Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff and Insights

I had a good day at work, managing to fix 3 problem computers at the Yorkton Public Library in the space of an hour. Some kid has switched a power supply to 250V, I had to uninstall Service Pack 4's Rollup 1, since it broke Microsoft Word's ability to save files to the floppy drive, and I updated the antivirus on a few machines. I had a pair of Teen Burgers for lunch. I think I watched too many "good ol' American movies" on the weekend, and the urge to eat fast food was *strong*. The burgers were good, as were the small fries, although it was a bit pricey, coming in at $8.01. Northern Lights to the south

    I then biked to the Co-op with a strong tail wind after work, so I stayed on Broadway Ave. instead of ducking and weaving down the ally ways like I usually do. With a good westerly wind I can keep up with the slowest cars, so as long as I don't wipe out in front of a tailgater, I should be fine. I picked up so much frozen food, that I had trouble fitting it all in my small icebox, so I threw away some of my more ancient specimens which I'd probably not have eaten later anyway.
    For supper I had broccoli in cheese sauce with some peas, and a premade calzone with ham and four cheeses. Then for dessert I foolishly ate nearly half of a frozen chocolate cream pie. I should have stopped after the first quarter. Hours later though I felt bad about my now softening cookies and cream ice cream and not getting to try any today, so I had a late snack. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not good for me to be eating fat this late, but I'll cut it out when I'm 30 ;-) honest. I bet all fat 30 year olds said that. Well, knowing I need to eat less is half the battle. At least while I'm still biking to work before it snows, I'll have something that in theory will keep the gut away. The past weeks though I've been concerned I'm overstimulating my "eating is good" part of my brain. I was on the bus to Regina, and had arrived at Fort Qu'Appelle and realized that I was still plum full from supper, so why was I considering going inside to BUY food? Sure it would have tasted good, but my body had no need for more food, and my wallet didn't need to surrender any money. I had the impression that I was falling prey to some slick marketing somehow, so I glued my butt to the bus seat and road out the rest of the trip without indulging.
    I got a phone call just before supper, it was a man my Dad is working on a project with. He wants me to help distribute information, and fortunately for him, that's one of my hobbies, so I said I'd help. In the coming days, it's possible you'll be able to access that info if you want it. It involves politics, and politicians in the provincial government who don't want to govern, and they won't get out of the way so other people who do want to govern, can.
    Then I watched "Spiderman" [8/10] since I had a hankering for an action film, and while I was taking a break I got a phone call from a friend so we talked a bit about Humpty Dumpty, all the King's men, and stuff like that. After the movie was over I got another phone call, this time it was my Dad with good news. I have a seat for the Sunday Rider game, on about the 50 yard line! There's a good chance we'll win this one, so I'm happy to be going.
    And now it's time for bed. I spent a few minutes countering a Slashdot.org redneck's contention that we'd have to nuke "terrorist supporters" to stop further terrorist attacks. To sum up, it's about as useful as stomping on an anthill if you got bit by a couple of ants.
    So much for bed, I stepped out the patio window and saw Northern Lights firing up. Some people who passed me on the sidewalk said they were better last night even.

I watched "As Good As It Gets" [5/10] and "Wag the Dog" [5/10] today, both odd and slightly disturbing movies that were interesting at times but overall pretty mediocre. I tried taking a picture of the sun using my binoculars as a projection lens and a white sheet as a screen. If I set up some sort of tripod mount next time I think it will work better and show a more detailed picture. I could see a sunspot at times, but I don't think it showed up in my photos, perhaps because it was partly cloudy.
New York from NJ

Spaceweather.com [Sept. 10th] is reporting, "solar activity is very high. Earth-orbiting satellites have detected six X-class solar flares since Sept. 7th, including one X17-class monster-flare. NOAA forecasters say there's a 75% chance of more X-flares during the next 24 hours, possibly causing radio blackouts and radiation storms."
The massive "Sunspot 798" is rotating into the direction of Earth this week, so keep your eyes skyward at night for Northern Lights, and keep your fingers crossed that no blackouts or satellite damage is triggered by the possible radiation storms.
An X17 class flare is very powerful. Back in January 2005, a powerful solar storm ripped past Earth. A list with some of the most powerful solar flares since 1976 is here.

