BC Bloggers

More BoiiCheyh Cont'd

2010-09-07T20:09:20+00:00

Central European neolithic settlers, Celtic villagers, a migrating Slav population. Soon a great medieval city will grow.

Wild bald eagle photography, North American lumber market prices and info, illuminated manuscripts, celtic ornamental knotwork, stories & drawings

On The Beach

2010-09-07T19:26:00+00:00

108.

The 10 best Canadian TV shows of the past 25 years

2010-09-07T19:22:00+00:00

I'm almost embarrassed to admit I have never watched the top five. I haven't even heard of most of 'em.

Your Brain on Capitalism

2010-09-07T19:08:14+00:00

At least as far back as Sokrates, people have speculated on the relationship between psychology and politics. In the 20th century, Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm and members of the Frankfurt School (such as Herbert Marcuse) pioneered discussion about how individual dispositions affect one’s social and political ideologies.

On the other hand, social psychologists like Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo have shown how situations can override a person’s usual inclinations and cause them to do something which they would normally abhor, such as killing other people in wartime.

Our understanding of human behaviour has grown dramatically with the development of neuroscience. Many of my future posts will consider what these discoveries tell us about creating healthy human beings, and healthy societies.

Of course, these are very political questions.

One key concept is that of “outside-inside” (in the words of psychologist Arthur Janov). We tend to internalize what we experience in our environments. Food and air, for instance, are obvious examples. It matters whether our food and air are clean or if they are polluted with various toxins.

A second key concept is “neuroplasticity.” Neuroscience has shown that our brains are not static and unchanging. For instance, every thought and feeling in our minds corresponds to a physical change in our brains. Learn something new, and your brain changes.

In other words, every experience in our lives alters our brain.

A third element are the so-called “mirror-neurons,” which are a fundamental to our “social brain” (Dr. Dan Siegel). In brief, these neurons fire in our brains when we observe the feelings of others. In fact, we absorb the feelings of other people so much that Siegel suggested that we call them “sponge neurons.”

Finally, people tend to absorb the dominant values and beliefs of their culture, including its political ideology. Marx wrote that the ideas of the ruling class are the dominant ideas of society, and Gramsci elaborated on the concept of this ideological hegemony.

As political scientist Gary Olson wrote in Capitalism Short Circuits Our Moral Hard-Wiring, “Capitalists maintain domination, in part, through subtly but actively creating society’s prevailing cultural norms.”

Our brains as well as our beliefs are shaped, more than we realize, by the ideology of capitalism, with its emphasis on greed, selfishness, competition and individualism.

In the words of Frans B.M. de Waal, “You need to indoctrinate empathy out of people in order to arrive at extreme capitalist positions.”

These norms and expectations often overrule our natural compassion, even though it is now clear that “the human brain is hard-wired for empathy,” in Olson’s view.

Finally, research has shown that poverty (e.g. stress, overwork, poor nutrition) take a terrible toll, not only on adults, but children, and even babies in the womb. Not only is physical health damaged, but emotional and intellectual health suffer.

We need to go beyond these symptoms and address the root causes of human suffering.

Wonton King Chinese Restaurant

2010-09-07T19:00:42+00:00

Wonton King has been open on Marine Drive for as long as I can remember. That’s a pretty damned long time.. considering I’ve been living in this area for more than 15 years now! I probably have gone when I was younger, but not enough that I would remember. Now that I’m older, I never personally would have cared or bothered to set foot in her because I hate going to Chinese restaurants alone or with friends unless we know about it already.

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Stepping inside, I was a little taken aback. Sorry I gotta admit, Marine Drive is a busy street, so a clean and well kept interior was not what I expected. The service was also really good and attentive! Complete with uniforms as well!

Left the ordering to my parents cause well…there was no English on the menu.

Green Vegetable and Tofu soup. Generally it’s made with seasonal vegetables, and this time it was made with bitter mustard leaves..yuuuck. I’m not a huge fan of mustard leaves because of the slight bitter taste to them, but at least they’re not as bitter as bittermelon.

魚香茄子 (Yú xiāng qié zi), literally translated to fish fragrance eggplant. Mmmm….eggplants are good. I love them, no matter what method of preparation.

Deep fried large intestines. It strikes me as strange how a lot of friends don’t know what this dish is, even though it’s a very typical Cantonese dish. I have fond memories of eating this as a kid, but stopped for some unknown reasons. Most likely because my mom felt that the restaurant couldn’t clean it well enough nor was it very healthy, so now when she orders it it’s a little bit of a treat.

Served on a bed of pickled daikon and carrots, these were crunchy and chewy at the same time, and when coupled with the red sweet and sour vinegar dipping sauce….ohh man…deliiiicious.

Stir-fried Water Spinach, aka hollow heart vegetable or 空心菜 (kōng xīn cài). Hands down my favorite Chinese vegetable because it stays crunchy even after being cooked, it can double as a straw and just tastes so earthy and good. See kids, spinach IS good.

Deep fried silver fish. I regard these as chinese fries, perfect for both pre-drinking and after drinking. Actually…probably more so after drinking.

Fermented rice soup..or what I know it in Mandarin as 酒釀 (Jiǔ niàng) Basically, rice is fermented and it becomes rice wine. After the wine is decanted off, the bits of rice is taken and made into a soup. It’s a slightly sweet soup typically served for dessert, similar to the Korean sikhye (see Seoul Doogbaegi for a picture near the bottom)

All of the items here are way above average, but the quality was also up here with the price. The only complaint is that the prices should have been more on par with the portion.

@ The time of this post, apparently The Wonton King is closed for renovations under new management. As for whether or not they will keep the same name, who knows?

School Closures Protested

2010-09-07T18:33:14+00:00

From the CBC: About 100 parents and students rallied in East Vancouver Monday in a bid to save three schools facing possible closure. Collingwood Neighbourhood School, Graham Bruce Elementary and Sir Guy Carleton Elementary are on a list of 12 schools that could close in 2011 because of budget shortfalls. “This school is not just a school,” said [...]

Full-day Kindergarten in B.C.

2010-09-07T18:29:36+00:00

From the Nanaimo News Bulletin: The first phase of full-day kindergarten rolls out in roughly half of B.C. schools next week. About 21,000 students are expected to enter the new program this year – a little more than half of the province’s kindergarten enrolment, said Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid during a news conference Tuesday. The province is still [...]

Full-day Kindergarten in Ontario Schools

2010-09-07T18:13:26+00:00

The Toronto Star reports on the start of full-day kindergarten in Ontario: One was still weepy at lunchtime. Some wanted to eat their lunch at 10 in the morning. Another bit into the plastic on his fruit roll-up at snack time before the teacher intervened and helped him with the sticky mess he’d created. As the full-day [...]

5th Annual “A Day at the Farm”

2010-09-07T18:03:27+00:00

At the 5th annual "A Day at the Farm" on Saturday September 11 families are invited to learn more about the role of farms in sustaining our cultures and economy.

Letter to Parents from Minister of Education

2010-09-07T17:41:17+00:00

As children head back to the province’s schools (most of which are publicly run and funded), the Minister of Education speaks about the crucial role that parents and families play in each child’s education (printed by the Georgia Straight). While public schools and other supports are essential ways of supporting all families, our culture thrives when [...]

Young Families Moving Forward

2010-09-07T17:29:06+00:00

The B.C. Council for Families is organizing a one-day conference to bring together service providers, families and others working with young families. The conference is Friday October 22, 2010 and is in Vancouver. Here’s some information about the event from the Council’s website: We’re pleased to invite you to join us this October in Vancouver for [...]

Rosh HaShana greetings from Israeli PM Netanyahu

2010-09-07T17:22:18+00:00

Rosh HaShana(Jewish New Year) greetings from Israeli PM Netanyahu

Back to Reality on the Geocache Diet – Day 234

2010-09-07T17:18:37+00:00

This is a big day for us at the FamilyNavigation household. Annika is starting her first day of Kindergarten and it is a big deal even though today is only a 15 minute meet and greet. Wow is she excited. So summer has unofficially ended and it is back to some sort of reality. We have ...

Continue reading Back to Reality on the Geocache Diet – Day 234

Gabriola history: September 7th, 1887

2010-09-07T16:48:10+00:00

On Saturday, September 7, 1887, the Free Press described a heroic rescue which took place about halfway between the portage (probably Biggs’ Portage across the neck of Jack Point) and Gabriola Island. Three local men — Alexander Shaw Jr., John Hamilton, and John Gimmel — were travelling to Gabriola in a small boat, when the boat overturned in the angry current during a sudden squall.

David Roberts and Joseph Chapple set out in a boat from Mudge to attempt a rescue, and although their efforts were hampered by strong winds and high seas, they were able to bring the three men safely to shore.

Source: this page at the Gabriola Museum website.

Location Based Social Networking Explained

2010-09-07T16:47:01+00:00

Location based networking is going mainstream this year and with the recent announcement from Facebook of the Places launch, I thought this would be the perfect time to write a blog post about location based social networking, explaining what it is and why it is generating so much buzz. I’ll also introduce you to some of the major players in the location based arena.

But first, consider two points that help explain why locations based social networking is going to be huge:

1) There are over 4 billion mobile phones in use around the world: that is 4 phones for every Personal computer. In 2009, phones overtook PC’s as the preferred means to access the Internet.

2) Humans are social by nature. Since the days of the cave, we have enjoyed the company of others. It is in our nature to want to share with others; to do things together; to tell them where we are going and to invite them along. We like our “tribe” to know what we are up to and thanks to LBSN we can now do that in real time.

Location Based Social Networking

Location based social networking is a form of geosocial networking, which, according to Wikipedia is “is social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics”. In other words, you can use Internet based services to share where you are and what you are doing in real time and based on where you are and where your tribe is at that moment.

For example, Foursquare, one of the top location based social networks, allows users to check in from their mobile phones when they are out and about at dinner, sports venues, tourist venues and even at the hairdresser. As a user, each time you check in to a location your connections are alerted and you are awarded points.

Some of the top location based social networks include: Foursquare, Facebook Places, Loopt, Gowalla and Yelp. Here is a resume of each:

Foursquare

Foursquare is “a mobile application that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. It is a friend-finder, a social city guide and a game that challenges users to experience new things, and rewards them for doing so. Foursquare lets users “check in” to a place when they’re there, tell friends where they are and track the history of where they’ve been and who they’ve been there with.” Launched in 2009, Foursquare now has over 3 million users.

Gowalla

Gowalla is a location-based social networking where users ‘check-in’ at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive items from check-ins. Items have developed to become a promotional tool for the game’s partners.

Yelp

Yelp is a website that connects people with local businesses and allows users to rate, comment and share their likes and dislikes and review said businesses. Founded in 2004, Yelp now has communities in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and France and is available on your mobile phone. Yelp now has over 38 million regular visitors to the site.

Facebook Places

Launched in August, Facebook Places is a social utility that connects people with their friends: it allows them to share where they are and connect with friends who are nearby. Right now Places is only available on iPhone and in the US but given the clout that Facebook carries, it is surely set to be a major player in this arena. Of especial interest from a business perspective is the fact the businesses will be able to use places to create hyper local ads to targeted users.

Loopt

Another location based networking pioneer is Loopt, a company that builds mobile applications that use location to help you enjoy the friends, places, and events around you right now. Formed in 2006, Loopt now offers a suite of 5 mobile applications that run on over 100 different phones and are enjoyed by over 4 million people.

Which Tool To Use?

Judging by the following Compete graph analysis of unique visitors, Yelp seems to be the most trafficked location based social network at this point but this could change on the turn of a dime: when Facebook Places launched, Foursquare saw record sign ups for new users.

Check out the location based tools mentioned above and choose the one that best fits your social network and lifestyle preferences. If you are using Facebook extensively already, then it will make sense to use Facebook Places rather than have to learn and maintain another network. If you eat out a lot, then Yelp might be the best choice. If games are your thing then try Gowalla or Foursquare.

Whichever tool you use though, be cognizant of privacy settings and make sure that only those you want to have access to your whereabout can access this information.

International “Burn the Koran” Day on September 11

2010-09-07T16:44:22+00:00

Everyone has the right to burn a koran if they so choose

I support “Doctor” Terry Jones. It is his right and the right of his 50 member congregation to burn a Koran whenever they damn well feel like it.

I also support Andres Serrano and his right to take pictures like this

The infamous Piss Christ

The fact that these acts and pictures may offend some people is entirely beside the point.

People have the right to do stupid things. Period. End of story.

Do I like him him doing it? Do I think he is a complete and utter looney tune for doing so? Do I think that by publically burn a koran that he is thereby endangering Americans living and fighting abroad? Do I think he is a publicity hound?

Do I think people should protest his action? Do I think that people should picket his church? Do I think that that someone should play tit for tat and burn one new testament outside his church for every koran he burns?

Do I think he should exercise some discretion and limit his criticism to verbal denunciations?

The answer to all those questions is an enthusiastic “yes.”

Fox News North - it's Monty Python silly

2010-09-07T16:27:00+00:00

A Chronicle Herald's opinion piece today intimates that resistance to Fox News North is tantamount to 'censorship'. It gives an approving nod to Ezra Levant and casts a dismissive eye towards FNN's critics, naming and selectively quoting them. Worse of all, the writer Mr. Schneidereit, uses Conservative talking points to make his point.

A petition* is not censorship. Complaints from critics are not censorship. Those are part of the foundations of democracy. A government attempting to bully its media regulator into giving it a preferred spot in the media is not democratic. The only thing sillier than the hand wringing over Sun Media from its detractors (like me) is the ignorance of its supporters like the hapless Mr. Schneidereit and the Con operative Ezra Levant. They are attempting to push Conservative talking points onto a complacent public using demagoguery and illusion.

Let Fox News North do its thing as with any other new broadcaster, without fast tracking its applications or bullying of a regulator. It will be fun to watch FNN. It will be a Monty Python episode worth the wait.

* Petitions seldom do much, let alone censor. And this petition has become somewhat dubious, especially to those late in the game. (It's always easy pickings coming late into any game.) I signed the petition early on and, despite its incendiary language and yet unproven claims about Conservative meddling, am glad I did. A petition is a community response and a magnet for media attention. It's galvanized the argument over FNN and pushed the debate into the forefront. That's good. And it is most definitely not censorship.

From the Heart of a Teacher

2010-09-07T16:17:00+00:00

From: The Heart of a Teacher "A Parent's Note to a Teacher" by Anonymous

I'm the voice of a grateful parent
whose child was in your class...
the one who needed help to find his way

You've been a special blessing
as you helped my child succeed
and I'm thankful for the part you had to play

You gave her so much more
than just the lessons in the books
you gave him wings...so she could learn to fly

You ignited a flame within his soul
a passion to learn and grow...
to never give up and always be willing to try

Your encouragement inspired her
and your kindness was so real
but the thing that thrills my heart the most is this...

By building his self-confidence
you changed his life this year
she believes in himself...and a brighter future is his!

IT'S UP TO ME by Haim Ginott
I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.

Kitty Genovese redux

2010-09-07T16:07:41+00:00

Sweet Zombie Jeebus. What do you do when you see a rape in progress? Finding seats with a better view and taking pictures is NOT the correct answer.

Back to School Activism: Wake Up, Parents!

2010-09-07T16:00:50+00:00

From BC's Kindergarten English-Language Arts Curriculum Guide

I’ve already begun with A Back-To-School Wishlist for Society and now that school is finally starting this morning it’s time to talk about parental advocacy and activism.

Parents: you are the most fundamental advocate for your students. The BC Minister of Education, for instance, is not.

Do not forget that this year, and not just because tomorrow is World Literacy Day.

Why? Her open letter to you [below] is perfectly reasonable, arguing about why we matter so critically to our children’s success. But when we compare its contents to some basic facts of how the BC Liberal government is undermining our social institutions and other trends in society, we really see what kind of manipulation is going on and why we need to be vigilant against the BC Liberals’ gruesome plans for education.

This is going to be a long 10 months. You need to stay frosty.

