A walk in the woods: choose wisely

Which path would you choose?

Would the adjacent sign affect your decision?

 (Shmeegs?)

Would you consider the relative scariness and likelihood of this...

...compared to this?

(Photo source).

Would the sight of vultures circling overhead affect your decision making?

 (is there a fresh bear kill in the woods, or are they waiting for the siren dinner bell?)

This was our final choice.

It seemed to be a good one.

This was our Sunday lunchtime cool-down during The Big Time Out, a music festival in Cumberland on Vancouver Island. The record-breaking heat (something like 36C on Saturday - that's 97F) may have affected my opinion somewhat, but I have to say that while it was a fun weekend and an amazing setting,

the line-up was a bit of a disappointment. Lots of "this is OK" or "oh, these guys have some decent stuff", not much "WOW, these guys are AWESOME!"

Saturday was especially meh - the opening act was the best one all day, and while the headliners (Broken Social Scene) were also very good, the penultimate band had managed to suck most of the energy out of the crowd by the time they came on, so it was all a bit muted.

Sunday was better - the dip in the river was better preparation for the day than sweating in the tiny patch of shade thrown by our hastily rigged tarp had been the day before. But while the headliner K'naan rocked the house as usual, he didn't have any new songs; it was essentially the same set we saw him do in Vancouver in March 2009. I guess a whole year spent on the World Cup music tour precludes much writing of new material. But still, great set, and he and a couple of other bands we saw over the two days (Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees, Vitaminsforyou, Mutaytor, Kim Churchill, and especially Tambura Rasa) inspired some happy "dancing barefoot on the grass" moments in me. And as this was a very small festival, there was a really nice friendly atmosphere with lots of happy people and little kids running around all over the place. All very different to my previous music festival experiences - all in Scotland, at massive events with two stages, multiple gig tents, fairgrounds, and drunken Scots everywhere!

Overall though, my main impression of the event was of overwhelming, baking heat. Oh, except at night, when it was freezing! There was about an hour of comfortable temperature in the morning, and maybe a couple of hours in the evening, but the rest of the time was spent either sweating buckets and trying not to move, or shivering in all the clothes I'd brought. The festival and adjacent campsite were in an open field, with very little shade. We got lucky and bagged a spot next to the fence, so we pooled resources (tarps and blankets) with one of our neighbours to set up a small patch of (still baking hot) shade between the fence and our tents. The poor people who arrived later and camped in the middle of the field had no shade at all though. It's rained at every single other music festival I've ever been to - on one memorable occasion at T in the Park in Scotland it got so muddy that some of the tents in the sloping campsite started to slide downhill - and that's always miserable and muddy and nasty, but surely there's a happy medium somewhere!

In these circumstances, we declared this frozen mango impaled on a stick

to be the best thing ever invented in the history of humanity. I literally felt new energy flooding back into my poor heat-sensitive Celtic body as I ate it.

Mmmmmm, mangogasm.

There was also the usual lack of sleep that you get at festivals. The tents were all packed in like sardines, and some of our other neighbours were the loudest, douchiest, most obnoxious people on the site. Their conversation kept everyone in the vicinity awake from 1 - 5:30 am on the first night as one guy shared tales of all his sexual conquests in quite an aggressive, nasty way (and repeated everything at least once to make sure he'd been heard). At one point I whispered to Mr E Man "wow, that guy must have a really, really small penis", and after that we referred to him as Douchebag McTinydick, which made us feel better - as did the news Mr E Man overheard on Monday morning that the whole group had been so hungover and tired after that night that they fell asleep in their camp chairs and missed K'naan on the Sunday!

Karma - don't you just love it?!

Like I say though, overall it was a good weekend, with the swim in the river being the highlight. Oh, and we saw dolphins from the ferry on the way back, which was awesome! We might go back to The Big Time Out in the future, depending on the line-up (and the weather forecast), but our shade-sharing neighbour also gave us lots of tips about other small festivals she's been to around BC that are apparently much better. There's a jazz / world music festival in Kaslo (a nine hour drive from Vancouver) where the stage floats on a lake, and the crowd can wade in the lake up to their waists while listening.

Watch this space... Summer 2011... maybe!

The True North Strong and "CHARGE!!!!!!!"

So, apparently Harper thought that it would be a good idea to hold the G20 meeting in the middle of downtown Toronto.

The inevitable happened.

Now, let's get one thing clear. I do not condone violence - in fact, I hate it. I don't see how smashing things advances any cause, and in fact it detracts attention from the peaceful protesters who have valid points about wealthy nations' treatment of people and the environment. I was angry - livid - at the Black Bloc people who smashed windows in downtown Vancouver and intimidated people during the Olympics, and local activists who've worked for years to improve life in the Downtown Eastside seemed to feel the same way.

