Republican congress gets seated, and the Canadian dollar jumps to overtake the American dollar in value. Coincidence? Probably, but the liberal in me wants to think the world market is hesitant to invest when the American party that caused the lion's share of the USA financial crash (which helped trigger a crash in the world's financial markets) has retaken some control of the govenment.
The Dunning-Kruger effect in action!
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Friday, January 7, 2011
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Vancouver In Review
It's been a week since I returned from a work-related excursion to Vancouver. A week doing Cisco training isn't what I usually envision as a great way to spend time in the city, but I did attempt to make the best of it. Substituting beer for meals in brewpubs turned out to be a great way to spend afternoons. I went with four coworkers, but I spent most of the time visiting with friends and recovering from a cold the last evening of the week, so I really only joined them on two evenings after training.
I was happy to spend Tuesday and Wednesday evening meeting up with a couple of friends that I knew in high school, but hadn't seen in 13 and 15 years. It's fascinating the way our personalities have stayed relatively static, but horizons and viewpoints (not to mention waistlines) for all three of us have widened a lot since those days when all three of us shared very religious teen years.
Subjects of discussion ranged from what each of us has been doing since we last met up, to how our religious views have changed (for the record: one of us is now an atheist, one is now a quasi-Christian that doesn't believe in religion, and the last is still very religious, but much more of a Liberal Christian), our work histories during that time, and of course, what we know or have heard about the fates of other friends or church fellows from those days. It was surprising how easy it was to spend three to four hours on both evenings just chatting away and catching up. I also found it curious how quickly each of us seemed to re-establish our friendship, almost as though we'd been together only a month or so previously, rather than up to fifteen years ago. Of course, lubricating ourselves with Leffe and Granville Island Pale Ale certainly didn't hurt the discussion!
The second best part of being in Van, after catching up with old friends, was trying out different pubs. The first night we arrived at the hotel on Granville, my coworkers and I located Johnnie Fox's Irish Snug only a block away. We pretty much went there every afternoon after work, where I would down a couple of pints of Guinness, while my coworkers would order Guinness & blacks. When we first walked in, I wondered just how authentically Irish the pub was, but after a couple of glasses, while taking in the live Celtic music, we realized that almost everyone in the place had an Irish accent, except us! I'll take that as a pretty good sign that our Guinness was being poured properly, and that the Irish stew I ordered was as Irish as it could be!
I also got the chance to head down to the Irish Heather to try out their cask aged ale, and to marvel at their selection of over 250 whiskies. The absolute topper, however, was the Alibi Room, and their twenty-five taps of microbrewed ales, plus three cask aged ales to choose from. There wasn't a single Molson, Labatt, or Budweiser in sight! Coupled with an excellent, and relatively reasonably priced menu, the Alibi Room was a little slice of beer snob heaven!
All in all, it was a fun trip, and a coworker let slip that I might wind up heading back for some more Cisco training in Vancouver before the end of March. Now that I have a few haunts to choose from, I'm actually looking forward for my next chance to head down to Van!
I was happy to spend Tuesday and Wednesday evening meeting up with a couple of friends that I knew in high school, but hadn't seen in 13 and 15 years. It's fascinating the way our personalities have stayed relatively static, but horizons and viewpoints (not to mention waistlines) for all three of us have widened a lot since those days when all three of us shared very religious teen years.
Subjects of discussion ranged from what each of us has been doing since we last met up, to how our religious views have changed (for the record: one of us is now an atheist, one is now a quasi-Christian that doesn't believe in religion, and the last is still very religious, but much more of a Liberal Christian), our work histories during that time, and of course, what we know or have heard about the fates of other friends or church fellows from those days. It was surprising how easy it was to spend three to four hours on both evenings just chatting away and catching up. I also found it curious how quickly each of us seemed to re-establish our friendship, almost as though we'd been together only a month or so previously, rather than up to fifteen years ago. Of course, lubricating ourselves with Leffe and Granville Island Pale Ale certainly didn't hurt the discussion!
The second best part of being in Van, after catching up with old friends, was trying out different pubs. The first night we arrived at the hotel on Granville, my coworkers and I located Johnnie Fox's Irish Snug only a block away. We pretty much went there every afternoon after work, where I would down a couple of pints of Guinness, while my coworkers would order Guinness & blacks. When we first walked in, I wondered just how authentically Irish the pub was, but after a couple of glasses, while taking in the live Celtic music, we realized that almost everyone in the place had an Irish accent, except us! I'll take that as a pretty good sign that our Guinness was being poured properly, and that the Irish stew I ordered was as Irish as it could be!
