Know what is sad?
Private donations to help Haiti rebuild are likely gonna total around 400 million $.
The combined donations of the US and the EU to feed the millions of refugees fleeing the DR Congo are $7.6 million.
Will people only help when celebrities get involved? And what does it take for a celebrity to throw together an aid concert?
The truth is we prefer earthquakes and tsunamis to wars and famines because for the former tragedies there are visible ends: we can see how to rebuild and start afresh. With the latter, there is no telling when rain or peace will come.
And we just don't have the attention span.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Creepy again
I must say, I thoroughly enjoy poking about on the interent, looking for ideas and people and media of interest. In the past two days I've found a couple interesting blogs.
One I found because of Rock Paper Cynic. I was reading the production blog and then that turned into me creeping through all the followers of that blog and all the followers of their blogs. And I found a good one! Yay! Philosophically educated, and Canadian; it is quite different in perspective from many things I've read. I am now a "follower".
The other one is the blog of someone who started following my blog. Many times I forget that this is all posted to the world wide interblag and that anyone can find it. Once in a while however I get a comment from a random and it makes me smile.
All comments make me smile
One I found because of Rock Paper Cynic. I was reading the production blog and then that turned into me creeping through all the followers of that blog and all the followers of their blogs. And I found a good one! Yay! Philosophically educated, and Canadian; it is quite different in perspective from many things I've read. I am now a "follower".
The other one is the blog of someone who started following my blog. Many times I forget that this is all posted to the world wide interblag and that anyone can find it. Once in a while however I get a comment from a random and it makes me smile.
All comments make me smile
Sunday, February 21, 2010
I had a dream last night. It was a weird mix of Lord of the Rings, the Narnia series, and the olympics.
I was Lucy, basically, and we were on a quest kind of like Lord of the Rings. We were trying to rescue a bunch of kids from orcs or minotaurs or something. There was a pretty epic battle at a castle, and we got a posse of kids there. One of them was a girl from my Bible Study named Janessa, but in the dream her name was Hannah. There were also the two youngest kids from Nanny McPhee. One was named Aaron and the other was Aggie. Hannah was my favourite. Anyway, we went on to rescue a bunch more kids in this battle in a field. I actually don't remember the fighting much. Just the aftermaths.
Anyway, we had rounded up all these kids and we were finally safe. We met in this huge castle and had a big feast, LOTR style, and were given recognition from a lot of great (in the epic sense) people.
Through the entire thing though, only a few metres off, we could see cars on highways, and I knew that we were in the modern world but not allowed to exit our medieval "world" until we finished our task. Think kind of along the lines of that movie where they all think they are in colonial times but really they are just fenced off in the modern world.
When we finished ceremonies at the castle, a big door swung open and we exited onto a sunny, busy, contemporary street with book shops and busses and all the usual details. The kids went nuts.
We were supposed to stay together, of course, because Aslan was going to take all of the children to homes, like adoption placements. I couldn't round them all up though. I went into the one book store and tried to get them out onto the street. I was yelling and they were protesting. They had never seen all the cool things the modern world has before, like soft cover books and tin foil.
There were only a few of us waiting when Aslan came. He was very sad and so was I. Especially because Hannah and Susan had chosen to go to school instead of meeting him. I remember seeing her in a classroom through a window, and it was raining. I wrote Hannah a note later, telling her how I would have loved to see her meet Aslan, and that there was still opportunity for it. Most of the kids were able to be adopted out. This is where the Olympic commentator kicked in.
There were shots of kids hanging out with parents doing different things, while he said their names and where the kids came from. The one I remember specifically was one who was supposed to be hard to adopt out, because there was something not right about him. Not like he was mean or crazy; there was a medical problem. His dad, however, had been Shani Davis: Gold medal speed skater. His adoptive parents (the dad may have been played by Matthew McConaughey) loved to sail, and he was learning to love it too.
At the end a bunch of the kids were taken in by Lynn, my barn manager. I ran in to her house one sunny afternoon and all the kids were sitting eating snacks and doing homework. Lynn looked younger and happier. Hannah was there, and Aaron, and Aggie (who was only a baby). There were two older boys and an older girl whose names I don't remember. The boys and I had been tight though. I greeted all the kids and chatted with them a bit. I also stopped to talk to Lynn, who was very very busy because of the horses and the cats and now the kids. But she was so happy. I was too, but I had to go.
The End.
That dream was unique because it was very emotionally charged. It felt like a movie in that sense, but I was very much in it. And I was sad to wake up because it had just gotten nice.