But the video below (and others like it all over the news yesterday) destroyed almost all the sympathy I had for the police. They let people torch police cars and smash windows on Saturday, and then on Sunday, this happened:


Peaceful G20 protest at Queen & Spadina from Meghann Millard on Vimeo.

Stephen Harper once said "You won't recognize Canada when I get through with it".

Hey, Stephen? I think I liked it better before.

(And maybe next time, hold the meeting in Nunavut.

In winter.

Either that or hold a teleconference).

So, only men get to propose marriage and decide when to buy property?

From my bank's website:

Well, straight men and lesbians. This is Canada - same-sex marriage is legal - but apparently straight women and gay men don't get to take part in this survey. Equality FAIL!

Perogies good, proroguing bad

Well, we couldn't have picked a nicer day for my first protest rally!

Looking all patriotic at the Olympic countdown clock (hockey is too patriotism)

It all started off a bit chaotic; lots of signs, a carnival band, an underpowered PR system, and no visible organisation.

I did spot my MP, Don Davies, and I was just about to go over and introduce myself when we started our march to Victory Square.

Here's one of my first ever videos... I'm still getting to grips with the camera (a Christmas present from my sister) and with iMovie, so please bear with me! (And can I just say once again that Macs and iLife RULE??!! Adding the music* at the end was super easy. I am very impressed so far)

The march was really good fun (and I was ridiculously proud of my "more cowbell!" moment). The first few speeches at Victory Square were good, too, and we enjoyed some more creative signs.

The MC was fantastic. Best moment:

MC: "And we have some elected representatives with us on stage today,"

Heckler: "Booooooooooooooooooo!"

MC: "Are you protesting the concept of elected representatives? Because I think you might be at the wrong rally"

Heckler: "Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

MC: "Elected representatives are kinda the whole point"

Heckler: "(Something) Harper (Something Something Mumble) power!"

MC: "Oh, Dad. I asked you not to come".

But to be honest, an hour of speeches was enough and we took an increasingly cold and disgruntled Morgan to warm up in a pub.

Overall, it was a very positive experience. I do have to say, though, that the crowd was smaller than I'd been hoping. Enough to stop traffic, enough to make a point, but nowhere near the crowds they attracted in Toronto and Ottawa. In part this is because of the skewing of parliamentary representation towards the East - a mixture of not keeping up with greater population density in the West, appeasing Quebec, and the effects of the time zones means that elections are pretty much already decided before the polls in BC and Alberta have even closed. Hence greater voter apathy in the West - and we all know that voter apathy is the true enemy, especially when skillfully manipulated by people like Harper**.

So it was interesting that among all the usual special interest groups that piggy-backed on this protest***, the electoral reform people were the most prominent, handling out lots of literature and having a speaker on the programme. We've discussed this before on here, and I still maintain that a mixed system like the Scottish one would be better than the pure PR system that others favour. But the current situation is clearly not tenable. The rally's organisers stressed that Saturday should represent just a beginning, and I have to agree. Harper won't care how many people came out to protest against his shenanigans unless he takes a much bigger hit in the polls, so while I'm not going to give up protesting prorogation, I am also going to look into what I can do to help the electoral reform movement. It's obviously not in the interests of the ruling party (or the Liberals, as official opposition) to change the status quo, but it does feel like momentum is building (in Ontario if not in BC), and people are in this for the long haul.

---------------
*K'naan. He (and this song in particular) are gonna be HUGE when the World Cup starts this summer, and I get to say "I saw him when... :)

**You might be able to overhear in the video part of a phone conversation with a friend we thought would have wanted to attend the rally. This person is very politically aware and has been to other protests in the past, but didn't think this rally was for them. But really, what's the point of protesting environmental or foreign policy decisions when there's no parliament in session to do anything about it?

***I got a flyer from the Marxist-Leninist party of Canada (good luck with that, guys), and Mr E Man and I were both approached by a rabidly anti-Olympics protester. 


Protester: "Do you want some information about how to protest the Olympics?"


Mr E Man: "No thanks. The Olympics are paying my bills right now."


Friend: "Don't tell him that!!!"


Protester: "Yeah, I wouldn't admit to that in public. Not around here anyway"

Mr E Man: "Would you rather I was collecting EI?"



Then:


Protester: "Do you want some information about how to protest the Olympics?"

Me: "Hell no! I've got hockey tickets!"


At that point, he gave up and went to bother some other people.

Well, this is a good sign...

From my stats page:

Canadian flag? Check!

Team Canada hockey jersey? Check!

Stills camera? Check!

Video camera? Check!

iPhone (back-up camera and for organisation/meet-up purposes)? Check!