While the minister is correct in asserting the value of parents in a child’s education, the BC Liberals have done the following to support an anti-Robin Hood wealth transfer from the poor and middle class to tax cuts for the rich and large and mostly foreign corporations:

closed over 200 schools
laid off thousands of teachers and support staff
refused to fund K-12 pay increases or carbon offsets they legislated themselves, meaning boards of education must make cuts to fund those costs
attacked working people with a decade-long minimum wage stall, privatization, contracting out and legislated wage roll-backs, all of which impoverish workers, forcing them to take on extra work…all of which erodes parents’ and caregivers’ ability to spend precious moments with their students
enhanced the high stakes testing regime and industrial warehousing of students which undermine individualized education
forced budget cuts that erode supports for vulnerable students
threatened the democratic legitimacy of boards of education who question the minister’s “wisdom”

Years ago I described the BC Liberal government’s political philosophy as sado-masochistic. They keep abusing us, we seem to keep electing them. I used to characterize it as forced sado-masochism, but since we have re-elected them twice, I’m not sure how forced it is. This is clearly an unhealthy relationship that feeds on feelings of apathy and powerlessness.

When you read the minister’s words below, you will surely see that time is of the essence. We must have free time to engage in all the positive support we can provide our children.

If the minister really wants to acknowledge the important role parents play in education and the solid research that supports that goal, the rest of her government wouldn’t be doing so much to undermine that relationship for the sake of tax cuts to the rich and global corporate shareholders.

The minister’s advice is still useful, though, assuming we can create the time to engage in political activism. In fact, the BC School Act’s fundamental purpose is to “enable all learners to become literate, to develop their individual potential and to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to contribute to a healthy, democratic and pluralistic society and a prosperous and sustainable economy.”

The BC Liberal party’s goal is the economic focus, since so far this decade we’ve seen a constant erosion in our healthy, democratic and pluralistic society. But let’s look at how we can re-frame the minister’s advice to restore our society:

join your schools PAC [parent advisory committee]…to stay informed of parent and community action to protect our students and education system from further government cuts
get to know the teachers…to keep up with what kind of decimation is occurring in classrooms this year so you can mobilize to fight the government
learning truly is an active social process…that is currently being undermined by the government, so parental involvement in community action to protect public education is an essential civics lesson

And we need to keep up with our neighbours to see signs of things to come.

We must be vigilant to make sure the government doesn’t engage in creative initiatives like attaching RFID chips to students to cut down on the time and expense of tracking attendance, so we can lay off some more support staff and help teachers focus more on weightier tasks. California is experimenting with this. Just because technology lets us do something doesn’t mean it’s right.
Let’s avoid the thrust of academic inflation, cramming more and more knowledge and homework into the system at earlier grades because of some insane notion that the more students memorize before graduation, the smarter they will be. This comes from a lack of understanding of lower and higher order thinking. Learning is about learning how to learn, finding information, and improving analytical skills more than memorizing the dysfunction of Charlemagne, his heirs and the Carolingian dynasty. In fact, wise teachers have realized those addicted to the policy of increased homework are off the mark: “Once it leaves this building, we’re not using it for report card marks,” he said. “Once it leaves here, we don’t know who’s been working on it.”
And in the same category as treating our children like RFID carriers, we need to avoid early streaming and its clones. At one Calgary school, despite their ineffective anti-streaming spin, they are streaming 7-year-olds into visual and performing arts, humanitarian and environmental issues, scientific inquiry and innovation, or sports and athletics streams. Streaming is wrong. It is particularly wrong with 7 year-olds who are far from able to pick or be assessed in one area. And more fundamentally, it perverts notions like Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory [which argues for enhancing students experiences in ALL intelligences] by picking a subset and ignoring the rest. But it can be quite cost effective to inject some Brave New World class juice into our culture. We must resist this.

Honestly. Happy first day of school!

It will definitely be a long 10 months. The system is more handicapped than last year. Our resources and time are strained further. But the need for our vigilance, advocacy and activism has never been higher. And it doesn’t hurt to read BC’s curriculum guides to find out what should be going on…and if you don’t see how they translate into real things in the classroom, ask your children’s teachers, who would be thrilled to see parents that engaged in learning.

But we are not along. Even the minister thinks we should get involved with the PAC, for instance.

Let’s make sure that’s the worst advice for her political career she ever issued, and I’ll see you at the other end in June.

Words from the minister:

As your child heads back to school this year, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the important role you, as parents, play in the success of all the children and young people in our education system.

Research has shown that when parents are involved and engaged, it not only helps their own child, it helps other children in the school. The evidence is consistent and convincing: parent engagement is one of the key factors identified by researchers in high-performing schools, and families have a major influence on their child’s achievement in school and through life.

I really encourage parents, when thinking about back to school, to talk to their child’s teacher. Really get to know your child’s teacher. Offer to volunteer. Become part of the parent advisory committee. You need to know what’s happening in the classroom to support your child.

Keep in touch with your school and discuss your child’s education. The close co-operation between home and school contributes significantly to creating a positive learning environment for children.

Learning is an active social process. You are your child’s first and most important teacher. Your role in their education remains as important today as it was when they were saying their first words or learning to walk.

As your child heads back to school, please get engaged to ensure all our children have a successful education experience. We can’t do it without you.

Margaret MacDiarmid
Minister of Education
Government of British Columbia

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Perversely, I hope the Republicans come up big in November

2010-09-07T15:20:00+00:00

The Democrats are slumbering. They need a good kick in the pants. Besides many of the possible Republican victors in November are crazed fundamentalists with views, once they become obvious to an economically strapped and disillusioned public, that will open the eyes of those who voted them in. The tide will turn again back to the Democrats favour by the time 2012 rolls around.

Then again, the big wins so far have been in the historically ignorant states of Alaska and Arizona. I don't really expect Sharron Angle in Nevada to overcome the extreme views she has expressed in the past. If she does defeat Harry Reid, that will surely be the last nail in the Republican coffin in 2012.

The damage this year to the Dems may even be minimal but hopefully enough to put a fire in their bellies to turn around their complacency with another big presidential victory two years from now. So, I will not be discouraged by big GOP wins this year. It's all about 2012 and the Republicans current rise will be short lived, indeed.

UPDATE: A HuffPo writer has a more optimistic view of the short term but shares our enthusiasm for the longer term health of the Democratic party.

Politics, Re-Spun on Coop Radio, Labour Day 2010

2010-09-07T15:00:48+00:00

Imtiaz Popat and I celebrated Labour Day on “The Rational” last night. The video podcast is below.

We discussed:

Labour Day
my Labour Day article today: “Labour Day, Dignity and Doubling the CPP”
volunteer labour
dignity for seniors
doubling the CPP because $11,000/year is unacceptable
BC’s pathetic minimum wage
a fall federal election could lead to a Liberal minority government and time to leverage them for economic dignity
student poverty is a result of right wing ideological choices: post-secondary education is seen as an income boost and the government wants its cut
the government is managing our CPP funds by investing in tar sands and privatized highways
BC’s Gateway Project and the North American transportation infrastructure vs. Peak Oil
workers and unions need to engage in society by working in coalition with community groups and climate justice
corporations and government employers are not taking the lead on greening our society, so workers need to
extremism, xenophobia and skapegoating
increased corporate profitability, how productivity gains aren’t trickling down to workers: class war
all majority governments are bad right now, especially considering how much of the social conservative agenda being introduced by Harper with just a minority government
BC Conservative party’s increasing viability, along with the BC Greens means more of a chance of a BC minority government in 2013
what will it take for a BC political party to say they’ll actually get rid of the HST?
and we would have talked about this intensely if I had read it in time!

The video podcast of the conversation lives at Vista Video.

You can watch it in Miro, the best new open source multimedia viewing software: http://www.miroguide.com/feeds/8832

or…

You can watch it in iTunes: itpc://dgivista.org/pod/Vista_Podcasts.xml

or…

The podcast file is at http://dgivista.org/pod/COOP.Radio.2010.09.06.mov

Enjoy!

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September 6, 2010 -- Labour Day, Dignity and Doubling the CPP (1)
September 3, 2010 -- Making the Liberals Eat their HST Lies (0)
August 16, 2010 -- A Voice from Haiti, Who We Are Further Victimizing (1)

The National Post’s Delusion and Hyperbole

2010-09-07T14:44:04+00:00

We already know the National Post is aimed at the right wing, American republican-loving, conservative, anti-progressive markets in Canada.

On the weekend we saw a shining example of the kind of delusion and hyperbole that is fit for the front page [albeit, below the fold] in a story about pregnant “illegal” Mexicans invading the USA:

“just off Interstate 19, the highway that bolts from the bottomless desperation of Mexico into the sunlight of the American republic.”

Such flowery language:

“bolt”: the highway does what the invaders do
“bottomless desperation” thoroughly demeans a rich, centuries-old culture
the “sunlight of the American republic” had a 9.6% official unemployment rate in June, not counting all the people they avoid counting

At least, though, they aren’t making fun of child abuse again.

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August 15, 2010 -- The Tamils’ Gift: Some Needed National Values Exploration (5)
August 12, 2010 -- A Basic Primer on the Tamil Ship (3)

Burmese Feast in Bo Laksa King’s Bubbles and Bits, East Hastings

2010-09-07T14:41:07+00:00

There is something different about Bo.

I just can’t figure out why people like him so much that they are rooting for him. I have not come across any restaurateur so well supported by the local foodie community. I mean, the support came not from just any local foodie community but it came from none other than the chowhounds of Vancouver.

Maybe it is because of his food. His laksa is second to none. Maybe it is because he had carved a niche out for himself by serving the one of the kind Burmese fare. Maybe it is because of his humble nature.

Whatever it is, almost everyone I know roots for him and wants him to succeed. I think he is a very lucky guy. With this kind of support, the restaurant just cannot fail.

Ever since the discovery of Bo Laksa King almost a year ago, there had been talks about getting Bo to whip up a Burmese feast for the chowhounds. While Bo was willing, the problem was logistics. He could not host the Burmese feast in his little flagship “restaurant” … which seats a grand total of FOUR people initially. You see, Bo Laksa King has a humble beginning operating as a counter inside a convenience store. For those of you who have never been to Bo Laksa King, you gotta just read the post where we followed up on the chowhound lead and fell in love with Bo’s Laksa.

So, almost one year later Bo had finally moved in to a proper restaurant. It is a joint venture with a friend of his who had been operating a bubble tea shop called Bubble and Bits. I can’t help but notice that the words “Bo Laksa King’s” is smaller than Bubble and Bits on the signboard. This tells me that Bo is basically operating in the premises of Bubble and Bits. Not that it matters to us.

The good thing is now we can enjoy Bo’s Laksa is a more comfortable confines and he is able to expand on his menu.

So with a place able to host the Burmese feast, FMED worked with Bo to put together an exclusive Burmese Feast for the vanchow community. The moment I saw that event announced, Suanne and I quickly signed up because we know this will be a very popular event.

Indeed it was. Bo Laksa could only cater to 24 people and the places were filled very fast. Some were put on a wait list. This is despite the fact that this Burmese feast is not cheap. It is $55 per person.

Not knowing what to expect, we were quite surprised how well setup the dinner is. He he he … a few weeks earlier, the chowhounds were talking about how Bo need to move away from using plastic cutleries and serve his food in real plates. They were even talking about helping him get a commercial dishwasher too.

So we had metal cutleries, ceramic dish wares and drinking glasses. Yeah, it was things we take for granted from other restaurant but for Bo, we were somehow glad to see that. The table cloth was made of paper but at least the color matches the restaurant. :-)

Bo even printed a menu of the night too. I am a stickler for details. I saw that little crown on top of the letter “i”. Bo had told me that he wanted to have a small crown as the logo before. I was wondering how he printed that crown because I half suspect that some chowhounds help him print it the way he wants it.

A couple of words from FMED and Bo before the dinner got started. Bo came out to explain each dish as it was served. We all appreciate this because the learning is as important as the food to many of us food geeks.

The first course is called the Lahpet Thoke. This is something you could sometimes get at Bo Laksa. In English it is called the Burmese Tea Leaves Salad.

This was a lovely start. The pickled tea leaves to make this is from the hilly plateau of the Shan state in north east Burma. This dish is uniquely Burmese and is one of the national dish. It is customary that this salad is served with tea when greeting visitors.

The salad has fried soy beans which gives this salad the crunch. Other ingredients include tomato, chili, dried shrimps, preserved ginger and dressed with peanut oil. This is an amazing salad … it is crunchy, lightly sour and tasted nutty.

On the side are raw garlic cloves and Thai chili padi. We were told that the traditional way to eat this is to eat the salad alternating with biting a small piece of the raw garlic …

… and the really hot chili. The raw garlic and the chili gives the salad an extra kick.

The Pepper Corn Glass Noodle Soup does not look like much if I must say. I mean, it does …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Burmese Feast in Bo Laksa King’s Bubbles and Bits, East Hastings (891 words)

The (Bottle) Tipper Restaurant

2010-09-07T14:00:24+00:00

Following a somewhat okay showing for the Condiments during the VDL Season 9 playoffs, the entire team went for dinner at the Bottle Tipper on Kingsway.

View Larger Map

Straight from the menu online, these are the descriptions. All except the last were ordered by my friends.. and I didn’t try any of them at all.

Penne Tip $11.99
sautéed sweet peppers, mushrooms, avocado, feta in a Cajun cream sauce

Black Bean Salsa & Chips $7.99
aka – black bean dip – black beans, red onion, sweet peppers, cilantro, sour cream, Tipper’s own seasoned tortilla chips

Tipper’s Grilled Portobello $10.89
on a toasted Kaiser with mixed greens, roasted red peppers, chipotle mayo and swiss cheese

Baked Seafood Melt $12.99
Wild BC salmon, prawns, & mushrooms sautéed in our own alfredo sauce, topped with cheddar and baked golden brown

Of course if there’s steak on the menu, I’m probably the first to get there. So that’s what I ordered.

Classic Steak Sandwich 11.99
grilled 6 oz sirloin, seasoned served open faced on grilled garlic Portuguese

I ordered this medium rare and that’s exactly what it came as..juicy red! This dish instantly became my favorite for not only the quality, but more so the price. Open faced sandwiches are messy so after a half-hearted attempt to pick it up, I just ate the bread and steak separately. After all, who can chew through an inch thick steak?

What a loser

2010-09-07T13:39:47+00:00

Quick! Who is almost single handedly responsible for the rise from the political grave of the American Republican Party?

Who bears responsibility for the sorry state of the American economy?

Who bears responsibility for the impending bankruptcy of the American federal government?

Who is responsible for the astonishing decline in the projection of American power?

Who thinks that appearing on the View is part of governing his country?

Who is the last person in America that thinks he can still blame George Bush for all of America’s problems and thinks that people believe him?

Who thinks that abandoning allies and coddling enemies is the best foreign policy since Jimmy Carter?

On track to be worst American president ever!

Jay Leno took some time out from his own problems last week to take a shot at Barack Obama. “It’s hard to believe President Obama’s now been in office for a year,” be said. “And you know, it’s incredible. He took something that was in terrible, terrible shape and he brought it back from the brink of disaster: the Republican party.” In Leno veritas, as they say. Obama’s approval ratings are in the toilet, and his ever-shortening coattails keep sending more and more party loyalists tumbling into the gutter.

Rosh HaShana preparations

2010-09-07T12:08:42+00:00

On Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, we are commanded to blow the shofar. The shofar can be a tricky instument to learn and some don’t appreciate the noise.

View from the Top

2010-09-07T10:07:56+00:00

Last week I posted a series of photos of one of Victoria's more famous landmarks, Craigdarroch Castle. However, I didn't post at that time any photos taken from the castle, especially the lovely little circular room that occupies the topmost tower (see photo on the right). In her later years Mrs. Dunsmuir liked to spend time in this room and the view over Victoria and Saanich is still very attractive though the close surroundings, formerly gardens, are now solidly residential. Above we are looking north towards Victoria's two little mountains, Mount Douglas (left of center) and Mount Tolmie (right of center). Below left is the view looking towards the modern city of Victoria

Barrels in aspic, and rings of hearts.

2010-09-07T08:58:00+00:00

Asking questions of Ol' Ma Nature is exhausting. One answer leads to a new question, then a new discovery, more questions, more "Wow!" moments, more questions ... I've been investigating the jellied barrels (that I thought might be sponges) from last week. I've gotten as far as the rings of hearts, and I must check out the tadpoles before I post.