I was Lucy, basically, and we were on a quest kind of like Lord of the Rings. We were trying to rescue a bunch of kids from orcs or minotaurs or something. There was a pretty epic battle at a castle, and we got a posse of kids there. One of them was a girl from my Bible Study named Janessa, but in the dream her name was Hannah. There were also the two youngest kids from Nanny McPhee. One was named Aaron and the other was Aggie. Hannah was my favourite. Anyway, we went on to rescue a bunch more kids in this battle in a field. I actually don't remember the fighting much. Just the aftermaths.
Anyway, we had rounded up all these kids and we were finally safe. We met in this huge castle and had a big feast, LOTR style, and were given recognition from a lot of great (in the epic sense) people.
Through the entire thing though, only a few metres off, we could see cars on highways, and I knew that we were in the modern world but not allowed to exit our medieval "world" until we finished our task. Think kind of along the lines of that movie where they all think they are in colonial times but really they are just fenced off in the modern world.
When we finished ceremonies at the castle, a big door swung open and we exited onto a sunny, busy, contemporary street with book shops and busses and all the usual details. The kids went nuts.
We were supposed to stay together, of course, because Aslan was going to take all of the children to homes, like adoption placements. I couldn't round them all up though. I went into the one book store and tried to get them out onto the street. I was yelling and they were protesting. They had never seen all the cool things the modern world has before, like soft cover books and tin foil.
There were only a few of us waiting when Aslan came. He was very sad and so was I. Especially because Hannah and Susan had chosen to go to school instead of meeting him. I remember seeing her in a classroom through a window, and it was raining. I wrote Hannah a note later, telling her how I would have loved to see her meet Aslan, and that there was still opportunity for it. Most of the kids were able to be adopted out. This is where the Olympic commentator kicked in.
There were shots of kids hanging out with parents doing different things, while he said their names and where the kids came from. The one I remember specifically was one who was supposed to be hard to adopt out, because there was something not right about him. Not like he was mean or crazy; there was a medical problem. His dad, however, had been Shani Davis: Gold medal speed skater. His adoptive parents (the dad may have been played by Matthew McConaughey) loved to sail, and he was learning to love it too.
At the end a bunch of the kids were taken in by Lynn, my barn manager. I ran in to her house one sunny afternoon and all the kids were sitting eating snacks and doing homework. Lynn looked younger and happier. Hannah was there, and Aaron, and Aggie (who was only a baby). There were two older boys and an older girl whose names I don't remember. The boys and I had been tight though. I greeted all the kids and chatted with them a bit. I also stopped to talk to Lynn, who was very very busy because of the horses and the cats and now the kids. But she was so happy. I was too, but I had to go.
The End.
That dream was unique because it was very emotionally charged. It felt like a movie in that sense, but I was very much in it. And I was sad to wake up because it had just gotten nice.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I'm about to watch the Canada vs Switzerland men's hockey game. I'm a bit sad that they've made such a big deal about our team winning the hockey. It's so much pressure to put on those guys, and there are a lot of good teams out there, a lot of them which have Canadian players.
And the Swiss are totally dominating. Oooch. This is gonna get rough yet, I feel.
And the Swiss are totally dominating. Oooch. This is gonna get rough yet, I feel.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Health
I just want to make a few quick points here.
It annoys me when people eat gross stuff or cut things they like out of their diet just to be healthy. I can understand if you have a predisposition to a certain condition, or allergies, and that food exacerbates them. I mean like people not eating any MSG because it "may increase the risk of cancer" or heart problems or whatever.
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
I like the Olympics. I don't usually watch sports, but I always have felt that Olympics are more about loving your country and less about loving a sport. I especially like watching the winter sports because ou can see some spectacular skiing wipe-outs. I would not mind staying in on an evening with a couple shots of scotch to keep my tummy warm and some cool sports to watch. Not curling though. I've been watching it for like an hour and I have no bloody idea at all what is happening. Also the commentators for this sport are weenies. Turn on the freestyle aerials! They keep on having dramatic zoom-ins on the bulls-eye. Laaaame!
I enjoy "man conversations". Whenever my dad has his friends over for food or chatting I like to just sit in and listen, because they usually talk about politics or the economy and I like talking about that. My mom's friends talk about people and cooking, which I don't enjoy as much.
Ok that's it for now. Hockey tonight!
It annoys me when people eat gross stuff or cut things they like out of their diet just to be healthy. I can understand if you have a predisposition to a certain condition, or allergies, and that food exacerbates them. I mean like people not eating any MSG because it "may increase the risk of cancer" or heart problems or whatever.
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
I like the Olympics. I don't usually watch sports, but I always have felt that Olympics are more about loving your country and less about loving a sport. I especially like watching the winter sports because ou can see some spectacular skiing wipe-outs. I would not mind staying in on an evening with a couple shots of scotch to keep my tummy warm and some cool sports to watch. Not curling though. I've been watching it for like an hour and I have no bloody idea at all what is happening. Also the commentators for this sport are weenies. Turn on the freestyle aerials! They keep on having dramatic zoom-ins on the bulls-eye. Laaaame!