Angry mob? Check!

Wish us luck!

Anti-prorogue rally: Vancouver details

Just a quick note for local readers about tomorrow's anti-prorogue rally. The rally starts at 1pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and I'm going to be meeting Kyrsten and other friends at 12.50pm outside Future Shop (the entrance on Robson, next to the Ecco Store) before walking down. Feel free to join us!


The organisers would like everyone to wear red and white and carry Canadian flags. I have one from my citizenship celebrations, and I'll be wearing my Team Canada hockey jersey. It'll be too cold to show off my tattoo, though...

Pro-democracy, anti-rogue.

Imagine a leader with George W Bush's politics, and Tony Blair's tactical brain.

Scary, right?

Meet Stephen Harper.

Quite possibly the most right-wing Western leader still standing, after the US and Australia saw sense

Responsible for Canada being awarded several Fossil of the Day awards at the Copenhagen talks, and walking away with the Colossal Fossil grand prize.

You may remember that I wrote about Harper's anti-democratic tendencies back in December 2008. Facing almost certain defeat in a no-confidence vote tabled by a (sadly short-lived) coalition of opposition parties, he asked the Governor General to suspend ("prorogue") parliament. He gambled on the self-interest of the individual party leaders overriding their enthusiasm for the coalition - and he won.

And now, he's done it again.

"We're in ur parliament, suspending ur democracy"

This article in The Economist provides a nice summary, especially for non-Canadians. Briefly, facing very difficult questions about the government's knowledge of the abuse of Afghan detainees captured by Canadian troops, our esteemed Prime Minister has used the Olympics (~4,600km from Ottawa) as an excuse to prorogue parliament until March. Every bill before parliament, no matter what stage it had reached, now goes back to square one, and oh look, Harper gets to appoint senators to the upper house without going through the usual vetting processes.

He's gambling again.

He's gambling that the shamefully low voter turnout in the last couple of elections means that Canadians can be distracted from the suspension of their democracy by Olympic hockey.

This time, though, there's a backlash.

I am angry. Seriously pissed off. So is Mr E Man, and so are many of our friends, who between us vote NDP, Liberal, Green, and the Work Less Party. (I've read online that even some Conservative Party supporters are angry and joining the protests; this is bigger than party politics). We've been talking about it a lot (yes, in between hockey talk), and it looks like we'll be taking a decent sized group of people to the rally planned for January 23rd. This will be the first political rally that most us has ever attended. I've also signed a petition, joined the Facebook group (>150,000 members and climbing), and (again for the first time in my life), written to my MP and the Governor General.

Astroturfers, this is what a real grassroots movement looks like!

-----------------------------------

Letter to my MP

Don Davies is from the NDP, the third party, and therefore a) will most likely reply to say "I agree" and b) can't really do much about it. But if I can add my name to the list of "X people in my constituency have written to me", and perhaps even help persuade him to attend the rally, then hey, can't hurt.

Subject: prorogation of parliament


Dear Mr. Davies,

Like many Canadians, I am extremely upset and angry about the Prime Minister's decision to prorogue parliament for the second time in as many years. I am writing to you to ask that you ignore Stephen Harper's request to prorogue parliament, and join Liberal party MPs in attending anyway. I think that this would make a very powerful statement to Mr. Harper that the Canadian people and their elected representatives will not tolerate his attempts to derail democracy in our country.

My husband and I, and many of our friends, are planning to attend the anti-prorogue rally that is being planned for January 23rd. For many of us, this will be our first ever political rally - a measure of the strength of our feelings about this issue (this is also the first time I have ever been moved to write to my MP). Do you, and other local NDP MPs, plan to attend this event? Again, I think that your attendance would make a very strong statement to Mr. Harper. The details are still being arranged and will be posted at http://citizensfordemocracy.ca/rallies/.

I look forward to your reply

Sincerely,

Find your MP's contact info here.


-----------------------------------

Letter to the Governor General


Michaëlle Jean is the current representative of the Queen, our nominal head of state. She seems like a very nice, thoughtful lady who took a largely ceremonial role that has not historically held any real power. However, by allowing Harper to prorogue parliament the first time, she set a very dangerous precedent. There's no doubt that he's put her in a very difficult position, but she has to take a large share of the blame for our current situation. Long-term, the biggest impact of Harper's decision may well be the end of the monarchy in Canada. As a Brit, I'm ambivalent to weakly pro-monarchy (for Britain). As a Canadian, I'm quite strongly anti-monarchy (for Canada). Let's have a Canadian head of state, eh? This is the 21st Century... (join us, Aussie and Kiwi brothers and sisters!)

