Trekking South

Ready or not I departed Oakville at 3:30 AM Saturday, November 12^th. When on the road among overnight truckers I’ve discovered it is not wise to slow down for speed zones with a transport on your tail. At 5:30 AM customs agents lack any sense of humour. I crossed at the Bluewater Bridge west of Sarnia and headed west through Michigan, seeing snow West of Flint was a might unsettling.

 

Spent a night in Michigan City, Indiana before skirting Chicago and heading south into Illinois against a 40-mph headwind. After nearly 800 miles stayed over in an ancient campground in Mt Vernon, Illinois. The American Coots on the small pond seemed only appropriate. Set out for Memphis passing through Missouri and Arkansas in driving rain. Memphis was a welcome sight until the power failed just as I finished getting set up. As the rain continued I gave up on Elvis. Made the 250-mile hop to Texarkana with a stop for gas and lunch in Arkansas. Had not realized the state line splits Texarkana in two. When I arrived discovered a newly configured interchange which made my campground a place you can’t get to from here. After a grocery stop figured it out and spent a quiet night before setting off for the final jaunt to Austin. Stopped south-east of Dallas for fuel and made Austin by 2:15.

 

My camping arrangement here is not what I’d been led to expect. Ministers it seems are not big on details. Being parked opposite the church is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it’s convenient, on the other hand it can be too convenient. Already I’ve been co-opted deeply into the life of the church. I’ve yet to sort out bicycle maintenance, shopping, dumping my tanks, laundry….

 

So far I’ve been invited out for three meals though I lack an invite for American Thanksgiving so far. I’ve stood in at an Occupy Austin rally and been talked to death, visited the Food Bank, and the recycle centre. Visited three senior’s centres and various and sundry other errands. I’m thankful today for one free of commitments.

Sable Island named national park

CBC News

Posted: Oct 17, 2011 9:54 AM AT

Last Updated: Oct 17, 2011 12:46 PM AT

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Sable's wild horses were the subject of a documentary, Chasing Wild Horses, by a Halifax filmmaker. (Arcadia)

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Chasing Wild Horses documents photographer's obsession

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About Sable Island

FAQ: Why protect Sable Island?

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Nova Scotia's Sable Island, known for its shipwrecks and wild horses, is becoming a national park, which means no drilling on or around it.
The provincial and federal governments signed an agreement Monday that bans drilling for oil or natural gas from the surface out to one nautical mile.
"Sable Island never fails to inspire us. We pledge our commitment to Sable Island by providing it with the highest level of protection," said Peter Kent, the minister in charge of Parks Canada.
Sable Island, about 300 kilometres southeast of Halifax, is 42 kilometres long. It's known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic because it's ringed by 300 years of shipwrecks.
It's home to an estimated 400 wild horses, descendants of animals brought to the island during the late 1700s. It's also the breeding ground for seals and birds, including the rare Ipswich sparrow.
Fewer than 250 people visit the island every year, but that number is expected to jump. Parks Canada is working on a management plan.
Mark Butler, with the Ecology Action Centre, said that's necessary to ensure the island isn't "loved to death." But he's worried the drilling ban doesn't go far enough.
"What it essentially means now is that a company could put a drill rig 1.1 nautical miles from the island and drill horizontally under the island. I think that's still too close," he said.
Government officials said oil companies are voluntarily amending their significant discovery licences to respect the ban.
The process to designate Sable Island a national park began last year with public consultations.
Several groups, including the Ecology Action Centre, urged restrictions on the number of visitors to the island and the infrastructure to accommodate them.
The next steps are to amend the federal National Parks Act and add the drilling restrictions to the offshore accord, as well as amend provincial legislation.

U.S. mulls Canadian border fence

The Canadian Press

Posted: Sep 29, 2011 9:38 AM ET

Last Updated: Sep 29, 2011 8:48 PM ET

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P.O.V.: Should the U.S. build fences along the Canada border?