And I'm too sleepy.

So, here's a preliminary photo of the "barrels", and I'm off to bed. The rest will wait until tomorrow.

G'night!

2010-09-07T09:56:05+00:00

Sookie Sookie (instrumental by backup band; Don Covay, 1965)/ Heighty Hi (all three Dukes sing; Lee Michaels, 1969)/ Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing (McDonald & Russell sing; Fontella Bass & Bobby McGuire, 1965)/ Shakedown Street (Fagen sings; Grateful Dead, 1978)/ You Never Can Tell (Boz sings; Chuck Berry, 1964)/ I Got News for You (McDonald sings; Ray Charles, 1961)/ Green Flower Street (Fagen, 1982)/ Miss Sun (Scaggs, 1981)/ I Keep Forgettin’ (McDonald, Doobie Brothers, 1982)/ Rock Steady (Carolyn Leonhart sings, Aretha Franklin 1971)/ King Harvest (Fagen sings, The Band, 1969) Rag Mama Rag (Scaggs sings, The Band, 1969) The Shape I’m In (McDonald sings, The Band, 1970)/ Love TKO (Scaggs sings, Teddy Pendergrass, 1980)/ I Love the Life I Live (Russell sings, Muddy Waters, 1957) Cadillac Walk (Scaggs sings, Mink Deville, 1977)/ What a Fool Believes (McDonald, Doobie Brothers, 1978)/ I.G.Y. (Fagen, 1982)/ Lowdown (Scaggs, 1976)/ Takin' It to the Streets (McDonald and Russell, Doobie Brothers, 1976) ENCORE Reelin' in the Years (Fagen, Steely Dan, 1973)/ Them Changes (McDonald sings, Buddy Miles, 1970)

Saving Just To Spend It Right Away

2010-09-07T07:20:06+00:00

Today I heard about a person who saved almost ten thousand dollars when it came to a purchase of a new home which is pretty substantial. Apparently his first reaction was that since he unexpectedly saved all this money he will simply take a lot of vacations during the year.

I personally treat funds like these as the savings account funds as I expected to use it originally. Therefore, I try not to spend as if I don’t have it. That is until I find something good to invest it in. I think just spending the money because you were expecting to use it anyways is a bit premature.

It just reminds me of a situation like if you say went to the store to buy a $10 tool that is on sale for $8. You then spend the $2 on say candy because you weren’t expecting to have change left over anyways. To me it just seems like a habit that can save and earn you a lot more during the year if you aren’t inclined to spend these types of unexpected funds that you saved.

This feed has been syndicated from AL6400 Blog – Business and Finance

Help Us Celebrate our Police Force!

2010-09-07T07:19:00+00:00

Let's Honour our RCMP!

I was always brought up to respect "the authorities". Its never been a question to me but to have a basic trust in the government, officials, firemen, paramedics and Police. When I was a child, of course, if I were ever in trouble all I'd do is find one of the above and they would look after me - right?

Now I'm an adult and I STILL feel the same despite what I see in the media. I don't watch a lot of tv, gosh we still have an old analog television and a pair of rabbit ears which is interesting sometimes. We still recieve a signal and get two whole channels. Mostly we watch the news. Now, if we were to base our trust of "the authorities" on the news, why everything would be corrupt. This is because when things are ticking along nicely, well, it does not make for "good news" so we are continuously exposed not to what they do right but only when they mess up. And without pointing out that all our "authorities" are composed of real live people, and people make mistakes and yes, some people make poor choices and yes, some people do bad things - sometimes. But perhaps we are only showcased only one apple out of the entire harvest.

I don't know about you but I feel confident in our Police. I feel my back is covered. I sure would not want to do the job they do. When was the last time you thought about the fact they put their lives on the line for us every day? Do you think they like giving out traffic tickets? I think they care more about your safety than being popular. Have you ever begun to think what it would be like without our Police? When I watch tv I see a lot of people pointing out the shortfalls of the force, not what they do thats positive. It must be discouraging for them sometimes to see how they are portrayed on the media, how some people see them as an imposition when they do the job they hired on to do. They must find it difficult to always have the public eye on them - a very critical and judgemental eye.

Once in a while when my husband and I see our RCMP out and about - having coffee etc, we will tell them we appreciate the job they do - you'd be surprised how much that small gesture can mean.

And I've often thought it would be so nice to honour them someway - a bigger way, as a community so....

A month ago I became aware of the "Pepsi Refresh Project". This is how it works: "We're looking for individuals, businesses*, and non-profit organizations with ideas that will have a positive impact on communities." I was invited to submit my idea and my idea is to host and appreciation event for our RCMP and families to honour them. So I submitted - and my idea has been accepted! I now must campaign to have you all VOTE and if enough of you vote - my idea may be granted $25,000 to make my idea happen.

Now I BELIEVE it can happen - I'm hoping that YOU - your friends and family etc... VOTE - spread the word via your facebook, twitter etc and lets see if we can get our RCMP in the media in a postiive way! To vote for my idea just click on the following link. (and send your friends to as well, please!)

http://www.refresheverything.ca/honorourrcmp

Voting goes until October 31 and I will keep posting here. Lets spread some enthusiasm and make this GOOD THING happen. And thank you!

Chowtimes Milestone: 10,000+ Pageviews Today

2010-09-07T07:01:51+00:00

OK, I know … some of you will roll your eyes and say to me, “Go get a life, Ben”.

LOL!

For what it’s worth, this means a lot to us. We never knew that day when we hit 10,000 pageviews would be today. We had hoped it would eventually but not now, not so soon. Moreover, this is reached not because we were StumbleUpon or the site being Digg … which makes it all that sweet.

Yeah, I know many sites have way many more daily pageviews than 10K but for a little flog (flog=food blog) which is littered with grammatical errors like ours, it is a big deal.

Of course, all these are because of Friends of Chowtimes who had been faithful supporters of our site. Thanks a lot! Please continue to give us feedback on how we can further improve the site. We just hope that you continue to find the site useful … and most importantly, entertaining as we chose to share part of our lives with you all.

Anyway, if you are interested to see the stats, read on …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Chowtimes Milestone: 10,000+ Pageviews Today (159 words)

Water Power

2010-09-07T06:38:00+00:00

Bella Coola has to have one of the original public "Run of the River" power projects. Back in 1962 BC Hydro designed and built the Clayton Falls hydro generating project. It's a brilliant installation. In 1991 it was quadrupled in power output from 500 kw to 2000 kw (2 Mega watts).

It's brillliant because of it's low impact design. It has a small headpond at the top of the rock canyon stretch of river that is virtually devoid of fish because it's steep and solid rock. The water is diverted through two penstocks down the hill for maybe about 3/4 of km to the power house. When they upgraded the facility in 1991 the tail race area was designed as piece of stable fish habitat complete with spawning gravel. On average salmon year it's full of chum and pink salmon because it has gravel and the gravel doesn't get blasted out by the extreme fall freshets like it does in the rest of Clayton Falls Creek below the falls, which still provides some nice rearing habitat for salmon and trout. When I stand and look at it in the summer and realize that it provides all the benefits for fish, BC Hydro maintains a first class picnic site and it's producing just about all the summer time power demand for the Bella Coola Valley, you realize what a gift it is.

I'm hopeful that the other run of the river power projects in BC are all being selected as wisely as this one was. Grizzly

grouch_12b.jpg

2010-09-07T05:21:50+00:00

Ever wonder where Oscar the Grouch came from? Seriously, if ever I saw a character with a backstory, Oscar is it.

Grover paid his dues the old-fashioned way, starting as a shoeshine monster and making his way as a waiter/comedian on the mean streets of Queens, until the day he was talent-scouted by the youthful duo of Ernie and Bert, auditioned for a new television project of theirs, and his fortune was made. Big Bird lucked out and made it on his first audition, if you believe the official storyline; unofficially, it’s believed that his never-seen but well-connected (Bunbury-ish?) Granny Bird had something to do with getting the clueless yet appealing big lug such a high-profile gig.

Elmo? Well, we’ve discussed Elmo.

Oscar’s story is a little different, a little more universal, a little more … dare we say it? Tragic.

Filed under: Celebrity, celebutard, comics, Entertainment, Generation X, humor, Humour, media, Oscars, sad, tasteless, television, Weird

Turning to autumn

2010-09-07T05:15:38+00:00

Funny how just a few days of cooler weather make it feel like summer is over. I used to love autumn: the sunny but crisp days with the sky a special deeper blue than any other season. But now it spells the eminent end of motorcycle season and the darker days of winter. Last winter [...]

Jasper Godall @ Sci-Fi-O-Rama

2010-09-07T05:09:20+00:00

Jasper Godall @ Sci-Fi-O-Rama

Pink Sand-verbena at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

2010-09-07T05:07:58+00:00

In August of 2010 Barry Campbell made the exciting discovery of two naturally growing Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata breviflora) at Florencia Bay in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Having already visited the Pink Sand-verbena introduction project at the Wickaninnish Beach dunes I was interested in seeing this plant naturally occurring in the wild.

It became a bit of a quest. I made two trips out to the location on Florencia Bay and came back without finding the plants despite a careful search of the area. I did find wolf tracks, shared a lunch with a Western Tiger Beetle, discovered an odd introduced Garden Radish, and found Sea-watch in bloom but no Pink Sand-verbena.

Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata breviflora) in typical upper beach habitat. This is one of the plants found by Barry Campbell at Florencia Bay in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

The third time I was lucky. With more detailed instructions on the location and a better description of where the plants were in relation to the driftwood (at the top of the high tide line in front of the drift logs – I was looking too high up on the beach) it still took some careful searching but I eventually found one of the two plants. I’m really not sure how I missed the second plant and I know I must have walked within two metres of both plants without seeing them on previous visits. It’s a low sprawling plant with small globes of pink flowers so perhaps its low profile made it easy to miss.

Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata breviflora) is found in only a few isolated locations along the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

The question that comes to mind is “How did it get here?” Plants have historically been found growing at Clo-oose Bay on the West Coast Trail, and even there very sporadically. Additional plants have been reported at Pachena Bay near Bamfield and at Ahousat near Tofino but none have been seen there since the 1920s.

Although Pink Sand-verbena is a perennial its habitat means that it usually has to grow from seed every year in order to be successful since winter storms can wipe out existing root stock. Reseeding is a challenge in the location it prefers: shifting sand can bury seeds, driftwood can cover the upper beach where it grows, and exotic beach grasses can displace native species like the Pink Sand-verbena.

However, seeds are known to persist for a very long time in the seed bank until conditions are more favourable for germination. Seeds can also arrive at an suitable site by long distance dispersal of seed from southern populations of the plant in Washington, Oregon, and northern California.

The beautiful pink flowers of Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata breviflora) are striking in contrast with the texture of the sand and fleshy leaves.

Perhaps these two rare plants are the result of a long sea journey from Clo-oose or farther afield. Perhaps there’s always been a small population of Pink Sand-verbena at Florencia Bay that sporadically appears when conditions are right. Regardless of the answer, it illustrates the importance of being observant and curious about the natural world around us. You never know when you might discover a rare and beautiful plant.

Freeway Won't Help Tunnel Congestion and Rapid Transit to UBC 30+ Years Away

2010-09-07T05:02:21+00:00

For any of you who like the line "building freeways to solve congestion is like buying a longer belt to cure obesity", you will not be surprised with the following:

No relief for commuters under Fraser mouth
New ring road won't ease congestion
Brian Lewis, The Province
Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010

If you commute daily through the George Massey Tunnel and think that the $1.2-billion South Fraser Perimeter Road will ease the 51-year-old crossing's congestion when it opens in 2013, you'd better think again.

A significant portion of the tunnel's daily gridlock is caused by an ever-increasing number of trucks, running to and from Deltaport and B.C. Ferries' nearby Tsawwassen terminal, that merge with commuter traffic from South Delta, White Rock and south Surrey into the tunnel's inadequate four lanes under the Fraser River.

Figures obtained last week by our sister weekly newspaper, the Delta Optimist, show that the B.C. government estimates truck traffic through the Massey Tunnel will hardly decline once the 40-kilometre SFPR is completed sometime in 2013.

[snip]
blewis@theprovince.com
http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=4e36d95f-74d1-40ff-b640-a06937541be8

But really, the quote should be something like "building freeways to solve congestion is like spending a billion dollars on a longer belt to cure obesity"

This is what Metro Vancouver chief administrative officer Johnny Carline said recently:

"We don't think we'll be able to afford full-scale investments in the Evergreen Line, south of the Fraser and UBC all in the life of this plan . . . We can't afford to have investments going out to UBC that take away from investment in the major growth areas."

Read the quote carefully - "full-scale investments" really means Skytrain type light metro, or the kind of light rail highway engineers love, with lots of underground stations and underpasses so road space for cars is not reduced.

The fact is that if the province shifted all the billions they plan to spend on urban freeways and other roadway expansions we could have even this kind of gold plated transit well before 30 years is up (noting that most of the gold goes to serve the automobile rather than the transit rider).

Photo: The consequences of climate crime - floods in Pakistan

But we don't have 30 years. Just think about what global warming is doing already in Pakistan and in Russia.

As I wrote earlier, we don't have to wait as long as the transit is on the surface using existing road space. We need a full network of rapid transit within the next five years, and we can afford it if we put the priority on transit not freeways.

Mark your calendar for 10/10/10 www.dig4justice.org

surrealism: More/Less by Ahl Worthington.

2010-09-07T05:00:48+00:00

surrealism:

More/Less by Ahl Worthington.

Monday, September 6, 2010 Container gardening.

2010-09-07T02:26:58+00:00

Monday, September 6, 2010

Container gardening.

Is there a Corporate-media conspiracy to obfuscate…

2010-09-07T02:24:51+00:00

Silly as this might sound I have to ask, because when it comes to “Aboriginal” issues that’s the impression I get.

After all it’s very easy , particularly given the unprecedented access to information afforded by the internet, to at least get one’s facts straight. Is this to much to ask of journalists & or the media outlets that employ them,apparently so.

What else explains the most recent servings, of stinking piles of steaming crap ? From the Montreal Gazette we get this from the National Post Putz this.

To add injury to insult any & all context is totally lacking…

Interestingly both are unsigned uhhmmm -but then again when one throws around phrases like, “enough Soviet-style native property rules” & “current law gives band councils powers undreamed of except by the North Korean leadership” ,I suppose it’s understandable-lest one risk being labeled an insufferable idiot.

Editorials like these are designed to do one thing heap even more scorn on Indigenous Peoples in general and to build on the popularly held misconception the idea that Indigenous Peoples, their culture, & traditions are the problem.

That said if you really want to UNDERSTAND why Indigenous Peoples are leery about fee-simple/private property rights and allowing even more settler government oversight of their lives read the latest issue of the F.N.S.B.-scroll down to my previous post

——————————————————————————————————————————————

On a side note it’s Labour Day

Peace & solidarity for ever.

Macro of Sunflower

2010-09-07T02:21:00+00:00

107. I love this one showing all the hairs of the sunflower not yet open. The background of the latticed fence has a nice effect too! Don't forget to click on the image to see a bigger version of it.

Raven

2010-09-07T03:05:27+00:00

Media- graphite pencil 8, 2h, white conte'

IMG_0012

2010-09-07T01:15:36+00:00

Holy Shit! The nails and fur were flying last night in the television lounge as Stinky Lady had it out with Tele-Tubby! Both are tube addicts , with Stinky Lady not liking white people (even though she’s Middle Eastern which = caucasion) , and Tele-Tubby being a provoker and aggitator (yet going around telling everyone her and her boyfriend have to stop fighting because they have a baby …yet she’s picking scraps with him all the time).

I’m not sure what happened but it seems one wanted to watch one show while the other another . All I know is suddenly there was yelling, shouting, shreiks, crying, more yelling and lord I thought it would come to fist-a-cuffs!

I was out on the smoking deck with Bossy, who went in and tried to no avail (duh!) to break things up, pointing out that everyone would lose t.v. priviledges if they didn’t stop. I’m not quite sure why Bossy cared because she doesn’t watch t.v., I think it was more a challenge for her to assert her bossiness. At any rate, Stinky Lady went downstairs and contacted security, who came up and had a gander at things.