Anyway, I digress. Here's what I wrote (following the guidelines of "styles of address for federal dignitaries", of course. This is a Canadian revolution, there's no need to be rude):

Excellency,

I am writing to you to express my disappointment and anger that you have agreed to the Prime Minister's request to prorogue parliament for the second time in as many years. Mr. Harper is placing party politics above his responsibility to democracy and to the people he is supposed to represent. As Governor General, I would wish for you to be a voice of the Canadian people and a defender of our constitution, not simply a stamp of approval on all of the Prime Minister's requests.

I understand that you did not take this decision without a great deal of thought, but I hope that the growing public reaction to this second prorogation has convinced you that you acted counter to the wishes of millions of Canadians. A lot of us are very upset and angry; this is the first time I have ever been moved to write to my MP, to you, and to attend a political rally. And I know that I am not alone.

As a proud dual citizen of Canada and the United Kingdom, I expect more from the representatives of my monarchy.

Yours truly,

I told her, eh? You can write to her yourself at info@gg.ca


I'll keep you posted with any replies, and with photos of the rally. 


Let's keep our land glorious and free!

"But the thing you don't realize is that there's good naked and bad naked"

I came home from work last night to find Mr E Man watching one of those survival shows on the Discovery Channel. Some testosterony chap was striding around the Namibian desert killing snakes and being condescending in a way that reminded me of my ex-boyfriend ("not a lot of people know this, but..." and "you might think [X], but you'd be wrong").

But the really weird part came when the show restarted after a commercial break. One of those parental warnings came on screen, and a very deep and serious voice announced that "this show contains scenes of indigenous nudity".

Indigenous nudity?

As opposed to regular nudity?

Indeed, the next segment featured Condescending Man killing a porcupine with a group of indigenous people. There were bums (as in butts, if you're North American) and boobs on display.

But...

But but but...

Is this supposed to be different to Western nudity? Like, is it supposed to be "better" (i.e. less corrupting to children) to see an African hunter-gatherer's bum or boob than a bare bum on the street in Toronto, or a boob on stage at the Superbowl half-time show? If so, why? Because "they're savages and don't know any better?" There was something about the whole show that got my back up (maybe the similarity to my ex-boyfriend, duh), which might be making me infer more from the parental warning than was actually there.

But c'mon, people. A bum is a bum and a boob is a boob.

And neither is inherently corrupting to children.

Book Reviews: the good science, the bad science, and the ugly

Inspired by Science Bear's epic book review post, here are three very overdue book reviews of my own!

The Good Science

Dry Store Room No.1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum, by Richard Fortey.

I first visited the Natural History Museum in London when I was 16, and it was love at first sight. It's a beautiful building in its own right, and full of geeky pleasures ranging from stuffed dodos to videos describing chromosomal recombination and meiosis. I've since been back several times, to the bafflement of my sister, who lives in London and doesn't understand how I can spend all day in the museum (and neighbouring science museum - both free! Thanks, Tony Blair!) while she's at work. (What can I say, I had to see the new Darwin Centre when the first phase opened - I did a tour with a group of other tourists, and when they made us put on lab coats, everyone else giggled and did up all the buttons and took photos of each other, while my own coat flapped open as I walked about hands in pockets, and bugged the tour guides with questions about whether they could extract RNA from the pickled lizards).

It was actually my sister who bought me this book, a behind-the-scenes view of the museum from the resident trilobite man (and now I know how to pronounce trilobites! Bonus!) I was in heaven as I read about the dusty store rooms with their hidden treasures, and the crazy characters who populate the museum's back rooms. There were times when I felt the book went into too much detail, but overall it was a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of natural history museums in general, and the London version in particular.

8/10

The Bad Science

Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre

This is one of the best, and definitely the most important, of the books I've read this year. Everyone should read this book. EVERYONE!

If you've read Ben Goldacre's blog of the same name, you'll have a good idea of what to expect from the book - a dissection of the dubious science reporting that drives us all crazy. The author's disdain for the quacks and journalists who spread inaccuracies and outright lies is clear - but the book manages to be funny at the same time!

Well, at least towards the beginning. The early chapters rip apart the more benign incidences of bad science - the detox footbaths and homeopaths of the world. As the book progresses, the targets get larger and more important - think big pharma and the anti-vaccination movement - and the tone understandably gets more serious.

As you might expect from a British author, there is a focus on the British press - for example, the anti-vaccination chapter focuses on the media frenzy around the MMR vaccine, which went largely unnoticed in North America, where people chose to panic about mercury instead. But, as Goldacre says, the fact that there were different frenzies in different countries is yet further evidence for the hollowness of anti-vaccine arguments; if there was any genuine link between vaccines and ill health, you would expect people to claim the same link all over the world. (Apparently in France the worry is that the Hep B vaccine causes MS - but who in the UK or North America has heard of that one?!)