Border stories: Stories of how life changed after 9/11

Border talks 'not about sovereignty:' Harper

A 12-metre swath cut through the forest defines the border between Canada and the U.S. north of Polebridge, Mont. Jennifer DeMonte/Daily Inter Lake/Associated Press The United States is looking at building fences along the border with Canada to help keep out terrorists and other criminals, according to a draft report by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency
The report proposes the use of "fencing and other barriers" on the 49th parallel to manage "trouble spots where passage of cross-border violators is difficult to control."
But a spokesperson for U.S Customs and Border Protection said the government is not considering the fence option "at this time" and instead is looking at the environmental effects of putting more manpower, technology and infrastructure along the border.

9/11 SECURITY New border measures affect Canadians' lives

The border service is also pondering options including a beefed-up technological presence through increased use of radar, sensors, cameras, drones and vehicle scanners. In addition, it might continue to improve or expand customs facilities at ports of entry.
The agency considered but ruled out the possibility of hiring "significantly more" U.S. Border Patrol agents to increase the rate of inspections, noting staffing has already risen in recent years.
Customs and Border Protection is inviting comment on the options and plans a series of public meetings in Washington and several U.S. border communities next month. It will then decide which ideas to pursue.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted last month the challenges of monitoring the vast, sparsely populated northern border region. She stressed manpower, but also a greater reliance on technology.

P.O.V.

Should the U.S. build fences along the border? Take our survey.

Ironically, the moves come as Canada and the U.S. try to finalize a perimeter security arrangement that would focus on continental defences while easing border congestion. It would be aimed at speeding passage of goods and people across the Canada-U.S. border, which has become something of a bottleneck since the 911 attacks.
Relatively speaking, Washington has focused more energy and resources on tightening security along the border with Mexico than at the sprawling one with Canada.
But that may be changing.

Only small portion secured

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report recently warned that only a small portion of the border with Canada is properly secure. It said U.S. border officers control just 50 kilometres of the 6,400-kilometre boundary.
The Customs and Border Protection report says while fences have been a big element in deterring unauthorized crossings of the U.S.-Mexican border, "it is unlikely that fencing will play as prominent a role" on the northern border, given its length and terrain that varies from prairie to forest.
However, the agency would use fencing and other barriers such as trenches to control movement and sometimes delay people trying to sneak across the border, increasing the likelihood they could be caught, says the report.
It doesn't provide details about what the fences might look like, but suggests they would be designed to blend into the environment and "complement the natural landscape."
The approach would also involve upgrading roadways and trails near the border.
"The lack of roads or presence of unmaintained roads impedes efficient surveillance operations," says the report. "Improving or expanding the roadway and trail networks could improve mobility, allowing agents to patrol more miles each day and shortening response times."
Over the last two years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has already made what it calls "critical security improvements along the northern border," adding inspectors at the ports of entry and Border Patrol agents between ports, as well as modernizing land crossings.
Nearly 3,800 Customs and Border Protection officers scrutinize people and goods at crossings. The number of Border Patrol agents working between crossings along the northern parallel has increased 700 per cent since Sept. 11, 2001. And some three dozen land ports of entry are being modernized.
Unmanned U.S. aircraft patrol about 1,500 kilometres along the northern border from Washington to Minnesota as well as more than 300 kilometres of the Canadian border around New York state and Lake Ontario.

What a colossally stupid waste of money! 

Hurricane Igor blows St. John's buoy to Scotland

CBC News

Posted: Sep 12, 2011 2:30 PM NT

Last Updated: Sep 12, 2011 2:22 PM NT

The Shetland Islands are North of Scotland. (Google map)

Almost a year after Hurricane Igor lashed Newfoundland and Labrador, a remnant of the storm has been recovered on the other side of the Atlantic.

