Undefined Blog

Mal Au Corps

2012-01-26T23:45:00.000-08:00

“It's hard enough to start a revolution, even harder to sustain it, and hardest of all to win it. But it's only afterwards, once we've won, that the real difficulties begin."

In the spirit of my last post and my realist cynicism in Barack Obama three years ago, it's exhaustively difficult to manoeuvre through many differing interest groups. As seen in wartime alliance shifts against French colonialism, for example, as coincidentally seen in two different political science classes about terrorism and Southeast Asia and a reading comprehension exercise in a French workbook following an exercise on injured body parts, internal divisions reign supreme.

I suppose university experience has really forced me to examine multiple perspectives to an extent that I might know less about life now than before despite profound advancements in philosophical knowledge. I'm not necessarily talking about a post-modern sense, but unless abstract concepts such as freedom and liberalism are operationalized as discussed in a political theory class today, it's difficult to take polarized stands on anything anymore, though I don't know or remember if my life were ideological and closed-minded with which to begin.

Sometimes I will invoke my soft on crime liberalism, as found today in my opposition to practical torture not necessarily based on ethical grounds, but due to its highly suspect effectiveness and the significant chance that wrong information is provided by the wrong person. Invoking a Rawlsian original position, I would not want to be on the receiving end of this situation. However, I know that torture primarily exists due to war. If we stop the culture of war, idealistically, we don't have to answer the question of torture.

Read Pages and Paint for more, but I suppose my overall balanced philosophy puts me on the fence on certain issues such as the Keystone XL or the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines. I suppose we can similarly find a third way preventive solution by investing heavily in green projects, but I'd rather wait and see the results from environmental impact studies before I boldly decide. Yes, I like decentralizing and delegating responsibility to others who are more adept than me in certain situations.

However, when I do have to make decisions, preferably on issues about which I know such as drafting fantasy all-star teams, I try to deliver them in an effective, unwavering manner. The NHL spectacle tonight didn't disappoint, with Sens vs. Leafs, Canucks vs. Bruins, and Sweden vs. Slovakia rivalries. I suppose Canuck fans hope the Sedins and Alex Edler don't reflect the words in the title of this post through perhaps a Max Pacioretty incident after facing the chippy Bruins-dominated roster and only have real difficulties in five months from now, perhaps with the CBA expiration, after a revolution of a season.

Truancy

2012-01-25T00:06:00.000-08:00

I suppose there is a major difference between rebellious skipping for students who have not completed Grade 10 yet and excused absences such as Alex Ovechkin's decision to skip the all-star game and not face supplemental discipline consecutive to his existing three-game suspension, my students in the past four days, and Tim Thomas' Boston Tea Party-inspired decision to not meet President Barack Obama at the White House alongside the rest of his Stanley Cup-winning team. Although many people from Vancouver would've wanted to see this rendez-vous avoided altogether and preferred a festival beyond Trevor Linden with the author of a hockey history book, I must agree with Puck Daddy's opinion on this matter:

WASHINGTON -- While congratulating the Boston Bruins on their 2011 Stanley Cup championship, President Barack Obama did the obligatory spotlighting of key players in that run. Zdeno Chara got the height joke. Brad Marchand was chided for being the "Little Ball of Hate." Tim Thomas was celebrated for being only the second American player to win playoff MVP, having posted two shutouts in the Final. Chara smiled. Marchand blushed. Thomas wasn't there to hear it. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli confirmed that Thomas had told him months ago he would not attend the White House event due to his political and ideological differences with the Obama administration. Chiarelli said he had tried to convince Thomas to attend the event "over the last couple months" to no avail...

While his politics aren't common knowledge among many hockey fans, Thomas hasn't hidden his political leanings. He's a fan of former Fox News channel host Glenn Beck, once saying he aspired to appear on Beck's talk show as a guest. Big Government, a website founded by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, celebrated Thomas as a "true Tea Party patriot" for having "In God We Trust" and the Gadsden flag on his mask. From Big Government: In addition to displaying his support for the Tea Party on the ice, Thomas is a FreedomWorks donor, giving generously right before the historic November 2010 elections, according to the FEC...

My take: Good on Thomas. Good on Thomas for using this moment — where a professional sports team participates in what's both an honor for its accomplishments and a political photo opportunity — to make a political statement of his own. It's the moment when Thomas will no doubt lose a lot of supporters, for sure, when they realize an athlete they celebrate has stark political differences than they have. He's not the first nor the last athlete to choose not to visit the White House. It's a moment in which a professional athlete uses his fame, his influence for something he believes in, and does something that won't be popular among fans or media. Sean Avery did the same thing: Potentially alienating his teammates by taking a political stand on gay marriage. If he's celebrated and Thomas is demonized, what does that say about our real tolerance of free speech? That it's only free when we agree with it?

(And for the "separation of politics and hockey" crowd — that flies out the window when you agree to be a backdrop to a speech in an election year. Or any year.) There's a difference between freedom of speech and speech without consequence, of course. This is the moment when Tim Thomas, the most valuable player to his team last June, did something that detracted from his teammates' celebration. This is the moment when, for better or worse, he becomes something more than the blue-collar hockey player from Flint with the great backstory and the sterling save percentage. And as long as he's willing to accept that his absence from an event that even Tomas Kaberle attended has overshadowed this day and changed his profile as an athlete, then like Cam Neely I'll respect the decision.

I could rant about the politics of sports for a long time in light of many instances where politics can and should be necessary, but I won't. All I'll say is that while I respect Thomas' decision, I would visit politicians such as George W. Bush with almost as much enthusiasm as the "I VOTED FOR THE MAN!" Pat Riley, especially when invited to a relatively non-political function, for fun. I personally look beyond mere photographs and, even with newfound respect for heckling, enjoy building bridges with a diverse range of people rather than selectively listening and reinforcing whatever ideological beliefs that I may have. Class and dignity can be found in the ceaseless standing ovations from both parties at the State of the Union throne speech knockoff. I suppose I can rant about education for a long time, but I'd let Obama settle the issue of truancy for me:

At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies – just to make a difference.

Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn. We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. So tonight, I call on every State to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.

Family Values

2012-01-22T02:09:00.000-08:00

"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

I don't know if war fits with family values, but some religious right followers of evangelical Christianity certainly think so in contrast to Albert Einstein. Somehow with a student today, I mentioned the above quote alongside a crossbow analogy of rising action and denouement per chapter, the content in my previous post, and the sustainability of recycling old shoes, which alongside environmental sustainability in general conspicuously enough isn't considered to be family values.

Of all things Newt Gingrich has done, I must applaud his work with Nancy Pelosi to support climate change action policies. While I won't get into negative mudslinging in terms of addressing accusations of open marriage as proven facts, Gingrich has admitted to being hypocritical in terms of denouncing the pimp Bill Clinton. In a spirit of bi-partisanship, perhaps both of them could team up like a societal proper man sporting only a bra in Downtown today walking alongside a scruffy homeless man and do push-ups, or something else, like Fin inside Rogers Arena to the tune of "Sexy and I Know It."

Yes, I attended the Canucks game and sat in the same Section 102 as the last game I attended. All I'll say is that aside from redhead Ryan Kesler dolls and the standout players of Cody Hodgson and Chris Tanev, the entertainment and physicality from this game is hopefully the content of what Einstein referred as a war with sticks and black rubber stones, assuming World War III is already over.

Mimolette

2012-01-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

Continuing from my last post, the updated situation pertaining to SOPA and PIPA is a delay thanks to the evolving power that social media holds. I can see a slightly more muted but still hacktivist-inflammed backlash to the shutdown of Megaupload. I understand that there are rampant copyright violations, but there are also many legal files that are wiped out in the process.

But let's face it in a truthful way that few people aside from piracy political parties would openly express beyond cyberspace but into real life in public, which is that few people care about hurting the feelings of the MPAA and RIAA for the "lost money" that they probably do not justifiably in the free market sense deserve to gain. As a consumer, I've stated before that I'd alternatively want to spend money where I think is more deserving, such as local theatrical performances or local restaurants.

In terms of the latter, after a discussion of restaurant etiquette and food vocabulary such as mimolette cheese, casu marzu (colloquially termed "maggot cheese") and phasmatodea (colloquially termed "stick bug") with a student today, I went to Bistro Pastis with a non-diminished appetite. Although I won't post up images due to their poor quality from this romantically-inspired close-quarter candlelight dinner fine dining French establishment with no room for live music as seen in the Dine Out Vancouver location last year, the imagined smell of truffle froth is captivating enough to cause anyone to froth in terms of lustful salivation. In non-imagery terms, I recommend this restaurant.

I did enjoy the truffle froth in a friend's potato and leek soup alongside brioche croutons and another friend's escargot. My own appetizer was a terrine de campagne meatloaf dish with a hint of cornichons and croutons in a bite-sized pickled salad. Although I'm not much of a meat person, it was nevertheless tastier than the mushy meatloaf as seen in a minute-long advertisement this morning. It was also the most exotic appetizer to order and it did present an opportunity for me to speak in a pompously elitist style of French, complete with its Parisian accent, though my comprehension of the waiter's remarks in French does require significantly more work.

For my main dish, I ordered the pan-seared ruby trout on top of a warm potato salad, haricot vert, oven-dried tomatoes, and bacon vinaigrette. It was more about the plating positioning than the serving size. I proceeded to eat the supplementary food before the trout itself and savoured each bite, though the dining experience sans the lively conversation about my pompously elitist ways for this dish only took ten minutes.

Furthermore, I enjoyed a friend's potato gratin that went alongside his grilled flank steak Bordelaise, mushroom, carrots, shallet, and red wine sauce. I also grabbed a quick bite of another friend's creamy polenta inside the caramelized onion and porcini stuffed chicken breast with Brussels sprouts. Yet another friend, stable enough in money to order the $38 Dine Out option alongside a glass of fine Chardonnay wine, allowed me to try his duck confit that was similarly elevated on top of gravy-infused pomme frites. It's authentically French and thus remarkably expensive, especially compared to Salade de Fruits, for its small portion even in this Dine Out window of opportunity.

I'd say that the dessert size was a giant in comparison. I ordered a Crêpe Suzette au Grand Marnier with vanilla ice cream and tried some of the dark chocolate mousse with almond biscotti that a friend ordered. In hindsight, I would've gone with the mousse for its profound richness, but I can't particularly complain about a flambéd caramelized liqueur dish.

In terms of liqueur in an anise-flavoured fashion, due to its namesake, I tried a glass of Ricard Pastis '51. Even with increasing dilution with a specialized jug of spring water after every sip, the minty microemulsing magic by way of the ouzo effect left a soothing taste in my mouth after consuming the highly-sweet, highly-salty, and highly-oily but nonetheless rich taste of all of the dishes.

Although mimolette may be an exception, I wouldn't necessarily say that the rich taste of French food must be acquired. If that's the case, the restaurant would not be as packed as it was today, with people knowing full well that it would be expensive, costing me a total of $47 including tax and tip. Another friend paid in excess of $60. The total bill for six people arrived at somewhere around $215 excluding gratuity. Despite the delay in payment service that's hopefully shorter than PIPA and SOPA due to possessing only one mobile portable credit and debit card machine, my last words to the waiters and waitresses cleaning our table were, "Nous retournerons."

Je Pense, Donc Je Pension

2012-01-18T23:21:00.000-08:00

Just because a professor openly expressed his full-fledged support on the reliability of Wikipedia today, I shall begin with a selection from the article on George Washington:

The 1st United States Congress voted to pay Washington a salary of $25,000 a year—a large sum in 1789. Washington, already wealthy, declined the salary, since he valued his image as a selfless public servant. At the urging of Congress, however, he ultimately accepted the payment, to avoid setting a precedent whereby the presidency would be perceived as limited only to independently wealthy individuals who could serve without any salary.^[97] The president, aware that everything he did set a precedent, attended carefully to the pomp and ceremony of office, making sure that the titles and trappings were suitably republican and never emulated European royal courts. To that end, he preferred the title "Mr. President" to the more majestic names suggested.^[98]

It's deemed a "good article" according to Wikipedia standards, but if I were to fully embrace the post-modernity theoretical framework as discussed in a class today or even a Rene Descartes propagation of rational skepticism, I would object to the single-truth romantic portrayal of Washington. Nevertheless, I must recognize the thoughtful honour in making a landmark decision regarding salaries after deliberation. Regarding salaries and pensions, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is launching another populist jackpot:

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says MPs have one of the cushiest pension fund programs in Canada and it's time to shut it down. The federation says with belts being tightened everywhere, it's time for a more modest system in which the government matches MP contributions to the plan on a dollar-for-dollar basis. As it currently stands, taxpayers kick in $23.30 for every $1 an MP contributes, the federation says. Officially, taxpayers contribute $5.80 for every $1 that MPs contribute, but the taxpayer group says it's actually much higher than that, because the government adds "interest" into the MP pension accounts at a rate of 10.4 per cent per year. MP pension funds are not invested in the market, like other pension funds. Instead, the "interest" rate is set by MPs and senators themselves. "These 'interest' earnings are in fact a massive top-up from taxpayers," the group says.

What's more, the 10.4 per cent interest rate, which is guaranteed in law, is outrageously high, says the group's federal director, Gregory Thomas. "Even during the market meltdown of 2008 -- when the Canada Pension Plan lost 18.6 per cent of its value, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan lost 18 per cent, the Quebec Pension Plan lost 25 per cent and the S&P/TSX total return index lost 33 per cent—the MP pension plan returned 10.4 per cent, just as it has every other year," Thomas said in a news release. "I'd bet there's a few million Canadians who would love to see a government-guaranteed 10.4 per cent annual return on their RRSPs." The result is that taxpayers contribute $248,668 each year to each MP's pension fund. That's more than a MP's base salary, which stands at $157,000. As well, MPs become eligible for the MP pension plan after only six years of service and can start collecting at age 55.

"Teachers, bus drivers, farmers, cops, small business owners, would all love to get a pension at age 55 after only six years of service," said Thomas. During those six years, MPs need only contribute $10,900 a year to get the minimum backbencher pension. The group estimates it would take a regular Canadian nearly 30 years to save as much as a backbench MP would get in their eventual pension payout after just six years. The group wants MPs to shut down the current pension scheme, and join the new Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP). They also want to see taxpayer contributions capped at a dollar-to-dollar level. As well, they want to ensure that convicted fraudsters are barred from collecting parliamentary pension benefits.

When asked about pensions and his task of finding government savings, Treasury Board President Tony Clement said that MPs should be leading by example. "I think you've got to be fair to the employee, but you also have to be fair to the taxpayer," he told CTV's Power Play. While he refused to comment specifically on any plans to cut MP pensions, Clement said that he has "been tasked with putting some options forward" about how to manage the pension entitlements. The taxpayer report was dedicated to Preston Manning, who as leader of the Reform Party advocated cuts to MP pensions in the late 80s and early 90s. Ex-MPs Werner Schmidt and Lee Morrison, who had also refused their entitlements, were praised in the report. "These guys left a fortune on the table because that's what they said they would do," Thomas said. Ironically, some early Reform MPs are now collecting the very pensions they campaigned against, said Thomas.

This isn't the first time, as seen in my provocatively-titled post Politicians Are Underpaid. Aside from personal compensation, as seen in a discussion about the status quo tyranny of the majority result in referendums, politicians are often hated for bending to special interests or doing the hindsight revisionist-determined wrong thing. I don't know if President Barack Obama will be revered a century from now for appeasing environmental lobbyists who already support him anyway regardless of what he does by blocking the Keystone XL pipeline or if the Democrats suffer massive losses in the upcoming election this November. Then again, even though a considerable chunk of the Democratic caucus supports SOPA and PIPA, these bills would probably damage the Republican cause even more if the White House can somehow frame it as a confrontation between Lamar Smith and Mr. President.

Pausing the Blaze of Glory

2012-01-17T23:24:00.000-08:00

For those who expect me to post substantively daily, I apologize for sticking to my diminished workload with blackouts that aren't even sporadic anymore, but institutionalized as the norm. I could discuss the power of the norm again as propagated by Michel Foucault or build on my last post with perhaps a surprising normalizing demographic realignment of the Liberal Party in terms of a western blaze of glory based on a new poll about viewpoints on marijuana, but I'd rather pause this blaze, not unlike the slumping Canucks who seem to miss Sami Salo like the Indianapolis Colts miss Peyton Manning, in solidarity with the Javascript-enabled Wikipedia blackout. I will conclude this post with the following summary from a Mashable op-ed by Chris Heald:

SOPA:

Gives the government the right to unilaterally censor foreign websites.
Gives copyright holders the right to issue economic takedowns and bring lawsuits against website owners and operators, if those websites have features that make it possible to post infringing content.
Makes it a felony offense to post a copyrighted song or video.