By the time security made it up things had quieted down, so everyone’s waiting for tomorrow when our councillor comes back. My quess is she either revokes viewing priviledges or creates a sign up sheet. Given the Silly’s track record of punitive action I’m guessing the tv may go. Who knows, I don’t really care because I don’t watch it and Tele-Tubby watches it all day and night into the wee hours, tripping out slow on her methadone, doen’t look for apartments, work or anything.

Oh ya, Tele-Tubby told Stinky Lady in the heat of the fight that The Cook refuses to sit by Stinky Lady because she smells bad. The Cook (so named as she used to be the Queen of free base) was all upset that Tele-Tubby divulged this, even though she’s Tele-Tubby’s t.v. partner.

Oy! It was great excitement, fun for all who weren’t involved (a group of us stood outside the lounge listening in and laughing). But it’s over for now and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen….oh boy, that means some anticipation for tomorrow, and if i didn’t have a rotten cold I’d take bets on what the outcome would be.

Stay tuned

Filed under: Political Humour Tagged: fight, homless, shelter, t.v., television, vancouver

cascadiaweb

2010-09-07T00:04:46+00:00

Re: a comment of mine in the previous post:

Nanaimo Daily News, August 9, 2010

Jim

Tue, Aug 10, 10 at 08:45 AM

When are the majority of Canadians going to get tired of being ruled by the minority?

Peter

Tue, Aug 10, 10 at 04:45 AM

Whenever “Tradition Territory” is mentioned it should read as follows: “………. the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had shut down the commercial geoduck fishery in the first nation’s alleged traditional territory.” Virtually all traditional territory is unauthenticated, our government just goes along with it. Treaties were supposed to solve this but even after treaties are signed bands are still treating the area outside the newly designated treaty territory as their land. So what’s the purpose of a treaty? The Wetsuweten claimed 56,000 sq km which works out to 13.8 million acres! That’s ridiculous. The are stretches from west of Moricetown all the way to Ootsa Lake. It includes the towns of Hazelton, Smithers, Burns Lake, Fraser Lake. And they negotiated a treaty because government said “well if you say it’s yours then it’s yours” and our courts said oral accounts were MORE RELIABLE than written accounts. Such PC crapolla.

WTF

Mon, Aug 9, 10 at 11:29 PM

Enough of the 1800s flashbacks, this is 2010 move on already! We all should be treated equal, stop segregation already.

Howard

Mon, Aug 9, 10 at 09:26 PM

Well done to the RCMP and The Federal Fisheries Dept., for not upholding the law again. If this were white people protesting , they would have all been arrested. Cowards the lot of you.

Nanaimo Daily News – August 18, 2010

fed up

Sun, Aug 22, 10 at 06:55 PM

Imagine calling a majority group of hard working citizens( for generations) “SQUATTERS” ……… It’s about time the “ABORIGINALS” started working their butts off and the “SQUATTERS” take some time to relax and survey what is theirs, Maybe then their would be two equal groups of rested people to settle things on an open playing field.

Mark

Sun, Aug 22, 10 at 12:27 PM

I think we should reclaim the reservation land that we let the natives have. We did not have to give them this land. We did it out of generosity. They clearly take too much for granted for all we have done to make their lives better.

Carolyn

Wed, Aug 18, 10 at 09:47 PM

I believe I stayed on the topic but you chose not to print – we the people are tired of a conquered people being allowed to put up road blocks, barricades, etc. to get their own way. Not sure why the aboriginies are given the right to claim back land or have special priveleges. Do you have an answer for us? No, you won’t because, “oh my gosh, my comments are politically incorrect!”

worried

Wed, Aug 18, 10 at 12:40 PM

When in my life are we going to stop giving, giving giving to these people. They do not own the whole world we give them housing, schooling social programs all catered for them and they do nothing with it and the continue to want more it has to stop!!!! ENOUGH

no More!

Wed, Aug 18, 10 at 11:43 AM

This has become one of the worst script lines for this paper, When is enough enough?. Strip them of all their band rights and allow them to actually Live like everyone else. Then there would be no more of this “Our Native rights”. They’d get to see what the government does for Us on the outside. Then they’d get to see the true injustice, All the medical, dental, schooling bills. All the great Taxes the government makes us pay. I think they’d rethink how good they actually have it.

bob

Wed, Aug 18, 10 at 11:21 AM

If you look into history you will see all the conflicts that have been started by minorities dictating policy to the majority. The natives are lucky enough to live in a country of cowards that will do nothing as they lay claim to everything and suck the taxpayers dry.

CBC.CA – February 3, 2010

inkubus wrote:Posted 2010/02/09
at 5:05 PM ET

i find the idea of a race based university as abhorent as all other Canadian race based laws like fish and game.
CANADA is a hypocrytical joke.

Hot Carl wrote:Posted 2010/02/07
at 3:14 PM ET

when it comes to signing treaties, I didn’t sign anything, neither did my Dad or his Dad or his Dad for that matter. Treaties are outdated laws that in many cases aren’t applicable in modern society. There used to be laws pretaining to parking horses, does that mean we should still have a law saying you can’t tie your horse up infront of a barber shop? Cocaine used to be a toothache cure, does that mean Cocaine should be legal because it was in the past? Time changes and laws should reflect that. Times change, when treaties were written there were no automobiles, 300-ft nylon fishing nets, gaffs, semi-automatic weapon, etc. The old excuse of falling back on treaties isn’t really a valid argument anymore. It’s like saying, “Hey, your Grandpa used to wear a diaper when he was a baby so that means that even though your 30 now you should put a diaper on.

JimmyJanga wrote:Posted 2010/02/05
at 9:32 AM ET

So they want to be treated as equals but yet want special rights, and now they should have the use of the media to toot their own horn…but shouldn’t allow anyone else to make them look bad via the same source? If you can dish it, you have to be able to take it. Sorry Thiefs.

IamThIbe wrote:Posted 2010/02/03
at 6:44 PM ET

Why are there special school for natives? Why do we continue to pay tax dollars to support natives? There is not any reason why natives cannot now become productive members society and get off of the reserves and join with all other Canadians in paying taxes and running this country.

JoeComment wrote:Posted 2010/02/03
at 7:28 PM ET

It’s the ‘First Nation people’ who bring shame to the ‘First Nation people’.

How about paying your own way like everyone else in the country for a change, and maybe you’d start to gain a bit of respect.

This is a great first step! Next get rid of the free houses, 6 figure + lump sum paychecks, start paying the same taxes as everyone else, and also be held accountable to the same laws as everyone else in this country.

It`s funny how a group of people who say I`m not as entitled as they are because of the color of my skin, are always the ones who call me the racists.

CBC.CA – June 17, 2010

Anne02 wrote:Posted 2010/06/22
at 7:21 PM ET
Why don’t we just give them Canada since that is what they want. They have contributed almost nothing to Canada yet the politicians give them whatever they want and we taxpayers are paying for their greed. Burn the treaty and have them work and contribute to the economy or keep them on the reservations in teepees hunting buffalo at the time when the treaty was signed but a bunch of politicians who did not have the foresight to see ahead how our country would progress. Enough of their demands already. The govt. can come and take my land but not the Natives.
Put this to a referendum and let Canadians decide.

imsell wrote:Posted 2010/06/17
at 9:29 PM ET
Do these people not enjoy the same health care, education, roads, and other benefits of living in this country as everybody else? Why should they be allowed an exemption? PAY UP!!!

JohnGrant wrote:Posted 2010/06/17
at 10:01 PM ET
The indians have it good.

derrickdavies wrote:Posted 2010/06/17
at 9:55 PM ET
What a load of crap,they should pay the tax like the rest of us.Its nothing more than government racisium

darrell123 wrote:Posted 2010/06/17
at 11:23 PM ET
They need to pay just like the rest of us. But no our goverment is so afraid of them that it caves into all their demands. If they don’t like something they just threatenen us with illegal blockaids or violance. The only time when they are happy is when they have their hands out to get more money for land claims, abuse claims or some other problem that happened years ago and they can soak it for more cash… Its time to stop all goverment transfers and see how they like that…

one more point, they always blame the white man coming and taking over their land is why they should not pay taxes. Say we never came, who would build their hospitals, build their roads, teach their children etc. Do they not think they would have to pay taxes for any of this… we bend over backwards to apise them only to get slapped in the face over and over.. Pay your taxes just like the rest of us.

govsucksit wrote:Posted 2010/06/18
at 9:22 AM ET
I’m sick and tired of hearing about Natives complaining about their rights being violated. It seems anytime they need money they make a land claim, the government gives in then they after their finances are getting drained they complain again and once again we pay them off. When does this end how long do we continue to oblige them by paying for what happen two to three hundred years ago. Here’s a suggestion stop using our tax dollars to pay off a people that are in an extreme minority in this country and tell them to go get jobs like the rest of us and earn their living. Maybe it’s time for the majority in this country to stand up and say we refuse to pay HST, GST or taxes anymore what would the government think of that. Oh I’m sorry we are white anglo saxon decent we would go to jail because only the natives are allowed to flaunt the justice system and make a mocker of it.

Mr. Lo Key wrote:Posted 2010/06/18
at 9:53 AM ET
This is wrong on so many levels.
Either you are Canadian, with all rights responsibilies – and taxes – or you are not.

If you are not, you have no Canadian rights, services, or handouts, and you must remain in your strictly defined areas, with no rights of free movement.

You can’t have it both ways.

Oh, and no bellyaching about the past. This is now, and we are working for the future, hopefully with you, but without you if necessary.

Vancouver Sun – July 3, 2010

Checkmate

8:43 PM on July 2, 2010

NOT A CHANCE IN HE11!!!

I am so sick and tired of these Indians always wanting everything.

Stanley Park is just that. And I’m looking forward to visiting the Queen Charlotte Islands again soon.

anonymous79

8:51 PM on July 2, 2010

Why not a name that reflects the very active slave trade along the coast, or the short lifespan of tribal peoples, or any other name that doesn’t always pretend tribal civilizations were paradises on earth.

For what it’s worth “Haida Gwaii” was a name invented in the 1970s and not the traditional name of the island group.

Cunctator

7:24 PM on July 2, 2010

First the Queen Charlottes, the Georgia Strait and now Stanley Park. What part of the fact that the Native Indians were conquered, albeit largely passively, do these do-gooders not understand? No amount of name changing will make any difference.

Simulium

9:16 PM on July 2, 2010

I kinda like “Stanley Park” and think this political correctness thing is getting a bit carried away. When the natives conquer us, and turn the park into one big casino, they can change the name back to what it was before they were conquered.

49er

10:14 PM on July 2, 2010

Just once in my lifetime I would like to see a politician that can say “NO” to our local Indians. Why does this b.s. political correctness still haunt us? Why do our politicians have to say “How high”, when the Indians say “jump!”?

anonymous

11:13 PM on July 2, 2010

To JC1975 you must be red skinned-put your head up your butt and roll down a hill.

freelance8

12:59 AM on July 3, 2010

Brilliant! Next thing you know Vancouver Aquarium will become a casino. Belugas are out, Blackjack is in.

Sealy57

12:29 AM on July 3, 2010

jc1975
The term is “whined”, something the Indians are good at ever since the government gave them Aboriginal title.

I say Indians(which is in and of itself a misnomer) and not First Nations, because truth be known, the Indians were not the first people to settle the North American continent. There is evidence of which they are well aware, of a race of Europeans preceding them by about 2,000 years. It was hushed up because of their “whining.”

As far as re-naming Stanley Park? It will be political suicide for any politician dumb enough to fall for it.

asdfasdfasdfasdf

11:56 PM on July 2, 2010

The people of the lower mainland need to realize that outside of the lower mainland, we have to deal with the constantly whining Indians every day who demand this and that. Everyone is fed up with it, and this is why racism is rampant and will never go away.

anonymous

8:43 AM on July 3, 2010

How about “Face Down Park” for all the contribution the First Nations make to Society.

Bitter

6:54 AM on July 3, 2010

Enough already! I am fed up to the teeth with the incessant pandering to the f”#¤ing Indians…and all those “First Nations”,what a joke I mean what are these dipsticks first in, or whatever they label themselves.The Indians were conquered and now these losers think they run the joint.When the Europeans came to North America all they found were a primitive backward lot with no written language who were for the most part nomadic and barbarian.Now these dumb a”#es think they are numero uno when in fact they are less than nothing.It will be forever the Queen Charlotte Islands,the Georgia Strait and yes STANLEY PARK.I am fed up with political correctness,liberal little weenie liberal Caucasian politicians falling over themselves trying to appease the natives and the constant ingratiating banter which results in the fleecing of the Canadian taxpayer by the “@”##”¤ Indians and Eskimos through land concessions et cetera.Make these natives pay taxes and lets

anonymous

3:39 AM on July 3, 2010

Why don’t we rename Canada to Wooly Mammothland. Weren’t they here first. And what’s with Haida Gwaii? Why not Orca Islands? I’m really tired of this whole aboriginals own the world thing. It’s enough to give anyone racist inclinations.

anonymous

12:53 PM on July 3, 2010

Worst idea ever! What’s with this new generation (I’m under 40, not some old crank) of people/political types that want to change the names of familiar BC locations, are you trying to make a name for your self or just trying to erase the history of REAL Canadians? Next they will want to rename Remembrance Day something stupid like “GoGoGagga Day”

Hammer1999

11:25 AM on July 3, 2010

Bad idea for a lot of reasons. The name is Stanley Park. When did we elect the natives to run anything?

mojojethro

2:31 PM on July 3, 2010

Enough is enough. Being a non-native, I feel like a second class citizen. I only thought third world countries were the only places where you can be born with more privileges just because you were of a certain ethnicity? Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that their culture be preserved, but it’s time to stop putting “first nations” folks on a pedestal.

Toronto Sun, July 13, 2010

Somerset from Sarnia – July 13th 2010, 9:02am
Indians simply won’t take advantage of what they are given, and that’s that. They are afforded a free education and billions of dollars annually and still they refuse to anything positive that might better their situation. I believe that their sense of entitlement and culture of victimization has destroyed their future and damned the tax payers to keeping them forever. I’m sure sick of it. If you want to be an Indian, leave your car keys and Levi’s at the door on the way out…..if you don’t, embrace the future and get on with it.

WCW – July 13th 2010, 8:54am
We can solve our 2 biggest problems at once .WE GIVE THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC TO THE NATIVES AND TELL THEM THE FRENCHMEN TASTE LIKE BUFFALO . THEN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WILL GROW IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS WHEN WE DO NOT HAVE THESE TWO LIFE THREATENING ALBATROSSES AROUND OUR NECKS SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.

Stephen – July 13th 2010, 7:52am
The Indians need to assimilate now and stop trying to protect a dead heritage that has caused them nothing but heartache and pain. Money never solves a problem, but creates new ones with have’s and have nots as other posters have written here.
Gov’ts are at fault for trying to prop up ‘cultures’ to protect old systems. Kind of like new wine being poured into an old wineskin…it’ll crack and break ruining the wine skin and losing the wine in the process.
Committees won’t solve the problem, money won’t solve it, only action. One can still be a native Cdn while off the reserve, assimilating into the mainstream of Canada and working at it like everyone else.
Sympathy time is over me thinks.

barby – July 13th 2010, 9:04am
i don’t feel sorry for the indians- they get everything free from taxpayers! look at caledonia-lizard mcguinty gave away private land to the indians in exchange for what? time the indians realize they need to work and quit living off of welfare

Rick – July 13th 2010, 11:18am
@ shawa fromrama – Canadian of us? Indians are NOT canadian today – my point is that they should be. Have it your way if you like … go back to your drunken, no future, fetal alcohol syndrome world. I’ve lived with / near Indians my whole life. Their “culture” is little more than self loathing. The GOOD Indians – and there are plenty of them – leave the reserve because they can’t stand raising their children on a reserve where there is NO FUTURE. The trash that remains is a human cesspool….and will NEVER CHANGE unless the Indian Act is abolished. This would be a kindness…a true Canadian speaks the truth and points the way to better lifestyles. You don’t. I do.