I enjoy "man conversations". Whenever my dad has his friends over for food or chatting I like to just sit in and listen, because they usually talk about politics or the economy and I like talking about that. My mom's friends talk about people and cooking, which I don't enjoy as much.
Ok that's it for now. Hockey tonight!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Professionally Creepy
That is what I am!
There has been, for the past 2 weeks in church, a blonde guy who I never saw before in my life. He just keeps looking at me. It really bothered me last week so today I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me being paranoid so I sat directly behind him. No one looks directly behind them if they aren't trying to see something specific. And he still looked. And I totally glared him down for it. And he totally kept it up. How dare he!
So I took it upon myself to creep him. Fate, it seems, is with me on this one. At church they pass around these papers that you write your name on and pass it on so that everyone you sit with knows who you are. I managed to catch hold of the paper with his name on it. He had checked off that he was in college/university and I took good mental stock of his face.
I looked him up on facebook just now. And I am pretty certain I do not like him for reasons other than his creepiness. All of the pages he was a fan of were conservative politicians. We all know how I can't stand that stuff.
Also, weird lookin'. And my mother may know his family.
But I'm pretty proud of myself for stalking him out. I also googled him, but didn't get anything useful.
There has been, for the past 2 weeks in church, a blonde guy who I never saw before in my life. He just keeps looking at me. It really bothered me last week so today I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me being paranoid so I sat directly behind him. No one looks directly behind them if they aren't trying to see something specific. And he still looked. And I totally glared him down for it. And he totally kept it up. How dare he!
So I took it upon myself to creep him. Fate, it seems, is with me on this one. At church they pass around these papers that you write your name on and pass it on so that everyone you sit with knows who you are. I managed to catch hold of the paper with his name on it. He had checked off that he was in college/university and I took good mental stock of his face.
I looked him up on facebook just now. And I am pretty certain I do not like him for reasons other than his creepiness. All of the pages he was a fan of were conservative politicians. We all know how I can't stand that stuff.
Also, weird lookin'. And my mother may know his family.
But I'm pretty proud of myself for stalking him out. I also googled him, but didn't get anything useful.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Young Werther
That is the name of the guy in my book.
It is a very good book about his "sorrows" written by a very famous German writer who is universally known as Geothe (pronounced Got-te).
I'm really enjoying his writing style. He's very quotable. My grandfather (who was an interesting fellow all around) more or less worshipped him.
So my life almost killed me this morning! But it got fixed. Allow me to tell...
730: leave work. it is sunny. i am happy
8: get home, talk to my father about Geothe, shower
830: leave house for guelph so i can write my quiz
835: realize in west montrose that i left my wallet at home. (it has my student card and everything in it)
845: get back home
846: trash house looking for wallet whilst hugely freaking out.
910: find wallet in car (aaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!)
912: leave again for guelph in a very pissy mood
935: get to stone road mall. park. wait for bus to school
945: THE MOST CROWDED BUS RIDE EVER!!! it was ridiculous! there were no less than 5 people touching me. i had a guy's elbow on my head.
957: get off bus and book it over to the quiz room
1015: write quiz
1035: wait for quiz to get marked
1040: get called by the TA for marking. the angels were truly in a generous mood the day this guy was born. if i have children, and those children have children, i will teach them to rise up and call this TA blessed. i passed the quiz.
1045: bus back to the mall because i forgot i was meeting v at the school
11: bus back to school
1130: meet v and get fooooood (heart to UoG banana bread!)
1135: meet up with vicki, v's friend (and mine too now by association! yay!)
1140: have a grand old time chatting about various worms (i kid you not)
1: head home.
120: sleep!
What I would like to point out is that if I hadn't lost my wallet and the timing had not worked out the way it did, I wouldn't have passed that quiz. Maybe I would have gotten a different one though. Maybe I would have done better if I wasn't so flustered. I did pass though, and that's all that matters in this course.
So now for work! and then another crazy day tomorrow! i have to be up at 1 to go see Marie (my psychotherapist lady)
It is a very good book about his "sorrows" written by a very famous German writer who is universally known as Geothe (pronounced Got-te).
I'm really enjoying his writing style. He's very quotable. My grandfather (who was an interesting fellow all around) more or less worshipped him.
So my life almost killed me this morning! But it got fixed. Allow me to tell...
730: leave work. it is sunny. i am happy
8: get home, talk to my father about Geothe, shower
830: leave house for guelph so i can write my quiz
835: realize in west montrose that i left my wallet at home. (it has my student card and everything in it)
845: get back home
846: trash house looking for wallet whilst hugely freaking out.