This bill turns us all into criminals. If it passes, then you either stop using the Internet, or you simply hope that you never end up in the crosshairs, because if you’re targeted, you will be destroyed by this bill. You don’t have to be a big, mean, nasty criminal — common Internet usage is effectively criminalized under this law. This bill will kill American innovation and development of the Internet, as it will become too risky to do anything of value. It is toxic and dangerous, and should not, under any circumstances, be supported.

I hope that this helps you to more clearly understand why SOPA is bad. Rhetoric is efficient, but you should know what you’re opposing and why you’re opposing it. It’s difficult to read and understand, but if you care about the Internet, free speech and personal freedom at all, you owe it to yourself to understand and oppose SOPA.

Certified Management Accountant

2012-01-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

As discussed with a student today alongside explosive volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes, this line of work in contrast is often underrated due to its behind-the-scenes nature.

Similarly, the president of a political party plays this role. In terms of the Liberal Party, on the same day that Michael Ignatieff toured UBC a couple years ago, I'm glad that the semi-Paul Martin-endorsed but still relatively baggage-less Mike Crawley narrowly edged out the semi-Jean Chretien-endorsed Shelia Copps as the behind-the-scenes president in its attempt to rebuild and find the sweet spot between equality of opportunity prosperity and equality of condition equality, as seen in the following article by Bruce Anderson:

Those whose job it is to figure out how the Liberal Party makes more space for itself between the NDP and the Conservatives will be tempted to chart a complex array of policy differences. Such an exercise, while it might be useful for policy development, probably won’t have a lot to do with the way millions of voters make their choice in the next election. Issues such as environment, trade, health care, defence, democracy and crime are all fodder for a good debate, but chances are none of them will be the most important ballot question. Hazardous as it is to guess at what may be the key point of tension this far in advance of the next election, it’s not unreasonable to imagine it will come down to interplay between two concepts: prosperity and equality. For the Liberals, at 35 seats, looking to stage a major comeback, this is a gut check issue. When they have been most successful, they were known as a party with sound, centrist economic management policies, combined with abiding concern for the needs of the less privileged. This was and remains a winning formula.

When they lost, it was often because their economic policies seemed too interventionist, and their program as a whole too expensive. To become competitive again the Liberals need to win votes lost to the right, and even more votes lost to the left. The natural temptation of some Liberals might be to concentrate primarily on winning the votes lost to the left, by focusing on social justice or equality more than economic growth. The recent political debate about Occupy presumes that a choice must be made between a preoccupation with prosperity and a focus on equality. Implicit is the notion that those who talk of prosperity must lack compassion for those who are struggling. But voters know this is a false choice. And it's also bad political strategy.

Those who are most aggrieved about poverty and equality will be the least accessible voters on the left for the Liberal Party. A more rational strategy would carve out new ideas for advancing prosperity and improving equality. More job opportunities for all, and better income growth for those who have been struggling. Canadians are worried about the problem of equality and a growing income gap. But they don’t believe these problems have been willfully caused by the wealthy, or by Canadian corporate greed on steroids. And so they are looking for policy ideas that step outside of the “zero sum game”, 1 per cent versus 99 per cent framework. In that most Canadian of ways, mainstream voters want a focus on strengthening the economy for everyone, not limiting the gains at the top to narrow the gap with the bottom. This is the sweet spot available for the Liberals.

In what I've heard so far, the Liberals in this convention come off as fairly pragmatic and centrist, less tempted by the charms of ideology. They seem as passionate as they have traditionally been about the challenges facing those of lesser means, but drawn to ideas that solve problems rather than drive wedges between classes of people, or between business and workers. To the left of the Conservatives and the right of the NDP, there is room for new thinking about how to increase prosperity and improve equality. The other parties seem more drawn to the zero-sum-game framework. Whether the Liberals want to make this space their own is part of the existential question just below the surface of this policy convention. And the path they choose may well determine how successful they are in the next election.

I'm also pleased that the resolution to legalize marijuana has passed, as seen in Bob Rae's quote that summarizes the article above: "If you want to be part of a group of free-thinking, innovative, thoughtful, pragmatic, hopeful, positive, happy people, come and join the Liberal Party...and after the resolution on marijuana today, it's going to be a group of even happier people in the Liberal Party."

Even though Rae has a sense of charisma among internal supporters, he is a short-term solution, not someone who would fare well in the long run to the mass public which probably can't grasp a mixed-member proportional representation system either. Nevertheless, alternative vote is not necessarily a terrible choice due to its centrist-leaning tendencies and neither is the official party policy regarding the monarchy or the primary system aside from changes toward supporter openness.

But of course, none of these policies will truly matter in the public for the next few years. Unfortunately, many more devastating volcanoes, tornadoes, and hurricanes will likely occur during that time period.

Hobo Swing

2012-01-14T23:25:00.000-08:00

Building off my last post, I'd like to continue with nostalgia by invoking not only an elementary school cereal song with the line "Trix, Kix, Mueslix, Special K and Alpha-Bits" that came to my mind as I was killing time at a local supermarket this morning but also the song "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin and Sydney Brown, as covered in recent tutoring sessions alongside Hobbesian, Kantian and utilitarian ethics and questions revolving around the implicit implications of brain drains, statues and lego dedications not unlike the recent Kijiji incident in Ottawa. Politics and political philosophy aside, how could anyone hate the following ragtime lyrics?

Oh go 'way man I can hypnotize dis nation,
I can shake de earth's foundation wid de Maple Leaf Rag
Oh go 'way man just hold you breath a minit,
For there's not a stunt thats in it with the Maple Leaf Rag.

In terms of hockey, the Toronto Maple Leafs played against the New York Rangers tonight and lost. At least it was somewhat dignified, unlike the massacre of the Denver Broncos at the hands of the New England Patriots. I've already discussed Tim Tebow at length, so I won't do it again. All I'll say is that Tom Brady is a Catholic. I don't know if the Southern Baptist Convention will find fault with Catholicism not unlike its problem with Mitt Romney and his Mormon beliefs, but holier-than-thou organized religion, as seen in Jefferson Bethke's rant, can misinterpret, whatever that may mean, rather than enlighten.

Sticking to secular policies, I disagree with many of Romney's established conservative by convenience platform similar to how I feel increasingly disillusioned with the same conservative by convenience tactics from the incumbent Premier. Christy Clark may have the charisma as the flag-waving Gordon Campbell unlike the adjacent lego-figure who still looks animated in a picture together, but I can't say the federal Liberal University Model Parliament leader of 1989 is a federal Liberal anymore.

Even if Clark isn't a federal Liberal anymore, she and every citizen of Canada can have their say in determining the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, though the primary process in terms of candidate selection is not entirely open in order to avoid trolls. Nevertheless, it's an innovative strategy for a third party that needs to cast off its entitlement and subsequently ride the rails with only cereal and Eggo frozen waffles for breakfast rather than lobster omelettes and champagne.

He Wasn't

2012-01-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

It would take a massive turnaround for all Montreal Canadiens fans to embrace Randy Cunneyworth, let alone Quebec nationalists. The French-sounding but not French-speaking Rene Bourque, not unlike Avril Lavigne and the fitting song "He Wasn't," might not be the best place to start, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The Calgary Flames aren't necessarily desperate, but I don't see how Mike Cammalleri would be substantively different from Olli Jokinen, Alex Tanguay, Theoren Fleury, or Craig Conroy.

I could talk about the matter of exploring same-sex marriage in the sensationalist coverage of forced divorces, but I don't think Stephen Harper would want to revisit this issue not unlike how Bob Rae isn't going to run for permanent leadership due to his Ontario baggage not unlike Sheila Copps...oh wait, perhaps never mind. While I still believe that Canada is the best country in the world in several different areas, there is room for improvement. Although I don't think the government is going in the correct direction and I might have to say sorry to the world, at least I'm allowed to possess the creativity to fully parodize Avril Lavigne:

Bourque:
There's not much going on today.
I'm really bored, it's getting late.
What happened to my playing days?
Another game missed...oh I hate.
Elbowing Backstrom, makes me stay at home.

Quebec nationalists:
Bourque wasn't what we wanted, what we thought, no.
Bourque couldn't even speak our language more.
Bourque never made me feel like we were special.
Bourque isn't really what we're looking for.

Cammalleri:
Losing's when I start to bite my nails.
And blame the team when all else fails.
I think it's time for me to bail.
This point of view is getting stale.
I'll sit on my bed alone, staring at the phone.

Quebec nationalists:
Bourque wasn't what we wanted, what we thought, no.
Bourque couldn't even speak our language more.
Bourque never made me feel like we were special.
Bourque isn't really what we're looking for.

Quebec nationalists with others:
Vive le Québec, we've all got choices.
O Canada, we've all got voices.
No Rae nor Sheila! Stand up make some noise.
No more Harper! Stand up make some noise.

Pierre Gauthier and Jay Feaster:
I'll sit on my bed alone, staring at the phone.

Quebec nationalists:
Bourque wasn't what we wanted, what we thought, no.
Bourque couldn't even speak our language more.
Bourque never made me feel like we were special.
Bourque isn't really what we're looking for.
Bourque wasn't what we wanted, what we thought, no.
Bourque couldn't even speak our language more.
Bourque never made me feel like we were special.
Like we were special, 'cause WE WERE SPECIAL!

Vive le Québec!

My BC Budget

2012-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

Call me a tax and spend Liberal elitist, but this is how I would balance the budget according to the Budget Simulator:

What choices would you make to balance the budget in 2013-14?
Revenue $43.85 B Expense $43.58 B Surplus/Deficit +$261.2 m
Your budget is in surplus.

Your changes to Budget 2013/14

Revenues: +1.6%

Tobacco Tax: Raising tobacco tax revenues by 10 per cent would increase your revenues by $64 million. An increase in tobacco taxes would increase the cost of tobacco products.Substantial increases in tobacco taxes historically have resulted in increased tobacco smuggling which causes increases in administration and enforcement costs.
Fuel Tax: Increasing fuel tax revenues by 6 per cent would increase your revenues by $59 million.An increase in motor fuel taxes would increase the cost of gasoline, diesel and other fuels. Fuel is used by both business and consumers.Higher fuel taxes are likely to lead to higher costs for fuel-intensive activities, such as manufacturing, shipping, and travel.
Carbon Tax: Raising carbon tax revenues by 6 per cent would increase your revenues by $76 million.An increase in the carbon tax raises the cost of fossil fuels, like gasoline and diesel, and encourages businesses and consumers to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Because the carbon tax is revenue neutral to government, if you increase revenues from the carbon tax, you need to cut revenues from other taxes to keep your budget revenue neutral.
Corporate Income Tax: Raising corporate tax revenues by 4 per cent would increase your revenues by $65 million. Raising corporate income tax would make the province less competitive compared to other provinces and countries, and would reduce long-term economic growth. Companies would decide to move to lower-tax jurisdictions, costing B.C. jobs and investment.
Property Tax: Raising property tax revenues by 4 per cent would increase your revenues by $84 million. Higher property taxes revenues could make housing less affordable and create financial challenges for individuals and families.
Personal Income Tax: Raising personal income tax revenues by 2 per cent would increase your revenues by $140 million, and increases the tax burden on families and individuals.B.C. families generally have one of the lowest overall tax burdens in Canada, and B.C. currently has the lowest provincial personal income taxes in Canada for individuals earning up to $119,000 a year.
Sales Taxes (PST): Increasing provincial sales tax revenues by 2 per cent would increase your revenues by $123 million.Increasing sales taxes raises prices for consumers, which can reduce spending on goods and services.
Property Transfer Tax: Raising property transfer tax revenues by 2 per cent would increases your revenues by $18 million. An increase in property transfer taxes would be paid mostly by families and individuals buying residential property as most property transfers are residential. However, purchasers of all other types of property (commercial, agricultural, recreational) would also have to pay more.
Medical Services Plan (MSP) Premiums: Raising MSP premium revenues by 2 per cent would increase your revenues by $44 million.Increased health funding, including MSP premiums, continues to support world-class advancements for health care in British Columbia, including the longest life expectancy in Canada, the lowest heart attack rate in Canada and the country’s lowest cancer mortality rate.

Expenses: -0.1%

Health Services: Increasing health services spending by an additional 2 per cent would increase your spending by $331 million. Your increase is in addition to the $16.6 billion government is currently forecast to spend on health services by 2013/14.By 2013/14, total health care spending is forecast to be about 42 per cent of the government budget which amounts to more than $18.5 billion – an increase of more than $2.3 billion compared to 2010-11. About 31 per cent funds operating costs and 69 per cent funds salaries and compensation for the people who deliver the services.
K-12 Education: Increasing K-12 education spending by an additional 2 per cent would increase your spending by $105 million.Over $24 million per school day on education programs and services is spent by government to support B.C. students across the province.Your increase is in addition to the $5.9 billion government is currently forecast to spend on K-12 education by 2013/14. About 24 per cent funds operating costs and 76 per cent funds salaries and compensation for the teachers and staff who deliver the services.
Post-Secondary Education: You have chosen to keep post-secondary funding the same as the current fiscal plan. Total post-secondary spending is currently forecast at more than $4.9 billion in 2013/14, up 40 per cent since 2004/05. About 41 per cent funds operating costs and 59 per cent funds salaries and compensation for the people who deliver the services.
Childcare Services: Decreasing childcare services by 2 per cent would decrease your spending by by $22 million. Total spending on childcare services is currently forecast at more than $1.1 billion in 2013/14, up 46 per cent from 2004/05. About 80 per cent funds operating costs (mainly grants to service providers) and 20 per cent funds salaries and compensation for government employees who work with clients and oversee the service providers.
Pharmacare: Reducing PharmaCare spending by 4 per cent would decrease your spending by $50 million.PharmaCare is one of the most comprehensive drug programs in Canada. It lowers the cost of eligible prescription drugs and designated medical supplies for British Columbians. Government is currently forecast to spend $1.2 billion by 2013/14 on PharmaCare. Approximately 100 per cent funds operating costs.
Community living and other social services: Decreasing community living and other social services spending by 6 per cent would reduce your spending by $47 million. Government is currently forecast to spend $779 million on community living and other services. About 22 per cent funds operating costs and 78 per cent funds salaries and compensation for the people who deliver the services.
Social assistance: Reducing spending on social assistance by 6 per cent would decrease your spending by $89 million. Government is currently forecast to spend nearly $1.5 billion by 2013/14 on social assistance. About 94 per cent funds operating costs and 6 per cent funds salaries and compensation for the people who deliver the services.
Natural resources and economic development: Reducing natural resources and economic development spending by 6 per cent would decrease expenses by $77 million. Government is currently forecast to spend $1.3 billion by 2013/14 on natural resources and economic development programs, services and activities. About 59 per cent funds operating costs and 41 per cent funds salaries and compensation for people who deliver the services.
Transportation: Reducing transportation spending by 6 per cent would decrease expenses by $105 million. Government is currently forecast to spend $1.76 billion by 2013/14 on transportation spending. About 90 per cent funds operating costs (contractors) and 10 per cent funds salaries and compensation for people who deliver the services.
Protection of persons and property: Reducing spending on protection of persons and property by 8 per cent would decrease expenses by $105 million. Government is currently forecast to spend $1.32 billion by 2013/14 on protection of persons and property. About 51 per cent funds operating costs and 49 per cent funds salaries and compensation for the people who deliver the services.

Trite Placeholder Post Alert II

2012-01-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

This is an addendum to Trite Placeholder Post Alert I, except that I don't particularly care to whip up a post-per-day pace of blogging anymore. Aside from changing my views on heckling, which I learned first hand as a masterful art form requiring extraordinary on-the-spot wit that I do not have, I've also changed my views on the need to become a renaissance man in covering or at least in the blogging realm alluding to virtually everything upon which I stumble such as the Harper vs. Putin hockey match-up, the fallout from the Brad Marchand incident, and Dustin Penner's Brent Sopel-like mishap.