A one-tonne weather buoy was first spotted near the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, on Friday.
It was hoisted from the ocean after it drifted into an exclusion zone around an oil rig.
“In this particular case it actually had the name of the manufacturer and various numbers on it and we were able to identify those as belonging to a company based in Canada,” said Alison Kentuck, who is the receiver of wrecks with the U.K’s Maritime and Coast Guard Agency, in Southampton, England.
“The hurricane connection was an interesting one for us, and the fact that it had kind of travelled such a long distance. If it has been collecting data all that while, as well it will be interesting to see what information it has.”
The buoy belongs to Oceans Limited of St. John's.
It was lost after Hurricane Igor hit Newfoundland and Labrador on Sept. 21.
The company puts them in the ocean to read weather and water conditions.
It's not clear yet if the company will bring their buoy home.

Getting Ready to Head South

Most of my energies are concentrated on getting ready to travel this week. The most important items must all be done at the last moment which makes planning paramount but leaves open the possibility of missing something I’ll regret later. Too often one discovers that those contacted earlier have left out important steps you knew nothing about. Good help and advice is hard to find.

I am discovering that most of the books I have read in the last month were purchased around the year 2000 before a computer entered my life and I ceased buying newspapers to read the Sunday Book Section in the Toronto Star, The Sun, Eye, Now. I’ve fallen behind on an entire decade of literary production in Canada. On the other hand, with a backlog of over a thousand books I intend reading I feel no pressure to acquire more. Electronic Books take up no space in my RV and add no weight.

Nor do I feel the need or have the financial means to buy more CD’s. As has oft been remarked CD’s do not wear out and I feel no need to possess multiple copies of the core Classical Repertoire. I already own more popular Canadian CD’s than I have time to audit. I listen to music while I read but cannot concentrate while lyrics are being sung. While I drive in my RV I listen to podcasts in iTunes on my laptop.

This summer I made my customary pilgrimage home to Nova Scotia spending some time along the Acadian Coastline of New Brunswick on the way. Spent a week in Sauble Beach the end of August taking in the Classical Guitar Festival there, an event I’d like to attend again next summer. Aside from those outings I’ve spent the remaining time this past seven months close to home in Oakville, gasoline at $5.00/American Gallon Equivalent making travel rather expensive expecially when you factor in the cost of camping here. The season is short and tourist facilities have a limited time to gouge the public.

I’ve spent a great deal of time rewatching DVD’s from my collection as well as my older VHS tapes. I’ve written reviews of some despite previously published tomes. I find it remarkable how much one can forget over time. Often movies I’ve seen on multiple previous occasions seem brand new and the ones I do remember look fresh again due to the life experience I’ve had since my last viewing. Having actually been to Savannah Georgia and Tybee Island adds an entirely new dimension to viewing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for example.

I still haven’t forgiven Moses for breaking the Fifth Commandment. That is if you count Thou Shalt Not Kill as being number Five. I’m still not clear on whether Thou Shalt Not Make Idols is a separate Commandment or whether one splits Coveting Thy Neighbour’s House from Coveting his wife, servants, and other possessions. If one does neither one is left with nine commandments. Further I’m at a loss to distinguish the difference between committing Adultery and coveting my neighbour’s wife, or these days his gay lover unless you find the later a sin as well. Just in case you’ve missed the allusion Heston who played Moses was latterly president of the NRA.

One advantage VHS tapes had over DVD’s is the fact that they allowed one to fast forward through the warnings, ads, and previews up front that can often extend to nearly 10 minutes. Most DVD’s make it impossible to advance directly to the main menu and many also prevent advancing past piracy warnings or even fast-forwarding through them. Some even force one to watch the preview section. The fact that some break the law should not condemn everyone who buys a legal copy to get so bored to death. Anything that can be displayed on a TV can be copied in any case and if you have no scruples many big budget movies are available for download even before their release date.