Lucky Eddie – July 13th 2010, 12:43pm
Time to get rid of apartheid in Canada, and I’m appalled that there are still people who support this horrible, racist system. Yes, we have apartheid – different laws and rules depending strictly on race. Aboriginals are living in Canada and should have exactly the same rights and responsibilities as every other Canadian citizen. If they really feel they have a right to their own “nations”, then fine, we’ll put fences around them and Canadian customs and immigration people at the borders.

And don’t whine about what “we” did to them. We weren’t there. In any case, they were conquered, just like the whole history of Europe and the rest of the world since time immemorial. Move on.

Gardiner Westbound - July 13th 2010, 1:44pm
There’s a lot of money to be made smuggling cigarettes, blocking roads, burning bridges and collapsing hydro towers. And, the hours are lot better than getting a job and paying taxes.

MADA SHELL – July 13th 2010, 1:14pm
Most people (working folk) in Canada are struggling right now, let alone people on ” reserves”. In this day and age , there is no reason to live on reserves other than to keep your no-tax incentives. If you get a job, pay your taxes, buy or rent a house etc. ,you can live like the rest of Canada. If you keep living in the past and expect your welfare cheque to arrive weekly, I suggest you put the booze away and find a job. The Government needs to dissolve all the reserves in Canada and treat everyone the same regardless of background. If you live in “Canada” you act like a canadian period. This goes for everbody. History is over, this is 2010 . Give every aboriginal 1 acre and a house to live in ,but you must work for it and pay taxes.

Rick – July 13th 2010, 6:17pm
ahhh anishinabe…and the “difference” between anishinabe and indian is …. where you cash your cheque? what percentage of fetal alcohol syndrone exists in your “culture”?

…2 full time jobs, 2 college degrees. So what do you need OUR cheques for ? Here’s how a grown up behaves..they pay taxes and they don’t get “the cheque”. Children live off others, and yes adult indians. No cheque? why do others of your “culture”?

Cash the cheque shawna. Have a REAL look in the mirror.

PS – Nelson House Reserve – A TOTAL of >>>> TWO <<< college graduates in it’s history. so yeah, I believe you. I believe anything… Perhaps you should have STARTED your posts telling us who you were. I think we would have understood your inherent bias.

Jerry – July 14th 2010, 9:45am
Proud Native Canadian – what have you to be proud about ? Holding your hand out to the government ? The squallor that some of your tribe members live in ? The alcohol and drug problems on reserves or maybe the high rate of single mothers on reserves ? Please Proud Native, define pride for us. Proud Native is an oxymoron.

Journal de Montréal – August 7, 2010

Commentaire de: NORMAND SMITH
Qui a raison???Sommes nous au QUÉBEC??oui,alors qu’on applique les lois,et tout problème occasionné par les indiens et si il y a des coût,on les enlève de toutes les subventions qu’ont leur donnent à même les taxes des travailleurs du QUÉBEC,ce qui est triste est la lacheté de nos supposé dirigeants,qui négocient avec des bandits,et le peuple QUÉBÉCOIS qui ne dis rien,je crois qu’ont a ce que l’ont mérite.Quand ont est des peureux.
2010-08-07 08:35:02

Commentaire de: d mansour
Ça serai bon de connaitre l’étendu du territoire revendiqué par les Mohawks, les historiens sont tous d’accords sur le fait que les Mohawks se sont fait voler des terres, mais s’ils revendiquent la moitie de la province, ce n’est pas réaliste. Et j’ajouterais que le promoteur immobilier lui, il est un fieffé profiteur, pour resté poli. Pourquoi ça prend aussi longtemps à Ottawa pour régler cette question? Est-ce que les Mohawks sont trop gourmant ou bien le fédéral trop incompétent?
2010-08-07 09:49:54

Commentaire de: Steve Harvey-Fortin
… Donnez-moi un commandement militaire et je vais vous tracez une une ligne qu’ils ne pourront plus jamais traverser et pour voir aussi s’ils chantent la même chansson qu’avec le promoteur juste pour le fun ! Ce n’est pas vrai que des criminels vont venir nous dicter une ligne de conduite par la violence et les menaces, donnez-moi ce commandement et ils pourront couper tous les arbres qu’ils veulent. Ces criminels agissent par la force au lieu d’agir légalement alors agissons par la force.

Petit mot pour la Sureté du Québec, arrêter de vous mettre les mains dans les poches et agissez !
Repentigny
2010-08-07 12:10:28

Commentaire de: francois fontana
premièrement il a acheté c’est terrain légalement alors quelqu’un a fait l’erreur de lui vendre , mais les mohawks quelqu’un doit mettre un frein à tout ça … il doivent respecter les loi , personne n’as de couille pour arrêter ces petites guerre d’enfants , tu prends l’armée tu rentres dans le tas , il y aura perte d’homme mais on aura règler ça une fois pour toute , fini les contrebandes de tabac etc…
2010-08-08 14:52:10

Commentaire de: Marc Collin
encore une fois le gouvernement mettra pas ses culottes… quand sec’est pas les immigrés, c’est les indiens…
2010-08-09 12:36:43

The Rain Paused 3

2010-09-07T01:02:00+00:00

Green Lemongrass (Kingsway, Vancouver)

2010-09-06T23:57:02+00:00

Had dinner at Green Lemongrass with my Condiments dodgeball team before the last night of league play before playoffs. Awwwww maaan I don’t even know where to start here. This food was so. damned. GOOD. I just can’t remember what they’re called on the menu anymore.

View Larger Map

The map is old, but Green Lemongrass now occupies the spot where you see the Vietnamese Food awning.
Just know that Green Lemongrass (be it the original Richmond location or this Kingsway one) is a good bet for quality Vietnamese food and some more unique items. Below is grilled chicken satay with vermicelli.

The above is kind of typical and boring, and this is what Jeff had insisted I order instead. Prawn brochette on sugar cane. With little rice vermicelli wraps (which I will now call pancakes) and a buttload of vegetables/herbs as well. Oh and the requisite fish saaaaauce.

Some serious rabbit food here with all these vegetables and herbs. Some of these I haven’t even seen before let alone know the name of.. delicious!

Pick up a skewer, wrap it in the rice vermicelli pancake, then further envelop it with some lettuce and herbs. Dip in fish sauce. You may or may not include the sugar cane…I did cause I wanted to suck it dry for the sweet sugar cane juice.

The other offering of this plate is with a Vietnamese pork sausage patty type skewer. With charcoal-y grill marks and a sweet honey taste to them, these were killer.

Miley's outfit

2010-09-07T00:19:42+00:00

Miley Cyrus- Can't be Tamed Click below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSG6z_13-Q I liked the song but I don't think the Raven applies to the lyrics. I don't think domestic Ravens are an issue & I don't think they are becoming extinct either. It seems that she wants to approach this song with bird symbolism but it feels kinda empty to me. I don't get spirituality from her outfits instead I

Olaf Hajek- Illustrator

2010-09-06T23:08:55+00:00

Olaf Hajek- Elle CA illustrator "Birds are a symbol for life, beauty and decoration" As I was snooping through my sister's magazine. I came across this beautiful illustration and just had to find out who the owner was- A handsome artist I must say. I'm surprised he has a strong connection with birds, I wonder if it's in his culture, or past life. haha. I kid about the past life. Although I

friendsoftheubcfarm

2010-09-06T21:45:49+00:00

We will need plenty of volunteers from morning until evening on Friday, Sept 17 to help us make this fun annual fundraiser a success!

Volunteer tasks range from shucking corn, overseeing site waste management, taking photos of the event, assisting with BBQing and helping to tidy up at the end of the day. In particular, we are looking volunteers with a valid driver’s license to help with transporting equipment and driving FarmAde campus-to-UBC-Farm shuttle bus.

FarmAde Volunteers receive a free t-shirt along with meal and beverage tickets. Please email anelyse.m.weiler@gmail.com if you’d like to join our crew of wonderful, energetic volunteers. Regardless of whether you are volunteering, we look forward to seeing you on September 17th!

Dancing up a storm at FarmAde 2008.

Scoop!, Vancouver, BC

2010-09-06T21:12:30+00:00

I’m back! Well..back to reality…and a backlog of entries as well..dating back to May 28th! Oh man..combined with school starting next week, it’ll be a long while before I even touch what I did this summer in Asia (which by the way, bessssst trip. Slowly but surely I will be getting through to everything though…just give me time.

View Larger Map

Alright, starting where I left off after Yuji’s. Walked across the street to Scoop! for some more dessert. Since the whole frozen yogurt craze took over Vancouver, and even more so since Qoola made a big splash in the industry, there’s been many places to choose from. Shortly after Qoola’s opening, I got some recommendations to try out Scoop but its’ location always was a bit of a deterrent, not to mention the times that I did manage to pass by they weren’t open!

What I noticed first upon entering was that the the entire layout and decoration was sparse but clean and modern. There’s also lots of pink all over.

Pick what kind of flavour and size frozen yogurt and the staff will weigh it first. They’ll then hand it back to you and you can pick and choose from over 30 toppings. When you’re done, they weigh it again for how much toppings and then you pay the total price of yogurt size+topping total weight.

I only wanted mochis and so I left the toppings to her instead. She ended up getting some mangoes (preserved and from a can unfortunately, but I do understand, it wasn’t mango season yet), gummy bears and of course my mochis. All on top of a mango flavour frozen yogurt.

To me, it was just another frozen yogurt. Can’t say it was the best I’ve had, can’t say it was the worst. The only thing that stood out for me was the freedom to choose exactly how MUCH of a topping you want, which is pretty damned important I suppose..

The power of a story

2010-09-06T20:59:00+00:00

Each and every day as we are building our businesses, we all know the key to a successful presentation is a product being sold to the end-line consumer and/or sponsoring a new person. When I worked in sales in my youth, I tried to establish customer loyalty rather than make sales. I thought the sales would come as a result of getting loyalty.. In the sales process, you are fighting many different types of animals. For most who are in direct sales, you have 45 minutes to present a product/business concept and make a person believe in you, your product, and more importantly have them make a decision that they want what you are offering.

When you are presenting the business, it is very easy for you to get very factual and completely lose the interest of your prospect. When you tell a story about the success of someone who is using the product or have a person give a live testimonial about how much they love being a distributor, you will keep the interest of new people who are listening for the first time.

For most of us, the first time in our lives that we were ever presented with the concept of a live audience was back in kindergarten when we played "show and tell". Everyone was always interested in what you were saying because you were simply telling a story. We have all heard of the famous K.I.S.S. rule: Keep It Simple Smart. When presenting your business or product, the key play is to tell a story and keep it simple. Everyone can relate to the grandmother, who can talk about their grandchild as the most beautiful, precious child in the world. She will make you feel as if her grandchild would be such a gift to own as your own. You need to take that same simplicity and utilize it during your presentation and create the same result - ownership of your product.

As you tell stories, people will remember those stories versus all the facts in the world. "FACTS TELL, BUT STORIES SELL." Stories should want people to get involved in your business or purchase your product because all of the success stories that you told. People love to be part of a winning team. Storytelling keeps people tied into you and your presentation. When in doubt during a presentation, tell a story in order to bring people's attention back to you. Combining the key strategy of storytelling along with the correct mindset, you can achieve your wildest dreams!

Pssst

2010-09-06T20:58:00+00:00

Hey guys!

So tomorrow marks the first day at school EEK!. I’m trying to stay calm, but honestly, I’m scared to bits!!

So I am hoping you guys will understand that I might not be posting for awhile, until I get my schedule figured out. I need to find a healthy balance between everything!!

I don’t want to loose any of my lovely/wonderful readers!

______________________________

On the WW note. I am finding the program incredibly easy. I am actually having a super hard time eating all my points every day. Today is my last day of the week, and I haven’t even touched my extra flex points, or activity points!

I think it might have something to do with eating pretty healthy already?

Here have been some of my yummy eats!

Quinoa Salad – Quinoa cooked in chicken broth – sooo good!

My fav, Red Thai Curry!

I find it easy to eat in the summer time, as there is so much yummy produce! I got all this at our health food store for $20!

All the veggies are organic too!!

Brown rice wraps, raw sauerkraut (YUM), celery, eggplant, lettuce, peppers & free run eggs!!

And of course all the goodies from my garden!

I just pulled a zucchini out of my garden that was about a foot and a half long!! CRAZY! And I can hardly keep up with my kale!!

Anywhoo… must get back to relaxing today!! I’m trying my best to be ZEN about this whole back to school situation, as I know it will all be good & I’ll love it!!

JUST BREATHE & Relax

Jess

This song I can listen to over and over

2010-09-06T21:22:47+00:00

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Advanced Riding School, take 2

2010-09-06T19:15:59+00:00

This time we got "number plates"!

The second time around was much better. I was much less nervous about what was going to happen, so it didn’t take until after lunch for me to settle down. I went into the slow group again, but was pleased that aside from making progress with body positioning I wasn’t the slowest rider! Not that it’s important in a course like this, but being able to pick up speed told me that I was absorbing the lessons that were being taught and having the confidence to apply them.

Dat said that I didn’t seem like the same rider that did the course the first time, and it’s true, I felt so much better. I made another big gain in skill and ability.

Another tip I got from Bernie: I’m wrong about not being able to pass people on these small “tracks” with my small bike. I just need to pass them coming in to a corner, not right in the straight.

At the next (and final) WMRC round at Mission I’m going to do A Taste of Racing. Then perhaps next year I’ll do some track days at Mission and see how that feels before thinking about doing race training/race licensing. I’d like to do more training that isn’t race-oriented before getting competitive. PRS may be putting together and Advanced 2 course working on lean angles, which I’d take…probably twice. Dat also told us about Sullivan Race School in Washington; he teaches there. They also have a woman-only course that I might look into; I never would have thought that a woman-only class would appeal to me but after seeing how testosterone makes some guys act I can see why it might be a good idea.

This all makes me sad that the season is soon coming to an end. I want to do more, keep learning, and more importantly keep riding!

Vancouver Mayor, distant relation of Dr. Bethune, visits China

2010-09-06T19:03:53+00:00

Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson is in China this week, along with a group of “green” business people. Mayor Robertson is a distant relation of Canadian, Dr Norman Bethune. An article in a local paper last week, gloated over the opportunities that will be presented to Vancouver’s “green” industries. One of the individuals on this trade delegation was [...]

Patraeus: Burn a Koran Day "could endanger troops"

2010-09-06T18:56:00+00:00

Something the right doesn't get is that taunting Muslims will not make them your friend. It will do the opposite. US General David Patreaus reacts to the idiocy of such a ridiculous event. He scolds the burners that the rally "could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort".

iPhone 5 previewed

2010-09-06T18:42:00+00:00

While I'm waiting...and waiting...for the iPhone to arrive in my hands, here's a little iPhone humour.

H/T: iPhoneinCanada

Margaret Atwood responds to Sun Media: "Am I Really Bad?"

2010-09-06T18:22:00+00:00

I've been waiting for Atwood to respond to Kory's weasely attack on her character, and today she does so with eloquence and a renewed commitment to the petition to stop government funding for Fox News North.

I immediately found myself jumped on by some of the Sun Boys and accused by them and others of “censorship,” lack of patriotism, supporting terrorists (???), and all kinds of other crimes and misdemeanors — leading to the conclusion that I was a Really Bad Person. I fully expect accusations of witchcraft and incense – sorry, incest – to follow, as with Marie Antoinette and Ann Boleyn. Next I’ll be told I was at a meeting I wasn’t at, saying things I didn’t say.

Which is a fun way of deflecting public attention from the issues that ought to be being discussed. These seem to me to include a discussion of: a) whether or not Lawrence Martin, Linda McQuaig et al (see below) are lying about PM Harper’s mysterious off-the-record media-mogul special lunch – is that any of the taxpayer’s business, or did they discuss family matters, and did we pay for the lunch?

b) whether special influence should be brought to bear on the granting of special must-carry licenses,

c) if such a license is granted under such influence, won’t Sun Media owe the PM a big favour, and if so what price the watchdog function of the media, and

d) whether there should be special arms’-length regulators like the CRTC in charge of granting special licenses that supply a guaranteed income to special large media corporations, for special channels headed by the PM’s former special advisor.

e) Whether Canada is drifting rapidly away from parliamentary democracy towards a special form of one-man micromanagement is a not unrelated issue.