The Riders beat the Bombers again today 19 - 17 in Winnipeg for the 2nd annual Banjo Bowl. The game has the odd name because a couple years ago the Winnipeg place kicker Troy Westwood called Rider fans a bunch of banjo playing rednecks, which had fans taking banjos to the following games. Before the game I watched "Veronica Mars" a new TV series about a Nancy Drew like high school student with a private investigator for a father. And before that, I watched "Biloxi Blues" [5/10] a movie with my least favourite actor doing mostly uninteresting things in a military training camp near the end of World War II in 1945. The back of the video even has the wrong year printed for which the movie takes place.

After the football game was over I watched for the first time "Forrest Gump" [9/10] a movie from the mid 1990s which everyone and their dog has seen and now even I have seen it too. Weird Al did a spoof song "Gump" about the movie using an Alternative Rock song by the Presidents of the United States of America band called "Lump", and now the song makes sense to me.

I watched 28 Days Later last night, and Day of the Triffids tonight, so I can't help but think, what disaster awaits humanity this coming September 11th. Surely the terrorists in the world will seek to cause trouble on Sunday, but hopefully both they and nature will give us a much needed break.

"I've said this many times: the real truth of the matter is that the first four things which sell out prior to a predicted natural disaster are eggs, toilet paper, milk and bread. Why? Obviously, natural disasters are times at which people want two things: lots of French toast, and lots of pooping. I'm sure there's a psychological doctoral thesis somewhere in that behaviour." - Dave W.

Being prepared for an emergency is on a lot of people's minds these days after the massive disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It can happen right here in Saskatchewan and other locations too, we have tornadoes and floods that can wreak similar chaos upon us. And if it happens in winter it will be even harder to survive without electricity and clean water. If you have an emergency plan, now's a good time to go over it, and if you don't have a plan, it only takes the next few minutes to make one.

***In five minutes you can ensure you can comfortably ride out a 3 day power outage, and after your next shopping trip you can ride out 2 weeks at home.***

Just read this, and right now go fill up some water containers if you have them. Store the water in the back of a cupboard, and put a date on them with a marker. Next time you're at a store, buy a big bag of rice, even if you don't like rice - it will keep a long time, and if you've ever watched the TV show Survivor, you know that rice is an important food in harsh conditions. Or print the kit list below, and take it with you shopping next time you go. Most of it is inexpensive, available at dollar stores, and isn't hard to store in a closet inside a Rubbermaid container or sturdy garbage bags.

Keep enough fuel in your vehicle at all times to drive to the next town or city. After a disaster, you won't be able to pump gas, or waiting in line will be a burden.

September 6, 2005
Hurricane Katrina hit last week and took Canada's NAFTA battle with the USA off the front pages here. Bush's response to the crisis has been of course underwhelming, a feat that he's perfected over his last four years in office. Fortunately the media and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin have called Bush the screw up that he is. Listen to Ray's audio clip here, it's pretty moving.

New Orleans will be rebuilt, party because of geopolitics, mostly because of sentimentality, and also because humans are darn stubborn. Hopefully reefs will be put in place to lessen the next blow(s), and people will build with the idea in mind that their ground floor will become a soggy basement every few years, and can do something like build on top of the ruins like they did in ancient Rome.

    I had a vacation the past week. I went to Regina on Tuesday night, and the next morning helped my friends there move to a new bigger apartment building on Angus St. downtown. For about 9 hours on Wednesday they were "homeless" while waiting for the last tenants to move out so we could start moving in. We spent their time being homeless watching Star Trek at the Language Institute on campus. Since there was orientation going on at the university, there was free parking in the most distant parking lot, for while we used the Internet, attended a conference, or walked around.
    I introduced myself to the new URSU president, Victor, who ran for a Senate seat the year I was on the Board of Directors for the Union. He said there's a tuition freeze on right now, for the first time in a decade, and he thinks he might be able to convince Ralph Goodale to give students something too. I reminded Victor that he better convince him before the Fall, since the Liberals could fall at any time this year, and will by the Winter.
    I ate at a pizza place for lunch on Thursday with Robert, and we saw someone get put into a police car across Winnipeg St. The waitress said she thought it was his second time being arrested in two days.