A recent CBC program was interested in the public’s reaction to porn and obscene language on prime time TV. Although I may be resistant to the concept of censorship I also believe that the public is not well served by discourse on TV that makes coarse language and swearing seem commonplace and everyday by putting it on display. When it comes to the portrayal of sexual intercourse on screen and ribald jokes about same I believe that those who feel the need for such titillation should satisfy their needs by renting from one of those video parlours usually consigned to industrial malls. I am no fan of situation comedy in general and find no use for the likes of Two and a Half Men with or without its drug-addled ex-actor. If one is to believe what one sees on TV divorce and disfunctional family life is the norm in America and ribald jokes about sexual perversion the common currency of everyday discourse. After years of watching my favourite series on DVD I find the 25 minutes per hour of commercials in America as abhorrent as the majority of the fare on offer. I quit going to movie theatres when they started forcing me to watch 25 minutes of commercials before the show, I don’t understand commercials on so-called pay-TV. Why should one pay to watch commercials?

I was recently reminded of how much I detest the actress Kathy Bates. Her addition detracts for me from Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes as much as her husband’s boorish behaviour. Another actress I despise is the simpering Rosie Perez. Among actors I haven’t much use for Woodie Allan and I feel someone should take Seinfeld and company into a back alley and slap them silly--or sillier than they already are. A show about nothing indeed.

Racism

Watching To Kill a Mockingbird has caused me to think once more about racism. I would like to think of myself as not harbouring racist tendencies. Indeed for the first 18 years of my life virtually everyone with whom I came into daily contact was of German-Lutheran heritage. The first persons of colour I met were equally homesick International Students at University from the African Continent. One might say I had a sheltered upbringing. I now recognize certain stereotypes that informed my cultural background.

 

Having travelled extensively in the American South now that I am in retirement I have come to a realization that slavery was abolished there yesterday and the wounds of the War between the States remain largely unhealed. Whatever the evils of the ‘Institution’ it is among poor whites and ‘crackers’ that the strongest racist enmities were held then and now. As I’ve written before it’s a said thing when people have such a low sense of their own self-worth that they have to define their self-esteem in terms of the people to whom they feel they are superior. While black slavery persisted the labours of ‘po white trash’ were of little value since slaves worked for nothing. People of colour remain a readily identifiable object of resentment for under-privileged whites and affirmative-action programs serve only to rub salt in the wounds.

 

The time I’ve spent in Texas leads me to believe that these racist attitudes have been in large part transferred to Spanish-speaking Mexican-Americans. Whether these people have lived in America for generations or are illegal migrants matters not. Why are these resentments so strong?

 

o      The birthrates among Mexican-Americans is higher than that of established ethnics. In Austin where I’ve lived they have exceeded half the population. Unless you can afford to live in exclusive enclaves and/or send your children to private schools Spanish will be the first language of most of your classmates.

 

o      The stores you shop in begin to cater to the ethnic tastes of the population they serve—it just makes good business sense. Across America Salsa has passed ketchup as the favoured condiment.

 

o      Your neighbours will speak Spanish and observe Mexican traditions. Gunfire and firecrackers on Christmas Eve anyone?

 

o      Whether a characterization of being lazy is justified there is definitely a different work-ethic. Lacking educational opportunities and skills low-paying menial jobs will predominate and the wages non-union workers accept threaten the standards of unionized workers.

 

o      Lack of education, poor living standards, and poverty breed disease and crime whatever the population.

 

Now let’s transfer the experience to my native Canada. We’re fabled for our civility and acceptance of refugees since our country was founded and settled by immigrants. We even accepted thousands of United Empire Loyalists after the American War of Independence. The process is not without its strains however.

 

o      A country whose acceptance was founded on Christian principles now finds itself embarrassed to make public celebration of Christmas in its schools and other public institutions lest a Christmas Tree might offend. A Holiday Tree has a strange ring to it. The saying of prayers in school and at public meetings is falling prey to similar objections.

 

o      We’ve just fought off the acceptance of Sharia Law in part because Muslim Woman objected more strongly than the public at large. Should woman be allowed to disguise themselves under veils in public when voting or engaging in other legal acts?