Read the whole thing. After all, it is Margaret Atwood.

suicide prevention

2010-09-06T18:11:45+00:00

when i was young, i thought for a long time that suicide was a normal, commonplace way for a person’s life to end. it was probably the most frequent cause of death i was familiar from friends and family. my earlier assessment was correct, at least partly – for example, among young men, suicide ranks [...]

When are terrorists not terrorists?

2010-09-06T18:05:59+00:00

When they are sheltered by the Red Cross. Meanwhile Gilad Shalit rots in Gaza and the Red Cross does nothing.

France to the Rescue

2010-09-06T18:58:10+00:00

France pledges to save Iranian woman from execution

The 22-year-old son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, Sajjad, spoke by phone to a press conference in Paris given by France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.
He said once Ramadan comes to an end, under Islamic law, executions can resume.
Mr Kouchner says the woman's plight has become a personal cause for him, and he will do anything to save her, even if it means going to Iran. Ms Ashtiani, who is 43 years old, was sentenced to death for adultery and later given a 10-year jail term for participating in her husband's murder. After an international outcry, Iranian officials temporarily halted Ms Ashtiani's stoning sentence in July. But there are fears the death sentence could still be carried out by hanging. Foreign governments have denounced the sentence as barbaric and question whether she received a fair trial.

See also the movie the Stoning of Soraya M

The state of Canadian news media

2010-09-06T16:30:00+00:00

Just as it is enlightening to know the bias of a blog by reading its comments section (see Politico - claims it is fair and balanced but 90% of its commenters are conservative), you can always judge the state of bias in Canada's media by looking at the media aggregators like National Newswatch and Bourque.

The latter makes no effort to hide its bias. Has the site ever not called the Liberal leader 'Iffy' while keeping a respectful tone with Harper? On the other hand, I have no idea of bias at National Newswatch. But it is very easy at that site to pick up on the leanings of our national media. Looking down the left 'Featured Ink' section, you will find Sun Media, National Post and Canwest as the almost exclusive owners of that real estate. An article or two from the G&M can usually be found as is the case of The Star but that is slim pickings indeed. It is wonderful indeed to see the Chronicle Herald pop up every once in awhile.

This is not the fault of National Newswatch. Instead, it is a beacon of how far reaching the Conservatives have become in our media. They own it. Canadians are at the mercy of this monopoly. We are the victims of a greatly distorted political view. Actually, it's admirable that Canadians have not bit into the bait more than just electing the Tories to a minority government. The misinformation and propaganda fed them by the right-leaning majority of newspapers is staggering.

It's so bad some cities have no choice in reading about the world and politics. For example, here in Vancouver our two dailies are both Canwest. The Province is your typical Canwest conservative yellow Conservatism while the Sun presents itself as a more articulate version of fair and balanced. But it still carries Canwest-fed articles that are part of the deal. Hell, even the freebie 24 daily is a Sun Media mouthpiece. You can't get away from the Conservative spin here in the very liberal Vancouver.

Perhaps the above is why so many Canadians are concerned about Fox News North. Despite the protestations from (even well-meaning progressives) that FNN poses no threat to Canadians, it is just another cog in the Conservative propaganda machine, this time on the airwaves. With the CBC being attacked daily by the right, it will be disheartening to see FNN join CTV and Global in presenting Canadians unadulterated Conservative brainwashing without any reasonable national antidote from the centre or the left.

Remnants Of An Ocean Park Summer

2010-09-06T16:00:00+00:00

IN MY WORLD autumn nipped at my heels as I kicked through remnants of a hot summer in southwestern BC this weekend. Along the way I came across natural phenomena and manmade creations.

The early gathering of leaves on the forest floor was due to extreme dryness.

Tough veins on an old tree appeared unmoved by weeks of stubborn heat.

A leaf riddled with holes looked frail from weather beatings and bug bites.

This large stone had the markings of a dusty desert all over its hilly face.

An etching exposed the inner beauty and age of one fallen log.

The puffy dandelion was perfectly still with seeds intack as I breezed by.

Sparkling blue waters of Boundary Bay beckoned from Kwomais Point Park.

Berries lounged on a wall as I headed for the 1001 Steps to the shore below.

The nearby drain was largely ignored due to minimal rain flow this summer.

It was nice to see the stairs were in good repair.

The path to the shore was mysterious as ever.

The ripening berries alongside the path were too sour for picking.

A tire gripped the road and was a great deterrent against slippage.

Beneath the railway dubious art work decorated a tunnel to the beach.

Inside the tunnel there were remnants of a party I was glad to have missed.

On the other side, sun streaks bounced off the water and leaked through the lens of my camera that I hoped was not damaged.

Ahead was a shining horizon ... the grandeur of which I could not capture.

The beach had sharp edges but seemed safe to explore.

Ripples slapped stones ...

barnacles hugged rocks ...

and a rusty artifact expressed the ravages of time.

Slick ropes of seaweed were bundled together ...

while a non-edible mushroom was painted into a corner.

A shabby sign stood humbly at a distance amid natural beauty and manmade design. They all wanted a wash from the coming rain.

Explorers can discover more sites from around the globe at My World.

Marcos Moulitsas vs. the radical right

2010-09-06T15:35:00+00:00

Kos' new book, American Taliban, is taking aim at the more radical members of the American right. The book, as you would expect, is being vilified by the generic right. Granted, the right is a very insecure place where any criticism is dealt with tears, hand wringing and accusations of treason, socialism or any other term of denigration. So, it is no surprise the right is up in arms over the book.

What's surprising is how the right is misrepresenting it often without reading beyond the title. American Taliban is a critical - at times close to incendiary - look at the more radical elements of the right and how they often shadow many of the tactics and beliefs of the Taliban. It's not just the right that fails to make this distinction between radical and generic. Glenn Greenwald does not distinguish between the two in his otherwise excellent piece on the book.

The facts are hard to deny. The radical right embodies the essence of the Taliban, including its aversion and suppression of sex, drugs, women's rights, homosexuality etc. The two share an abiding love of government censorship, displays of force and a devotion to authoritarianism. And so on.

The reason I bring this up is that this book is a precursor of what could happen to Canada. Yes, even under Harper, we are still relatively unscathed by religious terrorism. The McVetys and Kryskows are still merely ghostly figures walking amongst our media and government. Harper's minority is still the prophylactic that keeps us free from fundamentalist evil.

But what if Harper does achieve a majority? It's no stretch to predict the Canadian Taliban will be given a golden pass to savage our freedoms. Despite the Liberals pulling alongside the Cons in a recent poll, with Ignatieff and Layton as opposition failures, it could still happen. Doubtful but possible. Thankfully, Canadians are too independent, too contrary, to fall for the power grab of the radical right. But in the States my friend, the damage has already been done.

US media takes note of Fox News North

2010-09-06T15:15:00+00:00

The more I read about Fox News North, the less angry I am about Harper and Kory's shenanigans in trying to take our money to fund it and then deny doing so and more entertained by the incompetence of how it is being handled. This whole story is so funny and dismally typical of Conservative malpractice that even the US media is joining in on the mocking.

The Hollywood Reporter perhaps overstates the case (wishful thinking?) with its headline, "Canuck prime minister in Sun TV News furor", but it is an entertaining - if old news to Canucks - read. (BTW, while THR uses the term "Sun TV News" in the headline, it uses the more proper "Fox News North" elsewhere in the article).

There's A Party In the Woods Tonight

2010-09-06T16:05:02+00:00

I did not even have time to think. As I rounded the corner all I could see was fucking cops. It was a roadblock. The Hammer was already growling in the back seat, she hates uniforms. Sonja was beside me up front. "Fucking pigs," she growled as she quickly undid a button on her blouse. Sonja's cleavage had got us through roadblocks before.

We were on our way to a party in a hamlet on the outskirts of Camelpoops. If our car were to be looked into by the police this blog may have gone on a hiatus longer than my summer vacation. Of course I had been drinking. I could feel my heart pounding on the side of the steel flask inside my jacket pocket. As the car ahead of me escaped to Freedom I pulled up. It was a woman cop. She peered inside, lingering impolitely at the sight of Sonja's tits.

"Where you headed?" she asked without looking at me.

"We're on our way to Derriere," I lied.

"Go on then," she waved us through.

As we left the roadblock dispersed. Two of the cars, one of them a ghost, followed us into Derriere. Cocksuckers. I pulled into the parking lot of the first pub I saw. Getting yourself a drink is always a good idea. The cops continued on.

"The fuckers are probably going for dinner," Sonja guessed.

"You think we should drink up and get out of here right now?" I asked her.

"No. Let's have one more."

We both love our Black Bear Ale.

The cops did not follow us as we rolled out of town. Fuck them.

The party, held the next day, was a howler. The host, an old roomie of mine, hired a couple bands from Dope City. The first band, extraordinarily named Simon Wilde's Bollocks, entertained us (as curious a mixture of punk rockers, bikers and redneck motherfuckers, young and old, as you will ever see) with a mixture of original songs and punk rock favourites. The crowd watched them with about as much interest as any warm up act gets until the host got up on stage to play a song with the band. The crowd then surged to the stage to gob all over the poor man. He had been a stage gobber once himself. Now the tables had turned on him. Now at last, he was a true mucous covered punk rocker.

Before long the headline act, Dope City legends Do It Eh, got on stage and really turned up the volume. The cops must have wondered what the noise was all the way back in Camelpoops. I must have seen the band over two hundred times in the past. This would be the longest and perhaps best Do It Eh show of them all. They began by showing their colours with a little Black Sabbath and did not leave the barn stage until over two hours later despite twice overwhelming the power supply.

The host joined them on stage to play the Subhuman's classic "Slave To My Dick." He had been practicing the song for thirty years and absolutely nailed it to the floor. We did not gob on him this time. When he came on stage he let everyone know he would piss on anyone who gobbed on him.

We went motherfucking wild. Bit of a blur after that, it was.

Labour Day, Dignity and Doubling the CPP

2010-09-06T15:00:51+00:00

This Labour Day, working people once again reflect upon our standing in society. Wealth continues to concentrate among the hyper-rich. The middle class is under attack, the proportion of Canadians living one paycheque away from homelessness is daunting, and the National Post noted Labour Day with an unhinged anti-union editorial. Meanwhile, this weekend’s Labour Day #UnionMember tweetathon is mobilizing, encouraging and networking union activists throughout our communities.

And what about our elders? More of them are working McJobs alongside our youth, because they have to. One-third of Canadians have no workplace pension and can expect only up to $11,000 a year from the Canada Pension Plan, even though almost everyone with a paid job contributes to the CPP. How many Canadians can look forward to their retirement instead of harbouring some dread about what will happen to their standard of living?

Public pensions, designed to be democratic, are meant to ensure that everyone has a chance to live in dignity after a life of working for a living. But in the last three decades, ideological opponents to public pensions have been very successful in trying to shift our focus away from collective security to individualized investments strategies like RRSPs.

There are also operational problems with the CPP that erode its original noble goals. Its investment policies need serious work. We need to improve our public pension by confronting its opponents; improving its operation; and then recognizing that $11,000 a year is simply not good enough. This is why the campaign to double the CPP is underway, gaining strength, and needs our support.

CPP’S OPPONENTS

There was a marked shift in ideology in the 1980s when Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney were talking about the “ownership culture.” Their goal was simply to eradicate the working class by transforming them from waged workers into entrepreneurs and “stakeholders.” If working people with mortgages invested in stocks, mutual funds and RRSPs, they would more easily identify with corporate goals, even at the expense of their own interests. They would also be less of a threat to the economic order because they would be personally dependent on the current system. This subtle strategy in class warfare led to widespread support for right-wing economic policies that led to massive cuts to our social safety net, after post-war gains.

CPP PROBLEMS

A big disappointment this past summer was the CPP’s quarter-billion-dollar investment in a tar sands project. This one was kept relatively under wraps. It also placed a bid to buy Intoll, an Australian toll road company that owns 30 per cent of the privatized Highway 407 in Ontario. Tar sands and private highways are definitely investments that reflect particular policy choices by those who guide the CPP.

The federal Conservative-Liberal coalition in place now operates by the Liberals spouting opposition to Conservative policies, but ensuring enough MPs don’t show up to vote them down, thereby ensuring the government stands.

Canada has had Liberal-Conservative governance for our entire history. At times their economic policies have differed, but they exist within the same pro-corporate mindset. This is nothing new. But with our federal government steering Canada Pension Plan money – our money – into private highways and tar sands development, we need to ask ourselves how we can become more active trustees of our pension funds.

Unions have learned that becoming joint trustees in our pensions means more control over the nature of the investments. It’s easy to not invest in South African apartheid or nuclear weapons, but what about pursuing socially productive investing? What about Canada’s physical and social infrastructure deficits, which are running into hundreds of billions of dollars? We need to invest in the renewal of our water, sewer, road, bridge, transit, education, healthcare, childcare, eldercare and other social needs which we are now defunding and privatizing. We must pressure our MPs to ensure the CPP makes better investments.

SAVING THE CPP

Simply, we need to fight for collective solutions by fighting the insidious ideology that individualized retirement plans will save us all. RRSP tax breaks only help the 25 per cent of Canadians who are wealthy enough to contribute to RRSPs. This is absurd.

Unions have always tried to improve conditions for not only their members, but also society as a whole. Even though most union members make more than minimum wage, we see the value in pushing for minimum and living wages because everyone deserves dignity in their work.

Similarly, we need to fight for the dignity of retired workers so we can stop seeing our elders living in such economic circumstance that they’re forced to ask if we’d “like fries with that,” or to awkwardly greet us in a chain clothing store.

Since even our current federal finance minister has noted the value and stability of the CPP, we need to use the minority government context to support the Canadian Labour Congress and the NDP in their efforts to pressure the vulnerable Liberals and Conservatives to enhance the CPP. After all, we got the CPP in the first place in a minority government situation, along with Medicare and student loans. Doubling the CPP and increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement would make a substantial difference in people’s lives.

And when people living on the economic margins have more to spend, that improves our local economies: it’s a built-in stimulus package that will have more benefit for our struggling sectors than tax cuts for corporations. Most importantly, every year that we accept a weak CPP creates an even larger economic underclass of elders. We simply cannot tolerate this.

A version of this article is in the Labour Day issue of OurTimes.ca, Canada’s independent labour magazine.

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September 7, 2010 -- Politics, Re-Spun on Coop Radio, Labour Day 2010 (0)
August 16, 2010 -- A Voice from Haiti, Who We Are Further Victimizing (1)

Not clear on the concept

2010-09-06T14:39:38+00:00

It’s quite clear that Holocaust denier and PA chairman Mahmud Abbas is totally clueless on the concepting of negotiating(in the Western sense of the word)

Experience and Mistakes

2010-09-06T14:38:00+00:00

When I began volunteer work with Hospice, I did not really know what to expect. I had taken a very comprehensive course on Hospice and what it's all about...it was experience I lacked. What would it be like to sit in silence for two hours with a dying patient? Or what on Earth could I say to people who have only hours to live?

I've made many mistakes. The one mistake I continually make is asking how a patient is feeling. And one day, one of the clients might just say to me...How do you think I'm feeling?

Or, I sometimes even go so far as to say...You look great today!...I want to take that one back as soon as it comes out of my mouth.

But there are times when a client is not conscious. During those visits, I sit and write. Sometimes I write about the client's life; tidbits gleaned from photos and books and belongings all gather together in my writing. Whether or not my writing is correct about all of it makes no difference...I write what I feel during what might be the last time I visit this particular client.

Long term palliative care patients have so many stories to tell! Living with Death as a very close partner cannot be easy; yet each client I have met mostly lives each day to the fullest, with as many jokes to tell as they can remember.

I was discussing marriage with one of them the other day. After looking at photos of the man and his wife in their car on the way to their honeymoon, I asked the man what he liked most about marriage.

Of course, as soon as I said that, I wanted to take the question back. What if they had divorced, what if she had died and the gentleman in question was still sad about it, what if I had opened a can of worms?

And this is what it's like for me. I rarely know the clients well, I rarely know what their hobbies were, what their lives were like, do they like this or that? Do they like to be touched? Do they want to talk, or do they prefer silence? Do they even want me there?