I certainly didn't miss blogging in the past few days or the resulting decline in search engine hits due to my planned abolition of asymptote statements. Assuming all goes well, I won't miss this blog in the future should I adjourn for a somewhat lengthy periodic semi-sabbatical, if that makes any sense whatsoever. It has served me well in terms of the original purpose in ranting in structured paragraphs and my evolved purpose, somewhat, in ranting about lifelong education through not only different educational models ranging from my tutoring and university experience but also as a memory aid tool.

Sometimes, however, my message has become redundant due to already-established beliefs and thus I feel less motivated to close in on 1000 posts in a garbage goal manner. But to fully consummate the hockey allusion, I suppose I wasn't the only sluggish creature today after Saturday's festivities. So if this post is a letdown, I've already warned you that it's trite. It's questionable that I'll have a bounceback game tomorrow.

White, Wild, and Williams

2012-01-05T00:22:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the abstract artsy-inspired imagist poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams, I shall keep this post short.

I could pose the question, "What is terrorism?" like a professor earlier today and receive millions of responses.

I could pose the same question to a student and develop a lively conversation about the robotic wheelbarrow bomb diffuser, American paranoia in more than the exploding turkey bomb context and hegemony even if Michele Bachmann quits, the impact of Jihad vs. McWorld, Eurozone globalization, and frivolous Stella Liebeck lawsuit stemming from spilled coffee at McDonald's.

Nevertheless, I don't believe the world has changed for the worse in the past 25 years, as there have been exemplary citizens such as Rick Hansen who have contributed to the benevolent advancement of medical research.

Hansen was honoured tonight at the Canucks game and the Canucks delivered a solid game for him against a moribund Minnesota Wild roster.

While I will be out of town for the next few days and will likely not update this blog, the Boston Bruins are the exact opposite, which should create for an entertaining match on Saturday morning.

Whatever the result may be, I hope Vancouverites will not drag out their rainwater-glazed wheelbarrow formerly beside their legal chicken coops and descend into behaviour that is, as Jonathan White defines in his continuum of conflict hierarchy, one notch below terrorism.

вперед Россия!

2012-01-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

Translated to English, the title of this post reads, "GO RUSSIA GO!"

Yes, to the chagrin of millions of heartbroken Team Canada fans who did not lose faith in their team even when the game was 6-1 before the epic rally of four goals in a span of just over four minutes, I did just say that I wish the Russians the best of luck against Sweden in the gold medal game on Thursday. It's not a matter of pride-swallowing. In fact, it's not necessarily a matter of wanting parity like I stated last year because Sweden has only won it once in 1981, but it's a matter of utilizing the transcending power of sport as a morale boosting tool.

Last year, Canadians were treated to one-sided rhetoric of hockey traditionalists who didn't like the extravagant celebrations as displayed by the Russians not unlike the controversy over Petr Mrazek, as seen in the following musing by Don Cherry: “We went out in honour. Sorry to say, the Russian kids didn’t. They got drunk, got carried off the bus, got thrown off the plane. I can’t stand people who can’t stand liquor.”

This year, at least there's a different side presented, which unfortunately deals with the loss of life in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl tragedy four months ago. Evgeny Kuznetsov may be widely hated by Canadian fans for his agitating antics and over-the-top displays of jubilation, but as the captain and only returning player from last year's roster, he stepped up tonight with a hat trick.

Off the ice, Kuznetsov has faced personal tragedies, with two of his teammates from last year's World Junior team, Danill Sobchenko and Yuri Urychev, killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl tragedy and also with the death of his brother Alexander several years ago. Winning it all will not solve everything, but with stories like Kuznetsov's personal life, I find it difficult to not wish him glory.

Expanding from a mere functionalist perspective, the glory of winning in sports is not without its problems. It's very easy for the increasingly authoritative government figures like Vladimir Putin to use sports as a diversionary propaganda tool. Then again, I don't see why Russia can't do the same for a tournament that is nowhere as political or renowned as the Summit Series if the Green Bay Packers faithful can forget about the Super Bowl victory quickly and rise up in anger against Wisconsin politicians.

In terms of American politics, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are in their own epic match. I certainly don't want to imagine the Iran-bombing Santorum as President. I don't believe in fear-mongering unlike the same man I criticize, but under his potential administration, a nuclear war not unlike the brinkmanship climax of raging tensions in the Cold War beyond a hockey rivalry could develop.

Fourteen Points

2012-01-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

1. I won't necessarily attempt to make this post epic unlike last January 2nd's The Stowaway.

2. Its style is derived from Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, discussed today with a student as background to an SSAT reading comprehension section.

3. Thematically, the Fourteen Points speech relates to yesterday's discussion contrasting war and idealism in the midst of war, if not positive peace.

4. In an effort to deliver positive peace, I must applaud Jagrup Brar for taking a vow of poverty for the next month.

5. I don't see Tea Party members leading up to the Iowa Republican primary election doing what Brar is willing to do.

6. I also ranted about the historical Boston Tea Party and American patriotism throughout history, culminating in masterpieces such as the Kate Smith-Lauren Hart duo of "God Bless America" in a city known for the Liberty Bell, brotherly love, and Santa snowball-pelting.

7. The Winter Classic, the Vancouver Canucks game against the San Jose Sharks, and the Czech Republic game against Russia made tonight an excellent day for hockey for the casual fan.

8. Of course, the partisan side of me would have loved to see Jaromir Jagr move like Jagger past the first period, the Canucks play with more caffeinated energy for half the game, and Petr Mrazek pull off a remarkable celebration after another Czech victory.

9. Although pride cometh before a fall, I enjoy playfully gamesmanlike, if not entirely sportsmanlike, displays of swagger not unlike Mike Rupp's Jagr salute.

10. Celebrations are definitely an acquired taste, but I don't see the taboo in mid-game goaltender celebrations unless the specific purpose is to showboat during a lopsided game.

11. I suppose you can say the same acquired taste label to abstract art, with each case examined differently.

12. I also ranted about the study of artsy art today with the somewhat pompous gallantry of a charismatic president.

13. Note that none of the above points, unlike the actual historically significant 1918 speech by Woodrow Wilson, are actual resolutions, unlike the many unrealistic ones set one day ago.

14. Take it for what it may similar to abstract art in contrast to the epic masterpiece last year, at least in length, but my last point calls for everyone to imagine.

LZ 129 Hindenburg

2012-01-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

While I shouldn't particularly care because I don't have any ads, I suppose my pairings of the most unlikely bedfellows can strike gold in the context of search engine optimization if I want this blog to be publicized. A couple months ago, I matched Cee Lo Green with Herman Cain and "Imagine." Green's performance yesterday was in my opinion on par with Taio Cruz last year and perhaps even Stephen Harper and Maria Aragon, but it wasn't outlandish like the LMFAO-inspired Kathy Griffin.

Of course, it was nothing compared to the original John Lennon classic vocally and lyrically. I could talk about the implications for religion, but I won't. I could also talk about the somewhat hypocritical bling he wore for a song about imagining no possessions or even the anti-glitter Pope when the Roman Catholic Church is known for golden pomposity, but I'd rather focus on his call for world peace in his New Year's Day message.

Despite covering the usage of weapons today in World War I and World War II ranging from machine guns to atomic bombs to blimps alongside discussions of projected building collapse directions after its destruction from a tank, sushi submarines, and the Nazi propaganda-backfiring LZ 129 Hindenburg aircraft, I believe the golden standard of world peace is still achievable.

Undefined Blog Statement: December

2012-01-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

And yes, my day was epic. Unlike last year, this post won't necessarily be epic even though I'm not drowsy from consuming Hakutsuru sake rice wine and Pillitteri Estate Vidal ice wine alongside sushi from the slow-serving but fresh and friendly Rikka Sushi and potato salad, chicken salad, and frozen lasagna from Killarney Market.

Let's just say that I began my day with a question that asked, "Period is to exclamation mark as...?" with the choices "elephant is to mammal," "whale is to fish," "turtle is to tortoise," "quotation mark is to comma," and "glance is to stare." Possessing a brain with wild interpretations for complex problems transcending multiple choice options, I found that all of these answers could theoretically be correct.

While I didn't eliminate the last option, it didn't appear correct not unlike how Kim Jong-il supposedly shot numerous hole-in-ones. However, the answer key stated that it was the correct answer despite my initial perception that a glance is similar to a comma and a stare is similar to a period. I then descended into a conversation that invoked "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" lyrics and assigned my student to write an impromptu ironic masterpiece about the symbolism and metaphors behind full stops not unlike A Modest Proposal or Julius Caesar.

As for me, I countered by concurrently writing, in an ironically business-like formal essay fashion, that living life as an exclamation mark is better than living life as a period of a sentence, as exclamation marks are associated with jubilation, colour, vivacity, thrill, and the occasional expletive. Quite a few were dropped by friends today during the Canucks game, but that neither spoiled the night nor the month nor the year. I will thus conclude with the stats from this past month and this past year.

DECEMBER

Total posts: 32
Total number of words: 21,504
Total number of page views: 1674 from 538 "unique visitors"
Best keyword entrance to this blog: "is yeehoo a scrabble word?"

THE 2011 YEAR

Total posts: 371 (still can't believe it's over a post-per-day pace)
Total number of words: 232,970
Total number of page views: 21,613 from 7021 "unique visitors"
Best keyword entrance to this blog: "alvin ma AND scam"

Innovative teaching through practical analogies, metaphors, and language connotation alongside Coldplay shouldn't be considered scamming. It's epic instead. Happy New Year!

Post of the Year

2011-12-30T22:17:00.000-08:00

Click here for the 2010 Post of the Year. For 2011, I think it's obvious that my epic (as in long) omnibus Food for Thought post would take the cake:

I try to communicate in this blog like a series of book chapters or continual lectures sans the academic formality with each post, using a continuous transition motion of sorts from one post to another. While I did foreshadow an epic omnibus post yesterday, for the purposes of this post, please read The Storm Before the Calm and Moral Victories in their entirety before proceeding.

While I may be an educator, I'm also a student. I know many of you didn't bother with a careful reading of the lengthy posts in depth, as "reading in its entirety" means normal reading, "reading" means skimming, and "skimming" means jack squat. If you've made it this far, like a hypothetical 1/16 marker on the Grouse Grind, thank you for the patient poise.

I could challenge all my stalkers and invite possible political opponents to search for attack ad-worthy tidbits on which to bash my character, but I suppose it's difficult to sift through 901 pages according to the Blog2Print tool, up from a cumulative 595 pages in November 2010. Apparently that's over the maximum number suitable for printing, so I'd have to head to another publishing company. Arguably duller than objective textbooks to many people aside from myself, it's probably a waste of time and money, with gigantic net losses.

I'm not much of a fan of textbooks, but due to its absolutely mandatory nature for my American politics course beginning on Monday, I went to Chapters in the early afternoon and searched in vain for my two textbooks even though the website listed them as available last night. I had more success finding numerous copies of the featured Canucks at 40 by Greg Douglas.

Briefly spending five minutes skimming the content of the book, there was a brief acknowledgement of the Stanley Cup Final riots and the subsequent clean-up effort. Wooden boards still surround a portion of the bookstore, prompting witty comments not unlike the following tweet: "@LeftCoast_Blog: Chapters downtown having windows broken. Looters were unfamiliar with merchandise in the store so they moved along."

More practical for merchandise is London Drugs, the first place by which I stopped to buy toothpaste after stepping off the Skytrain with "City of Blinding Lights" by U2 blaring from my earphones. I could've bought some sort of canned food item and participated in the Five Hole for Food event in one of three small caged pens with a surprising number of adults, but I decided to directly donate the change to a beggar instead.

As stated in Food for Thought, beggars can be intriguing people. No, I didn't share an awkward 40-second hug, but the beggar joyfully exclaimed, "I love you!" as I turned to walk down the street. Aside from the small caged pen with many participants, the real reason for skipping the Five Hole for Food event was to diminish my fashionably late time to the VANCOUVER RIOT: Let's Talk About It event at the Alice MacKay room in the Vancouver Public Library, the location where I delivered my Thoughts of a Hobo rant to a similar-aged audience at the Central Library book camp.

The only time I recall visiting that room aside from the book camp adventures in 2004 and 2005 occurred in December 2008 for a YouthPolitik conference. I'm still on its mailing list, so that's how I found out about today's event. I'm probably getting old, and as much as I romantically envisioned my attendance as a life-changing esteemed educator to the younger generation comprising of members from Vancouver District Students' Council, I merely wanted some sort of audience avenue for my The Storm Before the Calm and Moral Victories pro-educational restorative justice rants.

The audience didn't only consist of students. Also in attendance were city councillors George Chow, Andrea Reimer sporting a #2 "Reimer" t-shirt, Heather Deal, Ellen Woodsworth, Raymond Louie; NPA city councillor candidate Bill McCreery; school board trustees Patti Bacchus and Mike Lombardi; and Vancouver West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert.

Mob mentality, personal experience, post-riot reconstruction, and the face of Vancouver formed the four pillars of discussion in the riot forum. While a wide variety of views were shared, I'm glad the youth participants generally held civil pro-constructive viewpoints, compatible with my own "soft" on crime political agenda and in contrast to suggestions, albeit stated in jest but still reflective of a destructively vitriolic sentiment, for rioters to perform menial tasks such as clipping grass with scissors in light of budget cuts for parks.

Proving that learning is a lifelong experience, I mentally waded intently through ideas ranging from the preparation rather than prevention angle, the need for Olympic-style civil volunteerism, a media shift to sensationalize positive events, Metro Vancouver engagement due to the fact that a large proportion of arrested rioters, circa 90%, hailed from outside Vancouver, and the shredded utilization of "WE LOVE VANCOUVER" boards as processed instruments of jewellery and memorabilia, sold in a charity auction with proceeds benefiting affected small businesses.

Of course the last idea was a point of contention. I'm personally against this proposal due to the erasure of history but I'm also against the counter-proposal of leaving the wooden boards up in perpetuity on Granville Street due to the vulnerability of vandalism after the novelty of scribbling positive notes has eroded.

At the same time, I don't believe in giving in to hooligans and malevolent actions. The perfect constructive middle finger involves all five fingers in the air while rocking to events like the Vancouver 125 Summer Live celebrations at Stanley Park. Similar to having a spoil of riches and lineup depth, the dilution of festivals due to their abundance is a vibrantly excellent method of fun community engagement beyond "boring" conferences.

I clearly wouldn't classify today as "boring," at least from my elitist wannabe sport sociology scholar perspective. I enjoyed the forum and I would've loved to have more open discussion of the whole, but by the time that occurred, we were already half an hour over time and Raymond Louie significantly shortened or seemingly rushed through his closing speech.

I personally found the late-running forum convenient. After rejecting Gorilla Food due to its stuffy ambience, though I'll probably visit one day to take something to go, in order to wait for Nuba to open, I killed 25 minutes of time with a friend at Dressew, a fabric and thrift shop for all sorts of hats and cheaply made $6.99 tuxedo shirts.

While I stated earlier that learning is a lifelong experience, so is forgetfulness. Ironically the only quote I remember from that Dressew adventure is when I told my friend, "By the time I blog tonight, I will have forgotten everything you've taught me about threads and fake flower crowns." I couldn't feign elitist connoisseur knowledge at all unlike the testing of couches, as the only fashion I understand aside from the aesthetics of hockey jerseys is to show up fashionably but still efficiently late from time to time.

I'm not necessarily a food connoisseur either and this blog, aside from a Restaurant Recapitulations section, is not one of traditional foodiness where the emphasis is on food and food alone. Perfectly seen by what you've just read, my blog description states that I can and will rant about politics, sports, and the politics of sport. Food is not mentioned but I can and will rant about food as well, aptly the cause of the title of this post. I have pictures too, but of relative poor quality compared to my photography friend's DSLR.

With my 2.0 megapixel camera, I didn't bother taking a picture of the ambient features, though Nuba aside from overhead piping due to its basement location, has seemingly changed from the last time I visited. I don't know if Nuba staff hired Gary Chang, but the restaurant felt more spacious. The corner where my friend and I sat felt less cramped, perhaps due to the installation of a plush booth seat or the grateful realization that we were not tethered outside while wearing, from what I observe, both overalls and a skirt:

Luckily the food itself did not restrain its flavours like a leash. We shared "La petit feast." The following picture features hummus (beige creamy organic chickpeas blended with garlic, lemon, and tahini on the far side), tabouleh (the green salad consisting of parsley, tomatoes, green onions, and burghul in a lemon-mint dressing), pita bread, baba ghanouj (beige creamy blended eggplant pureé with citrus tahini on the near side), homemade pickled vegetables, and a glass of Hester Creek Pinot Gris. Everything was eclectically delicious, even the crispy sweet flavour of white wine.

