Saturday, May 22, 2004

Hey again

First some housekeeping. You may have noticed that I've been playing with the links setup over the past couple of days. I'd expect that it'll be an ongoing project. As such,I appreciate suggestions (via the comment box or email) if you stumble across a cool/informative/neat-o website. My Unca Pat suggested some Gram Parsons, and BAM!, a link appears. So please do send suggestions, it helps me keep things fresh. It's not a democracy, but it's as close as we get nowadays.

By the time you read this, the Govenor General will have dissolved Parliament and Canada will be full on into election mode. June 28th is a Monday and it is your right, your requirement, to vote. You are allowed time off work to do so. Whatever your political color is, vote. Apathy is the greatest ignorance.

And now, some Shakespeare:

Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace.
Even so my sun one early morn did shine
With all triumphant splendour on my brow;
But out, alack, he was but one hour mine;
The region cloud hath masked him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth:
Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Source

Good night, dream of flying.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 6:42 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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David Gray is on the stereo, life has nice little sountrack in this Saturday morning coffee shop.

I've gone and updated the "Updated Links" section, so check em out.

More pictures of prisoner abuse from Iraq, these ones are more graphic than the last ones, which makes me wonder when (if?) it will end. A debate is raging regarding the release of the remaining pictures. Should it be all at once, or a little at a time? For the Bush government, I would say the best political move would be the immediate release of all the pictures, get the worst of the storm over with. However, because I am a bleeding heart liberal, I like the trickle of pictures, as this tactic is kind of like picking at a scab. Just when it's almost healed, more irritation. It keeps the memories fresh and refreshed, which is all the better for the Democrats as the election draws closer.

Now for the Canadian political front, which should see an election call within the next few days for a June 28 vote. A new poll came out the other day with the Liberals at 39% and the Conservatives at 31%, which is quite close and (if true) would leave the Liberals with either a super slim majority or a minority government. The only catch in this story is that the poll was conducted jointly by The National Post and CanWest Global , two of the most right-wing organizations in Canada, who would love nothing more than to see the Liberals bounced from power. So I am a little suspicious of this poll, wondering how the questions were formed and delivered. Read close ladies and gentlemen, lots of information is tucked inbetween the lines.

I got up this morning at 4:55am (ugh!) and was getting dressed when two hoochie girls walked by the apartment, going home after a long night on Whyte Ave. And as I stood there, watching them walk by, I though to myself just how different my life is from theirs.

I got to work this morning at the godawful time of 5:45am, only to see one of my coworkers sleeping (passed out?) just outside the locked door. A kick to the ribs revealed that a hangover was present. I'm wondering about the sober factor, as it was about 3 degrees out and he was sawing the logs. Good laugh for that time of day though.

Okay, I gotts get studying, midterm (last midterm ever!) on Wednesday. Isn't life a kick in the pants?

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 11:08 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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Friday, May 21, 2004

With so many people
to love in my life
why do I worry
about one?

An excerpt from "Walk Away" by Ben Harper and The Innocent Crimminals

Hey hey to Linds aka "Highbeams" who gave a nicely justified answer to the historical "what if?" question I posed the other day. Cleopatra, hey? Somehow I think history would have played out quite a bit differently if Linds had her way. "Work slave-boy Ryan (whipping sound heard here)"

Thanks also to Dad, who posed an interesting question to Jeff, who has yet to respond because he is a scared little girly man. My dad, he's such a hippie at heart.

I was also made aware by Megan that I managed to spell "plagiarism" wrong throughout almost all of my rant. Look, I'm not a freaking English teacher, all right? I just work at a golf course. It's not surgery or nothing, but it pays the bills. Seriously, my bad. It's so much easier when you have a classroom of kids to call you on it.

I remain an anti-social bastard as I did not go camping this long weekend.

Work went okay this week. Last Saturday we had a irrigation pipe bust on #15, so I spent 4 hours on Saturday digging, well, a grave. It was about 5 feet deep, 3 feet across and 6 feet long. It was a barrel of monkeys, let me tell you. But it had to be done and I got to play in the mud. So this week, with no pipes bursting, was considerably better. I still think, as does everyone else, that Andrew "I'm 19 going on 15" Whateverthehellhislastnameis is an idiot, but until my personality-changing raygun is ready, I just have to live with it.

Okay, I work tomorrow, so I'd best get a lunch ready. Hope your long weekend is/was good. Take care of those you love.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 8:37 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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Wednesday, May 19, 2004

"Melancholy was the dominant note of his temperament, he thought, but it was a melancholy tempered by recurrences of faith and resignation and simple joy." ~~ James Joyce Dubliners

I like that quote, feels close to home.

Well many of you have been waiting for it, so here we go. After the shit hit the fan about Ralph's plagerism of internet sites, ole Ralph, with Lyle Oberg (Minister of Learning) standing right behind him, proclaimed that this whole plagerism thing was a "political witch hunt" and that the average Albertan doesn't care. Oberg, like the bitch-slapped little minister that he is, said nothing to contradict Klein, nor did he say anything about the wrongs of plagerism.

Firstly, this is wrong from an academic point of view. Even grade 7 kids know that you have to, simply must, cite your sources. It is not, as Klein suggested, his prof's job to catch him; instead he should follow the guidelines like everyone else when they submit a paper.