On Friday night I went to "Batman Begins" [8/10] which is a movie that explains who Batman is, and Saturday night I went to the Tom Cochran concert in Wascana Park by the Royal Sask. Museum. The concert was good, but not quite as good as Great Big Sea was on Canada Day. A younger musician named Kyle was the opening act for Tom, and was pretty good for about an 18 year old.
Before the concert Robert and I walked around the park looking for someone we might know. In a very dark place in trees near the gazebo, I saw what looked like something on the ground, and upon closer inspection I'd found an open wallet. The guy's SIN card was inside, along with other things like a library card, but there was no cash, if there ever had been some. I looked for the bike cops that I'd seen earlier, and went up to the woman of the pair, and explained I'd found a wallet and would like to turn it in to them. She declined the wallet and told me there must be an information tent around some place, and to turn it in to them instead. I was shocked, but obliged her request that I remain honest while walking the length of the park in search of a supposedly existent information tent which did not exist as it turned out. I instead found a security guard backstage, and gave it to him instead. I told him I couldn't find a phone number in it, but it had someone's SIN card so the wallet was important to return. He didn't know what a SIN card meant, so I guess he's not likely to be an identity thief, and I'll just have to trust that he returned it. So if you ever lose your wallet, don't count on the Regina police service bike patrol to help you, they've got bigger fish to fry than returning lost or stolen property.

    On Sunday afternoon I watched the last bit of a movie with the "Luke Skywalker" actor Hammond, made in 1980 about the end of World War II. Then my parents arrived and we walked to Taylor Field. We walked around the practice field, and I got a pin, CD, and wrist bands for the centennial party after the game.
    The game got off to a quick start with a punt return by Corey Holmes for a touchdown and then it petered out for the rest of the first half. I got some fantastic photos, one of an interception in the endzone to stop a Winnipeg drive that stalled after 4 plays at the 1 yard line. And the Riders whupped the Bombers 45 - 26. My supper I ate at the game, it was a $4.50 cheeseburger, and a $2.50 small iced tea which wasn't too small thankfully. I'd had chips and salsa before the game so I didn't need much more food until I got home after the fireworks.
    On my way down the stadium ramps, I saw an short old man walking alone, until someone joined him for a bit. The other one had a badge hanging around his neck, and then I noticed the older man I thought I recognized had a badge too. It was Cal Murphy I was pretty sure, so when he was walking alone again I went over and asked as we walked down the ramp if he was Cal Murphy and he said he was. I asked him, "When you go to one of these games, who do you cheer for?" [Since he coached for both Winnipeg and Saskatchewan over his head coaching career.] To which he replied, "I don't cheer for anyone, I work for the Indianapolis Colts," and said he was about to walk down another ramp, so we headed separate ways and I bid him good night.
    Then after running down part of a very crowded Albert St. I went to the corner of College Ave. and Albert St., where I met up with my friends so we could see the fireworks together. We found a great spot on the west edge of the Albert St. bridge and waited about 40 minutes for the show to start. The fireworks were a bit better than the impressive Canada Day show. It included more types including specially shaped ones, and ones precisely timed.

I finished the stirfry I'd made earlier that day, and we looked at photos from Brien's trip to France and my photos from the game and fireworks show. 7:45 came early and I walked to the bus depot to catch my ride back to Yorkton. The storm last week had knocked over my largest and southern sunflowers, but my apartment managers replanted and saved the tallest of them which is now flowering.

I was listening to the radio, and they had a "horse psychologist" on. He made interesting points about how interacting with a smart animal like a horse can help humans fix problems in their body language that will improve their intra-human relations too. Body language is key, since with the wrong moves we say we are a predator, rather than prey, or neutral. So there's a right and a wrong way to talk to horses, and most likely people too. Just by how you're gesturing or standing can either scare someone away or draw them to you, which may seem obvious, but I wonder how many times we wonder why we're having a bad day, and some of it is related to either our posture, or perception of other people's attitudes through their body language.

Work went smoother today than I'd thought it would, since I managed to find a solution to a strange Microsoft Word problem using Google.com. It turns out Microsoft's latest Windows 2000 update Rollup 1, actually breaks Microsoft Word's ability to save to floppy disks. Leave it to Microsoft to create a "fix" that makes things worse. Then I didn't have to drive down to Saltcoats since the librarian was able to fix the problems there with my help over the phone.