Counter-clockwise from the top-right corner, the next picture features fattoush salad (Greek salad with roasted pita chips thrown in); najib's special (deep-friend cauliflowers) and falafel (deep-fried chickpea balls); avocado, hummus, and tzatziki dips; and vegan stew, mjadara (lentils and rice), two blocks of Macedonian feta, avocado chunks, and a plethora of olives. I ate ten olives alone and enjoyed them. There's probably too much dipping sauce for this particular dish.

On the far side is Turkish coffee tiramisu and on the near side is tarty nectarine-filled yogurt. I traditionally eat a more refined texture of savoury homemade yogurt, so the sweet flavour is a welcome change. The tiramisu is nevertheless more tasteful though.

Between two people, everything totalled $61.43. For the high quality of taste and creativity in dishes, Nuba is clearly worth that price and I will renew my recommendation without hesitation. Unlike the place where I watched Game 7, Coco Rico Cafe, the knowledgeable service staff members at Nuba were prompt to requests but there was absolutely no pressure to order every three minutes even though the restaurant became packed half an hour after we arrived.

It should be noted that the recommendation renewal isn't merely a spillover effect from a successful forum earlier today, just as the not recommended rating is truly not a spillover effect from a terrible Game 7. The spillover effect cannot be tied to something trivial like blaring U2 music either, as the Canucks prominently use "Where the Streets Have No Name" as their pre-game entrance song.

But to conclude this constructive, positive-filled post on a heartwarming note by invoking U2 just as I did in Moral Victories, I'd like to feature the following video to complement my compliment-filled day with the following article by Jordan Chittley:

Adam Bevell has seen U2 play more than a dozen times, but Saturday's show was a different experience as the blind fan went from audience member to band member. Bevell, who is from Arizona, travelled to Tennessee to see U2. During the concert his brother-in-law scrawled a sign that read, "Blind Guitar Player. Bring Me Up." Bono must have seen Bevell standing in the front row because at the end of the show he invited him on stage.

"I had no idea what was going on because in my mind they had left and walked off stage," he said to KPHO, a CBS affiliate TV station in Phoenix. "Instantly, I was lifted over that front rail and hoisted on stage by the security guards. Before I knew it, I could hear Bono's voice saying, 'What do you want to play man?'"

Bono asked Bevell what his wife's name was so the father of four could dedicate the song to her and then Bevell began strumming. After a couple seconds, Bono started to sing along to the chords of "All I Want is You". Little did Bevell know, but his night was about to get even better. After he finished playing, he gave Bono a hug and then handed the rare green Gretsch Irish Falcon back, but Bono handed it back almost immediately.

"He said, 'I want you to have it'," says Bevell. "I said no way. For me, it was just an out-of-body experience. I was there, but I was floating."

"Even still talking about it, I get emotional because I know how much it means to him," said Bevell's wife, Andrea, to the station. "I don't know how else to describe it," said Bevell. "It was one of those moments that was just magical."

Positive news, a nice change.

I hope to see more positive news develop in the time to come. Goodbye, 2011. Hello, 2012!

West Fairlee, Vermont

2011-12-30T22:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know how my search engine optimization will work, for it's not easy fusilli, but I expect to receive many hits to my blog with the keywords in the title of this post, derived from clicking the random button on Wikipedia. Yes, I sneaked in "easy fusilli," the title of my second-to-last post of 2010. In terms of food, I suppose I could talk about the $1.16 (+ $3) 9" black forest ham pita that I ordered from the UBC Pita Pit today alongside Texas fries and Buffalo, Bula Fiji, Louisiana Sweet, Bombay Pineapple, Kootenay Bear Barbeque, Maui Lime, Sweet Thai, Outback Cajun Barbeque, Outlaw Mexicali, Honey Garlic, and Texas Dry Rub chicken wings from Wings on Granville.

However, like last year, these two places only earn "like" ratings from me at Urbanspoon but not full-scale recommendations due to the lack of independent restaurant eclecticness. Well, I suppose I could've tried its slow-arriving distinctive feature of Bobby Wings from the "House of Pain" after consuming Fiji Blond house beer, but I decided to take the Amazing Race detour of sorts and sip some Jack Daniel's Tennessee whisky every time a friend devoured one of those four-chili pepper wings without consuming the milky antidote. Though I'm not in a position to judge, I don't think the Bobby Wings are any worse than consuming "milk hotdogs," as Kevin Bieksa stated last night to fulfill a monetary obligation.

I can be ridiculously random with my allusions at the best of times not unlike the milk hotdogs incident with Kevin Bieksa last night even when I'm not under any monetary obligation to do so. Then again, similar to clockwork transition from not only offence to defence, but from left wing to right wing in more than just the hockey context, I find that creative expression, both on paper and in general communication, and effective political rhetoric both need powerful connections from one tangential link to another.

And sometimes, I have the monetary obligation to do so, such as a rant today which, building on SSAT analogies in practice questions, expanded into the La Tomatina tomato-throwing festival, the Running of the Bulls, gorings, headshots, political pieings, shoe-throwings in the context of George W. Bush and Eliza Doolittle, the spectacle of plays and musicals, the critical mass of booing and standing ovations, and the power of one or the lack thereof in the context of principal-agent relationships between the military and the head of government.

Somewhere in this extended rant, I discussed constitutional documents, the Magna Carta, and the monetary efficiency of having a tourist-driven monarchy as the head of state while the head of government takes care of real business. I'm glad to see that a former head of government, Paul Martin, will soon be appointed as a companion of the Order of Canada. Scotty Bowman has also been appointed and his Chicago Blackhawks edged out a win against his former Detroit Red Wings team. It was epic, perhaps more so than the Brock Lesnar-Alistair Overeem UFC fight tonight.

Looking at tomorrow, I don't think Team Canada needs to make the game against the United States epic like the New Year's Eve games in the past. It's surprising that the Americans are only playing for pride now. While I wouldn't specifically instruct Team Canada to throw the game, I don't think it's necessary to risk injury by blocking shots in reckless positions, delivering bone-crunching bodychecks, and engaging in any altercations. I'm sorry if that goes against the blue-collar values of the former mining town of West Fairlee, Vermont, but it's better in the long term to take a laid back easy fusilli attitude to this essentially exhibition match-up.

Sandwich Smoldering

2011-12-29T23:10:00.000-08:00

"Ted, you never break up a girl fight. NEVER!"

As seen in One Way or Another, How I Met Your Mother features a hysterical, though to not quite the extent in yesterday's Kim Jong-il funeral, Canadian character by the name of Robin Scherbatsky, who is portrayed by Cobie Smulders, a Vancouver Canucks fan in real life.

Aside from the allusions to the Canucks, I really love the twists and turns of romantic sagas in this television show. However, I just find it odd that Future Ted is so willing to discuss his and his friends' sex life yet he needs to smolder marijuana with a metaphorical "submarine sandwich."

Relating to tutoring and life scenarios today, I could talk about sandwiches in the context of French pronominal verbs in the negative context with the ne and the pas acting as the bread, my ridiculous "me lang lui you not" mnemonic, or my political manoeuvring into not answering morbidly utilitarian questions such as, "Who would you save and who would you kill off?"

I guess I'll save those topics for next week when my soft on crime non-lawyer self takes on critic positions on justice and human rights, though I've already covered marijuana and efficient gun control in Takin' Care of Business.

I mentioned a conservative bus driver with whom I struck a conversation in that post. Fittingly enough, I saw him today, jubilantly greeting passengers with Chinese and Tagalog greetings for "Merry Christmas." Alongside the salutation of a few elderly ladies with the label "Charlie's Angels," his mood was visibly better than the last time I saw him, the day after June 15th.

It's probably still too painful for some Vancouver Canuck fanatics to evaluate these events which run opposite to the Team Canada "pressure is power" tagline, but with convincing victories tonight by Canada and the Canucks, I'm sure those who have broken up or otherwise smouldered their love have re-hopped onto the bandwagon.

Hot in December

2011-12-28T23:27:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of pathetic fallacy, however true it may be as stated last post, North Korea is not experiencing a hot December, unlike the temperature records that have fallen today in Vancouver. In many images I've seen, it is clear that the wailing citizens are not only a product of background AK-47 coercion or government hacks who could afford relatively fancy clothing and food, but involuntary systematic brainwashing at the hands of a truly oppressive totalitarian regime.

Agreeing with the Governor General David Johnston, I do believe in voluntary service into the formation of a compassionate social capital driven liberal democracy, though I see potential problems between working and volunteering due to the awkward minimum wage gap. Repeating Socialized Capitalism, I believe that the minimum wage should be set at the current rate for big corporations and lowered down to $8 for smaller or otherwise locally benevolent businesses in order for them to save costs and lower the discrepancy between paid workers and volunteers.

But overall, don't expect me to start singing "We Shall Overcome" at every single labour union rally anytime soon. In terms of the post We Shall Overcome, however, I predicted that Andrew Ebbett would be the next Jeff Tambellini. With both players experiencing hot streaks in late December, it's hard to not spot the similarities.

Walk That Walk

2011-12-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

Of course, I couldn't let Talk That Talk get away without its component, courtesy of the classic "Boom Boom" by John Lee Hooker, popularized in Mafia II:

Boom boom boom boom
I'm gonna shoot you right down,
right offa your feet
Take you home with me,
put you in my house
Boom boom boom boom
A-haw haw haw haw
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm

I love to see you strut,
up and down the floor
When you talking to me,
that baby talk
I like it like that
Whoa, yeah!
Talk that talk, walk that walk

When she walk that walk,
and talk that talk,
and whisper in my ear,
tell me that you love me
I love that talk
When you talk like that,
you knocks me out,
right off of my feet
Hoo hoo hoo
Talk that talk, and walk that walk

That's all I'll say for now. It's a shame that North Koreans can't experience it but must endure the sky's tears during Kim Jong-il's funeral, which is made creepier through the hysterical commentating of Ri Chun-hee.

Talk That Talk

2011-12-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

The title of this post takes its inspiration from Take a Bow. Let's just say that it won't necessarily be Rihanna-themed like Exiting, Not Exciting, Chains. Despite the catchy "We Found Love" from the Talk That Talk album that has re-plastered airwaves upon the conclusion of Christmas music, my dream last night on a not-so-king-sized bed does not involve such an adventure.

Plainly stated, I dreamt that I delivered a lecture about scarves in the same manner as a former English professor proceeded nearly a year ago. I ranted to my class of sixty students about the proper way to put on a scarf, alongside lessons on tie-knotting formats using a scarf. The purpose of the scarf was metaphorical, for it represented the subjective societal definitions of what is fashionably correct and incorrect.

In real life today, I found a way to repeat my rant in my dream almost verbatim while still done in an impromptu context alongside other topics such as the cultural relativist debate between cremation and cannibalism, heart disease from the lack of exercise, treatment progress in the past 50 years, the suburban ideal of the 1950s, the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis Presley's hips, and hippies.

Yes, I said what I wanted and talked the talk in a strictly A Rant on Various Levels proportions and nothing else.

Mr. Martini

2011-12-26T02:26:00.000-08:00

"...How about some wine?"

I could talk about the slightly disappointing Chilean blackberry-infused Santa Isabela Merlot bottle that I consumed today, but I won't. I could talk about the Charleston dance that I performed today, but I won't. Instead, based on It's a Wonderful Life, I'll just provide you this article by Len Boselovic as food for thought:

Three years removed from the height of the financial panic of the Great Recession, the headlines remain replete with enraging accounts of corporate misdeeds. The huddled masses encamped at Occupy Wall Street outposts, indignant that so few titans of capitalism have been held accountable, are imploring: "Please, sir, I want some more perp walks." Given their ongoing demands for blood -- not exactly a manifestation of peace on earth, good will toward men -- it seems rather remarkable that a movie about a bank executive accused of making off with company money and cheating on his wife became a Christmas classic. Those who make watching Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" part of their holiday tradition will find striking similarities between events of these troubled times and the plot of the movie. They will also note how much has changed since the movie premiered in 1946. This observation by the hero, Bailey Building and Loan CEO George Bailey, to Bedford Falls robber baron Henry F. Potter, mirrors contemporary outrage over the entitlement of the 1 percent and the plight of the 99 percent. "Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about ... they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community," George tells the villain.

What does not seem credible to today's viewers is George's very real fear caused by hounding regulators who question him about the missing $8,000 -- around $97,000 in today's dollars. "Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison! That's what it means," a desperate George tells his Uncle Billy, the S&L's No. 2 executive. Most likely George Bailey felt going to the big house was inevitable because his institution was small enough to prosecute instead of too big to fail. He had faith in the power of regulators, a faith that to many these days seems naively misplaced. Counterparts for the characters portrayed by the stellar cast Mr. Capra assembled -- Jimmy Stewart as George; Donna Reed as his wife Mary; and Lionel Barrymore as the greedy Mr. Potter -- can be found in today's accounts of the financial crisis. It's easy to imagine any number of Wall Street denizens standing in for Mr. Potter, who was Mr. Capra's "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity" six decades before Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi coined the phrase to describe investment banker Goldman Sachs.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who once referred to banking as "doing God's work," would make a credible Mr. Potter. The investment bank insisted Mr. Blankfein made the remark to a reporter in jest. Even after giving him the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Blankfein would bring ample credibility to the role of Mr. Potter. For Uncle Billy, played by Thomas Mitchell, how about former Goldman executive, New Jersey governor and U.S. senator Jon Corzine? The good-hearted, but hapless Uncle Billy relied on strings tied to his finger and other gimmicks to remember where he put the Bailey Building and Loan's money. That didn't stop him from unknowingly giving $8,000 of it to Mr. Potter, leading George to contemplate suicide. If only Mr. Corzine had read "Uncle Billy for Dummies," maybe investigators would not be looking for the $1.2 billion missing from MF Global, the investment firm Mr. Corzine ran into bankruptcy in October.

Plastics entrepreneur Sam Wainwright, George's rival for Mary, could be played by Donald Trump. Sam is loud and obnoxious, a role that fits Mr. Trump like a kid glove. Doesn't every word that comes out of Mr. Trump's mouth sound like "Hee haw!" to you? The role of Bert the Cop could go to Robert Khuzami, the Securities and Exchange Commission's top enforcer. Bert, played by Ward Bond, let the good guy -- Clarence, the second-class angel sent down to save George -- get away. Mr. Khuzami is up against real villains protected by phalanxes of high-priced corporate attorneys. Nevertheless, certain factions of the 99 percent are convinced he's letting too many of the bad guys get away. But who would play George? Where in today's financial landscape do we find a selfless banker who, without resorting to subprime financing, will help good, hardworking people put a roof over their heads? Who will put his fellow capitalists in their place by telling them what George told Mr. Potter: "You sit around here, and you spin your little webs, and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't."

Somewhere in overbanked America, there must be at least a few George Baileys. But our disenchantment over corporate greed and crony capitalism makes them hard to identify, in much the same way that post-World War II audiences were too disillusioned to embrace "It's a Wonderful Life." Only the passage of time enabled viewers to appreciate the movie and what made George Bailey the richest man in town. Similarly, it may take years to restore some semblance of faith in our business and political leaders. In the meantime, as your outrage simmers and you worry about your economic future, remember the words of Clarence: "No man is a failure who has friends."

Vlad the Impaler

2011-12-25T00:04:00.000-08:00

I could talk about Vlad the Impaler, crusades, Bethlehem, the rule of law under the Magna Carta, fascism under Benito Mussolini, execution camps, internment camps, kamikaze fighters, and bombs, if not exploding popcorn machines. I covered all of the above with my students today, but I won't cover those themes here. Instead, I'd like to wish for peace on earth and conclude, for the fourth consecutive year, with the following about Santa Claus:

Since you didn't visit my house at midnight, I have to pronounce you dead. It's such a shame that nobody came to save you. It's a greater shame that sensible and sophisticated people around the world regard you as a pervert, just because you see children when they're sleeping. Perhaps government agencies conspired to knock your sleigh out of commission in the middle of the Atlantic? At least that's where NORAD has you located.

