Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada "Of Interest To Me" Aug16 -- Aug31, 2003
Email: mike -at- mikecampbell dot net
The opinions expressed on this website are those of the author alone, and are not necessarily those of his employer or any organization with which he is affiliated.
News Resources
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Dawson Speaks
Saturday, August 30, 2003
From his excellent Churchill Online page, Robert Courts points to a dispelling of the common myth, much distributed on the web via email, that Churchill and Alexander Fleming had a close encounter in their youth. The fiction goes that Fleming once rescued Churchill from drowning in a nearby bog, that Churchill's grateful father Randolph Churchill paid for Fleming's education, [Fleming goes on to discover penicillin, of course], and then, as the web-myth goes:
Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.
Yeah, uh-huh. My friends at the Churchill Centre in Washington have officially debunked this one and say it is a myth. Churchill's official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, says that there is no record of Churchill nearly drowning, or of Lord Randolph paying for Sir Alexander Fleming's education. Churchill was treated for pneumonia once, but not with penicillin.
In My Early Life, Churchill does recount one instance during his school days where he and another lad were boating when they both fell out. As the wind and current was carrying the boat away, Churchill did begin to worry, but managed to swim to the boat, get in and help the other boy. He looked around, and no one had noticed. Anyway, the other boy wasn't Fleming.
Other myths: Churchill's voice double bullshit; and, WSC's "Never, never, never ..." speech.
10:12am ADT
My current high score on my PS2 "Galaga" game is 82,260. Man, that 12th screen is the Screen of Death.
For "Galaxian", it's 22,820.
I never was much of a Pac-Man aficionado, so I won't bother mentioning my high score there.
9:45am ADT
Readers will note that it is almost September, which means that it is almost October, which means that it is almost time for the World Cup of Rugby to begin! It's being hosted by Australia this year.
Here's a look at the Pools. No real 'pool of death' this year, but Canada will have a tough time to make it through to the second round. There's no hope against New Zealand, but Canada will have to be on its best game to get by Wales, Italy and Tonga.
Once through, Canada would join NZ, France and probably Scotland, South Africa, England, Australia and probably Ireland. We'd be facing one of the stronger sides in the quarter finals, so I wouldn't expect any advancement after that (although we came close in '91, I thought). But, hey, you never know.
Canada got smoked by Australia in a test match last year, but many key players were engaged in professional club commitments at the time. A few months later, Canada beat Scotland, and basically dominated the North American qualifying round.
Canada can point to a number of key matches over the past 15 years as high tide marks for performance.
There was a Quarter Final appearance at the 1991 Rugby World Cup before bowing to New Zealand 29-13; a 26-24 victory over Wales at the Arms Park in Cardiff in 1993; downing France at home 18-16 in 1994 before the French travelled to New Zealand for a 2-0 series win over the All Blacks; and a 27-27 draw against Ireland in 2000.
And now their latest achievement - the 26-23 victory over Scotland in June 2002.
Anyway, I'll be rugbyblogging much this fall. Good luck to all the lads, including Halifax area (Cole Harbour) native Morgan Williams, Canada's scrum half. Another key player is veteran forward Al Charron.
9:21am ADT
My invitation has yet to arrive. I'll send my regrets and best wishes anyway.
8:51am ADT
Friday, August 29, 2003
David Janes marks the end of lesbian chic.
Addendum: The Flea asks what of Kylie? (what of Kylie?)
9:58pm ADT
My recent post regarding 'back to school' got me thinking about the old school ground, particularly, school yard games that we used to play.
I saw a piece on CBC tv a year or so ago about a teacher (in Dartmouth, I believe) who noticed that the kids weren't playing any games. They were just standing around. So, she took it upon herself to teach them some good old-fashioned school yard games. I forget, though, which ones she taught.
The one I remember most from elementary school was called Four Corners. Part of the school yard was paved in large square concrete slabs. The object of the game was to have your foot on one of the corners. Five people played, four on each corner with one in the middle. The people on the corners tried to change places, usually along the sides of the square but it was also possible to go diagonally across, if you could make it. You'd generally grasp hands or wrists with another person from another corner and pull yourselves across to the new corner. You scored "one" for every time you switched places. The person in the middle would try to get his/her foot on one of the temporarily vacant corners during one of the switches. If they did, then the person who wasn't on a corner was now in the middle. That was actually a fun game and I think it took up a lot of time during recess and before school/returning after lunch. As these square concrete slabs were adjacent to one another, sometimes the game would be expanded to use two or even four of these squares.