I'm headed to Regina for a bit to help friends move to their new apartment on Angus St., and say goodbye to another old friend who's moving to Montreal soon.
===

On Adler radio today "Dr. Dino", a creationist from the deep south, contends that nothing can gain in genetic knowledge or complexity [I guess he's never heard of sexual reproduction or mutation]. He fails to grasp the enormity of time, and doesn't see mutation as an adaptation that moves a species forward. He thinks that the world was literally created only 6000 years ago, and that evolution is a dangerous religion. I'd have to agree that evolution is dangerous to his whacked out young earth dogma, but he's wrong about why it's dangerous. Evolution provides a framework to describe the world around us in a scientific and therefore repeatable and understandable way, and therefore threatens his creation dogma that relies on an ignorance of science for it to spread. I tried to call in to tear a strip off him, but at least the two phoners that they did talk to did a fair job of showing how distorted this former teacher's views are. His arrogance, especially given his ability to understand some scientific theories, is quite enraging. His insane "logic" consists of saying the only "logical conclusion" from there being problems with evolutionary theory, is that the Bible is the only creation theory in the world that makes sense.
He doesn't ask the same questions of his theory that he demands evolutionists to answer. Also, there are problems with Christian creationism theory, so why don't we teach Cree creation theory in Kansas? Don't let creationists fool you, they claim to use science to disprove evolution, but they fail in every attempt. Where they fail to use science, they always resort to tapping their Bible as if a religious text carries any weight in a rational debate.

It was a bit cloudy this morning, and the school buses have started again for the Fall, with more kids starting their first day tomorrow.
Send your name to Pluto before September 15th.

I just got back from shopping, and at the corner of the building beside mine, a young woman was drawing something on the wall. I watched for about 15 seconds, then I shouted out "Don't you have anything BETTER to do?!" Then she turned around, and walked away from the wall, as I went into my apartment building. I went over to see what was being scribbled, and she was "defending her's or someone elses honour" by removing something by covering it over with black marker. grafitti

The sunflowers are now: 127" 45" 33" MIA 19" The 33" one is folded over now, and has a crack in the stem so I don't expect it to last much longer. Only Sunflower 1 has evidence of a head opening up, but the 45" sunflower is making a head too although it's pretty tiny right now. It'll be a race to get it done before the frost comes sometime in September.

    I saw three films in the Rainbow theatre on Saturday including "The Island" [9/10] which is the best movie I've seen this year, "Star Wars Episode III" [8/10], and "Bewitched" [6/10] with Will Farrell and Nicole Kidman. On Saturday night I watched "Carrie" [4/10] for the first time. It wasn't very good, and few parts were scary. It was more strange, and creepy than scary. "Pilgrim" [4/10] was a TV movie with Canadian actress Gloria from ER fame.
    I ate at Little Saigon, across the street from India House on Sunday, it was good food and of course my friends an I ordered too much. Then Rick, who's learning to drive took us to Superstore so I could buy some Wasabi peas. I got a package from Japan which tastes the same as the less expensive Chinese ones. And I tried coconut fiber squares in mango flavoured juice, and thought it was fantastic. I'm going to pick more up next time I'm there. The Burger King sign's spelling for "Frys" still hasn't been corrected, or possibly has gone unnoticed by anyone there who should care.
    On my way back from Regina I found someone interesting to talk to for nearly the whole way, Chris from Melville. Chris writes things, and unfortunately doesn't have any online material I'm aware of, but if his writing is as good as his stories of his adventures in the B.C. mountains, then he should do well. My sister is going to be published in the Leader Post Minus-20 section tomorrow I heard too, speaking of writers.

I got word from the radio that there's a lady in the province who's been to over 160 communities in Saskatchewan, taking pictures and visiting historic sites as her personal Centennial project. She doesn't have a website up yet for the stories and pictures, so my blog is still the best source I know of for authentic Saskatchewan community pictures.
Here's a few pictures from my Manitoba trip last weekend.
Kmasack

Kamsack, SK Benito MB

Benito, Manitoba

August 25, 2005
I went to Neudorf and Melville today after a short party for some co-workers celebrating 15, 20, and more years at Parkland. I had lunch at Melville Subway, it was a BBQ toasted sub, and was grrrreat! It rained, and I picked up a non-threatening hitchhiker on my way out of Yorkton, and took him to Melville. We discussed the Snowbirds because they were talking about the crash outside of Thunder Bay, where the pilot survived.