But I know this long term palliative care patient as well as any. He loves to tell stories about his life; yet I rarely heard his wife mentioned in any of them. Which is why I wanted to take the marriage question back as soon as I had said it. Asking it felt a little like skating on very thin ice.

He thought about my question for awhile, looking into the far off distance. I held my breath...what had I begun? And then he nodded, as if the answer had just come to him.

He said...The best thing about marriage to me was that the house was always picked up. Yup...he said...that was the very best thing.

He was very serious when he said this. At first, I thought he was joking, since he loves to use humour. But he wasn't...and somehow I had to answer him without breaking out into a big belly laugh. I had to laugh inside instead, and mumble...Yes, that sounds nice...and leave it there.

I find arguing with a dying person intolerable, and won't do it, although given an answer like this to my question by a well person, I certainly would challenge it. There must be more to a marriage than a clean house! But not for Tom...

I visit a lady who is fully aware, yet due to a stroke she cannot form words. And much of the language she remembers is Native, which is very difficult for me to enunciate. I have a sheet of Native words; we practice them, she and I. She smiles at the way I pronounce them...and yes, I have even heard her laugh. Once.

With this lady, I tell her about my week since I last saw her. I don't ask her any questions, other than whether she requires something to drink. I tell her how I miss the Coast, where my children are, I tell her about my garden and how it is not doing well. I read her stories, many of them posts done by my fellow bloggers. Blog owners of blogs like Enchanted Oak, Studio Lolo, Dragonfly's Poetry and Prolixity, Options for a Better World , Writing Down the Words, All Consuming and others have generously allowed me the use of some of their posts and art work.

With this lady, I will never know if something I've said is hurtful or out of place. When she gets tired of me, her body language tells me it is time to go. It may be after a half hour or five minutes...I no longer worry about whether it's because she's tired or decided she's had enough of my prattle.

But we have a relationship, she and I. With many of the clients, there is no time to form a relationship.

So many clients I have been involved with have died. When I began volunteering with Hospice, I thought I would remember them all. But, unless I look in my book, I cannot.

But when a client dies, I do a small ceremony here for them, by Grandfather Rock. He has absorbed much of my tears and sadness and even happiness, if the dying person was ready for the next journey.

It's the ones who are not ready who I cry over. The ones who have fought the inevitable, who insist and insist and insist it is not happening right until they become unconscious. And when the family is still in denial even at this stage...well, it is sometimes heartrending for me to see young people, especially, in tears at their terrible loss.

It is so much more difficult when death occurs without acceptance.

I will glean more and more experience with volunteering as the days, weeks, months and years go by. I know a volunteer who, by her very presence, can calm a whole room full of relatives of the just deceased. She's volunteered for years...there is not much she hasn't seen or heard.

She's the very epitome of experience and wisdom.

I strive for the same.

In just a few more years...

Work with Hospice is completely confidential. Therefore, patients I mention have been disguised or are a composite of many. Names have been changed.

Another edition of “We mustn’t offend the Muslims!”

2010-09-06T14:21:17+00:00

If this had been me, I would have told the hospital to shove it where the sun don’t shine.

A couple is facing a $750 hospital bill after they had to leave a ward in Kingston General Hospital’s maternity ward because a Muslim woman was breastfeeding her newborn.

John Kennedy said he and another man were also forbidden from using the sink in the shared bathroom to dampen cloths so they could clean their babies.

He and his wife and the other couple were moved out of the room on religious grounds that were made clear to him by medical staff on the floor, who said unrelated men are forbidden from being in the room while the Muslim woman was breastfeeding.

Kennedy’s wife had an emergency C-section on Nov. 15 and was barely able to move, let alone care for their newborn, as a result of the surgery.

The couple were moved into a private room, where Kennedy could use the sink but the couple were later billed $250 a day by the hospital for the upgrade

Garden City Kabob Grill on Blundell Road and Garden City Road, Richmond

2010-09-06T14:00:43+00:00

I got to know Aysha and Habiba from A Taste of Community Kitchen event. They were born in Malaysia but grew up in Hong Kong. They are Muslims. We talked about eating out for Muslim which is quite limited here as there are not many halal restaurants that I know off. These are a hand full of those that served halal food: Kedah House, Seri Malaysia, Xin Jiang Delicious Food in Richmond Public Market, Darya Restaurant, Anatolia’s Gate Turkish Restaurant and Abdul’s Sharwarma. Beware that not all Malaysian restaurants are halal. The restaurant is deemed halal only if it gets it’s meat from a source which is certified halal.

Aysha and Habiba wanted to eat out at Kedah House and invited me to come along. This is their second attempt to try Kedah House’s food as their first attempt failed because the restaurant was closed on the day they went. So, this time, I called up Kedah House to find out the days that they are closed before we went which is Monday and Tuesday. So, we decided to visit Kedah House on a Thursday. What a bummer, the restaurant again was not opened on that Thursday. Apparently, when we checked with a neighouring shop, we were told that sometimes Kedah House will closed if they have a banquet to cater for. What a disappointment to Aysha and Habiba.

So, we had to go for plan B. Fortunately, Aysha and Habiba have another place that they can go to, which is halal, of course. It’s Garden City Kabob Grill on Blundell Road and Garden City Road. This place was previously owned by a Lebanese but it’s now taken over by a Filipino family.

The sharwarma can be seen the moment you enter the shop. Sharwarma is made by skewing meat on a metal rod and slow roasting the meat on all sides by the rotating spit in front of a heat source for hours. In Turkish, sharwarma is known as doner kebab. The cooked meat is shaved off the stack and made into a sandwich wrap with a tortilla or pita bread and dressed with vegetables and dressing.

Garden City Kebab Grill is a small place with a few tables and you help yourself with the cutleries and condiments located along a wall.

Their menu is simple, some rice combo with kebab, wrap, fish and chips and even vegetarian spring rolls. Click on the image to have a large view.

Aysha ordered two items from the menu. The first item was Gyro Chicken Donair on Pita for $5.69. The donair is big and I’m surprised …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Garden City Kabob Grill on Blundell Road and Garden City Road, Richmond (259 words)

Thought of the Day

2010-09-06T13:27:55+00:00

True that.

Time editor: No more suicide attacks against Israel? What a pity

2010-09-06T13:25:39+00:00

The rot in MSM is clear and unambiguous.

Look at Time’s latest pronouncements on the issue of “peace in the Middle East:”

Time magazine editor Richard Stengel is upset that the measures Israel has taken to protect its citizens are actually working.

“They [Israel] haven’t had a car bombing in two and a half years and the sad truth, really, is that the wall with the West Bank has actually worked. I mean, most Israelis in the course of their lives don’t come into contact with any Palestinians at all, the wall is functioning,” said Time magazine editor Richard Stengel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

The Joos have it too good! TIME to kill a few so they know who's boss!

Oh, and Time magazine’s world this lack of dead Jews means that Israel doesn’t care about making peace. Apparently things are too good for the Jews these days. They aren’t suffering like they’re supposed to.

Also known as ...

2010-09-06T10:39:00+00:00

In the summer, it's a Virgin's Bower, a mound of white flowers above our heads. By fall, it has aged by several decades, and changed its sex to boot, becoming Old Man's Beard; under that name, it drapes itself over local fences and trees, in a dense mat of vines and dusty "beards".

When I came across it in the Nicola Valley, sprawling along the ground at the side of the road, I didn't recognize it. I'd never seen it underfoot.

Clematis ligusticifolia, Virgin's Bower.

Without support, it's a ground cover.

This is the clematis native to western North America, growing from BC to California, east to Manitoba and points south. It is a vine that usually grows to 10 feet, although I have seen one that climbed a pine tree to at least double that height.

In the choking smoke of the Nicola Valley, normally so luscious, the plant lived up to its other common name, "Traveller's Joy".

Smoke pouring over the hills, greying the greens, clutching at throats.

(Looking at that photo, I can smell the smoke again. Memory of odors tends to persist.)

Happy Labour Day!

2010-09-06T10:49:35+00:00

Now this was what Labour Day was really about.

MV Deerleap

2010-09-06T09:46:04+00:00

I mentioned yesterday that Labour Day weekend sees the Inner Harbour hosting the Victoria Classic Boat Festival. There are dozens of beautiful wooden boats of all sizes but for me the most interesting are always the big luxurious ones with lots of history. All today's photos are of one such boat, the MV Deerleap, built in 1929 in Vancouver, especially for excursions to Alaska. There's lots of history, film stars and other famous names associated with this boat, but you can read all about her on her website. Below you can get an idea of just how elegant life aboard can be. This is the combined sitting and dining room. To the right you can see the spiral staircase that leads down to the master stateroom and guest rooms, all with en suite plumbing. My thanks to the current owners for letting us get a glimpse of this lovely vessel and also to the sponsors of the Classic Boat Festival, Canoe Cove Marina and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.

Have To Lose Everything At Least Once

2010-09-06T07:54:12+00:00

There was a person telling me today that whenever he decided to choose a business partner he always looked for the people who have say lost their fortune at least once while still finding a way to rise up again. He just emphasized that a situation like this in life shows so much character and that the person will also learn so much about money in the process. Therefore, ideally these people make a perfect business partner in many ways.

I guess that is kind of interesting as the general thought for many is that you would base your partners on simply who has the most fortune and success at the present. This way I suppose the person will be more likely o make wiser decisions based on experience and not wanting to fall into the same hole again as they may have done in the past. Kind of like how you just have to fall down at times so that you can learn how to pick yourself up.

With a mentality like that I suppose it’s a good idea to encourage kids to try something entrepreneurial at a young age as if they lose all of their money through a silly mistake then odds are the financial repercussions won’t be as bad as say for an adult that tries it on a business venture.

This feed has been syndicated from AL6400 Blog – Business and Finance

“Brain/Cloud (With Seascape and Palm Tree)” John...

2010-09-06T07:22:08+00:00

“Brain/Cloud (With Seascape and Palm Tree)”
John Baldessari 2009.
Via Daily Serving

Changes on Chowtimes

2010-09-06T06:02:25+00:00

I love the long weekend with nothing to do but tinker around the blog.

A few months ago, we starting having problems again with our shared hosting facility. The traffic on chowtimes had been growing so fast that we knew that gone are the days when we only have to pay $7 a month for shared hosting. To deal with the performance issues, we started to strip functionality. Despite all the changes, that did not quite do it for the hosting company.

Two months ago, we pulled the trigger and migrated the site to a Virtual Dedicated Server. The performance improvements were obvious. The very day we went live, the traffic jumped 15% and since then we are nearing a quarter million pageviews a month. I guess people are reading more when the site is faster and more responsive.

With enough processing power at our disposal now, I have made some changes to the site and wanted to let you know what they are. Here it is …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Changes on Chowtimes (408 words)

Coping With Stress

2010-09-06T05:59:00+00:00

Book stores are filled with books that tell us how to cope with stress. Each of these books offers its own perspective on stress along with various coping techniques. To make the most of the information on coping skills, you need to understand what coping is all about. Coping is simply a way of short-circuiting the stress cycle: stopping the stress response.

There is no single right way of coping with a given situation. Each of us must figure out what works best for us. What works best will depend, in part, on your coping style. There are three main styles. None of these styles is better than the other and some people use a mixture of them.
The first step in coping is to know yourself. Begin by deciding which of these may be your style.

Task-oriented: you may feel comfortable analyzing the situation and taking action to deal directly with the situation.
Emotion-oriented: you may prefer to deal with your feelings and find social supports.
Distraction-oriented: you may use activities or work to take your mind off the situation. Keep this style in mind as you read the information on coping skills.

Photographic Reprise of Bill Reid’s Monumental Sculptures

2010-09-06T05:15:53+00:00

As Bill Reid got older, Parkinson’s disease began to take its toll on his body, and consequently, on his ability to produce more artworks. As if in response, Reid’s sense of scale grew to mammoth proportions, a change that required a team of artisans and assistants to help him out. Where Reid had begun alone with small-scale objects, mostly gold and silver jewellery, he now worked mostly in bronze–the material of the ancient Greek sculptors.

At the same time, Reid’s creative impulses matched the new scale. The large-scale works above are, from top to bottom and left to right: Mythic Messengers, a 1984 celebration of Haida oral culture that can be seen in Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery; Killer Whale, also from 1984, a celebration of northwest coast ecology and native culture that stands outside the Vancouver Aquarium; the gigantic yellow cedar The Raven and the First Men, a fusion of the modern and the traditional around which an entire room was built in the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology; and the 1996 Jade canoe edition of his The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, his last major work, a bronze masterpiece of northwest coast animals and persons in a boat that “moves on, forever anchored” in the same place–in this case, Vancouver International Airport.

I find it interesting that three of the above works feature a community of people and animals of Haida myth, myths that Reid has interpreted for and in a contemporary context. Mythic Messengers retells several of the stories of the Haida: the Bear Mother story, which recounts the mythological establishment of the Bear Clan of the Haida, and the story of Nanasimget’s rescue of his kidnapped wife from the Killer Whale. A Reid favourite, the wasgo, or sea-wolf, stands third in the series, while the mysterious dogfish woman and the shark with whom she is associated remain sculpted in bronze though their stories have been lost. An eagle with a frog, an animal often associated with eagles in Haida stories, ends the piece. Each of the animals are joined by touching tongues, “mouth-to-mouth,” a celebration of Haida orality.

Reid did many sketches and several sculptures and even jewellery pieces of killer whales, who occasionally figure in Haida myth and legend; in any case, the one that stands outside the Vancouver Aquarium is his largest killer whale. Meanwhile, The Raven and the First Men was a story popular with totem pole carvers long before Reid came to it; it is the creation story of the first humans–the Haida, in this instance.

Finally, at the end of the tumultuous twentieth century, Reid’s last major work was chosen by the Government of Canada to adorn the courtyard of its embassy in Washington, DC. Reid covered this bronze sculpture with the appearance of argellite, and won the right to make an additional edition, which he duly did when Vancouver International Airport commissioned it. Both sculptures are fraught with political meanings. Reid had at one point stopped working on the embassy sculpture to protest logging on Haida Gwaii, then called the Queen Charlotte Islands; near the end of his life, he also applied to the federal government to be recognized as having the status of Indian. Some have seen the backward-looking bear as representing Russia, while the presence of creatures at odds with each other could also serve as a reminder of the various “solitudes” of Canada. At the broadest level, each of the boat’s occupants finds many counterparts in all nations and peoples. Meanwhile, in having his last–and many would say his greatest–masterpiece placed in Vancouver’s international airport, Reid assured the visibility of the northwest coast aboriginal peoples in the province of BC and in the world of Canadian art.

B12: A Myth and A Note of Caution

2010-09-06T04:55:50+00:00

Vitamin B12 is water-soluble and is needed by every cell in the body. B12 is a vitamin required for blood formation and rapidly growing tissues. Many people say that the only foods which contain vitamin B12 are animal-derived foods. This is untrue. No foods naturally contain vitamin B12 – neither animal or plant foods. Vitamin [...]

Beachless in Bella Coola

2010-09-06T04:47:00+00:00

It's a sad fact about Bella Coola, even though we live on an inlet connected to an ocean we are almost without accessible beaches. The end of the inlet is an estuary and special for it's own qualities which estuaries offer, but it's not a place for a nice beach stroll or watching sunsets. Most of the rest of the end of the inlet is either steep and deep or harbour or log storage area.

There is one tiny postage stamp size beach and it's really part of the estuary of Clayton Falls Creek estuary, but it's easily accessible and has about 20 metres of gravel and a nice view out over the inlet. It's looked after as part of the Clayton Falls Recreation Site, operated by BC Hydro. It's a really nice place to spend an afternoon and watch the seals and boat traffic. It's also the only 'beach' we have. Grizzly

10 things you didn’t know about Whistler

2010-09-06T04:44:28+00:00

Whistler is definitely one of the most sought after vacation destinations in British Columbia but did you know that:

1. Whistler was once known as Alta Lake, which itself was originally named Summit Lake.

2. Whistler was a First Nation trading route between the Lil’wat Nations and the Squamish Nation.

3. Whistler officially opened for skiing in 1966 and it wanted to host 1968 winter olympics but it lost this honor to Grenoble, France.

4. Nester’s Market on Highway 99 north of the village on the way to Emerald Estates and other residential areas has the best seafood that you can get in the area.