Another game that took hold probably in later elementary grades was Chestnuts. There are a lot of chestnut trees around Halifax. (There are a lot of trees, period -- it's wonderful.) So, every fall there would be lots of chestnuts on the ground. You took a chestnut (the nut inside, not the prickly shell), dug/drilled a hole in the middle, and attached it to a length of thin rope or string, maybe a foot long. The object of the game was to smash the other guy's chestnut. (Ouch!) If I recall correctly, you got 3 tries. Your opponent would hold his arm out, and dangle the rope/chestnut; you then had three tries to break your opponent's chestnut. Then he'd try to break yours and you'd keep going, each with 3 tries. I'm right-handed, so I'd hold the rope in my right hand, and the chestnut in my left hand, then swing/fling down hard and try to make contact with the opposing chestnut. Hopefully, it would break. If it broke, your chestnut would score "one". Each time you were able to break another guy's chestnut, you added one to your own chestnut's score. If your opponent's chestnut already had built up it's own score, by breaking his chestnut, you'd get all his built up points. So, you'd get one for beating him, then if his chestnut had 10 points, then you'd already have 11. It was the chestnut that built up the score, not the player. I seem to recall that the smaller the chestnut, the more success you'd tend to have. Some guys were using varnish or shellac or anything they could find to make their chestnut's impervious to attack. I'm sure there were guys who had chestnuts with scores into the hundreds; understandably, they were the main targets for all the young guns. One game and you could get like 600 points! I wonder who ended up winning. Is there still some super-chestnut out there with wins in the millions??
Into junior high, a popular activity for some of us was using those little rubber 'superballs' and firing them around the school yard. There was a large outside brick wall of the gym was an excellent spot for bouncing the superballs off of (grammar!) ...an excellent spot against which to bounce superballs. There. Not so much a game as a passtime, there be a dozen or more guys playing. One would fire it against the wall, and whoever caught it on the way back of course threw it the next time. Those little balls could really move.
9:56pm ADT
Yonah Alexander writes on Terrorism myths and realities.
Myth #1:
The first illusion is that terrorism can be greatly reduced, if not eliminated completely, provided the root causes of conflicts — political, social and economic — are addressed.
The conventional illusion is that terrorism must be justified by oppressed people seeking to achieve their goals and consequently the argument advanced by "freedom fighters" anywhere, "give me liberty and I will give you death," should be tolerated if not glorified.
This traditional rationalization of "sacred" violence often conceals that the real purpose of terrorist groups is to gain political power through the barrel of the gun, in violation of fundamental human rights of the noncombatant segment of societies.
Myth #2:
The second myth is that strong action against terrorist infrastructure (leaders, recruitment, funding, propaganda, training, weapons, operational command and control) will only increase terrorism.
And, since Alexander ends off quoting Churchill, I would be remiss not to include this,
Thus, it behooves those countries victimized by terrorism to understand a cardinal message communicated by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on May 13, 1940: "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the road may be: For without victory, there is no survival."
ps - I haven't done a lot of Churchill blogging lately. This shall change.
12:45am ADT
Victor Davis Hanson asks who loses and who wins in the high-stakes poker in Iraq? Obviously, Iraqis lose big-time if a civil society and democracy is not developed over the next few years. Bremer has a very tough task trying to lead this process, but there's no other choice; but he does have a plan that will lead to an elected legislature. The United States obviously can't allow Iraq to fall into the hands of Islamic fascist insurgents, or Baathist thugs. But look how long it took us to build our civil society ~ centuries and centuries of trial and error, and lots of blood. Still, an Iraqi democracy is what we have to build.
I don't understand those who simply call for the US to exit and leave it to the Iraqis. They realize what will happen, don't they?
But, who else wins and loses here? VDH talks about Europeanism,
In more fundamental terms, how can pacifists and socialists believe that war might rout evil and offer hope to millions of oppressed? How might unilateralism achieve what internationalism could not?
(Of course, the French aren't pacifists or multilateralists, so there's nothing new here for them.)
How could crass, naďve Yankees barrel and bluster into the complexities of the Middle East to solve problems sophisticated, nuanced Europeans had struggled with for centuries?
In short, our failure is essential to confirming the entire European view of how the world should work.
12:29am ADT
Thursday, August 28, 2003
I missed this story the other day, but CNN reported Tuesday that Chretien may remove himself from 24 Sussex prior to his expected departure in February.
I don't think Canadian blogger Paul Martin should book the moving vans just yet.
11:52pm ADT
It's getting near that time of year again. I always liked school, but I especially loved going back to school. I enjoyed it whether it was going to university, or high school, or elementary/junior high, but I guess I'm writing about elementary school here.