 

o      Schools experience similar problems when 90% of their students have English as a second language. Traditional neighbourhoods become overrun by ethnic minorities. How does a teacher of British extraction react when he discovers his Indian neighbour beats his wife on a regular basis? Buying a home that experienced cooking with curry means the necessity of ripping out all the ductwork, replacing all the carpets, and scrubbing the walls down to the plaster to get rid of the stench.  Your neighbour’s son is expected to turn over his part-time earnings to his father—his sister to accept an arranged marriage. Female circumcision, honour killings, female infanticide, are only a shadow of the ills that come with immigrants.

 

o      People who escape persecution abroad too often import their ethnic hatreds with them. Churches, homes, and vehicles get vandalized because the owners belonged to the wrong ethnic minority. One of my neighbours laboured hard for years to get our superintendent fired because he came from the wrong section of the former Yugoslavia. My last mail route included customers from various minorities from that same country. One false word or miss-delivery had the potential for disastrous results. Building a Mosque beside the site of the former World Trade Centre may be ill-advised but minarets shade the QEW one of Canada’s busiest highways. The influx of Jamaicans into the College Park section of Mississauga has turned it into one of Canada’s highest crime areas. I will not shop in the mall there as finding your car when you return to it is optional.

 

o      The Africville Community of Halifax was destroyed and its residents moved with dump trucks to make way for the building of the first bridge across the harbour. The residents and their descendents still mourn its loss. The Black Empire Loyalists of Halifax are subjected to racism to this day and one of the flash-points is the working class community of Cole Harbour; it’s High School one of the centres. Sidney Crosbie is a native son.

 

o      Call a cab in Oakville and its driver is likely to be wearing a turban. The driver is entitled to an interpreter when he gets his licence but who helps the passenger and one had better know where one is going, the driver may not. The fact that the man was a doctor or lawyer in his homeland is of little consolation to either.

 

o      I may not agree with the sentiments of my German friend who went to his grave believing Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ was right-minded but my experience in residence at a Lutheran University that even served kosher dining hall meals has coloured my subsequent feelings about Jews.

 

o      Somehow the experience of prejudice serves to place chips on the shoulders of its victims and these attitudes spill over in their dealings with all others. The victims can be as guilty of stereotyping as the majority. Too often have I been subjected to smug, surly, moral-superiority when my only crime has been having been born White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. In Quebec my build, stance, and very walk identify me as Anglais even before I open my mouth. Unlike some I have never had the experience of not being served because I ordered in English—I do attempt my school-boy French.

 

Nor do I acknowledge easy solutions. The record of Viet Nam refugees in North America is a chequered one. The rigors of climate, cultural dislocation, and economic depression are common to most refugees. The Haitans who came to Montreal are synonymous with the Aids epidemic. Improving the lot of potential immigrants in their home countries would seem a logical step until one looks at the complications. In Italy the mafia made $200,000,000 in economic aid disappear without building a single home for earthquake victims. In Haiti the local administration is so corrupt and inept it is incapable of restoring lost children to their families or identifying orphans if they exist. Rebuilding homes is equally fraught with difficulties. How do you deal with starvation and disease when its cause is internal civil war? Is interfering with the internal affairs of a country justified to prevent genocide? Iraq, Jugoslavia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, anyone?

 

 

Muammar al-Qaddafi

The past few months have been difficult for cult leaders. Tito has been dead for 31 years but can it be truly argued that the break-up of the former Yugoslavia has improved life for its citizens. Saddam Hussein has been dead for 8 years, is Iraq any better off. Osama bin Laden was assassinated in a commando raid after decades in hiding but what damage that has done to Al-Qaeda is debatable. In a continuing Arab Spring Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was deposed and most recently Muammar al-Qaddafi was killed in Libya. It remains to be seen what form of government will replace his often eccentric behaviour.

 

Afghanistan in recent decades has suffered under a Soviet Invasion followed by the Taliban and extreme Islamic Law. In the wake of 9/11 with the excuse of the suspicion that Bin Laden was harboured there the US invaded abetted by the United Kingdom and Canada.