910: find wallet in car (aaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!)
912: leave again for guelph in a very pissy mood
935: get to stone road mall. park. wait for bus to school
945: THE MOST CROWDED BUS RIDE EVER!!! it was ridiculous! there were no less than 5 people touching me. i had a guy's elbow on my head.
957: get off bus and book it over to the quiz room
1015: write quiz
1035: wait for quiz to get marked
1040: get called by the TA for marking. the angels were truly in a generous mood the day this guy was born. if i have children, and those children have children, i will teach them to rise up and call this TA blessed. i passed the quiz.
1045: bus back to the mall because i forgot i was meeting v at the school
11: bus back to school
1130: meet v and get fooooood (heart to UoG banana bread!)
1135: meet up with vicki, v's friend (and mine too now by association! yay!)
1140: have a grand old time chatting about various worms (i kid you not)
1: head home.
120: sleep!
What I would like to point out is that if I hadn't lost my wallet and the timing had not worked out the way it did, I wouldn't have passed that quiz. Maybe I would have gotten a different one though. Maybe I would have done better if I wasn't so flustered. I did pass though, and that's all that matters in this course.
So now for work! and then another crazy day tomorrow! i have to be up at 1 to go see Marie (my psychotherapist lady)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
I learned about bee sex yesterday, and every male that ever there was should be thankful that they are not a bee.
Step 1: Drone flies upside down in the air behind the Queen (you're thinkin "ooh, flying upside down is cool!" but wait....)
Step 2: Drone's butt EXPLODES to extend the mating apparatus to the Queen (you can actually hear it if you're close).
Step 3: Drone is dragged upside down through the air by the Queen until the sperm is all transferred and then his junk falls off and he drops to the ground
Step 4: Drone dies.
Sounds like fun eh? I giggled like a nutjob at the nerd humour the writers threw in that chapter. Honestly, it must have been a poor old prof writing at like 3am for a deadline and the editors left it in cuz they thought it was cute or something. I love science!
I also had an intense conversation with my dad on bee genetics. It's all very confusing, because unfertilized eggs = drones and fertilized eggs = females (queen or worker). So the recombination of genes gets all tricksy because the females end up having twice as much genetic information as the males. CRAZEH!
I'm actually really enjoying the course now. I love genetics and reproduction especially. They are so trippity weird.
If any of you have the book "The God Who May Be" by Richard Kearney I would like to borrow it. I've been looking for it since I heard the guy talk on CBC radio. There is a man who knows how to communicate!! He was exceptional!
Ok bedtime for Becca, but remember folks: no matter how bad things get, they could be worse. You could be a bee.
Step 1: Drone flies upside down in the air behind the Queen (you're thinkin "ooh, flying upside down is cool!" but wait....)
Step 2: Drone's butt EXPLODES to extend the mating apparatus to the Queen (you can actually hear it if you're close).
Step 3: Drone is dragged upside down through the air by the Queen until the sperm is all transferred and then his junk falls off and he drops to the ground
Step 4: Drone dies.
Sounds like fun eh? I giggled like a nutjob at the nerd humour the writers threw in that chapter. Honestly, it must have been a poor old prof writing at like 3am for a deadline and the editors left it in cuz they thought it was cute or something. I love science!
I also had an intense conversation with my dad on bee genetics. It's all very confusing, because unfertilized eggs = drones and fertilized eggs = females (queen or worker). So the recombination of genes gets all tricksy because the females end up having twice as much genetic information as the males. CRAZEH!
I'm actually really enjoying the course now. I love genetics and reproduction especially. They are so trippity weird.
If any of you have the book "The God Who May Be" by Richard Kearney I would like to borrow it. I've been looking for it since I heard the guy talk on CBC radio. There is a man who knows how to communicate!! He was exceptional!
Ok bedtime for Becca, but remember folks: no matter how bad things get, they could be worse. You could be a bee.
Monday, February 1, 2010
So my older sister got engaged yesterday. The boy finally proposed and the wedding is Aug 7 this year.
And I'm now fighting off another existential freak out with the power of PHYSICS! It's working mostly.
*Edited to add:* YEYEA OBAMA!! He cancelled the Constellation programme in the interest of economic stability and healthcare reform. Sensibility five! *highfive* Alreightey! Wooo! So proud of you, sir. I knew my support was well-founded.
And I'm now fighting off another existential freak out with the power of PHYSICS! It's working mostly.
*Edited to add:* YEYEA OBAMA!! He cancelled the Constellation programme in the interest of economic stability and healthcare reform. Sensibility five! *highfive* Alreightey! Wooo! So proud of you, sir. I knew my support was well-founded.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)