Secondly, Ralph is not like "every other struggling student." I think we all know that. I wish I was raking in his salary while going to school.

Thirdly, Athabasca should toss him, if indeed they do treat every student equally. They obviously don't (Animal Farm anyone?) but by letting him continue to study they not only become academically questionable, but will have a hard time taking disciplinary action against other students who steal material without citing it.

Finally, a few days after the newspapers picked up on this, presidents of both the U of A and the U of C wrote letters to the editor supporting Ralph's "life long commitment to learning." No mention of plagerism occurs in either of these letters, leading to (rightful) criticism that these presidents are simply currying the provinces favour. I find this most depressing of all, the presidents of the major learning institutions seemingly unwilling to condemn plagerism in order to further the economic interests. I understand that economics and funding are crucial to universities, but by ignoring plagerism and accepting it, the foundation of modern post-secondary education is weakened. And by passively accepting Ralph's excuses, the universities prostrate themselves at the feet of a government that has pillaged the entire Alberta education system. It cheapens not only the current universities, but all the degrees they have awarded in the past, mine included.

Most of you probably think that this doesn't matter in the long run and you may be right, it could just be a drop in the river. But it is rather sad that we seem to both acknowledge and accept the scourge of cheating from our highest provincial office. Democracy is a foreign word in this land of oil and money. The emperor may have no clothes, and we as a collective voter seem to be too chicken to say anything.

While I'm ranting about conservative politics, I would like to draw your attention to the new Conservative Party of Canada, which is currently featured on my "Sigh" link. All through the merger process, the Alliance said repeatedly that they were not executing a hostile takeover of the PC Party. Yet, as you click the link, notice the web address of the "new" Conservative Party of Canada. Firewalls anyone?

Okay, politics aside, I'm wondering if my readership has dropped, based on the fact that only one person replied to the question posed to you on Monday. Either that, or you are all happy when you were born, which I find hard to believe. If, like me, you were born in the 1970s, that means you lived through the 80s, which wasn't the pinnacle of culture. So? Is anyone out there?

Enough for today. Hope this finds you well. 3 months, 2 days until Kuwait. Shit.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 2:52 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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Monday, May 17, 2004

This is why the US election in November matters so much. As quoted from Rush Limbaugh's right-wing call in show, regarding the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

CALLER: It was like a college fraternity prank that stacked up naked men --

LIMBAUGH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off? (cited on mediamatters.org)

This justification shit makes me sick to my stomach.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 1:29 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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Okay, just cause it was a thought that bounced into my head, I figured that I'd best write it down before it bounced out again. That kinda stuff is happening more often as the years drip by...

If you had a choice, what year and location would you choose to be born in? For example, if I had a choice I would prefer to be born around 1550 or so, preferably in England or France. Why you ask? No it's not because I wish to experience scurvy, instead I would try my hardest to get on a ship bound for the New World. Can you imagine that sense of wonder? It's hard to in this GPS-world we live in nowadays, but I think a life would be nothing but adventure and experiences if I could set foot in Newfoundland around 1570 or so, not knowing what the hell I was in for. Plus I would have snotty Euro accent, which would be nice. "Tally ho then, fighting for King and Country. Alight upon ye trusty steed and onward we march!" Yeah, I was totally born in the wrong century.

So think it over, shout back some ideas via the comments option and give some justification.

PS- What up to Roxy, who now holds the record for longest comment. Rock on, Roxanne, glad to hear I nudged you towards the left. Give Jeff a big kick in the pants for me.

"You don't have to put on that red dress"~~ The Police

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 1:13 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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Sunday, May 16, 2004

Continuing to try to save your musical soul. Check out www.purevolume.com/_sierra_, to listen to sierra, my little brothers band. Apparently he's not a write off after all. Enjoy, don't burn the songs, and in a months time or so, ask me how to get a copy of their soon to be released 4-song EP. Now leave me alone.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 4:59 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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Sunday Morning Ascension, just like Cash used to say...

Well I worked both mornings this weekend and even though I suck at golf and find it gives me nothing but ulcers, I cannot believe the lack of etiquette on the golf course. When I was a little guy, my old man would purposefully walk through sand traps, even though he didn't need to, just so I would learn that raking the traps is one of the courteous kind of things you do after you use it. Apparently the concept of raking is foreign to the golfers on Coloniale. It's not a big deal to me, we fix them all anyway, but I think it is in poor manners.

I'm actually at a cafe on Whyte right now, using my wireless internet. lately it's been on the fritz at home and at the U, so I wanted to try it out one last place to see if it was my wireless card or my router than was the problem. Looks like the card is fine, so it must be the router. Hmm, if you didn't know any better, you might think I knew what the hell I was doing with computers. But still, I feel rather cosmopolitan in this cafe right now.

I also found a great deal on some Tom Waits albums yesterday at Blackbyrd Moozik, a second hand store on Whyte. I bought his "Early Years, Vol 1" (1972-ish), "Blue Valentine" (1978), and "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)all for $36.14. Not too bad. It's funny how things work. The other day I was thinking I should buy some more of his stuff, then I heard about 4 or 5 songs on CKUA, then I found these cheap CDs. Cosmic, I might say.

Okay, I'm gonna wrap it up for now. I've updated the links, so peep em, homey. Hope your weekend was good and that the sun shines in your direction.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 11:04 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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