If, like me, you're already convinced that homeopathy is nothing but overpriced water and that the anti-vaccination movement is intellectually bankrupt, this book obviously won't change your mind. It's still well worth a read, though, to help you understand why so many people have been misled by media and quack practices that range from the dishonest to the downright dangerous.

If you know someone who's not a scientist, and who is on the fence about any of these issues (using homeopathic cold remedies, for example, or (more to the point) trying to decide whether they should get their baby vaccinated), I imagine they would benefit enormously from reading this book. Buy it for them - seriously! The book started quite the conversation when I started reading it at a gathering of my in-laws, several of whom are into homeopathy and associated woo (there was some muttering about the book in the kitchen later, but don't worry, we're all still the best of friends!) And I've passed it on to a friend who has been subjected to some of the anti-vaccine woo and was starting to be swayed by it.

10/10, VERY highly recommended.

The Ugly

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

I was soooo excited to read this book. It's the third in the Jackson Brodie trilogy; the first book is one of my all-time favourites, but I found the second a little disappointing. It breaks my heart to have to tell you that the third book continued the trend of declining quality.

True to form, Atkinson's writing is still wonderful, somehow blending humour with bleak despair,  and with occasional toe-curlingly, grin-at-strangers-on-the-bus moments of linguistic ecstasy. And her characters, old and new, are still amazingly vivid and real - you feel like you know these people.

But.

But, but, but.

Reading the book was like stuffing myself with junk food; pleasurable while it lasted, but ultimately deeply unsatisfying. Atkinson's trademark weaving together of several story threads felt forced and unnatural. Whereas the previous books brought characters together through asthma attacks or car accidents, When Will There Be Good News? relies on murders, kidnappings, and train crashes. It was just too much.

I can forgive my favourite author one bad book; I'll buy the next one for sure (although I'll probably wait for the paperback, rather than pre-ordering the hardback like I did with this one). But if the law of diminishing returns continues, I may have to cut my losses and stop reading before I pollute my feelings about some of my all-time favourite books.

9/10 for the writing, 4/10 for the actual book.

Tuesday pet peeve: noisy neighbours

We're avoiding the worst effects of the (now thankfully waning) heatwave by sleeping in the spare bedroom, which is much cooler than our own. However, last night's attempt at a good night's sleep was a massive FAIL.

It is NOT COOL to use power tools in a residential neighbourhood at 11 pm on a weeknight.

Mr E Man had to go out into the back alley in just his shorts last night to find the perpetrators and ask them to STFU. (Response: "but we've almost finished!" Tough shit, buddy, some people get up at 5.30 am for work).

It is NOT COOL to repeatedly attempt to park a huge truck equipped with one of those beeping reversing / backing up alarms, in the same back alley, at 1 am on a weeknight.

Especially when you clearly suck at parking. Perpetrators currently unknown as I couldn't actually see the truck from the window.

The subsequent Crazy Kitteh attacks on our feet were no-one's fault but our own; we've been keeping the bedroom door open to get the benefit of the ceiling fan in the next room, giving the cats access to our sleeping selves for the first time. But the damage was already done by the time the latest manifestation of a recent jump in feline craziness started to hit, just as it got light.

A plague of tinnitus upon noisy neighbours!

Windows on Vancouver

This is the Little Mountain public housing complex in East Vancouver.

My fellow X-Philes may recognise Little Mountain as one of the locations in last year's "I Want to Believe". It was used as the exterior set for the lodgings where Father Joe and other convicted sex offenders stayed, and was described by the character as a "hell hole". In the movie, the darkness and snow did conspire to make some of the scruffier buildings look like a less than desirable residence.

The "hell hole" description is horribly unfair to Little Mountain as a whole though. I cycle past it every day and have always thought that it looked like a really nice community.

See? By the park, mountain view, lots of trees and green spaces, places for kids to play, boarded up windows...

Wait, what?

It happened almost overnight. From lively community with children playing, parents barbequeing, and people tending their gardens and otherwise living their lives, to deserted ghost-town, the quiet disturbed only by joggers and geese.

I searched for a news story that day, telling me what had happened - but found nothing. Not that day, and not that week. About a month later I happened to pick up one of Vancouver's free papers, the Metro, and finally found an article about Little Mountain.

With a sinking feeling of inevitability, I learned that the city plans to tear the houses down and build a new condo complex. BUT - not for another two or three years. Even assuming that the development still goes ahead (the Vancouver condo market has taken a big hit recently), why move families out of what are apparently completely structurally sound homes? The former residents allege that they were pressured to move out, and understandably, they are not happy.