5. Although Whistler has only 10,000 permanent residents, during peak season their are about 40,000 visitors at this resort.

6. It has more than 200 trails and 38 lifts with world’s most advanced high tech capabilities.

7. You do not need car to travel within Whistler. Whistler Village is pedestrian-only and a free shuttle is available that operates in and around Whistler Village, along with the Upper Village, at regular intervals.

8. Whistler has the most ski-in/ski-out accommodations out of any other mountain resort in Canada and there are more that 5000 rooms to accommodate thousands of visitors that flock this BC resort.

9. Ever wondered, how did Whistler Mountain get its name? It got its name from Western Hoary Marmots who live among the rocks and made strident Whistling sounds. Before that it was called London mountain by British Surveyors.

10. Top activities to do in Whistler besides snoboarding and skiing are: Rafting, Mountain biking, Fishing, Heli Hiking, Canoeing, Kayaking, Partying and Golfing.

Related Posts:

Top 5 Whistler Pubs

Whistler Attractions

More Damn Statistics

2010-09-06T05:07:12+00:00

"Shakespeare couldn't yodel." - Kris Kristofferson

I promise to never try and entertain you with statistics again. According to Google most of the readers here live in Canada. The United States is close behind. Go! Canada Go!

After that it is England. Good to have you English cunts by.

You'll never guess who is next. France. Why any French motherfucker comes by is anybody's guess. Maybe they are the ones who come here to look at pictures of Black Jacques Shellac.

Next up is Australia. Me and the Australians are fucking near beer brothers. I am surprised there are that many Australians who can read.

Rounding out the top five is Germany. Any time you want your ass kicked again, just let us know.

Top 10 BC Breweries

2010-09-06T03:13:02+00:00

British Columbia does not only have some world class wineries but also boasts of some excellent breweries. If you love a good beer then check out some of our favourite BC breweries in and around Vancouver:

1. Dockside Brewing Company, Vancouver, BC

2. Yaletown Brewing Company, Vancouver, BC

3. Dix BBQ and Brewery, Vancouver, BC

4. Steamworks Brewing Company, Vancouver, BC

5. Sailor Hagars, Vancouver, BC

6. Hugo’s Brewpub, Victoria, BC

7. Canoe Club,Victoria, BC

8. Vancouver Island Brewing Company, Victoria, BC

9. Big River Brewpub, Richmond, BC

10. Howe Sound Brewing, Squamish, BC

Top 10 BC attractions

Iggy's summer bus tour as viewed by the Sun and the rest of the Media

2010-09-06T03:03:00+00:00

Iggy, 1970 (pre-Harvard)

The left is always seen as the barbarian at the gates. Perhaps that is a good thing after all.

UPDATE: Sister Sage advises the media has softened its stance, including Rex Murphy. Mother Fudgecake! Ruined a good post. (Although I still believe, in its collective heart, Canadian media not at all convinced of the obvious success of the tour (numbers!) but the proof in the pudding too much to gloss over.)

Sunday, September 5, 2010 Time to put things in order.

2010-09-06T02:53:48+00:00

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Time to put things in order.

“Live-Blogging” A Very Short Introduction to Art Theory

2010-09-06T02:26:13+00:00

Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas image from Wikipedia

Cynthia Freeland’s Art Theory in Oxford University Press’s “A Very Short Introduction” series is a nice counterpart to Arnold’s work on art history (see the preceding post). Like Arnold, Freeland has a gift for taking a complex subject and making it accessible and interesting to the average person “on the street” (or, for that matter, in the gallery). The exigencies of the moment mean that I am too pressed for time to do this work the justice of a full-review, so, if I may make a virtue out of a necessity, I will “live-blog” the book. “Live-blog” is in quotation marks because I am typing this work after I finished the book; since I noted various portions in the book over the last few days as I read it, though, this serves as a fairly accurate reflection of some of my thoughts on Freeland’s text. The reader should note that in art I tend to prefer the beautiful and traditional above all else, and thus I usually don’t actually have much patience for the Western art of the 20th and 21st centuries.

P. 1: “The Aesthetics of Blood in Contemporary Art”: “Something was guaranteed to disgust almost everyone there [at the American Society for Aesthetics].” Freeland warned us in the introduction that her first chapter would have shocking material, but it’s not so shocking reading about it in print. That said: Note to self: Remember not to join the American Society for Aesthetics.

P. 4: Illustration of Damien Hirst’s shark illustration: The Physical Impossibility of Death: Hmm, some modern art can actually have a decent point.

P. 7: In a section summarizing Kant’s view of aesthetics: “Beautiful objects do not serve ordinary human purposes, as plates and spoons do.” Too Western-centric. Excluding free-standing totem poles, the art of the northwest coast First Nations comprised almost entirely “ordinary objects,” including “primitive” tools shaped like birds or other animals.

P. 8: I disagree with Kant’s analysis of art: that our appreciation of it must be “disinterested.”

P. 9: Thank goodness for Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.

Pp. 12ff.: “Defending Serrano,” the artist of Piss Christ. Freeland does an outstanding job defending Serrano’s artistic production and his intentions in creating it. I was raised in a fundamentalist community, and as such, took great offense to Serrano as an adolescent. Freeland’s treatment is great, and it’s experiences like these that are why I pick up books like this: it broadens my thinking. That said, for me at least, bodily excretions are more easily turned into humour than high art. Now that said: what’s up with Serrano’s urge to criticize the “Church” for commercializing images? The Catholic Church, in particular, has been doing that since the Middle Ages.

P. 23: Interesting about how Aristotle’s analysis of hamartia, a simple mistake made by a character in Greek tragedy, could be misunderstood as “the tragic flaw” of Shakespearean drama.

P. 28: In Chartres cathedral, sculptures of Pythagoras and Aristotle appear underneath Mary. The order of “reading” is from bottom to top, somewhat similar to northwest coast First Nations art, where the figure at the base of the totem poles is the most significant.

P. 37: Arthur Danto wrote that art is “any artifact . . . which has had conferred upon it the status of candidate for appreciation by some person or persons acting on behalf of a certain social institution (the art world” (ellipses in quotation in original).

P. 44: How did the Menil Collection acquire the African fetish nail sculptures? If the objects had, as the author says, important cultural meaning to their communities as the guarantor of agreements, with what justification were they removed to a museum?

P. 51: Freeland likes Richard Anderson’s definition of art as “culturally significant meaning, skillfully encoded in an affecting, sensuous medium.” I like it, too. This definition likely has ramifications for the distinction between arts and crafts, something that I think is more complex than most think.

P. 52: Freeland mentions the “British Columbia Museum of Modern Art.” Unfortunately, no such institution exists, and a Google search with the phrase in quotation marks turns up just one hit: a combination of “British Columbia” on one line and “Museum of Modern Art” on the next. It appears that no such institution ever existed, and Freeland’s book requires a correction. Freeland is a scholar: I wonder how an error like that got made?

P. 63: “America’s most wanted painting”: Fascinating!

P. 63: Why does everybody always pick on Thomas Kinkade? Freeland calls his work “kitsch,” which she defines as “something vulgar and popular with great mass appeal.” By what standard is Kinkade “vulgar”? Freeland doesn’t call art made with blood or urine vulgar. I’d really like to know by what standard Kinkade is considered sub-art by the art intelligentsia. Hmm: perhaps it’s like the difference between interpretive fiction, and escape fiction. I occasionally like the latter, though I know it’s not the former. But I wouldn’t necessarily call it vulgar.

P. 76: I like Freeland’s comments on a post-modern artist named Hans Haacke: for her, his work is too “preachy” and “ephemeral”; she contrasts his critiques of mining company Alcan with Goya’s more durable message in The Executions of May 3, 1808.

P. 78: “anti-commercialism”: yada, yada, yada. I think I’m going to invent a new word: commerciaphobia: the unreasonable fear of commercial enterprise. Perhaps no group of people have been so manhandled (rhetorically speaking) in the last one hundred years of Western civilizational history as merchants.

P. 93, a discussion of women in art: Society went downhill after the Renaissance, when an authority like Vasari could list women as artists of note. In the 19th century, women needed special permission to wear trousers.

Pp. 100ff: The beginning of chapter 6, the heart of the book. It’s an excellent chapter, one that focuses on interpretation. Freeland discusses one theory of interpretation: the “expression theory,” which assumes that all artworks are the emotional expression of the artists who made them, whether conscious (as for Tolstoy) or unconscious, as in Freud. The theory is wanting, but Freeland’s treatment of the theory is a bit odd. She comments that expressiveness is not in the artist, but the artwork, because an artist could not have been having the same emotion during the entire time it takes to complete an artwork. This seems a simplistic understanding of the theory.

P. 107: Expression Theory 2.0: Art expresses not only emotion, but also ideas. That sounds much better than 1.0, certainly.

Pp. 109ff: Foucault and the “Death of the Author,” & Velázquez’s Las Meninas. This should be interesting. Foucault says that we deferred too much to the author in assessing meaning. Everyone knows Foucault’s position on this, but I hadn’t realized that he felt artworks “do have meanings” (emphasis in Freeland). Foucault feels that Velázquez’s Las Meninas belongs to a particular “episteme,” one which was newly focused on self-consciousness, though here the “subject cannot truly perceive himself.” Freeland summarizes his position thus: “Meaning is a matter not so much of artists’ desires and thoughts, as of the era in which they live and work.” I agree that social and historical contexts are important, but a time does not create an artwork, strictly speaking: a person does.

P. 115: Cognitive Science, art, and interpretation: somehow, even though the cognitive schools always seem to be correct, reading about them is so boring!

Pp. 119ff: The last chapter, on technology and art. When words like spam have to be placed in quotation marks, you know right away what the situation is: some people of a certain generation, regardless of their level of scholarship, just don’t understand the internet. And talk about “CD-ROMs” sounds quaint and not much less archaic than talk about floppy disks.

Conclusion: A very nice summation! This is a good pedagogical bit of writing, for the author is continuously summarizing her points in clear, concise paragraphs. If you miss a major point, you have another few chances to catch it–in the middle of a chapter, at its end, or in the conclusion.

At the end of this book, I feel very much that a void still exists in the “Very Short Introduction” series from OUP: a book and accompanying video on art creation and appreciation still needs to be written.

Facts about Ezra Levant, The Fraser Institute and the Koch brothers?

2010-09-06T00:57:00+00:00

Who knew Tweeting could be a blood sport?

a_picazo via Sister Sage tweets spicing up a Sunday. Revelations so far (if old news, sorry):

Ezra Levant fired from Calgary Sun in 2007. Either lied or was incompetent; not just for being an Islamophobe. The Coulter/UofO lies just another link in a chain of Levant lies, deceptions and incompetence.

Levant was an intern at the Koch (not pronounced 'cock') Foundation in Washington, DC.

Koch Institute funds the far right Fraser Institute.

a_picazo now called 'Nazi sympathizer Jew baiter' over at @ezralevant. You're not allowed to question or challenge Ezrant without accusations of some sort of anti-Semitism - the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Tweeter WarriorBanker refutes a_picazo's claims, acting all Birther-like. This could prove interesting.

Sea-watch

2010-09-06T00:05:56+00:00

In my quest to find the volunteer Pink Sand-verbenas at Florencia Bay in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve I spent a good deal of time walking along the line of driftwood looking at plants growing amongst the beach logs as well those that were growing out on the upper level of the beach itself.

Sea-watch (Angelica lucida) can be found in the upper section of moist beaches on Vancouver Island.

One of the interesting plants that can be found in this part of the beach is Sea-watch (Angelica lucida). It has the classic look of a member of Apiaceae (the Carrot family) – a broad umbel of small flowers that are individually arranged into compact heads. In the case of Sea-watch, the flowers are yellowish/green in colour.

Sea-watch (Angelica lucida) has the classic umbel that characterizes the Carrot family.

The leaves of this plant are hairless and have a somewhat leathery look to them. The leaflets are egg-shaped and irregularly toothed making it very distinctive in appearance. The overall look of Sea-watch is dramatic, the large umbels are displayed nicely against the texture of the leaves and stem leaf stalks have noticeable sheath at their bases.

Sea-watch (Angelica lucida) Leaves

Sea-watch, appropriately enough, can be found on the upper levels of moist beaches as well as on coastal bluffs, meadows, and stream edges. Look for it amongst the driftwood piled above the winter storm lines. It is a beautiful plant and well worth searching out.

Turtle Soup

2010-09-06T01:01:00+00:00

Shoya Tomizawa

2010-09-05T23:58:51+00:00

I keep thinking of something I should say. There’s nothing. A young man died today. I couldn’t believe it when I read the news reports, and when I watched the race I kept thinking that I wasn’t going to happen, there had been a mistake.

Seeing his sunny smile on the grid before each race was a highlight for me. Rest in peace Shoya. Ride on forever.

Links:

Shoya Tomizawa passes away.

MotoGP paddock united in Tomizawa grief.

Moto GP tribute: “Shoya, on the track and beyond, we will always follow your line.”

Operation Peaches

2010-09-05T23:28:00+00:00

We picked all the peaches from our tree, which yielded about 60 pounds of the things. Usually, peach canning day is a time when Big Guy and Kitten know they should take cover and stay out of my way.

It does not put me in the best of moods. However, in the last few years, things have gradually changed so that canning peaches is not the headache it used to be.

Air conditioning in the house improved things immensely. Also, the fact that Kitten no longer bites me on the back of the leg when I’m spending too long in the kitchen is a help (sorry, Kitten, I know it’s been years since you’ve done that).

My canning books say you should cut the peaches in half, put them in boiling water for a few minutes, then in cool water, to slip off the skins. Then take out the pit and slice each half.

This, I have to say, takes forever.

So now I throw the book to one side, and just peel the peach like I would an apple. I cut the peach into chunks, or slices, whatever is easier.

This approach may not result in beautiful blue ribbon worthy jars, but I come more from the “just get it done” school of thought.

If you or someone you know is busy with canning this time of year, I have one important piece of advice. No, it’s not about sugar, heat or fruit flies.

It’s simply this – after a long hot day of cutting, measuring, stirring, and lifting hot jars, what a canner really wants is to be taken out to dinner. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive; it just has to be one less thing to stir around on the stove.

Meat Eaters: The Caveman Argument

2010-09-05T23:18:40+00:00

Although we can please our taste buds, promote our health, protect the environment, and show kindness towards animals, many are militant about continuing to eat meat. Ben Ralston, a Yoga Instructor in the in the Sivananda tradition provides three reasons for becoming a vegetarian in his article THE 3 reasons to be Vegetarian and also [...]

Love begins here

2010-09-05T22:44:09+00:00

If It's Love Click below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjMlESOFkDs Yep, I signed up with harmony CA. I'm up to 236 matches! But I never met my Patrick Swayze yet. ♥ And no I didn't fully sign up, just curious. On another note- When I was out at my mom's, I found this ring on the floor. My daughter had forgot about it, it was the white gold ring her dad gave me. I passed the ring down to her,

Blair dishes on Cheney: Dick wanted to invade Syria and Iran

2010-09-05T21:10:00+00:00

Give it to Blair. He really loved George Bush. So much so that he is throwing 'Jack Ripper' Dick Cheney under the bus, which can only tailor Bush's legacy from hawk to buffer of an even bigger hawk.

You can just feel the Bush legacy shifting under history's feet. Any bets historians will be much kinder to Bush at the expense of the increasingly loony legacy of Cheney? The Bushies are working overtime on this. Liz Cheney can't be pleased.

Blair tells interviewer that Cheney was intent on making the world 'anew':

Describing the former US vice president as an advocate of “hard, hard power”, Mr Blair said Damascus was next on Mr Cheney’s hit list.

“He would have worked through the whole lot, Iraq, Syria, Iran, dealing with all their surrogates in the course of it – Hizbollah, Hamas, etc,” Mr Blair wrote in his autobiography, A Journey. “In other words, he thought the whole world had to be made anew, and that after September 11, it had to be done by force and with urgency.”

H/T: Americablog

Home for rent on South Pender Island next to Marine Park

2010-09-05T20:31:12+00:00

Furnished 3 level waterfront home on 3.5 acre with dock & moorage $1650 per month