One reason for this was that I grew up in a neighbourhood that was somewhat remote from the school itself. I had friends from school in that neighbourhood, as well as friends from other schools, but no one really from my grade that I hung out with in the summer time. So, when September rolled around, it was great to go back and see everyone again.
Which teacher will you get? Who will be in your class? What kind of a class will it be?
Buying new school supplies was always neat. New pencils. New erasers. Hilroy notebooks. Just the simple, stapled kind. But there was nothing better than starting out a fresh 'scribbler'. In certain grades, the teacher let you get those coil-bound scribblers, but some wouldn't allow them. I preferred the coil-bound ones, though. New crayons! And, wow!, those years when you were allowed to use coloured pencils!
I remember Grade 6 was the year our teacher made us use cartridge pens. What a bloody mess. All year. Cartridge pens weren't made for use by 12 year olds.
There was also some continuity there, as I attended ten grades at the same school, Primary to 9. In Nova Scotia, kids start school at age 5 and go into Grade Primary. Then it's 1-6 in Elementary School, and 7-9 in Junior High. (I know High School starts at Grade 9 in some provinces.) Anyway, my school was P-9, so you saw a lot of the same kids and teachers, year after year after year. The same school, the same school ground.
Except in 1974, our school, St. Agnes School on Mumford Road, burned to the ground. I was in it when the fire started. I was in Grade 3. It was a freezing cold winter's day, January or February. If I recall, there were some workmen working with a blow torch in one of the washrooms and it caught fire, spreading quickly. I remember the fire drill that brought us outside into the cold (without our coats or boots). I remember watching the firetrucks arriving and the principal coming to the door, telling us to hurry back inside, to put on our coats and boots and go straight home. Odd that they allowed us back in, but I suppose he had some idea of the spread of the fire. Some kids were in gym and didn't have time to get changed, and had to be rushed to a nearby church hall until they could be taken home or picked up by their folks. I remember seeing the smoke rising into the sky that evening, and I went over to a friend's place and we talked about the day's excitement.
The school did burn to the ground. I remember a fair bit of fuss being made afterward because a large statue of St. Agnes that stood in the main hall was basically undamaged, except for one hand, which was subsequently redone. Was it a miracle? It was something, anyway; something that just added to the story of the school burning down in the middle of a school day with not a single injury.
I remember over the next few weeks walking through the burned out rubble. I think I even remember the smell. A neighbour of ours found my brother's school file, largely intact. There really wasn't much left, though.
While I wasn't particularly frightened by the day's events, I was concerned about where I'd have to go to school now. I remember there was a lot of worry that the classes would have to be split up, but the school board kept us all together, housing us at different schools for the next year and a half of school. St. Agnes was rebuilt and we started back there in September 1975. Now, that was exciting; going back to the rebuilt school.
I can hear the crickets this evening. Fall isn't too far off.
11:46pm ADT
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
In 1984/85, the BBC produced a very ambitious sci-fi television series based on John Christopher's trilogy, The Tripods. The trilogy consists of: The White Mountains; The City of Gold and Lead; and, The Pool of Fire. Christopher also wrote a prequel, When The Tripods Came.
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It's capping time again! |
I've managed to track down a box set of the trilogy (the 4 books, actually) ~ it's packaged as really teen sci-fi, which it I suppose it is, but I'm looking forward to reading it before too long.
One of the biggest crimes in sci-fi history, the BBC failed to produce the 3rd season of this show. I own the dvd for Season One, based on The White Mountains (wrong Region, I can only watch on my PC; still worth it to me though).
In the first series, we slowly learn about what's happened to the Earth. It's July 2089 and the Tripods have been in control for about a hundred years. No one knows what they are or where they came from. They control most of the human population by 'capping' them ~ inserting a mind control device under the skin of the scalp which pacifies people and they cause no trouble for the ruling Tripods. Capping can't happen though until the human has matured, so it tends to take place when people turn 16 or so.
Our two young heroes, Will and Henry decide that they want to remain human and free and take off, with the help of a crazy old loner, Ozimandius. They make it to France and hook up with a lanky French youth named Jean Paul, who they nickname Beanpole. Together, the three of them make for The White Mountains, where it is said a resistance movement still survives to fight against the Tripods.
It's easy to see how this could appeal to young readers ~ it's the kids who are the ones who are resisting and fighting against tyranny. It's really a great anti-totalitarian book.
Unfortunately, again, it doesn't look like the 2nd season will be made available on dvd. Apparently, there have been legal wranglings involving a possible Hollywood script (which pops up from time to time). A real shame.