The city's policy is just plain crazy. Despite recent dips in the market, buying property here is still way beyond the reach of most people. On two decent salaries, Mr E Man and I could barely afford our own home, a small stucco box in a wee bit of a rough neighbourhood. And the vacancy rate for rentals is ridiculously low. Vancouver has a massive homeless population already, due to being one of the few places in Canada where people can survive a winter on the streets. Addiction and mental health problems run rampant. Why add to the problem?

I hope all the families of Little Mountain found somewhere else to live. And I hope our new mayor, Gregor Robertson, lives up to his campaign promises on tackling homelessness.

-------------------

The former residents, joined by political activists, have chosen to articulate their feelings through art. It's an amazing expression of their grief for what once was; their wish to reclaim their homes and recreate their community.

Some people have created generalised illustrations of the concept we call "home";

while others have opted for a more personal touch;

and I've noticed more political statements creeping in recently.

It's so beautiful in there, so peaceful, and so heartbreakingly sad.

-------------------

ETA: I found a website for a group called Community Advocates for Little Mountain, and signed their online petition. Just FYI.

Some laws are made to be broken

Like laws that impose a statute of limitations on genocide.

They should put this guy on trial.

Three people...

...who I wish would shuffle off into the obscurity of history.

The Pope, for speaking out against condom distribution in Africa (abstinence is the answer, apparently).

Canada's Science Minister, Gary Goodyear, for showing the tell-tale signs of being a creationist (H/T Ryan Gregory)

Some US Immigration agent for not letting a Canadian into the country to attend a tradeshow on the grounds that he was "stealing American jobs". Seriously, weren't they supposed to be cutting down on shit like this? I suppose he should count himself lucky he didn't get pepper sprayed*.

Bugger off, all three of you.

-------------------
*I should say that I consider anyone who "repeatedly" asks a border official to do anything to be an idiot. But still.

SUPERBAD

OK Mr Harper, so it's UNDEMOCRATIC for elected MPs to form a coalition to defeat your government, but it's somehow perfectly fine to get your boss to suspend Parliament so you can avoid a vote that you're sure to lose?

Man, I am gonna fail my citizenship test soooo badly if the above statement is actually true. How could anyone pick that option as the correct answer?

Disgraceful.

Maybe I should emigrate to Obamaland.

Heads will roll...

While our American friends are off enjoying their turkey, would any Canadians care to join me in a political rant?

A while ago, at the time of the Canadian general election (remember that? Anyone?), I blogged about a slimeball politician by the name of David Emerson. As I wrote at the time:

"Our local member of parliament (MP) is one David Emerson. This scumbag ran as a Liberal in the last election, which was set to be a tight race. He won, with 44% of the vote. The NDP took second place, with 34%, and the Conservatives finished third, with less than 20% of the local vote. However, the Conservatives won the most seats nationwide, and therefore won the election.

Just a few days later, Emerson switched parties and took up a cushy cabinet position in the new Conservative government.

The largely working class and/or immigrant local community, who traditionally hate the Conservatives, were outraged. There are still signs all over the area saying "de-elect David Emerson". But he was completely unrepentant. He's not standing as an MP anywhere in the country this time around, but is deluded enough to think that he would have won in this riding if he'd been on the ballot sheet. (Fat chance, mate). He's also saying that he was never a Liberal. I'd have more (i.e. some) respect for him if he said that he had changed his mind based on Liberal policies X, Y and Z. But he somehow thinks it's better to admit that he was a liar from the start."

Well, he's back. The Provincial government (currently the BC Liberal party, whose connection (or lack thereof) to the federal Liberal party I don't really understand), just gave him what the "neutral" CBC is calling a "plum Crown position" as "CEO and board chair of the BC Transmission Corporation, a Crown corporation that works with BC Hydro to supply electricity across the province".

This douchebag asshole bottom feeder* scumbag shouldn't be anywhere near public office. Check out some of the comments on the CBC news article for confirmation of the local outrage...

Fortunately the BC Liberals are increasingly unpopular, and a Provincial election is coming next year. I wasn't around the last time the BC NDP were in power, but I understand they were booted out of office a few years ago for making some very high profile mistakes regarding some expensive but useless ferries, among other things. I hope they've been forgiven... and I know I keep saying this, but I really hope I'm able to vote by then.

----------------------

*my original three insults were rejected due to the fact that these words represent things that are actually useful.

So sad

Snapped 15 minutes ago on my phone, right outside my office.

I wonder what the story is? How angry or otherwise messed up does a person have to be to trash a musical instrument? Especially a child's musical instrument? (For this was a very small guitar). It's analagous to burning books, at least to me...

Does not compute...