I'll honour you by continuing your legacy: HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Lights, Camera, Action

2011-12-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

"Alvin, Alvin, where are you?" asks a curious friend.

My clock reads 11:56 am. I overslept the night before even though I'm a couple blocks separated from my exam room. I have an exam in four minutes, but I don't particularly care. It's a re-take. For all intents and purposes, I could saunter into the room an hour and a half later with the proper amount of swagger and write a revolutionary quality-filled page and receive an AAA grade. Then again, I won't take the risk of walking in cold. I'll spend the next hour furiously cramming. Hopefully it works.

I don't know if it did, but it was certainly a dream about an English exam for which I only crammed in real life for 30 minutes. It was certainly one of the most enjoyable examinations I've ever written in university. The same applies with my "Yellow Submarine" essay, which I asked a student to analyze alongside my essays on stadiums, Jewish involvement in the 1936 Olympics, and "Wavin' Flag." It's a long way to go, but I certainly felt like a professor who would assign his own articles and books as required reading for a particular course he teaches.

Perhaps the path is not as long as it seems. I had my photoshoot for the Political Science 2012 graduation composite album today, where I was told to keep my chin up (or down), tilt left (or right), face in the left (or right) direction, posture my back straight (or bent forward), and hold my arms out (or in). There were quite a few re-takes and the process lasted about an hour. Clearly, I'm not used to doing a little turn on the catwalk.

It would be an understatement to declare that I'm not a sexy high-maintenance model. However, I will constructively criticize whenever criticism is warranted. Such is the case for Minerva's Mediterranean Deli, across the street from the studio where I had my photoshoot. It was in part a supermarket and, unlike Sweet Cherubim, it felt like a supermarket with its buzzing light fixtures and the presence of a pungent anti-bacterial linoleum floor cleaner scent.

The chicken souvlaki I ordered due to the unavailability of lamb, as misled by the confusing menu board, was fairly underwhelming. The twice-burnt chicken came alongside cold tea and Greek candy. And I do mean twice-burnt because the person behind the counter apologized the first time it was burnt due to her interaction with loyal customers. That's the only reason why I would not not recommend it.

Despite the mediocre ambience, which perhaps could be significantly better had I sat outside in its patio seats in the summertime, and mediocre food, the service was downright excellent, especially for a supermarket-like setting. I can see why it has loyal customers who come again and again and again. At the same time, to attract new people like me, I suggest that it can't be complacent with its base.

Similarly, the Vancouver Canucks can't be complacent with its relatively painless victories against not only the Calgary Flames historically, but other teams in general. Tonight was an example of how the lack of action around the Flames' net for most of the game could end in failure. It was easy to ask, "Canucks, Canucks, where are you?" for most of the game. Having another AAA year is a long way to go.

Legally, Give Me Your Money

2011-12-22T22:54:00.000-08:00

"I pretty much have one comment and maybe I'll regret it, but they can go fuck themselves. That's what I really think."

It has been just about two years since Mikael Samuelsson made these comments. I don't recall hearing a weak retraction like Athlete of the Year Patrick Chan or a real retraction like his 2006 Swedish Olympian teammate Peter Forsberg over the issue of throwing a game. In terms of the latter, I don't see the problem about not trying when the game is meaningless one way or another.

Of course, when asked yesterday, Marc Crawford and coaches around the league would not admit to it similar to how, ironically opposite on the spectrum, nobody would publicly admit to breaking the letter of the NHL CBA law by offering personal cash bonuses as performance-based incentives.

In terms of sketchy finances in Canadian politics, we see Jean Chretien and Helena Guergis embroiled in defamation of character lawsuits. While I am so soft on crime and hate the feeling of wrongful convictions, frivolously asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages after making hundreds of thousands of dollars from lower and middle-class taxpayers is not the best course of action to repair tarnished reputations.

If these people want to improve their standing among common people, though I admittedly am detached from the non-intellectual crowd due to my adoration for the pompously elitist Ph.D.-accredited Michael Ignatieff, they should bypass the obvious self-serving rhetoric from hostage-holding unions and cutthroat bosses alike and bite the monetary bullet to only accept a symbolic $1 reward before donating the rest to charity such as World Vision as mentioned yesterday.

Then again, it's better to have the ability to peacefully hate politicians with strong language than to submit to an authoritarian system.

Freedom of Choice

2011-12-22T02:45:00.000-08:00

This blog post title derives its inspiration from a similarly titled post on July 4, 2011 about hot dog eating competitions.

I won't be a competitive eater anytime soon, but I honoured a friendly bet and successfully ate 50 pieces of sushi at one sitting today at Ji Sushi to prove that I can tolerate copious amounts of low-saturated fat food, though not entirely in ten minutes. Pictures:

In terms of choice in the context of a revisiting the abortion debate, I will repeat the rhetoric of Safe, Legal, and Rare.

In terms of overall choice, I'm grateful to have the right and opportunity to occasionally indulge in gluttony, unlike most of the people in North Korea and elsewhere around the world.

In terms of open windows of opportunities, I encourage you to donate to World Vision by the end of December, for CIDA is matching the funds raised.

It's your choice.

Pyramid Pandemonium

2011-12-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

It has become an annual tradition of sorts repeat the post Pacific Centre Pandemonium from December 7, 2009:

Today, I jerked my right hand up and down at a rate of two oscillations per second without hesitation for two hours in front of thousands of people. Some enjoyed it and disposed of their money. With all my energy drained, the only item left by the end of the session was the gleaming grin on my face.

I know what you're thinking. No, I did not perform an obscene, self-gratifying action in public. Instead, I volunteered as a bell ringer for the annual Salvation Army Kettle Drive. Despite losing my sense of hearing temporarily and enduring the rest of the day with a sore arm, my ordeal does not come close to the experiences of the homeless people, as some of them spend years neglected and alone.

It was an activity sandwiched, in my time frame and nothing else, between various rants to students about the curse of visiting pyramids, malaria disease outbreaks and the lack of immunity to foreign diseases, supernatural phenomenons and the potential of a parallel universe, illegitimate and illogical direct marketing pyramid schemes alongside Dracula and other Gothic material, "The Bird Is the Word," and my plan to donate 99.9% of my money to charity if I knew that I would die the next day with the exception of one death row-style last meal which may or may not involve something ridiculously taboo like the Mitterand-made famous Ortolan Bunting.

So would I stuff a Salvation Army bucket with $999,000 if I knew it would be my last day tomorrow? Probably not. I would diversify and share the peace and joy in a benevolent but still rather utilitarian manner. Idealistically, it would not be a pyramid scheme by the guiding principals in charge of allocating wealth, but rather it would be accountable and streamlined for maximum efficiency. In any case, this post is getting far too morbid and rather troubling because I neither have a million dollars nor a proper will nor a Kim Jong-Il cult of personality.

In a more optimistic light, let's just invoke Barenaked Ladies and assume that I will live on. There are way too many choices in the song "If I Had $1,000,000" from which to select. Then again, I could go back to the pre-kettle bell days when I could hear the magical silver bell from Santa's sleigh as seen in The Polar Express and freeload something from him, such as a stocking full of overpriced "Canucks tix for kicks" and a first-line shift, as seen with Michael Bublé today. It's more than just pandemonium:

Metta World Peace

2011-12-20T02:08:00.000-08:00

This is a short addendum to yesterday's post about peace.

Geoff Molson has invoked a toned down "just win, baby" motto to appease separatist fans who ironically embrace a team called the "Canadiens."

Apparently Kim Jong-il has used winning in terms of golf success to make even the least-brainwashed North Korean laugh jovially with him.

I discussed the latest headlines of him alongside the current impracticality of reunification in a comparative politics framework with Germany.

I also covered the Hamburg, Germany, origins of the word "hamburger" alongside "hamburger chairs [sic] in the word [sic]" in a grammatical textbook, not to mention spaghetti in the context of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem.

Let's just say that alongside the Vancouver Canucks tonight but unlike Metta World Peace and the Los Angeles Lakers, in terms of sports and peace, I didn't blow any opportunities.

Morbid Peace

2011-12-18T23:43:00.000-08:00

¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Expanding on yesterday's post, I will incorporate more religiously political and politically religious discussion. It's closer to Christmas than Easter and that's why I used Luke 2, the topic featured at my church today. The speaker discussed the Christian exclusivity in Luke 2:14 as found in other translations. Ironically, he quoted the non-Christian pacifist Mohandas Gandhi in discussing the need to become the change we wish to see in the world.

Clearly contrary to hawkish neoconservatism and pillage-intended crusades beyond humanitarianism, we don't often see Christianity portrayed in a "peaceful" light often. Then again, the Roman Catholic Vaclav Havel is widely viewed as a hero. It's a far cry from the other notable death today, Kim Jong-il. I could talk about the death of another tyrant forever, but I'd rather let SPTV or the only television channel in North Korea deliver the news about the "Dear Leader." Quite coincidentally, I was reading a critically acclaimed re-published piece by Havel about Kim Jong-il when the news broke about the latter.

In less morbid news, but still prominently featuring "death" in its title, is an article about the death of sovereignty in Quebec. I boldly predict that the aftermath of the NDP leadership convention to replace another recently passed hero would boost its poll standings before declining in proportion to the Liberal share once it holds its own American-style open primary system. Similar to the ever-changing economic forecasts, Quebec has highly fluctuating numbers for the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois, in part due to the temporary collapse of the NDP. To conclude with thoughts not relating to death, I'd be curious to see how the Quebec parties react to the following issue:

MONTREAL - The Montreal Canadiens, one of Quebec's most sacred institutions, have waded into the province's stormy language debates by hiring a coach who can't speak French. The Habs announced on Saturday that the job is going to assistant coach Randy Cunneyworth, replacing Jacques Martin at the helm of the struggling squad. The backlash in some quarters was almost immediate. Local radio call-in shows and online forums were abuzz with questions about whether a non-French speaker should be awarded the top post. A prominent sports writer summed up one side of the issue, arguing the club failed in its responsibility to protect and promote the French language.

"In Quebec, the Canadiens aren't just a hockey team," Philippe Cantin wrote in Montreal's La Presse. "They are also an institution. And like all institutions, they have a responsibility to the community." Cunneyworth, who said he hopes to learn French, is the Canadiens' first unilingual anglophone head coach in nearly three decades. The Ontario native was appointed on an interim basis until at least the end of the season. Some fans suggested they wouldn't be so upset if the Habs had brought in a highly-regarded Stanley Cup winner, such as the Detroit Red Wings' Mike Babcock, a McGill alumnus, instead of an assistant without NHL head coaching experience.

Others said the most important thing is winning. They say that if Cunneyworth, a young, tech-savvy coach and former NHL captain, manages to revive the Habs, then he should stick around. The controversy is the latest in a string of Quebec media stories touching on the perceived regression in the use of French, inside the province and in Ottawa. The Parti Quebecois has, predictably, already tried to capitalize on the kerfuffle. The separatist party's language critic Yves Blanchet appeared on a French news station Sunday afternoon to denounce the move. Another separatist group even called for a boycott of Molson beer to punish the owner, Geoff Molson.

The Habs have been down this road many times before. Former captain Saku Koivu, a Finnish-born star, was criticized for his lack of French during his time with the team. Koivu was even called out by a Quebec City lawyer during a 2007 provincial commission studying the so-called reasonable accommodation of minorities and immigrants. PQ Leader Pauline Marois went one step further, saying at the time that the Canadiens should insist on French courses for its players. Other players, like Ontario-born Bob Gainey, have won fans' hearts by learning French on the job. Gainey, also a former team captain, later became general manager of the team.

The intersection of language politics and sports may seem silly to some, but the Canadiens are a Quebec institution whose impact extends well beyond the realm of sports, said one expert. "It's always been wrapped up in the politics of the province," said Nicolas Moreau, a member of the faculty of social sciences at the University of Ottawa who co-edited a new book on the Habs and Quebec society. "We are seeing this again now." Moreau pointed to the Maurice Richard riots of 1955, seen as an early example of Quebec nationalism, with members of an aggrieved minority rising in revolt against Anglo oppression.

The team was founded by a businessman who, although Anglo-Irish, created it specifically for the French-Canadian market. In the early days, the team was closely tied to Montreal's French-speaking community, and the team was almost entirely francophone, said Audrey Laurin-Lamothe, co-editor of the book. "It's important for the Quebecois not only as a pastime, but because it's part of our identity, and language is wrapped up in that," said Laurin-Lamothe, a PhD student at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal.

More recently, the Canadiens have been criticized by some for not stocking the club with French players. There is concern that if the Habs cease to hire Quebecers as coaches, francophones won't be able to get a foot in the door. Several successful francophone bench bosses got their start with the Canadiens, including last year's Stanley Cup winner Claude Julien and runner up Alain Vigneault. Some fans are hopeful that if the defunct Nordiques return to Quebec City, the Habs will be under more pressure to recruit francophone talent. "When the Nordiques were there the Habs definitely had a stronger emphasis on French," Moreau said.

There has been much speculation that the Canadiens would behave differently if faced with a Quebec City team that would market itself more aggressively toward the Quebecois. The Quebecor media empire, which is trying to bring back the Nordiques, has already picked up on that Quebec-identity theme lately in some critical news reports on the Canadiens and elements of its ownership consortium. For all the controversy, though, the Canadiens have served as a unifier through the club's storied 102-year history. The team has often been compared to a religion, bringing together the city's francophones, anglophones, and the rest of the multilingual mishmash in shared idolatry.

The Habs' famed Punch line of the 1940s, featuring Elmer Lach, Toe Blake and Maurice Richard, was an early bridge between the city's two linguistic solitudes, said Laurin-Lamothe. "We had for the first time a mix of languages," she said. "The Punch line really helped changed the perception of the team to a club for the whole city."

Post-POLI 380 Rant

2011-12-18T00:33:00.000-08:00

I can neither guarantee success nor failure. I can only guarantee hit-or-miss predictions:

Formulating a research study: 15/20 (one hour)
Drunkard's Walk and course themes: 8/10 (10 minutes)
Defending UN corruption probe statistically: 12/14 (10 minutes)
Various crosstabs and other calculation questions: 35/44 (50 minutes)
Regression: 10/12 (15 minutes)
Total: 80/100

Quiz scores combined: 15.4/20
Assignments combined: 42.3/50
Final exam (estimated): 24.0/30
Participation and bonus credits: +4
ESTIMATED FINAL MARK: 86%, or an A

"Cunneyworth fights to get loose and he's going after Markus Naslund, who is saying 'get me out of here' and he just chased him out of there. See ya later Markus."

I'm surprised that nobody on Twitter and YouTube has mentioned this brawl between new Montreal Canadiens head coach Randy Cunneyworth and Markus Naslund yet. But unlike many people in the examination room who felt like Naslund, I felt like Cunneyworth. It's probably not the best analogy to use because I'm not an enforcer by trade, but I felt dominant in tackling the last final exam of the term without strategically studying for more than 1.5 hours. For some other people, even those who spent weeks in preparation, it was difficult to finish a nine-paged examination booklet alongside sections with more writing in a 2.5-hour time frame.

Despite downing Sapporo after the exam, I still recall many of the questions. The first question asked to formulate a research question complete with concepts, variables, theories, hypotheses, and an analysis of possible problems. For two pages single-spaced, I ranted about the hypothetical topic of the proportion of military to education spending on the independent variable of the number of female representatives in the Canadian House of Commons. I adeptly interchanged the research question as a concept and rephrased the analysis component with detailed information from the description of my variables, adding the historical small sample size not only chronologically but also cross-sectionally.