 

I find it debatable if the average citizen of any of the countries mentioned here understand democracy or have seen any benefits from regime change. Feudal Tribalism has existed in Afghanistan for millennia and little has changed in all that time save for the weapons the West has supplied to support more efficient killing. Tribalism and ethnic unrest trouble most of these nations. Feuds and inbred hatreds date from time immemorial. Too often as we have seen in a place like Cyprus the opposing sides would rather score points against their supposed enemies than better their own lots.

 

By interfering the West succeeds only in placing its troops in the middle of these disputes and in so  doing creates for itself more enemies. The chief beneficiaries of these conflicts are the arms suppliers and too often America finds itself facing its own weapons. The one point at which I do agree is that there should be no terrestrial grave for Qaddafi that might serve as a shrine to his memory. Bad enough that the manner of his death made him a martyr to the cause.

October Rant 2011

First off, I would tender my apologies for the lack of entries in the last three or four months in the wake of my decision to forgo internet access at the cost of $80 per month. I decided it just wasn’t worth it the side-benefit having been the number of books I’ve managed to read this summer—over forty to date.

 

Of course I’ve also managed days of DVD watching and recently began re-honing my classical guitar skills. The latter involves short left hand fingernails and quarter-inch nails on the right—making typing a distinct challenge. Practising has also left me with numb finger tips on the left hand as calluses re-establish themselves.

 

I’ve also made it back into my weight room in an attempt to rebuild muscle mass hoping to boost my basal metabolism rate so that I may get a handle on the weight gain that has resulted from diminished physical activity in the wake of my retirement. Hours at the wheel of my RV traveling 75,000 KM and a more sedentary lifestyle have reeked their toll in the last three years. What I haven’t lost is my way with words and this promises to be a magnum opus.

 

First off I have a question for anyone who can provide insight. In watching too  many movies and TV Series on DVD I’ve come to the discovery that a preponderance of actors and actresses have blonde tending toward auburn, red, and brunette hair. There must be a technical reason for this but I have yet to discover it. While on the subject of TV I would note in passing that rabbit ears and dipole antennas became obsolete in Canada September 1, 2011 when TV went digital. Unless I’m willing to invest in cable, I’m not, I’ve seen my last broadcast TV.

 

And in a final related note Blockbuter closed one third of their storefront operations this spring and just recently announced the closure of their remaining operations in Canada. Online streaming and mail-order operations such as Net Flicks spelled the doom of Blockbuster’s clunky operation. I patronized the local outlet due to its convenient location, not out of any love for their practices. Their failings included:

 

1.   the nauseating non-stop commercials to which visitors to their stores were subjected

2.   the habit of placing masses of new-releases in prominent shelf space without any respect to alphabetical order

3.   their failure to properly alphabetise their other movies—a sin to one who once worked shelving library books

4.   making movies full-priced releases for up to two and half years—or as long as their was profit to be squeezed from the market

5.   the lack of Canadian content

6.   the lack of specialized art house releases

7.   the rate at which older movies disappeared from their shelves as soon as they failed to move.

 

This spring E-books reached critical mass and for online marketer Amazon exceeded print book sales as of April first. For people who prefer to listen to rather than read books MP3 versions of audiobooks continue to become a popular downloadable option. For those who’d prefer to hold something in their hands books on cassettes have become antiques and been replaced by CDs however one can expect to pay up to $60 for popular titles. Cassettes had one distinct advantage over CDs, by their nature they offered positive proof of where you’d left off, the provided a natural bookmark. Expect digital audio versions to become more popular as MP3 technology continues to improve. In particular expect the price to come down as text-to-speech technology improves and artificial voices sound less artificial. Paying a human being to read books on mike is expensive particularly when name actors exact their commissions.