Related: A history of sci-fi at the BBC.
10:28pm ADT
Is it too much to hope that these and subsequent talks will convince North Korea that it needs to give up its "alleged" nuclear weapons program?
The North has already suffered a defeat in the fact that these talks are proceeding at all. They insisted on bilateral talks with the United States only, and the Bush administration rightly resisted.
The game is nuclear blackmail. North Korea's economy is based on military hardware exports and imports of foreign aid. You're much better off dealing with your neighbours and adversaries one by one and wringing as much out of each in the way of food and oil that you can. The fact that North Korea is sitting down with the United States, China and Russia is hopeful indeed.
As Glenn Reynolds has been pointing out, the North is appearing to realize that China will not come to its rescue in the event of a U.S. attack. Glenn links to a Korean Times article that indicates that China is beginning to be quite blunt about its hands-off approach:
A Chinese scholar who is also a key Communist Party member in Shanghai, has said Chinese President Hu Jintao through his top envoy informed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il of a possible United States invasion.
Shen Dingli, professor at Hudan University in Shanghai and who was visiting Korea for an international seminar, was quoted by sources as saying that Hu's message was very clear about the possibility of U.S. military action against the communist country that is defying international calls to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Attending a workshop held on the sideline of the 12th Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations last week, the Chinese expert on international relations said, ``Hu told Kim, `If you make a problem, the U.S. will attack you. Don't expect any help from us."
He said that words of advice by the leader of Pyongyang's only ally apparently scared the North Korean leader into accommodating Beijing's suggestion that Pyongyang should engage in talks with the U.S. under whatever format.
Having the Chinese cast them loose must be a significant blow to Great Whackjob Leader. Perhaps he'll realize that the continuation of his glorious dynasty shall depend on relinquishing his nukes.
Related: Nicholas Eberstadt writes: A deal with North Korea? Dream on.
Pyongyang has made it clear it will push its nuclear weapons project overtly when it can -- and covertly when it must. With the right enticements, Pyongyang can be persuaded to promise to give up its nuke program. It just can't be persuaded to actually keep the promise.
Even if one is willing to ignore the inconvenient issue of Pyongyang's nuclear intentions, a potential diplomatic deal for the regime's scrapping its nuclear weapons project would founder on a second bank of shoals: the global precedent such a bargain would establish. The United States may be the world's sole superpower, but North Korea is not the only would-be proliferator. In Tehran -- to mention just one capital -- the North Korean nuclear crisis is being carefully studied for lessons.
9:27pm ADT
Sunday, August 24, 2003
Brian Neale at Nealenews.com, a great one-stop shop for news and opinion, has added me to his links, and I've added Nealenews to my links over on the side. Thanks Brian.
10:36pm ADT
Just finished reading Booker T. Washington's autobiography, Up From Slavery (1901). As you might guess, it's a truly uplifting book.
Washington was born into slavery and poverty in Virginia in 1856. He scraped his way, tooth and nail, toward his own education, and began educating others of his race. He received an education at the Hampton school in Virginia, and was then asked to head up a new school for educating blacks at Tuskegee, Alabama.
The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute grew into the country's foremost black educational institution, and Washington the country's foremost figure in black education.
On his strategy to raise up the condition of black people in the South, Washington wrote
... any individual who learned to do something better than anybody else -- learned to do a common thing in an uncommon manner -- had solved his problem, regardless of the colour of his skin, and that in proportion as the Negro learned to produce what other people wanted and must have, in the same proportion would he be respected.
Washington hoped for the improvement of not only Southern blacks, but poor members of the white race, as well. He didn't have time for those who would oppose him, though he hoped his public addresses and personal example might show them the way.
In my contact with people I find that, as a rule, it is only the little, narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who never travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls -- with the outside world. In meeting men, in many places, I have found that the happiest people are those who do the most for others; the most miserable are those who do the least. I have also found that few things, if any, are capable of making one so blind and narrow as race prejudice.
Washington took a very pragmatic, free market type approach to education and development. Students at Tuskegee were taught to recognize the nobility of labour, and were all taught industrial skills beside their regular studies.
In the long run, the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race, religion, or previous history will not long keep the world from what it wants.
Booker T. Washington, then, was a somewhat controversial figure. More of a pragmatist than an idealist, some might call his strategy naive. He hoped that Southern whites would realize that it was in their own best interest to accept the equality of Southern blacks, and all would be well. I would say that Washington's strategy was an important factor, but needed to be couched within the overall battle for civil rights. Still, Washington's own story is a great one, and he did witness slow progress in the South. And, he was only one man; he accomplished a great deal.
