera anymore, or I'd cap some nice photos for the blog. Maybe next month.... Thursday, May 08, 2003
Victor Hanson Davis (one of my favorite historians..read his Carnage and Culture. Now!, read it now!) has some interesting things to say on Europe and the United States in the aftermath of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is a realignment in world politics that has been a long time in the making..probably since the mid 1980s or so. Ever since the Soviet Union revealed itself for the paper dragon that it had become by then. Once that happened, realignments were bound to occur, it was just a matter of when and why. Interesting times. Tuesday, May 06, 2003
So, I can just imagine this dialogue between Hussein father and son on the 18th of March: Saddam: Qusay, drop by the ATM and get us some shopping money. The Americans are coming by, and things might get hectic. Qusay: Sure, Dad, how much? Saddam: Well, could be a while before we get a chance to go to the bank again. Get a billion dollars. Qusay: No problem, Dad. News link courtesy of Judith by way of The Command Post. Well, comments are finally working. I guess I should do some posts so that people can actually have something to comment on. |