Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Hey everyone, it's been about two years since I've blogged but I got a new one and I have a good feeling about actually keeping it running.  Check it out:

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Hi everyone, I've decided that now that I'm done my first year of my PhD and have a little more free time on my hands that I would come out of hiatus. However, that said, I've decided that I will start a new blog and let this one die a natural death. The new blog can be found at:

http://canuckohioan.blogspot.com

I hope I see you there!

Friday, December 29, 2006

If the news reports are right Saddam Hussein should be executed at around 10PM EST. I'm curious as to what everyone thinks about the impending hanging. While I'm a pretty ardent opponent to capital punishment, I must admit that if there might be case in which capital punishment would be justified, it would be with someone like Saddam Hussein.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I just realized it's been far longer than a month since I last posted. Such being the case, I thought I would mention to everyone that I am in fact still alive and kicking. It's just that I've been rather busy the last few weeks. Working on a PhD takes up far more of my time then I would have expected. Though, last quarter I did have a class load that resulted in a larger amount of work than I think I'll have in subsequent quarters. Between the proseminar that I was enrolled in and the class in Aristotle I had I think in the past 11 weeks (before last week that is) I wrote over a hundred pages, which is equivalent to the amount of work that I put into my master's thesis (which was written over the span of an entire year).

After doing all that I was somewhat disinclined to do anything except for sit there and stare at a wall for a while. I've done that now so I'm ready to move back onto doing stuff. So I think, while making no promises of any kind, that I will post a little more on here. Though, I will warn everyone, it's likely that my posts, at least until I get back into the groove of things, will be a little lighter and fluffier than you might be accustomed to. That and it's been kind of a dull period in terms of politics and current events.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

With the whole PhD thing I've been getting to be an increasingly bad blogger. I really need to start finding more time to put some stuff up here for you guys. I was going to post something last night but I got sucked into listening to the election coverage down here on NPR. I have to say, I'm pretty excited by the outcome. While I'm not a particularly huge fan of the Democrats, I'm much less of a fan of the Republicans. It's nice to see that there's actually some check on the President now.

It's sweet to see the Congress shift back left a little. Also, hopefully things will turn out in Virginia and perhaps the Senate will get back into the hands of the more reasonable party. Now, if I can only convince the people down here that public healthcare is in their best interest....

Sunday, October 22, 2006

I've just discovered that Google Video has the entire The Ascent of Man series on it. It's a great little series of documentaries made in 1973 about cultural evolution. Seeing this movie years ago made me take an anthropology class. Indeed, it made me consider studying anthropology for a couple of days. In the end I decided I had to stay true to philosophy.

That all being the case, for the next few weeks I think I might put an episode or two a week onto this blog for you all to see.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

For those of you who've taken any substantial number of philosophy courses, you'll know that Plato, in his Republic, decides that in the ideal benevolent tyranny of the philosopher king holds a kind of wacky view that poetry needs to be censored. Well, it seems that around these parts some people might agree. This past weekend poet Nikki Giovani has raised a bit of a furor in a poem she recited at the reopening of Fountain Square. Now admittedly I'm actually joining into this discussion a little late. I've been a little out of touch with local news, for some reason I still have the habit of checking up on what happens back in Calgary more regularly than what happens here. However, the way I see it, it's better late than never.

It seems that Ms Giovani got into hot water because she decided to suggest that the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Ken Blackwell, is a "son of a bitch". Now to be fair, I'm pretty sure Ken Blackwell's mom isn't a canid. However, in a recent debate he decided to step into the gutter and suggest that his opponent backed legislation that was applauded by NAMBLA. This doesn't seem to me to be the actions characteristic of someone who isn't a son of a bitch.

Also, I really tend to dislike when people want to suppress artistic expression (I still stand by my earlier argument that people republishing the Danish cartoons that raised such a big stink a few months back should have reconsidered what they were doing, not as a matter of offense but because they led to violence), so I figured I would reprint Ms Giovani's poem, "I am Cincinnati" on here.