Washington's education and development strategy did remind me of that used in eastern Canada in the first part of the 20th century. The rural poor basically worked the entire year just to subsist ~ a local merchant would own all the means of production and workers would earn basically just enough to get by.
Jimmy Tompkins and Moses Coady, two Catholic priests at my alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University, set out to help the poor in rural areas of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. They promoted the formation of cooperatives, through which groups of farmers or fishermen would achieve volume discounts for inputs and have more market power when selling. They also promoted the establishment of study groups, particularly using examples of success stories of people in similar situations.
This approach became known as 'the Antigonish Movement' (named for the town where St.F.X.U. is located) and has become a key model for Third World development. The Coady Institute at St.F.X. hosts students from all over the developing world each year, who return to their countries to pass on what they've learned to their own compatriots.
While Coady may have used the word 'socialist' to describe his activities, he was not a socialist. A 'populist', yes. His classic book on the Antigonish Movement is "Masters of their own destiny". The title says it all. He wasn't looking for a central body/agency to take care of everything, but rather for the people to do it for themselves. To put in their own money and labour into the enterprise, and to reap the rewards, as well.
"Masters of their own destiny" is probably a difficult book to find. I own a first edition, but I'm not sure how many editions there has been. As far as "Up from slavery" goes, this is a good book and a story that everyone should read.
Addendum: Alan takes my comment about 'socialism' to task.
This is exactly what socialism is. Collective control of the means of production. Socialism plus a military or bureaucratic tyranny is another matter just as capitalism so encumbered is.
Hmm, ok, maybe my lingo is a bit off. I guess my point is that the co-op movement was/is in opposition to state controlled socialism, as you say, socialism plus military or bureaucratic tyranny. People doing what they want to -- good. State forcing them to act a certain way -- bad.
But, 'populist' applies, as well, I would still say. Or, maybe both terms are wrong. My dictionary tells me that a Populist was a member of a Russian political movement (c. 1870-71) which attempted to spread revolutionary socialist ideas among the peasantry. Doesn't sound like Preston Manning to me. 8-)
In its real, plain and historical sense, I am a "liberal". If people want to organize themselves to own shares in a co-operative for the purpose of owning the means of production, then that's fine with me. I don't think Coady or Tompkins ever envisaged everyone in society belonging to co-operatives. Owning shares in a co-op; owning shares in a corporation -- a big difference in terms of one's personal involvement and commitment, not much of a difference in terms of ownership.
It doesn't appear to me, though, that modern socialists are "liberal" at all. "Socialism" to them means "planned economy". And this is where the tyranny that Alan wrote of comes into the picture. Owning a share in a co-op or a share of corporate stock won't matter much once the planners are finished.
11:33am ADT
Via Michael Demmons, the RCMP have arrested 19 men of Pakistani origin who appear to have been preparing a 9/11 style airliner attack against a nuclear power plant in Ontario.
"They're all related and it's all part of, what we're alleging, has to do with a group taking advantage of a system -- the immigration system here in Canada."
The Toronto Star newspaper said the men were arrested after a "pattern of suspicious behavior" which featured one man taking flight lessons that took him directly over an Ontario nuclear power plant.
In court documents obtained by the newspaper, the student pilot was described as "unmotivated" and he raised suspicion because he has trained for nearly three years to obtain a commercial pilots license that normally takes only a year.
"He often brings with him an unknown male as a passenger," the document read. [...]
The newspaper said two other men were considered suspicious after police found them in April 2002 outside the same nuclear plant, which sits near the shores of Lake Ontario.
"They requested that they be allowed to enter the perimeter in order to go for a walk on the beach," the document said.
Police said the detained men, who are from Pakistan, tended to "reside in clusters of 4 or 5" and changed addresses as a group, according to the newspaper.
Well, thank God they caught these guys. But who else is out there?
I wonder how the Canadian media will handle this one. This is a huge story.
12:35pm ADT
Thursday, August 21, 2003
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Via The Corner, the Media Research Center reports that CNN has given Janeane Garofalo the "Left" rant chair this week.
Ms. Garofalo made a name for herself prior to and during the Iraq war for "reluctantly" offering her opinion on everything. No, we shouldn't confront an actor who offers an opinion; gee, take it easy, I'm only an actor ... by the way, here's what I think about us terrible Americans. America was after world hegemony. Turkey was worse than Iraq, so let's go after them too. Yeah, Saddam's bad, you know, I mean, I wouldn't want to go out for drinks with the guy, but...