August 23, 2005
     It was another warm day today, and it was threatening to thunderstorm, but it didn't even rain when I biked home, although it did sprinkle a bit after supper when I went for a bike ride to see another apartment. It's a basement suite with a shared bathroom and no laundry machines, but it's considerably cheaper than my current place so I'm considering it.
    Reading through an online site today I saw someone say, "I made a pair of duct tape pants. It was NOT comfortable...," to which I replied, "I'm surprised. When I look at a roll of single sided adhesive tape, I think to myself, "I want a sheet of that wrapped around my butt and privates.""
    I managed to "fix" my computer today, it now can read DVDs and CDs again, although for a while I had no sound, but I've managed to fix that too. I guess I should make use of my CD drive while I have it, and catch up on recording some backups.
    On my bike ride I came across a group of boys doing stunts on bikes, and one had fallen off so I stopped to check that he was OK. He was fine, probably more of his pride than body was hurt, but he wasn't wearing a helmet so he was lucky because one boy remarked that his head just missed a rock. I remarked that he should probably be wearing a helmet, and rode off.

August 22, 2005
The temperature today was very nice, even in the morning, and the evening was an absolutely perfect temperature too.

August 21, 2005
Today I watched "Riding in Cars with Boys" [5/10] which wasn't very good, and seemed to drag on and on. It had some redeeming points though, so I couldn't give it less than a 5. Then I saw some of Star Wars IV, and "Mulholland Falls" [6/10] lead by Nick Nolte of The Smoking Gun fame, with his hair disheveled, and name plate held by his mug shot. Jennifer Connelly plays a murdered woman who had relations with both an LA police officer, and a senior member of the US military. It's a decent murder mystery.
I hope to fix my DVD drive in my computer soon so that I can listen to my new Monty Python CD with more ease.

August 20, 2005
Today I hopped on a bus to Swan River, and took pictures, and that was pretty much my day. I biked to the bus station after determining with a phone call to Swan River bus depot that the same bus that would take me to Manitoba would be the one returning me to Saskatchewan. I was unable to verify this by calling the Yorkton bus depot, or looking at the STCbus.com website since they didn't explain if their times were "local" or Saskatchewan times.

    I bought a Monty Python CD at a garage sale near the bus depot, then the nearly empty bus went to Canora, and Veregin. Right before Veregin, there was a blue heron flying across the road. An old fellow from Canora who'd earlier dropped his cane, by accident twice on my leg, confirmed that Peter Veregin a Doukhobor had lived in a house across the tracks from where the bus drove by. I'd heard about Peter from a guy who grew up near there, and told me an a friend the story at the Western Development Museum in Yorkton a few weeks ago.
    In Veregin we drove by a very old Co-op sign next to a still running Co-op gas station, and were on our way to Kamsack. I snapped a few pictures off the bus there, but I'd already seen the area when driving to the library there. We passed the two separate schools north of Kamsack on the way to Pelly, and the bus driver not having driven this route for several years had to check where he was going to drop off packages there. It was by the highway, so I didn't see any more of the town than I had before, and then it was just a few kilometers to the Manitoba border. As I was about to snap a picture of the "welcome to Manitoba" sign, my camera battery died, so I missed taking a picture of the bison which happened to be penned right along the highway there, too. There was a short stop in Benito, and then we arrived in Swan River, MB at 3:40CST.
    The bus depot was on the extreme edge of town, so I hiked through a residential area, by the fair grounds, and I picked up supper at 4:00 Manitoba time at A&W. I also bought a postcard of the town from the air at the tourist info booth where I signed the guest book and remarked how hot it was to the desk attendant as sweat poured down my forehead, partly from the heat in the building and some from my running around town. On my way to downtown I and saw a presumably intoxicated man with his buddy, exclaiming that there was water in a pool, then I got to the corner with the new hospital building, "built to energy smart standards" or something that Manitoba Hydro came up with to make it sound like the building would be energy efficient. Maybe it will be, I certainly hope so. I can't understand how any building these days doesn't make lots of use of solar or wind power when it should be so easy by now.
    I bought a Clamato at the bus station, and considered buying a "mosquito skinner" which was a tiny pocket knife claiming to be able to make mosquito fur coats, and steaks, because it was so small. I had my burgers and fries on the bus, and then a banana slurpie at a Canora Esso. In Kamsack I took a few more pictures, including some of an old caboose which is near the tracks in a tiny park. Sadly vandals have broken many of the windows in the caboose, but they are made of sturdy safety glass it seems. I didn't manage to finish the slurpie before arriving back at the Yorkton bus depot. The bus driver agreed with me that STC should offer the youth pass next year too, for more money like $100 instead of the centennial and inaugural fee of $75 for the Summer months. I've got my $75 out of it, and a whole lot more. If I'd bought tickets for every trip I took, I'd probably have spent nearly $350, but I just wouldn't have traveled instead for many of the trips.