I also got the chance to head down to the Irish Heather to try out their cask aged ale, and to marvel at their selection of over 250 whiskies. The absolute topper, however, was the Alibi Room, and their twenty-five taps of microbrewed ales, plus three cask aged ales to choose from. There wasn't a single Molson, Labatt, or Budweiser in sight! Coupled with an excellent, and relatively reasonably priced menu, the Alibi Room was a little slice of beer snob heaven!
All in all, it was a fun trip, and a coworker let slip that I might wind up heading back for some more Cisco training in Vancouver before the end of March. Now that I have a few haunts to choose from, I'm actually looking forward for my next chance to head down to Van!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
An Open Letter To America
Hello, citizens of the excellent country to the south! As a member of the Great White North (you remember us: that country above you, often times referred to jokingly as "America's hat"), I just feel like I need to write you a little letter. Between you and I, I don't mind the jokes you make at our expense, since we Canadians tend to have a bit of an inferiority complex and we certainly enjoy a little self-deprecating humour now and then, I must admit I am starting to worry about you, our bigger, more independent brother.
Our countries both grew up out of the British Commonwealth, but we obtained our freedom in different ways. As the older brother, you got into a big argument with our former parents, and stormed out angrily after bloodying the British empire with a blow to the nose. In a huff, you struck off under your own power to find your way in the world.
As the goody-two shoes smaller brother (ever the favorite), we remember the way you left, but we could never bring ourselves to lash out so angrily against our parents, even though sometimes we wanted to. Therefore, we stayed with the Brits, and slowly, eventually moved out of the British home. Sure, we've got a close relationship with them, Mom (the Queen) drops in to check on us once in a while, and sometimes they'll drop off some used submarines for us to use, but we like to think of ourselves as fully independent now
Anyways, I've been keeping an eye on the political atmosphere within your borders for the past few years. Indeed, it's near impossible to avoid seeing what goes on in the USA, as awash in American media as we are up here. What I have witnessed happening down there makes me fear for both our countries.
I feel like I'm watching your political process completely break down. There now seems to be three political parties in the United States: extreme right-wing (Republicans), center-right (Democrats), and completely oblivious (the vast majority of voters).
The Republicans recently oversaw what could quite possibly be the worst decade in American History, squandering the good American name around the world, starting two unnecessary wars, and throwing the entire economy of the planet into turmoil. Now that they are out of power, it seems the only activity that they're interested in is doing anything to make the new American government fail, no matter how that affects the county they claim to love and care for. From the outside, it looks like they've been taken over by an American version of the Taliban, which completely throws off the balance of power in your great country.
The Democrats are still struggling to deal with the fallout of thirty years of Republican policies. Unfortunately, they seem to be attempting to counteract those policies by adopting Republican policies from twenty years ago (which, ironically enough, the current Republican party refers to as "socialism"!). The supposed American "left wing" seems to be more worried about placating the people who are showing up to rallies holding racist signs and carrying automatic weapons than leading America out of one of its darkest decades. The Republicans are fond of arguing that one shouldn't "negotiate with terrorists", yet the Democrats continually seem to be always attempting to build bridges with the extremist American political party that doesn't seem to care about the health of the USA right now.
Your scariest political "party" are definitely the Completely Oblivious types. The political environment has gotten so extremist and obstructionist that it has forced a small percentage of Americans to become rabid partisans, while causing the remaining, vast majority of citizens to stop caring at all about politics. The Republican partisans are completely unable to deal with reality, the Democratic partisans are pretty much ignored by their own political party, and the remainder of the citizenry are either easily swayed by fear-mongering or are more concerned about stuffing as many calories into their faces as they can while they watch amateur idiots sing or dance on fake reality television shows. Even the impending destruction of the American Dream doesn't seem to be enough to wake them from their stupor!
Top top this all off, you have now seemingly have only two types of news stations: right-wing attack news, and infotainment. Flipping through my American news channels, I have the choice between either wacko wingnut talking points or celebrity scandals. Right-wing news has essentially become an extremist Republican arguing with a slightly less extremist Republican over how to properly demonize the commie/nazi/anti-christ Democrats; mainstream news has become a muddle where two sides of any argument are presented with zero fact-checking or followup questions so as to avoid accusations of "bias"; and left-wing news has become no more than a couple of half-hour shows on public television channels that nobody watches. Where the hell has that hard-hitting American news that debated the issues, presented the facts, and held politicians' feet to the fire gone? It's almost like George W. Bush sent all of your investigative reporters to Guantanamo Bay, and Obama can't figure out whether to let them out or send them to be tortured to death in a Syrian prison!