For the second question, I discussed the role of statistically fallible superstitions such as due factors and illusory curses such as losing a coin toss over ten times in a row. I could talk about the phenomenon of superstitions at length, but that would also mean talking about religion at length. Nevertheless, this blog does not shy away from the social gathering taboos of politics, sex, and religion. I won't go in-depth about the details of the life of Tim Tebow like the feature on him that I saw early this morning on Sportscentre before the final exam, but let's just say that I prefer Matthew 6:5-8:

⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

I am not going to judge even though my neo-Pharisee bashing is ironically a form of hypocritical guiltiness not unlike a picture within a picture within a picture. As found in the verses before Matthew 6:5-8, I know some people may rightfully bash myself and the Christian Left for pretentiousness and the occasional false sympathy as seen in the occasionally self-serving righteousness of charitable giving that often is done out of forced obligation than altruism:

¹ “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

However, the spirit of the above two passages merely differentiate people who champion religious beliefs for vain glory and those who remain humble. They do not mean that Christians should neither advocate for charitable organizations nor pray aloud, but rather, my interpretation is that anyone who goes public with these issues must have a greater purpose than self-glory. In my opinion, it's excellent to count blessings with prayer. However, it's probably excessive to use prayer for trivially iffy demands such as winning, both in aspiration and easily-mocked celebrations, thus having counterproductive public displays of praise.

Nevertheless, in praise, I must be grateful to live in a first-world country with full freedoms. As seen in a few questions on the final exam, many people do not have the means and abilities to get ahead in life, such as a hypothetical country which has United Nations intervention to ensure that votes in the upcoming election have been added fairly. On the third question of the exam, I used a wide range of keywords from "sample" to "population parameter" to "normal distribution" to answer the question of whether the sample patrol of 75 boxes is enough when compared to 3000 in total.

Although I didn't use too much math for that question, various other questions required calculations. I flew through the calculation of 14 different countries in the data set and their respective numbers ranging from standard deviation to the standard error. Other questions such as the cross-tabulation of the approval of American troops by Afghan citizens and the freedom of the press compared to the GDP were also easy. I may have screwed up the question about t-testing and finding a substantively different rounded integer than other people, but I should at least get partial credit for discussing the high statistical significance of a low p-value.

I bombarded the definition of the p-value on multiple occasions, most notably prominent in the regression questions. I honestly went through each variable and ranted, with an appearance that I'm actually grouping certain variables together to the exclusion of all others. I was successful in one of my quizzes that I had already written, so I hope this would translate into statistical success on the statistics final exam not unlike Teemu Selanne. Watching footage of him in the Winnipeg Jets uniform and Chris Pronger in the Naslund video above reminds me that my age hasn't advanced too quickly, relatively speaking.

It's easy to complain about age, but in this society filled with relative affluence, I will be counting my blessings and I will not be wanting to "get out of here" in the near future.

Post-HIST 485 Rant

2011-12-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

I can neither guarantee success nor failure. I can only guarantee hit-or-miss predictions:

Project 1: 17.3/20
Project 2: 21.6/30
Project 3 (estimated): 40.0/50
ESTIMATED FINAL MARK: 80%, or an A-

This won't be a formal rant. Visit this link instead. I might have something more sophisticated tomorrow.

Post-POLI 322 Rant

2011-12-16T02:42:00.000-08:00

I can neither guarantee success nor failure. I can only guarantee hit-or-miss predictions:

Essay on Japanese party cohesion: 9.25/11.66 (in a squished font size, filled up one page in 40 minutes)
Essay on the rubber-stamping by the upper house: 9.15/11.66 (wrote slightly less but still filled up one page in 25 minutes)
Essay on the amakudari bureaucracy: 8.60/11.66 (filled up one page in regular font in 25 minutes)
Total: 27/35

Critical response essays: 15.5/20
Term paper: 28.0/35
Participation (estimated): 8.5/10
Final exam (estimated): 27.0/35
ESTIMATED FINAL MARK: 79%, or a B+

"I walk the streets of Japan 'til I get lost 'cause it doesn't remind me of anything."

I could've used a quotation like the one found in the above song lyrics by Audioslave on my exam today, but I put forward a blue-collar ethic and avoided analogies altogether due to the three-page restraint not unlike POLI 328C, taught by the same professor whom I also credit for introducing the name Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the authoritarian nature of Vladimir Putin. In my first essay, I argued that there has been high party cohesion both before and after the 1993 electoral reform due to seniority incentives pertaining to the long-ruling LDP in the old system and the increased partisanship in the new system.

In my second essay, I expanded on partisanship by ranting about divided government in the context of veto players without alluding to contemporary American politics. In my third essay, I discussed the amakudari patronage system in the context of the stable but moral hazard-prone banking industry without alluding to contemporary American politics yet again. Sure, it's not the most uncomfortable to deviate from my style not unlike having Daniel Sedin injured on game day, but I have to manufacture my own chemistry through pragmatism, which is supposedly the word of the year.

Alongside urban sprawl, free candy flash mobs, and kiwis with pissed-on cornflakes, I could go on about the etymology of words as seen in a reading passage covered today with a student about "okay" with more repetitive mentions than Ingrid Michaelson's catchy song. Then again, I suppose the Iraq War casualty backdrop of "Doesn't Remind Me" by Audioslave is a better fit due to the end of American military efforts in that country.

I'm just disappointed that the money will be diverted to funding paranoid security within the United States. This money, in conjunction with a progressive millionaire tax that won't endanger Travie McCoy's or Mikhail Khodorkovsky's billionaire aspirations, would have been useful in halting the poor socio-economic conditions that might lead to lapses of rage in the first place. I suppose I could talk about Justin Trudeau to close this post, but I'd rather feature Rodger Cuzner's latest linguistic foray:

Mr. Speaker,

'Twas the week before Christmas and all over the Hill
The self-absorbed Tories were imposing their will
The stockings in Muskoka were stuffed to the brim
But life on first nations remained woefully grim.
And at the North Pole, Santa's problems abound
There was much work to do, but no workers around.
How can we do Christmas with no reindeer or elves?
The sleigh is a wreck, there are no toys on the shelves.
Costs have just spiralled, the elves threaten strike
They won't work this Christmas without a pay hike.
Federal money for deer feed and vets
Has just been reprofiled for big jails and jets.
Heartbroken children would spring from their beds
The first Christmas ever shut down by the feds.
No presents for Christmas, Tories felt the frustration
So they saddled the elves with back-to-work legislation.
No reindeer or sleigh can stop our roof-topper
Call Coast Guard and send in a Cormorant chopper.
The moral I share: Tories lack rhyme and reason
Nonetheless, all the best for a great Christmas season.

No Heckling

2011-12-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

Remember this?

Veteran politicians from all stripes all state that the decorum of the House of Commons has reached an all-time low. After the election and, by parliamentary tradition dating back to the absolute monarch messenger-killing days, the subsequent dragging of the speaker Andrew Scheer at the hands of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Official Opposition to the chair, parliamentarians only had nice things to say about each other.

From Stephen Harper:
Let me observe the following at this time, with the eyes of the nation and indeed the hockey world focused on Vancouver. It bears noting, Mr. Speaker, that you are the nation's top referee and its linesman, too. Your guidance will ensure that nobody crosses the line or goes offside. Most importantly, we will do our best to ensure there are no fights for you to break up. Members on both sides of the House will work with you to play fair so that we can shake hands like hockey players after the big game.
From Jack Layton:
If your predecessor were here, I do not think that he would hesitate to tell you that his robe—which you are not wearing now, but will be wearing tomorrow—was not always easy to wear, especially in recent years. I have seen high school teachers leave the public gallery, clearly embarrassed by the behaviour of the elected officials their students were here to observe. That must change...I believe that together we can restore civility to this place and that we can choose to focus on the values we share and the work we have to do. I am here to make a commitment before all members today that we will change. We are committed to doing our best to fix what is wrong in Ottawa and, to start, we have agreed that there will be no heckling from the 103 members of our caucus in this House of Commons and we will do our very best to ensure that is the case.
From Bob Rae:
For my friend, the Leader of the Opposition, whom we congratulate today on achieving this position with which those of us on this side are quite familiar, and I can speak personally, I am as well, I will not be making any such declarations with respect to the complete and total silence of the members of my caucus when comments are made. I know we are all deeply in favour of decorous behaviour, of behaviour that respects the civility of this place, but I am also a profound realist. I have the scars in front and the scars in my back to prove it. I am looking forward to the first sign of life from the official opposition, to the first heckle and to the first joke. I, myself, will be keeping book on how many days, indeed hours, it will be before he sees that happen.
Productive Parliament, decorum, blah blah blah. As seen in the commencement of the 40th Parliament, it's been said before. With the exception of the class clown Bob Rae, it didn't take long for sparks to dismantle the idealistic comments yesterday. But it wasn't anything provocative by elected members of Parliament.

So what progress have we made again? We had Pat Martin giving his best Cee Lo Green impression last month. Today, it was "bullshit" Bob Rae and "piece of shit" Justin Trudeau making the rounds, detracting from the conflict of interest that Andrew Scheer possessed in his Irwin Cotler ruling. As much as I disagree with his decision to neglect the environment beyond the withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, I'd have to give Peter Kent the benefit of the doubt by goading Trudeau into taking a penalty not unlike the trolling Dave Bolland.

I'm not bold like Bolland, or the fear-mongering Jean Chretien for that matter, but I'd take the high road in response to his out-of-context comments regarding the Sedins. I can't rage like Jim Playfair either. Although the much more reserved coach Alain Vigneault and Kevin Bieksa chirped back, I'd personally take the high road and channel my tongue-biting into wins in many ways than one. The last thing I want to do is retaliate and hypocritically degenerate into the level of my "enemy" with sexist or homophobic remarks.

I don't necessarily want to discuss tit-for-tat war techniques or the future of "The Protester" after its person of the year honour in advancing my soft on crime agenda today. All I'll say is that even when I'm deindividuated into a protest environment, I can't be a heckler.

Doggerel

2011-12-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

“If your dog doesn't like someone, you probably shouldn't either.”

I'll leave that quotation up for whimsical value alongside the following relatable words and concepts that connect from my stream of consciousness as I asked my student to metaphorically analyze in a philosophically revolutionary manner about whether a permanent sharpie is better than an erasable pencil:

Peter MacKay's dog and Belinda Stronach or even Condoleezza Rice, the Iraq War, wartime conditions, "Doesn't Remind Me" by Audioslave, "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid, Bono and U2, One, foreign aid relief, one dies and millions cry vs. millions die and no one cries in the context beyond Steve Jobs and the Brooklyn Bridge, wilful blindness alongside corrupt fund-management abuse beyond sensationalist media portrayals of looting, weak infrastructure, the demographic transition model, health education, opposition viewpoints of abortion, viewpoints of Christianity, Christmas card controversies, and the paranormal beyond religion such as earthquake-predicting dogs

Woof. Boom goes the dynamite. Doggerel.

Bear Market

2011-12-13T02:29:00.000-08:00

I think we can classify the current economic appetite as a "bear market." Aside from an annual teddy bear toss, this applies to more surreal recent headlines in Vancouver too:

It was not a lost sports franchise mascot. Not from the long-lost Vancouver Grizzlies nor from the big, bad Boston Bruins. It was, in fact, a rare real bear just two blocks from Rogers Arena, right in the concrete forests of downtown Vancouver. For reasons known only to itself, the small black bear surfaced on the back of a dumpster truck on Monday afternoon as workers prepared to drive away to the dump. It was a first for the city’s downtown core, police said. “Skunks, coyotes, but never a bear,” said Constable Lindsey Houghton.

“We were tipping a bin into the dumpster and a guy across the street yelled out that a bear just fell out into the dumpster,” said Bret Dougherty, owner of MiniBins. “Then the bear crawled up onto the edge of the dumpster, trying to decide what to do next.” Police quickly roped off the streets and summoned B.C. conservation officer Alex Desjardins, who dispatched the bewildered bear into slumber land with a few tranquilizers. “The bear was sitting on top of the truck like he was king of the world,” Mr. Desjardins said. He used a hand-held tranquilizer gun and a “jab pole” with a syringe at the end. “It was pretty textbook. There were hundreds of people looking on and I got big round of applause.”

The dozing bear was driven off in a pickup truck to await a soft awakening at a wildlife compound in North Vancouver. Mr. Desjardins said the bear would likely be released on Tuesday in the Upper Squamish Valley. “That’s a first for me,” the conservation officer said of having to deal with a downtown bear. He speculated the bear got in the dumpster during a pickup in North Vancouver, where bears are common. “It’s extremely unlikely that a bear could make it downtown without being spotted.”

Mr. Dougherty disagreed. “Our driver said the dumpster was empty when he drove downtown. Some conservation guy is going to get a downtown posting after this.” The news that a small black bear had been sighted in the heart of the city sent the Twitterverse into paroxysms of excitement, and #bear was soon trending.

“We should never have pulled out of Kyoto,” read one tweet.

Another wondered: “Why couldn’t we have tranquilized the Boston Bruins when they came to town?”

Although I'm somewhat fighting a losing battle against the silent majority as determined by a vocal Globe and Mail crowd in terms of my support for the Kyoto Protocol, I'll hypothetically give the Conservatives the benefit of the doubt in terms of saving $14 billion. If that were the case, would the money be spent on environmental causes?

I doubt it. Would there at least be grants to local theatre programs that produce the Nutcracker as seen in Rob Ford's vivacious performance or at least grants to the National Arts Centre to produce equally entertaining Stephen Harper events? Assuming the large number of hits from SPTV doesn't keep up and I feel like uploading more popular Harper videos to diminish the liberal tendencies that I'm rightfully accused of having, I hope so.

Welcome to the Jungle

2011-12-12T02:06:00.000-08:00

Stuart Bramhall corrected my statement about psychological warfare in the context of Manuel Noriega by bringing up her own personal experiences about having Martin Luther King speeches bombard her home, the booming content of which I relayed to a Social Studies 11 student today. I will nevertheless feature another Christmas lights article about psychological warfare:

North Korea warned South Korea of "unexpected consequences" if Seoul displays Christmas lights near the tense border, and vowed to retaliate for what it called "psychological warfare". The South's defence ministry said earlier it was considering a request by a Seoul church group to put up Christmas lights on a steel tower shaped like a tree atop a military-controlled hill near the border. The North's official website, Uriminzokkiri, called the plan "a mean attempt for psychological warfare" against the communist state and threatened to retaliate immediately if the lights are switched on.

The 155-metre (511 feet) hill in the South, about three kilometres (two miles) from the border, is within range of North Korean gunfire. The tree-shaped, 30-meter-high steel structure is illuminated by thousands of small light bulbs and can be seen from the North's major city of Kaesong just north of the border, according to media reports. "The enemy warmongers... should be aware that they should be held responsible entirely for any unexpected consequences that may be caused by their scheme," it said. "This issue... is not something to be ignored quietly," it said.

The two Koreas in 2004 reached a deal to halt official-level cross-border propaganda and the South stopped its annual Christmas illumination ceremony. But Seoul resumed the ceremony last December amid high military tensions with Pyongyang. Cross-border ties have been icy since the South accused the North of torpedoing its warship with the loss of 46 lives in March 2010. Pyongyang angrily denied involvement, but went on to shell a border island in November 2010 that left four South Koreans dead and sparked fears of war. The North has previously accused the South of displaying Christmas lights to spread Christianity among its people and soldiers. The North's constitution provides for religious freedom, but the US State Department says this does not exist in practice.

I'll balance the above news article with one by Nam You-Sun about the cult promotion of Kim Jong-il on North Korean TV:

From his office in Seoul, former North Korean soldier Lim Young-Sun runs a website offering a rare glimpse of state television in the North to show what the country he fled two decades ago is really like. Lim's Unification Broadcasting (SPTV) streams Korean Central Television, a risky business in Seoul where disseminating North Korean propaganda could see him fall foul of South Korea's tough National Security Law. While the site (sptv.co.kr), the only one of its kind in the South, so far has an audience just in the thousands, Lim has a dream of attracting millions of viewers curious about life on the other side of the last Cold War frontier. "I started live streaming three years ago mainly to let people here witness what North Korea is really like," Lim, 47, told AFP.

North Korean television is relayed by satellite to most of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. But its terrestrial signal south of the tense border is jammed by Seoul. While some South Koreans have been arrested for posting North Korean news, SPTV appears to be tolerated, though under close surveillance by the security authorities. "It's not like we've been approved by the government, but they simply turn a blind eye to us in order to create a favorable atmosphere for unification," he said. South Korean government officials admit the authorities appear to be tolerating Lim's business. "It's matter of judgement by security authorities, but SPTV is alive so far," said a spokesman at the unification ministry which handles cross-border affairs.