The following is a true account of a conversation I had a few years ago. I was in the middle of writing my PhD thesis, and was procrastinating by having coffee with a postdoc from the neighbouring lab. I'd always got on fairly well with "Dr X", although others found her difficult, so her attitude took me completely by surprise.

Me: "How's the job search going?"
Dr X: "Great! I have two offers! Norwich and Brighton!"
Me: "Congratulations, that's great! Which one are you going to take?"
Dr X: "Well, I'm not sure yet. I visited Norwich a few years ago, and it's just really really white, you know? I've found that places like that tend to be kinda racist. I think I might be happier somewhere with a bigger Asian population." (Dr X is a born and bred British citizen whose parents immigrated from Pakistan).
Me: "So, Brighton then?"
Dr X: "Well I'm not sure. It's a nice town, but it's full of poofs".

My first instinct was to laugh - I was sure she was joking. But not only was she most definitely not joking, she didn't even understand why I laughed, or why my amusement gave way to disgust when I realised she was serious.

My reaction to Dr X mirrored how I responded to the passing in California of Proposition 8 - a ban on gay marriage, carried largely by yes votes from visible minorities. How can a person who has been subject to prejudice and discrimination their whole lives, discriminate in turn against others? It seriously does not make ANY sense to me. As a gay Californian said in the linked article, "people do not equate one civil rights struggle with another."

Dr. A had a post on Tuesday that encourages Americans - gay and straight - to come out on Saturday to "Fight the H8". A weekend trip over the border to participate is almost certainly impossible for me, but if you're in the US, please do check out Dr. A's link.

I promise that my next post will mark a return to the usual silliness.

miTunes

Now here's an unbelievably ignorant comment for you:

I don't like most black people not because of their skin color, but because I don't like hip-hop and dancing. I don't like most women because I don't like shopping and romantic comedies. I do have female and black friends, however, because they don't belong to those cultures; they belong to my culture, which involves sci-fi, anime, and board games.

ScientistMother has already done an awesome job of ripping this comment to shreds, so I won't bother. But seeing as I described myself on that thread as "a white chick who loves (good) hip hop and board games and romantic comedies and shopping and sci-fi, but hates dancing and doesn't really get anime and likes square-toed boots more than pointy shoes", I've decided to segue seamlessly (or not) into a wee discussion of my musical tastes.

When I first came over from the UK I brought my favourite CDs in a folder. They reflected my taste at the time - almost all British Indie "four white guys with guitars and drums" music, with the occasional Chemical Brothers, Finlay Quaye, Fatboy Slim or Propellerheads album thrown in.

I'm glad to say that my tastes have diversified since then, thanks mostly to Mr E Man. He has a very eclectic music collection and introduced me to some great new bands*. He also has several friends who go out of their way to find new music, and then evangelically get the rest of us to listen to it too.

So, my budding iTunes library now has the following genre breakdown:

Acoustic: 14
Alternative & Punk: 254 (old habits die hard)
Blues & RNB: 6 (I have more CDs to be imported as soon as I get them back from my sister-in-law)
Country: 22 (previously a big no-no for me, but there is some good stuff out there!)
Electronica & Dance: 77
Folk: 21 (see Country)
Hip-Hop / Rap: 77
Jazz: 9 (still learning)
Pop: 86
Rock: 340 (see Alternative & Punk)
World: 23

Hey, can I turn that into a meme?!

This year's favourites:

Dusty Foot Philosopher by K'naan. Mr E Man saw K'naan at a music festival this summer and came back saying "you HAVE to hear this guy". He's in Canada as a refugee from Somalia, and incorporates his life story into his music. The whole album is great, but this is a stand-out.



(Mr E Man also brought back an album of didgeridoo music, which he admitted did not sound as good sober as it did when he was dancing to it at the festival).

Delhi to Dublin - Celtic / bhangra fusion. Seriously. This was the only clip I could find with decent sound, they're mostly a live band. I've now missed seeing them TWICE due to circumstances outside of my control.



Mao Tse Tung Said by the Alabama 3. I think these guys have been around for a while - they did the title track for The Sopranos - but I've only just got into them. Incredibly catchy! Let me hear some of that sweet muthafuckin' acid house country music!



And finally an old favourite that is in all my playlists - Good Girl Gone Bad by The Herbaliser feat Wildflower. I got totally obsessed with this tune the first time I heard it and played it like ten times in a row. I wanted to walk down the aisle to this song at our wedding, but Mr E Man wouldn't let me. We went with Here, There and Everywhere by the Beatles instead. We seriously considered having U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For as the first dance, but sanity and decorum prevailed and we chose Not Fade Away by the Stones instead.

Anyway. Enjoy.