I am Cincinnati

I ran from the whips and the dogs

Across the frozen pond

I made my home in the West End

When the Civil War came I dug the trenches

Showing the South

Free men live here

Who are unwilling to yield

I kept the city safe

I am the Seven Hills

I am the neighborhoods

Community centers

Shopping malls

Churches

Libraries

I am the Bengals

The Reds

The incomparable Underground Railroad Museum

I am history

I am Findlay Street market

I am the best 3-way chili in the world

I am Montgomery ribs

I am the University of Cincinnati

I am Xavier

I am Sister Jean Patrice Harrington bringing Mount St. Joseph into the 21st century

I am Eden Park and the Conservatory of Music

I am Symphony Hall and the oldest opera company and one of the world's greatest teaching zoos

I am Spring Grove Cemetery

My dead rest in beauty and peace

I am Marian Spencer

I have watched segregation reign and have built a bridge between that island and the city

I have watched policemen

Shoot young black men in the back

And have watched my community respond, a people who once saved this city

. . .

I am the Cincinnati Western and Southern Tennis Championships, though I am played in Mason

. . .

I am not a son of a bitch like Kenny Blackwell

...

I will not use the color of my skin to cover the hatred in my heart

I am not a political whore jumping from bed to bed to see who will stroke my need

I am Mark Mallory

Talking to everyone

Walking with everyone

Listening to everyone

Leading by consensus, not fear

I am Cincinnati

I slaughter hogs and make soap

I am the biggest Oktoberfest outside Munich, Germany

Though I have been boycotted

I am not shirking my responsibilities to the next generation

I am finding a way to be great again

I am the lady in the fountain

Let my waters cleanse and refresh you

Let my waters heal

Together we can still save this city

This version of the poem was found in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

I just realized that it's been more than a week since I posted anything. I've been a little busy. However, I thought I'd check in just to let everyone know that I'm alive and kicking, just a little bit swamped at the moment. Also there hasn't been things on the news that've got me all hot and bothered. Though, admittedly I haven't been paying all that much attention to the news lately. I think that I'm going through one of those cynical periods when I just suspect that despite everyone's best efforts the government of Canada is just going to screw us. I just looked at the news and I already see stories that I think are great examples of how the Canadian government fails us. For example, it seems that the government has been profiling people who make access to information requests, which, I agree with the Toronto Star, is clearly a violation of the spirit of access to access to information legislation. That's something that someone should say something about. I might later actually but right now I need to get back to working out a proof that I'm convinced is insoluble.

The second story that I would like to see gain a little more traction involves Corrections Inspector Howard Sapers' announcement that those of aboriginal descent face discrimination in Canadian prisons. It would be nice if the Tories would actually try to address these sorts of issues rather than denying them. Seriously, who actually thinks that Stockwell Day is more sensitive and informed when it comes to discriminatory practices in the prison system than a guy who's job is to spend all day examining the strengths and weaknesses of jails? I mean Stockwell Day thinks that once upon a time people hung out with dinosaurs. How ridiculous is that?

UPDATE: I finally solved the proof but it involved four layers of subproofs. Really, I don't know how that made it as a "practice" questions. Really, this is my fifth class on formal logic (not counting the two that I taught) and this took me some thinking and employing some pretty counter intuitive moves. I pity the fool who's in this class and hasn't had as much experience as I have with the material.

Monday, October 09, 2006

I've been so busy that I completely had forgotten that Thanksgiving was today (at least back home that is). Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm thankful for the fact that the opposition parties were able to circumvent the Tories and vote for legislation supporting meeting the Kyoto targets. Hopefully, the opposition will continue to work together to be able to circumvent the Tories for all sorts of other things. That would be ideal.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

How come there aren't great orators like Mario Savio anymore? How come?