Lim, a former North Korean army first lieutenant, said he fled to China after being involved in anti-government activities in the North and arrived in South Korea in 1993. "When the two Koreas are unified, the South will have to embrace the North and to do that, people here must be familiar with the culture and lifestyle of North Koreans," he said. SPTV streams North Korean television for seven hours a day from 0800 GMT and edited footage is also posted online the next day. The content is largely propaganda eulogising North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il or extolling his leadership and reports of military affairs in the secretive communist state.

News and other programmes are heavy with detailed accounts of Kim's field trips to various factories, farms and military units, stinging commentary attacking Seoul and Washington, or praising the virtue of hard work and blind allegiance and patriotism. Though little publicised, daily viewership of SPTV's live streaming service and other content on its website can reach up to 15,000, sometimes jamming its relatively small-capacity server, Lim said. The audience for SPTV seems to be mainly defectors and researchers on North Korean studies, and sometimes South Korean college students.

"At first, the government was worried that some South Korean supporters of the Kim Jong-Il regime would abuse my service, but ironically, many of them become anti-Kim after watching," Lim said. "They said the scenes of North Korean residents so frantically worshipping Kim seemed ridiculous, to the point it became impossible to agree with the ideology." Lim relies on small monthly donations of between 1,000 and 10,000 won (90 cents to $9) from a few hundred supporters to help fund his shoestring operation. "Now, I only have individual sponsors, so I fund the service with the money I earn by lecturing and running my clothing firm," Lim said. He said he was busy and tired but vowed to continue his service until the peninsula split at the end of World War II is re-unified. "I'll try harder to increase the number of receivers to four million and to provide more interesting and meaningful content."

The SPTV website has drawn a mixed response. "How can this site relay broadcasting by commies so dauntlessly? I will report to security authorities," one visitor nicknamed "Viewer" said in a comment posted on the website. "I don't agree with the philosophy of your company, but I'm visiting here just because I'm interested in North Korea's broadcasts," another visitor going by the name "Clean Dong" wrote.

Expanding on yesterday, a defining point of democracy is the right to have freedom of the press. And yes, it even means not censoring a taboo voice. If we can't agree on spare change, that's what many small-l liberals believe. Christy Clark might still believe in it too, but I'm disappointed in the fact that she has guided the BC Liberals to the right in order to pander to disgruntled conservatives. Adrian Dix is all of a sudden wanting to set up shop and hog the centre void. It should be fun to see how approval ratings will change in the next 1.5 years.

Albeit much more peaceful than the Korean conflict, welcome to the jungle of BC politics.

Friendship Series?

2011-12-11T02:35:00.000-08:00

This post is a brief addendum to yesterday's lengthy rant.

Apparently the Russian state media is loosening its portrayal of Vladimir Putin as a manly man due to popular uprisings against government fraud and corruption.

I don't know if the current-day Russia, aside from protests earlier today, is that much different from certain eras of the authoritarian Soviet Union.

In the context of the 1972 Summit Series that I discussed yesterday, it was the theme of today's Canucks-Senators game, with Paul Henderson presiding over the ceremonial faceoff.

And as scripted, not necessarily in a negative light, the game tonight wasn't a friendly friendship series game.

I'll leave the legacy of rough-and-tumble hockey with the same question mark as the future of Russia.

Post-HKIN 360 Rant

2011-12-09T23:57:00.001-08:00

I can neither guarantee success nor failure. I can only guarantee hit-or-miss predictions:

Essay on sport for political purposes: 16.4/20 (filled up 3 pages in 60 minutes)
Essay on sport and the environment: 7.4/10 (filled up 2 pages in 30 minutes)
Essay on sport and the media 7.2/10 (filled up 2 pages in 30 minutes)
Total: 31/40

Presentation 1: 9.0/10
Midterm: 8.0/10
Presentation 2 and final report: 26.5/30
Participation (estimated): 8.5/10
Final exam (estimated): 31.0/40
ESTIMATED FINAL MARK: 83%, or an A-

"Sports has the power to unite people in a way little else can...it speaks to people in a language they understand." Utilizing Nelson Mandela's functionalist quotation for irony, I then discussed the realism of competitive image marketing by alluding to Nathan Cull and his article about the Chinese liberalization lead-up to the Beijing Olympics such as having its government television news extend beyond the state.

I followed up the article by ranting about the continuation of human rights abuses in China, contrary to what the obliviously adorable Patrick Chan thinks. I then talked about the historical economic liberalism and the Ping Pong Diplomacy historical roots alongside the Sino-Soviet split. Nevertheless, in an era of détente, I discussed the initially increasing feeling thermometer warmth towards everyday Russians and the idealistic "Friendship Series" before it descended into a nasty over-nationalistic affair. I ambiguously ended that essay by turning Mandela's quote upside down and possessed a conveniently critical and pessimistic view of politicization in sports.

In my second essay, I utilized my now-clichéd Joni Mitchell reference by beginning with the lyrics: "Don't it always seem to go / That you don't know what you've got til it's gone / They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." I proceeded to contrast the sustainable development ethic with the use-it money at all environmental costs approach. I also discussed the sweeping legacy of hallmark events in terms of infrastructural development by alluding to recycling and park clean-up programs in London and the LEED Gold Vancouver Olympic Village before contrasting them with the cynically ulterior reason of greenwashing and the subsequent public relations jackpot of profit.

When asked about how sports and the environment relate to peace, I ranted about the science of anthropogenic global warming before discussing equity, tension-lacking positive peace, and the philosophically intrinsic human right to pursuing a happy livelihood. Climate change, with rising sea levels, would threaten the existence of countries, let alone major cities. Then I concluded that the owners of sports franchises, whether they be Bell, Rogers, or both, must put social responsibility in ensuring a sustainable planet before short-term corporate profits.

In my third essay, I began with the quote: "We are two hours away from kick-off..." before disclaiming that it was taken out of the Iraq War build-up rather than a monumental NFL football game, though I also stated that people nevertheless watched the war coverage at sports pubs because the sensationalist media environment would glorify sports as war and vice versa. I then discussed war vocabulary in football and vice versa before ranting about home team glorification bias and the extensive focus on casualties and the winning side.

I argued that the media portrays war and sports in this non-differentiable manner due to the need for sensational appeal and discussed the boring nature of negotiated peaceful situations. I stressed the need to, even from a functionalist viewpoint, create a discourse of "first goal is having fun" camaraderie and sportsmanship among sport development-promoting athletes. To conclude the essay, however, I proposed a radical solution by claiming that the media should foster a dramatically last-ditch brinkmanship conversation between warring parties rather than wait for war to happen.

I hope that in the context of the 140%-voting Russia, civil war won't repeat itself.

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

2011-12-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

As seen yesterday, without wanting to relate it to the ongoing tragic Virginia Tech situation, I believe in having efficient gun control to reduce gun culture that 50 Cent promotes.

I don't believe in having a culture of fear.

I also don't believe in having straw-grasping despite my ironic hypocrisy.

I believe in having a guy not ridden with Bob Rae baggage to set it straight.

Mike Crawley does it effectively with his 50 Cent-like ultimatum.

That's all for today, for I must tutor a triple-header of students before cramming for an exam that is pertinent to a career path in which I'll die tryin' in an attempt to get rich, sort of.

Washington Bullets

2011-12-08T00:03:00.000-08:00

"BANG BANG BANG BANG, VAMANOS VAMANOS!"

As stated yesterday, "Electric Worry" by Clutch has been played 20 times in the past week. Despite ranting about feminism yesterday in a relatively positive light, I'm not going to overtly say that this soundtrack to Call of Duty encourages domestic violence or shapes my efficient regulatory viewpoint on guns.

Although I could talk about a gun culture forever or heavier artillery such as the weapons used in terrorism, a key flank of the new Canada-US border deal announced in Washington today despite its seemingly more transparent nature, or non-terrorist mens rea experimenting gone wrong, as seen in the cannonball mishap by the Mythbusters crew, I'd rather delve into a non-news item such as the invocation of the Gilbert Arenas incarnation of Washington Bullets by Jim Hillyer.

On second thought, probably not. In terms of delving into Washington-Ottawa material aside from the Canada-US border deal and the hockey game tonight between those the Capitals and Senators, where the Canadian team lost, I could talk about the Scripps and Canspell spelling bees. In the latter spelling bee, "delved" is a practice word at the Grade 6 level. There was no "ostentatious." With a student, I resorted to using Twilight examples for more than just lower-e "eclipse." When covering the Grade 7 level word of "ulterior," I used the following example:

Imagine there's a guy you like in your class. Instead of directly saying that you like him, you'd want to move closer to him by asking him for homework help at a local coffee shop. Of course, he's initially under the impression that you just want to "do homework" together. In reality, your "ulterior" motive is to get this guy to like you back.

I don't know if I should be a romantic counsellor, but shooting arrows is certainly better than shooting bullets.

Post-POLI 306 Rant

2011-12-06T11:39:00.001-08:00

I can neither guarantee success nor failure. I can only guarantee hit-or-miss predictions:

Essay on municipalities as the "creatures of the provinces": 8.83/11.67 (filled up 3 single-spaced pages in 60 minutes)
Essay on civic parties in Vancouver: 9.37/11.67 (filled up 3 single-spaced pages in 40 minutes)
Essay on a Toronto Star article about libraries: 8.80/11.67 (filled up 2 single-spaced pages in 20 minutes)
Total: 27/35

Term paper including proposal and annotated bibliography components (estimated): 44/60
Final exam (estimated): 27/35
Participation: 5/5
ESTIMATED FINAL MARK: 76%, or a B+

"We've cleaned up the left-wing mess federally in this area, Rob's doing it municipally, and now we've got to complete the hat-trick and do it provincially as well."

While I was a bit off the mark with the precise quotation, that was how I began the first essay of my POLI 306 final exam. Fulfilling my goal from yesterday, I incorporated Rob Ford's charisma into this essay. I then contrasted this idealistic unified hat trick vision, at least from the conservative standpoint, with the reality of a divided government not only in Ontario, but other provinces such as Manitoba and Quebec as well.

Then, perhaps risky because my professor also teaches POLI 101, I discussed Section 92 of the 1867 Constitution Act before ranting about the legacies of Liberal Prime Ministers from the federal stimulus construction of the current Vancouver City Hall location under Mackenzie King to the CMHC under Louis St. Laurent to progressive smart growth for the next century under Lester B. Pearson alongside The Electors' Action Movement (TEAM) to multiculturalism and urban affairs departments under Pierre Trudeau to sponsorship programs under Jean Chretien alongside an amalgamation of Montreal to re-assert French dominance over Anglophone regions to community infrastructural developments under Paul Martin and the Liberal influence on Canada's Economic Action Plan in order to pass the 2009 minority Conservative government budget before briefly discussing the amalgamations under the conservative Ontario Common Sense Revolution.

If you don't consider the preceding one-sentence paragraph a mouthful, read my pompously liberal elitist essay and you might change your mind. In my second essay, despite alluding to "Don't Make a Wave," I made a gigantic splash by throwing the gigantic boulder of all the historical facts I knew about municipal politics into the ocean. Invoking Entre Amis and No Nukes, I began with the quotes, "LA PAIX!" and "Welcome to Vancouver: a nuclear weapons free zone." Then I ranted about the "radical conservatism" of the Vancouver municipal political system and how the Non-Partisan Association free-enterprise coalition dominated the city government before the centrist TEAM took over before it in turn broke down due to internal factionalism.

After discussing the re-polarization of politics, I ranted about the charismatic pragmatist in Larry Campbell and the COPE Light versus the COPE Classic division, leading to the formation of Vision Vancouver, which ironically swept their way to victory with the at-large system two weeks ago despite formerly wanting the re-establishment of the east-versus-west divisive and in my opinion flawed first-past-the-post single member plurality ward system.

I will return to east vs. west later, but in my third essay, to return to Rob Ford, I ranted about his brother Doug's ignorance of Margaret Atwood before describing an article about non-English library book funding by utilizing the post-colonial approach of multiculturalism and cultural relativity, the democratic approach of property taxpayer-funded services, the growth machine approach of increasing property value in the surrounding area, the Marxist approach of upper classes affording better property alongside hegemonic-reinforcing appeasement, and the feminist approach of liberation from patriarchy through information empowerment.

If I had more time, I would have invoked more current events such as the role of feminism in the aftermath of the École Polytechnique massacre, which some people view as going too far politically not unlike the civil disobedience proposed in the Attawapiskat housing crisis or dare I ironically say the bad taste meeting held in Denver by NRA leader Charlton Heston after the Columbine incident. We do not need negative attack advertising based on fear to prove our points.

I've already ranted before about my disagreement with both the inefficient federal long-gun registry, though I don't care if all the data is passed onto Quebec if it runs a separate provincial one, and the Texan gun culture alongside its wild west forms of retributive punishment, but we need to be smart about justice, with which in the liberal feminist context I share was looking forward to the fair trial of Rumana Monzur's husband, which won't happen.

In terms of trials that will happen, we would most likely see a backlog of legal system cases. From a soft on crime liberal elitist perspective, I don't mind as long as the ones charged are innocent until proven guilty. As seen in Only Time, I also don't mind having riot trials televised as long as they serve as informative paint-drying proceedings rather than do-it-yourself vigilante entertainment. In terms of sanctioned violent entertainment, hockey is going in a more radical direction than merely banning headshots with its conference realignment.

As Bob McKenzie stated, this format is excellent for regular season play but terrible for the playoffs due to the time zone harmonization. The unbalanced regular season schedule also allows for creative variations from season to season. However, due to having a non-whole number when you divide 30 by 4, the downside is that the 50% chance of making the playoffs in the West is structurally more difficult than the 57% chance for Eastern teams. I don't think the Eastern bias is unintentional. Here's my pompously complex suggestion not unlike designing a mixed-member system to mitigate this problem:

Keep the new conference realignment system for scheduling the regular season. For the playoffs, I recommend a cross-over strategy where the entrants are determined by the overall league rankings. The conference leaders should be ranked #1, 2, 3, 4 as is the case for divisions now but conferences would otherwise be de-emphasized in exchange for league fairness. The next 11 teams should be determined by overall league ranking in points.

More radically, I propose a play-in tournament, where teams ranked #16 to 19 have a mini-competition (16 vs. 19, 17 vs. 18, and subsequent winners battle) to earn the last playoff spot and a chance to challenge the #1 seed in the league while the winning play-in team is hot. This would intensify the race for 19th place and make more teams involved down the stretch.

Under my suggestion, we would see more revenue due to more games while at the same time, teams that have finished above average (top 15 out of 30) would have a chance to rest. We would also see fairer travel so that Eastern teams don't have a light road to the Stanley Cup Finals, not to mention their existing advantage under the NHL-proposed system (57% chance of making the playoffs vs. 50% for Western teams).

I know that some people may love the new playoff format and object to my suggestion of de-emphasizing geographical proximity, for they state that the best rivalries occur with neighbouring teams. However, there are some people who at the same time lament the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks only play the Vancouver Canucks twice a year. While I understand that geographical proximity makes playing each other fun, the regular season is already a source for these battles. It's also not impossible for these match-ups to occur in the playoffs either under my suggestion.

But looking at tonight's on-the-mark 6-0 win against the division "rival" Colorado Avalanche where Roberto Luongo gets hit in the throat before visiting Montreal again and the five goals-per-game average in the recent homestand, I can see why many Canuck fans full-heartedly approve of the re-alignment strategy. Maybe because I'm just intrigued in relating political science terms with hockey positions, to conclude where I started about conservatism, it's ironic in my books that the left-wing Daniel Sedin notched a hat trick tonight.

Robert Stanfield

2011-12-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I concluded with a link to Can-Can Cadences.

With the photoshopped pictures of Rob Ford on Buzzfeed, I suppose he can do can-can dances as well as place-kick a football with perhaps as much automatic success as Paul McCallum.

While I know that he will stay on as general manger, I'd like to congratulate Wally Buono for assembling a BC Lions roster that did not drop passes like Robert Stanfield.

I hope I won't pull off a Stanfield on my exam in 14 hours.

I won't bother with Seven Rules again, but I will merely state in this short post that I will rant at length about figurehead mayors and prominently use this act of charisma by Rob Ford in at least one of my essays tomorrow.

Laissez-Faire Cannibalism

2011-12-04T23:46:00.000-08:00

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."

I could talk about God-to-man relationships through a geese herd or a bookstore love prodigal son analogy and Erasmus or Descartes in the context of rational renaissance humanism as discussed in church today, but I think Luke 22:14-20 is more relevant due to my discussion with a student regarding literal and not symbolic applications of cannibalism, which I argue without much evidence whatsoever that instances are under-reported in wars.