(If the embedded video won't play or isn't visible (it's not from YouTube and didn't show up in the preview), here's a link)

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*on an early date, he took me to this little live music bar that looked like nothing from the outside but was hoppin' inside. There was an amazing jazz band playing, so we ended up staying until about 1 am. At that point the band were still going strong, and Mr E Man confessed that he'd been hoping they would either suck or finish early so he could take me home (for the first time) instead! We'd been talking about my musical tastes, best concert experiences etc, so he said "if you like we can go to my place and listen to some U2". "OK!" says the smitten English girl. When we got there he spent ages looking through his CD collection. "It doesn't have to be U2", I said. He replied with "Um, yeah, I don't have any".

This was also the night of the classic "This drink will put me over the limit so I can't drive you home, but as it happens this bar is only one block from my apartment". Just after we arrived at said live music venue. Yeah. I married a smooth mover.

The election selection

As one of them pesky foreigners, I don't think I should say any more than I already have about the US election.

Instead I'm going to link to a bunch of excellent posts from around the blogosphere*. (Edit: OK, and apparently I'm going to comment on them too - couldn't resist. Please pretend you didn't read the first sentence of this post).

Good luck to my American friends - I think I'm hoping for the same result as almost all of you! I'll be at the Canucks-Predators game, but with my ear close to the iPhone ground for updates. If anyone would care to leave comments here as the evening progresses, I'd be very grateful - I'll see more of the hockey if I just wait for the beep that means a comment has been emailed to me than if I'm constantly refreshing cnn.com manually!

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First up is Ruchi with a wonderful post that literally brought tears to my eyes. "It doesn't matter if your parents came from Kenya, or India, or North Dakota; you CAN still become president. [...] I may not want to be president anymore, but somewhere out there, I know a young child of immigrants is now free to dream big".

(Although, as Digital Cuttlefish points out, young American atheists are obviously gonna have to wait a bit longer for their chance to be treated as equals president: "No need to watch your language, Or to treat us with respect—Because demonizing us is still politically correct").

Microbiologist XX also posts about the importance of voting, regardless of where you live. It's not just about the Presidential ballot! Oh, and also, "If you don't vote, then you forfeit your right to complain about the government until the next election". Too right.

Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde shares her experiences as she volunteers for the Obama-Biden campaign in a swing state. "We had lots of pro-Obama responses, with the only exception being some people complaining they had been called TOO MUCH by the Obama campaign. If this is our biggest problem, we are doing ok." Good luck Dr J!

Todd Oakley injects some evolutionary theory (and a much-needed chuckle) into the proceedings. "A common theme of this blog is to share cases of "linear evolutionary thinking". These are instances, usually graphics, that illustrate the common conception of evolution as a line of progress, from worst to best". Click through for this particular example - you don't need to be a biologist to appreciate it!

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Bonus posts for my Californian reader(s), who are voting on Proposition 8:

DrugMonkey neatly eviscerates the alleged logic of the pro-(H)8 side: "I'm sure there are other classes of arguments and I'd like to hear something that sounds halfway rational. Have any of you Californians heard anything that makes any kind of sense? Because from where I sit, all I hear that makes any consistent sense in any of this is the following: "I just don't like gay people, in fact I fear and hate them.""

Meanwhile Digital Cuttlefish skewers the proposition in rhyme. "It’s a simple little proposition, Proposition Eight: All we ask is that you join us, as we all discriminate!"

And here's Ruchi again with "A Heart-felt Speech From The Republican Mayor of San Diego".

I am very proud that gay couples in both my native and adopted country can marry. I'm therefore wishing for an extra dose of good luck for my anti-prop 8 buddies and blog buddies down the coast...

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Finally, Bob is looking for new topics to keep the blogosphere busy after the election: "We have to save the poor slavering dears by giving them a topic to get excited about", he says. My suggestion of "football" seems to be working - for now.

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*posts featured here are rendered ineligible for "post of the week" bragging rights. Why? Because I said so...

Poor planning or Conservative conspiracy?

I've just realised that the English language debate between the five main Canadian party leaders is going to clash with the US Vice Presidential debate. Damnit! I originally thought the clash was with the French language debate.

What's an effectively unilingual, voteless but interested, Canadian resident to do? I really want to see what my next prime minister has to say for himself. But on the other hand I really really want to see Biden make Palin break down into incoherent babbling on live TV. Hmmm.

Well, since we only have one TV, I guess it comes down to how badly Mr E Man wants to see the Canadian debate. He already knows who he's voting for, so hopefully I can persuade him to watch the Palin train wreck and either record the Canadian debate or just watch all the analysis shows afterwards.

If I didn't know any better I'd say Stephen Harper had deliberately called the election at a time when it was bound to be overshadowed by media coverage of the American Presidential race. But surely he wouldn't do such a thing...

Right?