According to Garofalo,
“the majority of people in Iraq and Afghanistan no longer see us as liberators, but as occupiers and trespassers.” The now-blonde Garofalo also held the Bush administration “responsible” for the blackout...
The folks who are trying to ruin Iraq's future and plunge them back into Medieval oppression are Heroes! Freedom Fighters!
“Over the weekend, saboteurs blew up a Baghdad water main and cut off water to about two-thirds of the city. Two of Iraq's oil pipelines were also set on fire. This destruction was supposedly the work of pro-Saddam loyalists, but I disagree. This is the work of anti-occupation resistance. The majority of people in Iraq and Afghanistan no longer see us as liberators, but as occupiers and trespassers. It's time for the Bush administration to be honest about the resistance, the $5-billion-a-month price tag, and the duration of this largely unwelcome occupation.”
Is Garofalo for real? Just ignore the goals of these folks. Fascist oppression of Iraqis, a return to Saddamite terror and blood, perhaps even a Talibanesque religious rule, depending on who would step in to take control if the US and Britain (and the UN) should leave. It doesn't matter ~ these thugs are battling American Hegemony, so they're all right with me, thank you very much!
And, can you believe those Republicans?
“They use the word evil-doer with a straight face.”
As a post-modernist, no act can be described as "evil", therefore, there can be no "evil-doers". Right? No, that's not what she meant -- she means that it's the Republicans who are the evil-doers. How dare they call someone else, a terrorist or a bloodthirsty fascist, for example, an "evil-doer".
Great theories, Janeane; keep'em coming! (No, really, I mean it.)
The MRC report concludes:
“We can no longer tolerate anti-intellectualism, we can no longer tolerate liberal bashing and we can no longer tolerate the politics of the dumb and the mean. Thank you.” -- Janeane Garofalo
If we shouldn’t tolerate “anti-intellectualism,” then we shouldn’t tolerate Janeane Garofalo.
9:42pm ADT
Switching To Glide is On The Air!
What's that you say? You can't find a good music blog? You're particularly, but not exclusively, interested in Canadian music and you want to hear and learn more? You're not getting enough opinions on music these days?
Well, rest at ease, your worries are over! Just head on over to Switching to Glide, a new Canadian Music blog.
Thanks to David for setting it up.
4:59pm ADT
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
I enjoy most of Victor Davis Hanson's articles, but particularly the ones where he asks (and answers) the tough questions.
What is a military alliance? Is it a bilateral, consensual effort to prevent military aggression? That is not quite the situation in Korea, where intellectuals write revisionist histories blaming us for the conflict; where a young generation demonstrates against our presence; where politicians employ bribery to open dialogue with the enemy North — and all the while 38,000 Americans patrol as sitting ducks for Communist artillery. Or is it NATO, where the host city of Brussels seeks to indict American generals as war criminals, and most of the member states spend only half what America does on defense?
We need to redefine quite radically all these concepts in the post-9/11 world. Quietly and without fanfare, we will by necessity soon come to see the world in entirely different ways. Bases must be far smaller and built at the invitation of the host, and we must have in advance a clear understanding of under which exact conditions they can be used. Our German deployment should be cut up and resituated among many Eastern European countries, with advance guidelines as to how soldiers can be sent out should trouble arise in the Middle East.
We should also accept the notion that neutrals are not allies, and thus should not pillory them for their triangulation. We are angry at France only because it is a duplicitous ally; once we cease seeing it as a close friend, we will be no more angry with it than we are with Sweden or New Zealand — which both have at times expressed their anti-Americanism, and expect nothing from us should they find themselves in crises. Germany's behavior now grates on us, but only because we expect it to be a Britain — rather than a Belgium, to which it is far more closely attuned. We should never be angry with Canada, simply because we should never expect anything from it — inasmuch as it has long ago decided to emulate the European Union model. Let us respect its status as a neutral and pacifistic state that neither wishes nor deserves cooperation with the United States in defense matters.
Come, now, Vic. Canada did send troops into battle in the war on terror, in Afghanistan. Special forces had Taliban/al-Qaeda kills, and Canadian infantry suffered casualties. Canada's small navy has been active in the Persian Gulf in the war on terror. Canadians took part in the NATO attack against Milosevic. We haven't acted as pacifists over the last few years.
Point taken, though. More won't be expected until the capability is there; Canada's forces should be strengthened and ready to play a larger role in the war on terror.
7:26pm ADT
Monday, August 18, 2003
Hmm, I must be getting excited about the upcoming music blog Switching To Glide (switchingtoglide.ca) where bloggers like David Janes, Alan McLeod, and myself will blog the light fantastic on all things musical, skewed Canadian, of course.