Saturday, October 07, 2006

The music hippies next door are badly playing bongo drums and screeching. If there weren't laws against such a thing, I think I would already be going over there with a chair to throw at them.

Don't get me wrong I actually don't mind kind of loud neighbours. I mean my last ones used to sit in the backyard shirtless blaring AC DC until 4:30 in the morning and that really didn't bother me so much. Indeed, I saw it as an opportunity to blare ska music all through the night.

However, I do have a problem with tone deaf "music students" who have no sense of rhythm banging away and making tortured dying animal sounds. You would think music students would be able to keep 4/4 time. I guess not. And they said that there's a world class conservatory program here.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Has it struck anyone else that the Tories new plan to cut greenhouse gases is just to go around saying that they have a new plan? Indeed, their supposed plan will definitely not have targets, they've made that clear, and as of yet they have refused to provide any details as to how they're going to manage CO2 emissions.

If I were to use an analogy, I would say that the Ambrose plan to deal with greenhouse gases would be like someone saying they're going to quit smoking one of these days as they light up their 17th unfiltered Camel of the day.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

According to my blogger "dashboard" CP vs SS now has 1500 posts on it (well I guess 1501 with this one). I've really come a long way since I asked CP three years or so ago, "what's a blog?"



Here's a trick question for you. Imagine that you're at the helm of a fairly newly elected rather weak minority government and you hear that one of your party members is a publicly outspoken homophobe (and indeed is a lobbyist for a conservative Christian group intent on doing away with same-sex marriage). Indeed, he does things like publicly declare that supporters of gay rights are Nazis. Moreover, he has offended a major religious group by suggesting that their religious views breed terrorism. Now what do you do with this guy?

If you were Stephen Harper, you'd give him a job as chief of staff for the Environment Minister.

Now that just strikes me as asking for controversy. I mean, does the Harper government even have a vetting process for its appointees?

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Since I'm pretty much just sitting around being sick today I was looking up random shows on google video and found this documentary, which seems to be made from footage shot by some embedded reporters with the 82nd Airborne during the beginning of the insurgency in Iraq. I thought some of you might like to watch it. I always find it interesting how the people actually involved in a conflict view their role in the grand scheme of things.



Okay, well maybe they aren't killer germs but they really do have me feel like I'm dying. That might be an exaggeration but they make me feel like I want to be in a coma for the next few days. However, I've found one of the best remedies to feeling unwell is to kvetch incessantly. Since all my family and most of my friends are still back in Calgary. I've decided that I'm going to complain here.

My sinuses are congested to the point where it feel like there are little homunculi in my head and they're kicking the inside of my face trying to get out. Also said homunculi are impeding my airway so it's really hard to breath comfortably, at least through my nose. That being the case, I'm reduced to being a slack-jawed mouth breather, which really is an affront to my dignity. I mean after 100,000+ years of evolutionary history, you would think that the human race should be able to breath from their noses whenever they want to. Stupid germs.

Also I think I'm running a slight bit of a fever and whenever I run fevers I find that I can't think particularly clearly. I figured that since I was sick and unable to really do anything anyways, I could at least try to read ahead for my classes but my brain is foggy that I can't get any of the material I've gone over to stick. I spent the last three hours reading Aristotle over and over again and all I can remember is the word "graspiness". I don't even know what it applies to other than it is on the extreme of some spectrum regarding something or other. It's really not fair.

Also I've got a seriously bad cough and muscle aches. Two things that really don't go together well. I hurt and then I cough and the muscle spasms when I cough make me hurt more. All in all I feel like a victim of some sort of random beating by a unruly mob of little kids. It's not the kind of pain that one would have after being beaten by a full sized adult but the kind of pain that would result when a mob of 7 year olds overwhelm you and start kicking you with their little feet. Fucking rug-rats, always kicking my ass.

Ahhhh.... That was cathartic, I feel all sorts of better about myself now. That said, I think I'm going back to bed.


No animals were intentionally harmed in the production of this blog.