Joke of the day: My Mom always told me to speak clearly, but *unintelligible mumbling*, and I've not had a problem since.

It seems Canada's next Governor General once toasted the separation of Canada and Quebec, whilst in the company of an FLQ revolutionary. Which brings up the question, "Why wasn't I picked to be GG?" I have more respect for our nation, am not also a French citizen, I know some french, and about as many Canadians outside of Quebec have heard of me as M. Jean.

I watched "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" [6/10] a romantic comedy featuring the timid Mr. Grace from That 70s Show. It was amusing, although kinda predictable. Then I saw "Foolproof" [8/10] which is a crime drama made in Canada. It was a very good movie, with a twist at the end I barely figured out.

    I drove a lot today, through Neudorf, and Lipton, all the way up to Govan and Semans on a large loop through the south west of the library region. In Lipton just after I'd finished working at the library, I was turning a corner in the vehicle, and I saw someone I recognized from my university economics 101 class. She recognized me too after I honked the horn to get her attention, and we caught up on news for a few minutes. She lives temporarily just a few houses down from the library it turned out. "Small province", I thought to myself.
    In Govan I met the new librarian, and I patched computers against the Zotob worm which has the potential to do bad things to some of the library's computers.
    I watched the Dances With Wolves special features DVD tonight, and it was fairly entertaining for a non-movie DVD. And I finally got some laundry done, and had pork, peas, and peppers on an all P themed supper. I should have made some pasta too though, because I could go for a midnight snack now, but will wait until morning.

    I watched "Taxi Driver" [8/10] last night, it was a bit disturbing, and it was a dreary day out, raining nearly constantly so it was a little creepy at times watching it by myself. It's definitely worth watching, it was a very memorable movie with an ending I liked. "Wrongfully Accused" [6/10] is a spoof movie of The Fugitive, of which I've still not seen, and has Leslie Nielson in it, so it's as silly and fun as any of the Naked Gun movies. I also saw "Austin Powers International Man of Mystery" [8/10], and the second of the trilogy "The Spy Who Shagged Me" [6/10] too, and didn't get to see the third and what I recall as my favourite, Goldmember.
    The washing machine was busy all evening since someone forgot to remove their clothes when they'd finished washing I think, so I'll have to do laundry another day. I also washed what was a growing pile of dishes, and had fish and chips for supper, with some carrots for veggies, and am getting a bit peckish hours later, so I'll have a few gingersnaps.
    The shooting in the Tube in London the other week has apparently been misreported previously, as a new report reveals that police mislead the public since the details the provided were either embellished or false. That's a real shame, since the guy was obviously not a real threat, and now he's the only victim of the failed bombings from the day before. They can't go hard on the police who committed the needless killing, since it would embolden terrorists, and handcuff police looking to protect the best they can. Although I think they do have to take some action against the officers, lest the more gungho of the force take advantage of their leeway in suspected bombing cases in the future.

August 16, 2005
On last Saturday I went to my uncle's place with my Dad and we looked at his "new" combine which developed a problem with the "knife" part that slices the crop. I took a panoramic photo of the farm, from the vantage point on-top of the combine. I'll post it here later.
Combine

I've also included a photo of Burger King in Regina east, which seems to employ illiterate burger barons. I checked, and "Frys" is not a spelling for "fries".