Alan is maintaining some highlights from Brent Bambury's playlist. Brent has a show on CBC Radio Ottawa, and is one of the coolest and most personable guys in Canadian mediadom. WHY ISN'T THIS A NATIONAL SHOW!?!?
So go ahead. Pick any day's tunes picked by Brent Bambury as heard on CBC Ottawa's All in a Day. You won't find a better music selection on radio anywhere - certainly not the deeply dowdy CBC.
I will note some of the best picks below as I hear them:
Tuesday, June 3, 2003: "Radio Radio" by Elvis Costello. I had this his second lp, This Year's Model, in grade 11 - the Belgian pressing. Still have it.
Friday, June 6, 2003: "Radio Gaga" by Queen. I had this, too, but my relationship with Freddie Mercury flagged what with punk's accusations and later '80's quasi-folk Bragg and Pogues as well as the Mancunian simplicity of the Smiths. More than a guilty pleasure: thanks, Wayne.
Now many of us know Brent from his co-hosting duties on CBC tv's Midday program.
I knew him before that, too, as he hosted CBC Radio's Brave New Waves. An important show.
From a NOW magazine article commemorating the show's first 15 years,
"The show really began operating with two broad mandates," offers Bambury, who was the voice of Brave New Waves from 1985 to 94. "The first was that it was youth programming, and the second was that it try not to be mainstream.
There was a very different concept of what was and wasn't mainstream in 1985. College radio was pretty much in its infancy, and alternative radio didn't exist. There was a tradition of playing things like Zappa on FM radio, but we tried to go beyond that. Brave New Waves was designed to evolve over the night. You'd start with one type of music and end up with another when the show was over."
The Campbrain must not be working properly. I finished high school in 1983, and seem to associate BNW with at least grade 12. I'm obviously wrong. Stupid brain.
College radio was definitely in its infancy in 1985 ~ I had my own show at St.F.X.! CFXU, campus radio, Tuesday nights, 9-11. Wish I could still do that show. I recall being chastised by the station manager for playing Ernie's "Rubber Ducky" one night. (I can see his point; that kind of thing really screws up the stats.) I also had a habit of sticking a Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul song in there most nights.
I think the band I associate most with BNW is Simple Minds, one of my all time favourites. I hope I'm not wrong in that one too. I don't think I am.
Anyway, a classic, great show. Thank you, Brent.
9:59pm ADT
Sunday, August 17, 2003
Noticed some site traffic coming from some US Navy Chiefs' site called the Goat Locker (goatlocker.org).
Of course, all it was was some dick on a message board posting an image from my Halifax tour and making no mention of my site. Essentially, stealing my bandwidth.
He also lifts my description verbatim, again, with zero credit.
Changed the image filename, of course, and replaced the image with a redirect notice to my tour page.
Arsehole.
8:44pm ADT
Mark Steyn asks what's the difference between Arianna Huffington and a porn star?
To be fair, unlike Angelyne, whose two most notable features are remarkably unchanged since their first appearance in 1982, Arianna does show a Madonnaesque shrewdness for reinvention. In Hollywood in 2000, she backed Warren Beatty for president, but he wimped out. In Washington in the '90s, she adored Newt Gingrich, until she figured he was a busted flush. In New York in the '80s, she hooked up with wealthy Republican Michael Huffington, but he didn't have the fire in his belly. In London in the '70s, she was the young paramour of Fleet Street heavyweight Bernard Levin, but he was too old and content. In Hooterville in the '60s, she had a recurring role on "Green Acres" as Eva Gabor's ambitious younger sister, forever trying to talk Eddie Albert into running for the Hooterville School Board. "But, dahlink, yoo vood moov Hooterville politics beyond the tired left/right dichotomy." Alas, her men, like her enviro-friendly cars, never quite go the distance. Even in their allegedly sinister heyday, Michael and Arianna Huffington seemed less suited to play Macbeth and Lady M than "y Big Fat Greek Wedding"in dinner theatre at Coconut Grove. So Arianna Gabor Stassinopoulos Huffington has finally quit trying to jumpstart defective vehicles for her political drive, and do it herself.
7:59pm ADT
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't I hear President Bush the other day explain that the power transmission system was "old" and "inadequated"?
A Bushism, then, to be sure, but I like it. If something is 'inadequate' and 'antiquated', then, naturally, logically, that thing could be said to be inadequated.
I recognize this coinage, and shall spend it freely.