Anyways, I know that some of this rant has been harsh - there's more than a small amount of demagoguery present in it, some points in it might be incorrect, and I've definitely been guilty of slinging a number of insults about, but I only said all this because I care about you, America. The main reason I care is, as the "little brother" in our relationship, I'm starting to notice some of your dysfunctions surfacing north of the border we share with you, and I'm worried that if America destroys itself from within, Canada might just follow your example.
Please step back from the abyss, America. The world needs you to be healthy and whole, and, even if we don't always get along with you, we do love you. Thanks for listening.
Our countries both grew up out of the British Commonwealth, but we obtained our freedom in different ways. As the older brother, you got into a big argument with our former parents, and stormed out angrily after bloodying the British empire with a blow to the nose. In a huff, you struck off under your own power to find your way in the world.
As the goody-two shoes smaller brother (ever the favorite), we remember the way you left, but we could never bring ourselves to lash out so angrily against our parents, even though sometimes we wanted to. Therefore, we stayed with the Brits, and slowly, eventually moved out of the British home. Sure, we've got a close relationship with them, Mom (the Queen) drops in to check on us once in a while, and sometimes they'll drop off some used submarines for us to use, but we like to think of ourselves as fully independent now
Anyways, I've been keeping an eye on the political atmosphere within your borders for the past few years. Indeed, it's near impossible to avoid seeing what goes on in the USA, as awash in American media as we are up here. What I have witnessed happening down there makes me fear for both our countries.
I feel like I'm watching your political process completely break down. There now seems to be three political parties in the United States: extreme right-wing (Republicans), center-right (Democrats), and completely oblivious (the vast majority of voters).
The Republicans recently oversaw what could quite possibly be the worst decade in American History, squandering the good American name around the world, starting two unnecessary wars, and throwing the entire economy of the planet into turmoil. Now that they are out of power, it seems the only activity that they're interested in is doing anything to make the new American government fail, no matter how that affects the county they claim to love and care for. From the outside, it looks like they've been taken over by an American version of the Taliban, which completely throws off the balance of power in your great country.
The Democrats are still struggling to deal with the fallout of thirty years of Republican policies. Unfortunately, they seem to be attempting to counteract those policies by adopting Republican policies from twenty years ago (which, ironically enough, the current Republican party refers to as "socialism"!). The supposed American "left wing" seems to be more worried about placating the people who are showing up to rallies holding racist signs and carrying automatic weapons than leading America out of one of its darkest decades. The Republicans are fond of arguing that one shouldn't "negotiate with terrorists", yet the Democrats continually seem to be always attempting to build bridges with the extremist American political party that doesn't seem to care about the health of the USA right now.
Your scariest political "party" are definitely the Completely Oblivious types. The political environment has gotten so extremist and obstructionist that it has forced a small percentage of Americans to become rabid partisans, while causing the remaining, vast majority of citizens to stop caring at all about politics. The Republican partisans are completely unable to deal with reality, the Democratic partisans are pretty much ignored by their own political party, and the remainder of the citizenry are either easily swayed by fear-mongering or are more concerned about stuffing as many calories into their faces as they can while they watch amateur idiots sing or dance on fake reality television shows. Even the impending destruction of the American Dream doesn't seem to be enough to wake them from their stupor!
Top top this all off, you have now seemingly have only two types of news stations: right-wing attack news, and infotainment. Flipping through my American news channels, I have the choice between either wacko wingnut talking points or celebrity scandals. Right-wing news has essentially become an extremist Republican arguing with a slightly less extremist Republican over how to properly demonize the commie/nazi/anti-christ Democrats; mainstream news has become a muddle where two sides of any argument are presented with zero fact-checking or followup questions so as to avoid accusations of "bias"; and left-wing news has become no more than a couple of half-hour shows on public television channels that nobody watches. Where the hell has that hard-hitting American news that debated the issues, presented the facts, and held politicians' feet to the fire gone? It's almost like George W. Bush sent all of your investigative reporters to Guantanamo Bay, and Obama can't figure out whether to let them out or send them to be tortured to death in a Syrian prison!
Anyways, I know that some of this rant has been harsh - there's more than a small amount of demagoguery present in it, some points in it might be incorrect, and I've definitely been guilty of slinging a number of insults about, but I only said all this because I care about you, America. The main reason I care is, as the "little brother" in our relationship, I'm starting to notice some of your dysfunctions surfacing north of the border we share with you, and I'm worried that if America destroys itself from within, Canada might just follow your example.
Please step back from the abyss, America. The world needs you to be healthy and whole, and, even if we don't always get along with you, we do love you. Thanks for listening.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
143rd Birthday
Today marks the 143rd year since confederation brought together four British North American provinces into a single country known as Canada. Happy Birthday!
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