August 15, 2005
    I got back from a long weekend at Wood Mountain to attend the Mergel Ranch Wood Mountain Farmers Market. It was a good time, and my Dad and I did some good advertising for our computer selling business. I bought blue berries for $3 and ate the whole package as a lunch/snack.
    I met Gus Balas from Shaunovan on the STC bus into Regina from Assiniboia, and he thought I should do public speaking, showing my pictures and telling my tales of travel in the Parkland, to seniors or interested people in small towns. I wouldn't mind doing that, I'd just have to work out transportation, probably by buying a vehicle, and get a projector for my laptop.
    I also talked with a CBC employee, as I walked along the picket line after CBC management locked out the unionized staff across Canada today. Nicole used to live in Luther College at the UofR too, and her explanation of the lockout is that CBC management wants to avoid giving benefits to de facto full-time employees, by keeping them on only as short-term contract workers. She knows of people who've been working for 4 years without a contract, and they of course don't have benefits like dentists for their kids and such. Being a union member myself, I'm siding with the CBC union, and I don't support withholding benefits from full time employees, the management will just have to find another way to cut costs, possibly by reducing their own pay raises. CBC Regina lockout

Here's someone's letter concerning the Pot Party's leader's extradition order from the Drug Enforcement Agency in the USA, given to Canada, which threatens our sovereignty in my opinion.
===
To whom I may concern,

Marc Emery's business has been for years an open secret, known of by law enforcement and allowed to operate without legal intervention
since 1998. Ottawa has likewise been long aware of his seed sales,
going so far as to recommend Emery Seeds to recipients of medicinal marijuana, as well as collecting taxes from his profits. Marc's operation was known to Ottawa and, as a consequence of his clearly
labeled "marijuana seed sales" being taxed, approved of by Ottawa.

We live in a country where courts will not serve prison sentences to
individuals convicted of cultivating marijuana on the basis that said
punishment is "too harsh". Can we possibly believe that it is just to turn Marc over to a government who would very much like to put him behind bars for life, for a crime which our own authorities barely consider to be such?

The implications of the Marc Emery's extradition are frightening, beyond the obvious threat to our sovereignty and our ability to craft our own drug policy, free of bullying from Washington. He was targeted, not because of his seeds sales, nor because he is a "drug dealer", but because he is a marijuana activist, and an affluent one at that. Marc is seeking radical change, and already has a proven track record backing him up. Progressive marijuana legislation is the last thing the DEA is interested in, and in Marc's ambitions we see the true nature of his prosecution. The following statement, made by DEA head Karen Tandy, is very telling.

"Today's arrest of Mark (sic) Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and the founder of a marijuana legalization group, is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the US and Canada, _but also to the marijuana legalization movement_." Emphasis mine.

I have followed this story since news of Marc's arrest first broke, and I will continue to follow as events unfold. How this situation is handled in the coming days is sure to determine whether or not I vote Liberal in the forthcoming federal election.
-S. Enns

The surviving four sunflowers are now 33" to the south, and 41" to the west of Sunflower 1 which is now 96" tall. The one across the street is growing horizontally, and is a meager 19" long.

Yesterday I watched "The Rundown" [5/10] with The Rock, and it was mostly amusing, but not too creative.
Today I read about the Air Car, a nearly 0 emissions car made in Spain and France, and the company hopes to make it available soon to Europe and elsewhere. It would work well in Canada too in the Summer, but they need to develop an internal heating mechanism for the Winter temperatures.

On the Radio, Adler was talking about Western Canadian separation. I know it's not something that will happen in the next 20 years, but if we don't quell it soon, or at least recognize it is just a bargaining tactic with Ottawa, then it could one day become a reality. Personally I'd like to see the west be given more political clout, possibly by giving us 4/10 control of the Senate, and the Maritimes getting 4/10, and the rest to ON, QC, and the North.

However, there's a divide in Canada more serious than the east/west one. It's the urban/rural split, and it arises because of the large numbers of people who don't travel anywhere within Canada. There are too many people who have never left a city in their life, and too many who've never been in a city for very long, and it leads to a lot of ignorance everywhere. There are people mostly in urban areas that figure that small towns should not exist, and that people are stupid if they don't live in a city. I kid you not, there are people that have an unhealthy scorn for rural Canada's hard working people. These wacky "urbanites" don't realize that without a rural Canada, there are going to be no thriving cities because there will be no natural resources for the cities to work with. No flour, no gasoline, no fertilizer, no chemicals, no paper, no lumber, no bricks, no pavement, just nothing. City dwellers must never forget who really allows a city to exist, and it's not Ottawa doling out millions to subway workers. It's rural people, the farmers, miners, lumberjacks, mill workers, truckers, and service providers that make their decaf latte drinking, cell phone using, SUV filling, soccer practice attending lifestyle possible. So they must give credit where it's due and stop denying their equal, but rural dwelling, Canadians the services that they couldn't live without. Let us have our schools, hospitals, grocery stores, and libraries. Rural Canadians aren't slaves, so we shouldn't be treated like we're stupid for doing the hard and sometimes isolating work on Canada's frontier, just so that ingrates can comfortably live in Regina, Toronto, or Montreal.