7:41pm ADT
Lori and I arrived at Pearson (Toronto) at 9am on Thursday, August 13th. Just going up for a quick visit with some friends. Heather and the two boys picked us up and took us out to Georgetown, a town northwest of T.O. Our friend Mike was still downtown working, so we eventually headed out to meet him at Yorkdale Shopping Center (central, just south of the 401).
We went in and had an enjoyable late lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Mike showed up and we all decided to do a bit of mall crawling. Pottery Barn first, then Williams-Sonoma. Then the lights went out. They seemed to stay on in a few other stores for a moment, but then they all went down, of course. Mike was fortunate to have just made it off the subway system at Yorkdale prior to the black out.
It was a stinkin' hot day ~ around 39C with the good old humidex.
We all got in the van and headed north. Despite pleas from the folks at 680 Talk Radio, which appeared to be one of the few stations remaining on the air, people were not treating intersections as four-way stops. In fact, there appeared to be a bit of a normal, natural flow to the traffic. A dozen or so cars would go through north-south, then another dozen or so would go east-west, and so on.
We did come across some fine citizens out in the intersections directing traffic. One guy's buddies were laughing at him from the sidewalk, but he was doing a damn good job. Cheers to everyone who helped out like that. Apparently, in some cases, Toronto police were giving reflective vests to those who were helping out in this way, inviting them to keep on helping out.
Deciding to bypass the 401 - which may not have been any worse, as all arteries were jammed - we kept on north and headed west on the 407. [Translation for American readers - we kept on north and headed west on 407.]
Like I said, it was jammed. Some people (who were low on gas, perhaps?) took refuge under different overpasses. Maybe they had just had enough of the traffic.
It was only while driving on the 407 west that we learned the extent of the black out. Such an odd feeling to be among 50 million North Americans without power. Thoughts of terrorism did come to mind, and the radio had reports of smoke coming from a generator down the lakeshore. But, soon 680 reported authorities saying that it was not due to terrorism.
At the same time, you couldn't help thinking ~ wouldn't terrorists just love to create a situation exactly like this, or worse. In this case, the system itself wasn't damaged; how long would the power be off if there was significant damage to key generating plants?
What would normally have been a 30-40 minute drive from Yorkdale to Georgetown ended up taking about 2.5 hours. The low-fuel indicator light was on as we got to their driveway.
We certainly realized there were folks a lot worse off than us. Really, it wasn't much of a problem at all. The central air in Mike & Heather's house had kept things cool enough for the remainder of the day. All those poor people stuck in elevators, or subway cars, or in Sudbury mines, or stranded many miles from their homes. Brutal.
We spoke to the outside world and my mother, calling herself Anne Hanomansing (Canadiana reference), passed on the Niagara NY lightning strike rumour.
Our host, Mike, being a magician and mentalist, made a quite accurate prediction regarding the return of power. He said 9:19pm Thursday evening; it was, in fact, 9:26pm Thursday evening when the power came back on. We just happened to be in one of the lucky areas, and perhaps a smaller sized power grid, as it did not go off again throughout the weekend. Well done on your prediction, Mike, and we'll completely discount the fact that you had a bit of an insider tip from a member of Toronto's Finest.
The next morning, we sat and pored through the morning papers. Mike was pissed at Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton, who had apparently been blathering on about it being the Tory government's fault (obviously, the Ontario Tories did a terrible job maintaining the power systems in Ohio and throughout much of the northeastern United States).
Then I watched Bloomberg passing on his electrical engineering expertise and explaining how it was Canada's fault.
We ventured out on Friday. It was pretty dead. A few stores were open at Mavis & Britannia, but ended up closing early. We found a Harvey's restaurant that was open, so ate lunch there. As we were leaving, power was restored to a set of traffic lights adjacent to the restaurant, and the Toronto police officer stopped directing traffic and got back in his car, likely to head off to yet another intersection without power.
Heather's dad was staying downtown, so we went down for 7 and had a wonderful dinner at the Pearl (Chinese food) at Queens Quay Wharf (or near there, anyway). Everything seemed to be up and running downtown.
Luckily, we just packed carryon luggage, so we just went to the Express kiosks at Pearson this morning and breezed by the incredible lineup for everyone else who was checking in (never checking luggage again if I can help it).
Thanks to M&H for the wonderful hospitality. It was fun being a part of history in the making (although I'm sure it would have been less fun if the power stayed off longer, and we weren't able to get the van gassed up again, or if we had packed luggage and had to wait in that horrid lineup, etc., etc.).
The Blogfather has been covering things, naturally, safe in the juiced up confines of his Tennessee lair. Michael Demmons reports that the Dems are blaming Bush for the black out! Damian Penny reports on the spin taken by the conspiro-freaks.
4:04pm ADT