 

Having spent part of last summer in Newfoundland their ferry service continues to be of interest to me. I noted at the time that the failure of consistent service not to mention its cost would be a deterrent to future visits. Alas, nothing has improved since and the ‘new’ Norwegian ferries have not improved upon the record set by  British submarines. It continues to amaze me that a country such as Newfoundland whose people earned their living from the sea for centuries cannot run an efficient ferry service. Harbour access at Channel-Port-Aux-Basque is scary in good weather; the North Atlantic is noted for its fogs, quick changes in weather, prolonged howling gales. Climate change has seen violent hurricanes that would traditionally have blown themselves out long before they reached northern waters batter Newfoundland shores. Ferry service between Maine and Yarmouth Nova Scotia continues to be shut down making the travel bureau near its docks obsolete and causing the failure of numerous motel operations in the area. Bay of Fundy service between Saint John and Digby is priced exorbitantly its continuance is in doubt. Even the new ferry serving Grand Manan from Blacks Harbour New Brunswick has experienced growing pains. Storms on the Northumberland Strait have shut down service to PEI.

 

Microsoft’s Windows Operating System continues to be perpetually broken. Patches are now issued approximately every two weeks and downloads can be as big as 60 MB, major updates require CD-ROMs gigabytes in size. You may remember that VISTA OS required 2 gigabytes of computer memory just to load the operating system, Windows 7 had its code rewritten to reduce its size to a third of that. Remember that a Commodore 64 had 64 megabytes of memory in total, my latest laptop has 6000.

 

Hockey violence continues to be a Hot Topic in the sports world and after the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup victory this spring in Vancouver Canada was left with a black eye as rioting left the ice and broke out on the streets of one of Canada’s major cities. Fans became the equivalent of British Soccer Hooligans. The celebrating Boston Bruins players racked up a $100,000 bar bill—one can only hope no one attempted to drive home.

 

The news on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 was full of news  of  the fate of Sidney Crosby. It seems ironic that a team owned in part by Mario Lemiux, a player whose career was cut short by back trouble, did lot learn the lesson of a Wayne Gretzky and his shadow Marty MacSorley. No matter how big and tough the player, head injuries and concussions  threaten every player—just look at the likes of Eric Lindros. Being hired as an enforcer to ensure the protection  of  a  key star player may not be a glamorous gigue but it is one that Wayne has never denied saved his career  and  his  protector  followed him as he went from team to team wracking up record penalties ensuring the message was clear that any attack on Wayne would be met with reprisals.

 

Still on the topic of Hockey violence one of its chief proponents continues to be a Canadian embarrassment named Don Cherry. The death of his wife has made his grip on reality even more tenuous, his dog Blue often showing more intelligence. I suppose his continued presence on CBC Television mirrors the popularity of online services such as Hockey Fights.com which allow aficionados to download video of the previous night’s pugilism. The NHL has finally been shamed into taking measures to reduce the number of concussions in hockey. Even more disgraceful are the number of young players experiencing head injuries in their formative years as young goons with starry-eyed dreams of professional careers will stop at nothing to get ahead.

 

Tangentially the youngsters playing hockey and sports in general continue to become bigger and stronger as the North American population in general becomes taller and heavier due to improved nutrition, sanitation, and an enriched gene pool brought on by cross cultural interaction. The science of sports training has resulted in $1000 sneakers, $10,000 bikes, Teflon racing suits that can take swimmers up to half an hour to get into. The science of sports nutrition and training programs for athletes at all levels makes the concept of amateur athletics antiquated. No one can afford to devote the hours to training, access to the facilities required, the diets prescribed, and the nutritional supplements recommended unless he or she be independently wealthy or sponsored by a sports body, government, or celebrity endorsement. Hence the appearance of Sidney Crosbie’s image on a loaf of bread in Oakville Ontario.