Being from Saskatchewan, I've seen first hand the attitudes that have dismantled my part of rural Canada. The NDP government from 1991 on has closed hospitals [even if they were newly built], schools [that were vital to community survival and decent educations], Rural Service Centers, and has overseen the pillaging of the railways by CNR and CPR. Now they are working on closing Rural Municipality offices and calling it Amalgamation because that sounds like consolidating and we all know that's supposed to save money. But consolidating school children into far away, and larger schools led to a poorer education experience for those families affected, and the consolidation of RM offices is going to restrict rural peoples' political representation. Bonus, for the NDP! How would the Greater Toronto Area react if its political representation was consolidated? Oh wait, it was, Toronto became a "mega-city", and looking back people say it was a huge flop! Why don't we amalgamate Alberta and Saskatchewan, and give us half as many Members of Parliament while we're in the mood? And amalgamate Toronto with Hamilton, and Montreal with Quebec City, and save on MPs there too? Simply put, we don't do that because combining distinct municipalities under one government is going to disenfranchise people. It makes detail oriented management of an area impossible, and distances traveled from one end of the municipality to the other is too great for one government to make with any frequency. That leads to the government becoming separated and out of touch with the issues, much like how the West sees the politicians in Ottawa.

Bigger isn't always better when it comes to government. And if you were only one MP out of over 300, and trying to represent thousands of people, you'd be tempted to yell in Parliament too.

August 7, 2005
Today I stayed in since it was about +32 outside and I watched a few Daily Shows that I didn't have time to watch earlier. Jon Stewart spoke with Rick Santorum, a PA Republican who thinks that because a man and a woman are always involved in creating a child, that it follows that only a man and a woman are best suited to raise children. Coupled with his accurate assertion that it takes a society to raise children, he was quite absurd in proclaiming that "unnatural families" is what is causing societal woes. What he doesn't understand is that any family, of any type that ignores its children, and doesn't have the support of a community is going to produce little monsters that will terrorize people at school, and others later on in life too.

    BBSNews has an article about Creationism, and how Bush's recent backing of including the so called Intelligent Design theory in science classes, is going to introduce Christianity creation myth into secular schools.

    I got a toaster oven today for $1, and it's the same kind my parents had until recently, when theirs broke suddenly. I made fish and chips with it, and tested the power usage. It used 1300 Watts to keep it running, and about 11.3 Amps, which compares to my answering machine's 2 Watts [which actually seems a bit excessive to me since it doesn't have to do ANYTHING 99.99% of the time]. I also bought an iced tea from a garage sale, where a swarm of children were trying to make a living, so to speak.

It was very warm out today, about +28, and biking was tiring, after not doing it for a week. My mind is going a mile a minute, trying to figure out what to do next weekend, and the one after that, because there's a farmers market I want to go to, but there aren't many Aug. weekends left to use my bus pass.

I want to add a comment feature to my blog, because I know there are people out there looking to comment under the things I write, but are too shy to write in otherwise.

I'm back from my vacation, and picked up some neat props while at a sale last week. I now have a magic 8-ball and a toy revolver that looks real when it doesn't have its red cap on the end of it. Why they didn't secure the red tip, is anyone's guess. Comet is alive and well after being fish-sat while I was gone, and I have a stiff neck from maybe staying up too late last night installing Ubuntu-Linux on Dad's computer. It seemed to work nicely, but didn't detect the modem, so I fear it won't detect it because it's probably a Win-modem.
I watched "The Score" [6/10] a movie about a thief in Montreal. And also a few days ago I saw most of "Snake Eyes" [4/10] which looked like a bad Nick Cage movie.

August 4, 2005
I saw "Hitch" [9/10] a funny Will Smith movie, and last night I watched Murray Treed [4/10] a TV movie about a business man trapped in a tree by teen muggers. It was pretty good, up until the way they ended it, I thought.
And I saw a South American movie, "Central Station" [6/10] which was about a boy looking for his father, with the help of a literate woman without any family too. I also watched Unbreakable again [9/10] which is a great movie, by M Night Shamylan[?]

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