 

Unfortunately bigger, stronger, more aggressive opponents make injuries to vulnerable body parts in players of contact sports more probable. Whereas weight training and body building can increase muscle mass relatively quickly the wear and tear on ligaments, tendons, joints, and spines is slower to heal and the damage is often cumulative. Damage to brains caused by concussions we are discovering is often permanent. The entire world became aware of the kinds of short cuts athletes will take to win when Ben Johnson disgraced Canadians by cheating with a drug meant to treat horses. Steroidal drugs and growth hormones boost muscle growth and stimulate more rapid healing. Unfortunately some can make their users more prone to sports injuries and they have side-effects: aggressive behaviour, testicular cancer and female hormones in men, bloating, heart disease, depression, mood swings, muscle tears, and early sudden death. The extent of hopped up bodybuilding was brought home to me when I visited the washroom of a training centre in Halifax with my brother-in-law and saw the over-flowing sharps disposal container there.

 

Until recent years Oakville Ontario which has been my permanent home had the dubious distinction of being the richest community in Canada. That wealth was of course concentrated among a fabulously wealthy elite that has been watered down by an influx of poorer neighbours. The extent of that poverty was recently brought home to me when I encountered a panhandler in the parking lot of a mall in an upscale neighbourhood. Begging on the streets had been unknown in Oakville.

 

Finally tidings of the failure of RIM’s Blackberry Network became big news last week. Having never owned a cell phone of any kind the blackout had no personal effect. However it’s an ill wind that blows no one good news. Although no direct correlation can be proven the rate of highway collisions during Blackberry’s downtime was reduced by up to 40%. 

Garths Guide to Travel Dans La Belle Province

When driving in Montreal don’t even think about running a yellow light, opposing traffic charges ahead the second the light turns amber. Cars in Quebec seem to lack  working signal lights but they do have horns. Don’t attempt to navigate in Quebec with a map made in English Canada; the same philosophy that created the road system should inform the guide. GPS do not fare much better. When a car passes you expect it to pull back in front of you two inches from your bumper. If a major expressway is not congested don’t be shocked if someone crosses five lanes to make an exit right in front of your nose—at least they no longer do it at 100 mph. Quebec highways do no have cloverleaf intersections. Exits occur on both sides of the highway. Services centres are often between the two lanes of traffic.

 

Chemin—road

Rue—street

Chemin de fer—railroad, literally iron road

Street names follow the designator.

 

Nord—north

Sud—south

Est—east

Oeust—West

 

Droit—right

Gauche—left

Arret—stop

Va—go

Debout—above

En Bas—below

Vite—fast

Lent—slow

 

Ouverte—open

Ferme—closed

Sortir—exit

Entre--enter

Circulation…. One way

Defence—Do Not

Travaux—construction, in Quebec controlled by the mafia

 

Pont—bridge

Tonneau—tunnel

Piste—ferry

 

Jour—day

Nuit—night

Soleil—sun

Pleut—rain

Neige—snow

Feux—fog

Vent—wind

 

Centre de Ville—down town

Hotel de Ville—city hall

Hotel Dieux—hospital

Caisse Populaire—bank, trust company

Bibliotechque—library

 

Food

Dejeuner—lunch

Petit Dejeuner—breakfast

L’oeufs—eggs

Jambon—ham

Erable—maple

Pain brille—toast

Beurre—butter

Blanc—white

Noir—black

Sucre—sugar

Poivre—pepper

Sel—salt

Du lait—milk

De L’eau—water

Crème-cream

Crème glace—ice cream

Pomme de terre frit—french fries

Poutine—add BBQ sauce, cheese curds, and gravy

Fromage--cheese

Poulet—chicken

Boeuf—beef

Tortiere—pie, meat pies are popular

Depenneur—grocery—usually sell beer and wine

 

St Hubert equates with Swiss Chalet

 

Dans La Salle Du Bain

Femme—women

Homme--Men

C—Chaud—Hot

F—Froid—Cold

 

Bonjour—Allo—good day, hello—if you make that effort most servers will answer you in English or find someone who can.

S’il vous plait—please

Merci—thank you

Ou Est—Where is? But men don’t ask directions and here you probably wouldn’t understand the answer.

Mange le merde—eat shit—thems fighting words

 

Le Surite Du Quebec, or QPP—fortunately I’ve never attracted their attention. Do ensure that all your paperwork is in order. Without it they’ll assume your vehicle is stolen.