With that student, I also covered the New Deal, the early history of the CCF, the Russian Revolutions, and the history of the former Soviet Union which culminated in an election today between crooks and communists. I'm glad that we have better choices in Canada despite the embarrassing semi-out of context laissez-faire position that the Conservative Party has taken on the international stage in Durban.

While I understand that some concerns are legitimate such as the shared sacrifice of having China and India not exempt from emission levels, rather than legitimately wanting China and India to change, I think these hardline coercively stubborn bully tactics mask the ulterior motives of a science elitist-bashing administration that panders to the demagogue commoners who hate Stephane Dion's red balloon and love short-term wealth generated by rich oil industries at the cost of the climate change crisis of which they're skeptical beyond the anthropogenic causes.

I could talk about how this backwards style of thinking brings us back to the medieval days, but with my second student, it was actually fun to sadistically role-play situations with the barbaric, in more than one meaning than straight-up cannibalism, methods of killing people using ancient weapons such as the catapult or even a Trotsky-killing ice pick.

In terms of what I perceive to be more civilized action regarding ice, the Vancouver Canucks enjoyed a dominant victory tonight due to relentless puck possession through an uptempo pace and resulting shots on the Calgary Flames' net. I could talk about "Shots" in the LMFAO context featuring Lil Jon who raps in a similar tone as Mistah Khaki in the equally ridiculously hilarious "韓國勁舞權" by 陸永, not that I particularly follow Chinese music, which matches "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen.

I could also talk about the similarity between the uptempo "Get Loose" by D4 and "Get On Your Boots" by U2. Furthermore, I could build on yesterday's post and discuss the pro-wealth distribution and regulatory poverty reduction models but not necessarily communist goals of U2charist. It's certainly far less blasphemous than discussing the fall and subsequent rise of Roberto Luongo in comparison with Jesus Christ over Easter Weekend.

Ostentatious

2011-12-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

I've talked about pomposity and pretentiousness in the self-deprecating context of elitism far too many times. However, today was the first time I came across the word "ostentatious," which basically means the same thing alongside a healthy but cocky dose of flashiness or swagger. I then proceeded to discuss the -atious suffix etymology by using examples I do know such as flirtatious before ranting about charismatic politicians, George W. Bush and war criminal debates, koenkai name recognition attempts, clientelistic practices, and different forms of sucking up ranging from transparent platform promises to straight-up secretive bribery scandals as mentioned yesterday.

In terms of flirtatious scandals, Herman Cain has temporarily stepped aside. I still maintain my soft on crime stance that he is innocent until proven guilty even though I oppose his policies alongside other Republican principles that unfortunately prove the UBC study about atheist trust among Christians true even though many atheists support Christian institutions such as Christmas. It's quite disheartening to see Christians perceived as a force for intolerance rather than the ideal Christian force for acceptance and goodwill as seen in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Stepping aside from the narcissistic connotations of "ostentatious," I know that I'm not the best person in the world, however subjective that measure may be. To spread some Christmas charitable cheer and to improve my word knowledge total, I logged onto FreeRice and answered 150 questions correctly. But to fully reinforce my pompous sophisticated linguistic elitism not unlike the manner in which the Dynamite Ryan Kesler climbed over the net or Jordin Tootoo's possible cop-out excuse in a Buffalo Sabres game covered by more biased commentators than Rick Jeanneret, I skirted around with Dynamo and hit 42,859 words.

It's probably time to partake in some blue cheese and sip on non-scorching red wine to end the day.

Lochaber Lobster

2011-12-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

"I am pleased to announce that for 2004-05 Canada will record its eighth consecutive balanced budget. This is the longest unbroken string of surpluses since Confederation. What is more, we expect it to continue year after year."

That selection came from the Hansard on February 23, 2005. I guess Ralph Goodale was wrong, but what can you do with a non-fiscally conservative Conservative government? I can't say the Liberals were squeaky clean, for corruption in the Sponsorship Scandal brought them down despite their ironic brilliance in the management of funds. However, a lobster festival alongside helicopter-gate in his home riding of Central Nova has dampened the integrity of Peter Mackay.

In terms of his home riding, somehow my Turnitin originality report states that 1% of my essay submitted last night is taken from Lochaber, Nova Scotia alongside other obscure topics such as "Filipino-Canadians" and "CN Tower." I could discuss the multicultural aspects of hyphenated immigrants and discuss the ridiculousness of blanket immigration bans not only historically but also perpetuating as legitimate suggestions in most-agreed comments even though many immigrants such as potentially persecuted Copts and liberal secular groups made up of the Egyptian Bloc want to leave oppression behind them.

But since I'm taking an international relations course on Islamic theocracies such as the Muslim Brotherhood, I won't risk having my blog flagged by Turnitin. Apparently, 21% of the essay I submitted last night is similar to a wide range of other sources, though it diminishes to 7% excluding my bibliography and probably under 2% excluding my footnotes. I wish every professor would allow us to see our originality scores. If anything, the novelty of seeing an algorithmic generating device at work is fascinating.

However, some things are better off unexamined, such as a book that graphically describes maggot cheese and other unappetizing food phenomenons. I can't blame my student for taking interest in the topic, but I diverted it back to something sophisticated in taste such as blue cheese before partaking in another mathematical challenge, this time involving 38 decimal-multiplication questions, which I accomplished in 2 minutes and 26 seconds.

Yes, I can crunch numbers. Yes, I can grasp at straws about the lack of credit given to the federal level of government in terms of Canada's Economic Action Plan and Hockeyville in Terrace. But yes, I can balance the budget.

Top Kill

2011-12-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

I turn the music up, I got my records on
From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song
Don't want to see another generation drop
I'd rather be a comma than a full stop

I'm surprised that I haven't mentioned "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" on my blog yet, for it has been the revolutionary soundtrack of many of my assignments and essays this term. This Coldplay song reminds me of the inspirational lyrics set to a powerful melody that U2 often provides. In terms of U2, the following is a heart-warming op-ed by Bono:

I’ll tell you the worst part about it, for me. It was the look in their eyes when the nurses gave them the diagnosis — H.I.V.-positive — then said there was no treatment. I saw no anger in their expression. No protest. If anything, just a sort of acquiescence. The anger came from the nurses, who knew there really was a treatment — just not for poor people in poor countries. They saw the absurdity in the fact that an accident of geography would deny their patients the two little pills a day that could save their lives. This was less than a decade ago. And all of us who witnessed these dedicated African workers issuing death sentence after death sentence still feel fury and shame. AIDS set off an almost existential crisis in the West. It forced us to ask ourselves the big, uncomfortable questions, like whether capitalism, which invented the global village and kept it well stocked with stuff, could also create global solutions. Whether we were interested in charity... or justice.

The wanton loss of so many lives in Africa offended the very idea of America: the idea that everyone is created equal and that your destiny is your own to make. By the late 1990s, AIDS campaigners in the United States and around the world teamed up with scientists and doctors to insist that someone — anyone — put the fire out. The odds against this were as extreme as the numbers: in 2002, two million people were dying of AIDS and more than three million were newly infected with H.I.V. Around 50,000 people in the sub-Saharan region had access to treatment. Yet today, here we are, talking seriously about the “end” of this global epidemic. There are now 6.6 million people on life-saving AIDS medicine. But still too many are being infected. New research proves that early antiretroviral treatment, especially for pregnant women, in combination with male circumcision, will slash the rate of new H.I.V. cases by up to 60 percent. This is the tipping point we have been campaigning for. We’re nearly there.

How did we get here? America led. I mean really led. The United States performed the greatest act of heroism since it jumped into World War II. When the history books are written, they will show that millions of people owe their lives to the Yankee tax dollar, to just a fraction of an aid budget that is itself less than 1 percent of the federal budget. For me, a fan and a pest of America, it’s a tale of strange bedfellows: the gay community, evangelicals and scruffy student activists in a weird sort of harmony; military men calling AIDS in Africa a national security issue; the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Lee and John Kerry in lock step with Bill Frist and Rick Santorum; Jesse Helms, teary-eyed, arriving by walker to pledge support from the right; the big man, Patrick Leahy, offering to punch out a cranky Congressional appropriator; Jeffrey Sachs, George Soros and Bill Gates, backing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Rupert Murdoch (yes, him) offering the covers of the News Corporation.

Also: a conservative president, George W. Bush, leading the largest ever response to the pandemic; the same Mr. Bush banging his desk when I complained that the drugs weren’t getting there fast enough, me apologizing to Mr. Bush when they did; Bill Clinton, arm-twisting drug companies to drop their prices; Hillary Rodham Clinton, making it policy to eradicate the transmission of H.I.V. from mother to child; President Obama, who is expected to make a game changing announcement this World AIDS Day to finish what his predecessors started — the beginning of the end of AIDS. And then there were the everyday, every-stripe Americans. Like a tattooed trucker I met off I-80 in Iowa who, when he heard how many African truck drivers were infected with H.I.V., told me he’d go and drive the pills there himself.

Thanks to them, America led. Really led. This was smart power. Genius, really. In 2007, 8 out of the 10 countries in the world that viewed the United States most fondly were African. And it can’t be a bad thing for America to have friends on a continent that is close to half Muslim and that, by 2025, will surpass China in population. Activists are a funny lot. When the world suddenly starts marching in step with us, we just point out with (self-)righteous indignation all that remains to be done. But on this World AIDS Day I would like you to stop and consider what America has achieved in this war to defend lives lived far away and sacred principles held closer to home. The moonshot, I know, is a tired metaphor; I’ve exhausted it myself. But America’s boldest leap of faith is worth recalling. And the thing is, as I see it, the Eagle hasn’t landed yet. Budget cuts ... partisan divisions ... these put the outcome in jeopardy just as the science falls into place. To get this far and not plant your flag would be one of the greatest accidental evils of this recession.

Bono gives credit where credit is due, even if it's, not unlike Cecil Rhodes and his scholarship as discussed in a history class today, a secondary footnote to many atrocities committed under the Republican and even some aspects of Democratic administration such as the attack on the environment through the continued proliferation of oil. In terms of ideology and the environment, however, I'd have to criticize Peter Kent and other Conservative Party members for applauding the "uninformed, ideologically driven fossil award." But I suppose other left-wing commenters support the Harper government on the Kyoto Protocol and that's ultimately what matters despite my pompously elitist educated stance against their views.

Going full circle in one of the most unorthodox yet best course formats I've ever experienced, the aforementioned history class also discussed the historical purpose of education and its elitist roots. In the discussion, I ranted about tutoring hardcore SSAT students with the supposed intention of making them successful in private schools and private universities. But I'm more than a one-dimensional nose-to-the-book educator. I don't want to see another generation drop. Partially inspired by the entertainment-driven model of the above history professor but also my laissez-faire Grade 7 teacher and my rant-heavy Law 12 teacher with a dose of unideological pragmatism, I think my style of teaching is not scam-worthy but rather a source of inspirational motivation.

The title of this post, suitable or not, refers back to a post I made 18 months ago regarding the British Petroleum oil spill where I tried to plug the knowledge deficits of my students as proficiently as I could. But overall, I understand that many issues cannot be solved easily and that's why I try to empower the minds of my students in paradigm-shifting ways. As much as scientists have made gains in understanding AIDS and climate change, their research is not fully complete. Similarly, in the social sciences, some issues are not raised sceptically.

That's where I come in with my research paper for my local politics course. However, it's not complete. Even without the Top Kill aims due to relative stability that I hopefully won't jinx even though I'm not superstitious and I just attended my last class of quantitative political science today, I will adhere to my summer plan of not cancelling any students yet still balancing the budget. Once I arrive home at 8 pm, from underneath the rubble of my word count 2000-word deficit, it will be time to sing a rebel song amidst many commas before reaching a final full stop.

Undefined Blog Statement: November

2011-12-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

Total posts: 31
Total number of words: 16,314
Total number of page views: 1651 from 444 "unique visitors"
Best keyword entrance to this blog: "i'm never going caribou hunting with you again"

Burn It to the Ground

2011-11-30T21:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I mentioned my pay rate and described possible scamming techniques. I can be self-deprecating at times and cocky at others, so let me justifiably balance my humility with the egoistic fact that I occasionally help students without compensation not unlike office hours except that I earn money on varying wage rather than a fixed salary.

That's what I'm doing today even though I should be writing a 3000-word paper at the heels of officially completing a 7200-word report. Both deal with the sociology of sport in one way or another. I'm seriously pondering about beginning my essay which was formerly on BC Place Stadium, the site of the peaceful BC Lions Grey Cup victory party today, with the ironic lyrics to "Burn It to the Ground."

I could talk about riot charges alongside my soft on crime innocent until proven guilty mantra which even applies to Herman Cain among other people, but I won't. As blasphemous as it may sound to my faithful followers, this blog is not my career. If anything, I hope to strike it somewhat big in the area of explaining politics, sports, and the politics of sports.

Displaying Assets

2011-11-29T21:56:00.000-08:00

We all love personal privacy but see-through celebrities and politicians. Apparently the NDP and Conservatives are playing chicken over public sector salary disclosure. In the best interest of transparency, why not both?

I won't deny that I have secrets to hide not completely unlike the scandals plaguing Edison Chen as discussed in a history class today. There are other candid details that I may not want to share to the world on this blog. However, I will reveal that I make somewhere in the range of $15 to $25 per hour for tutoring students, sometimes in unorthodox styles that would be considered by some outside the education industry as borderline scamming.

But despite the prevailing yellow journalism narrative which unabashedly sensationalizes the pragmatic fun I have with an occupation that I don't even consider as a job due to its resoundingly antithetical connotation, I can also behave professionally. This is the road that Wayne Gretzky wants to lead Paulina before she becomes, acknowledging Edison Chen, the next full-scale asset-displaying Paris Hilton. To say the least, Paul Bissonnette's "Hi Paulina!" tweet probably triggered her Twitter shutdown.

Bissonnette hasn't tweeted either since the 5-0 Canuck win over his Coyotes. In terms of the Canucks, they're still playing strong. Salaries are disclosed to the public and we know how much Cory Schneider is making compared to Roberto Luongo. Of course, many people are discussing the shopping of assets. I shall reclusively refrain for the time being.

Wasabi to Wheat Ratio

2011-11-28T23:36:00.000-08:00

"This is how you remind me of what I really am."

Building on the previous post, and I know it would probably serve as negative social commentary fodder, but my childhood a decade ago aside from "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback consisted of beer commercials such as Molson's "I Am Canadian" and Budweiser's "Wassup," as seen below:

At least somewhat thematic in terms of crazy wasabi stories was my indoctrination of the future generation today. I also discussed edible rice paper with a student to build on the high regulatory tariffs historically enacted by the Japanese government on rice products. I could talk about the abolition of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly, but that's really not my issue.

I'd rather discuss the disproportionate bread-to-cheese ratio of a math question in his textbook or snowmen spouting off popcorn. Whether or not the latter bizarre tangential graphic that a student drew is an indication of global warming remains to be seen, but I'm somewhat disappointed that the majority of people on The Globe and Mail discussion thread for the pressing environmental concern of the day are anthropogenic global warning skeptics that want to go further than pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol.

Though I'm not a Tim Hudak or a Common Sense Revolution supporter except for his adorable latest gaffe as you can infer in the paragraph above, in my post titled Common Sense Revolution, I too agree that in the best interests of reducing carbon emissions and costly security festivities, many mega-conferences should be held via electronic means rather than in-person meetings.

Wassup?

SS Provincial

2011-11-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

That's my password hint for my computer along some other accounts that I operate. I know you're now trying to scour through A Rant on Various Levels for ways to hack the above accounts not unlike a student today when I was tutoring his sister. With a totally different student before him, in a role reversal, I unsuccessfully tried to help set up his internet connection by guessing his networking username and password. One thing at which I didn't fail was teaching him pre-WWII Social Studies.

I guided him to the SuccessChecker website from LearnNowBC and did a practice test on "Autonomy and International Involvement." I'm quite surprised in a deeply disappointed fashion that it downgraded from 64 questions under the Studybuzz interface to 20 questions with 10 possible attempts. Those attempts cover the same questions in the same order. Even some of the questions themselves are duplicates, such as having three map questions all on the location of France. Nevertheless, for nerdy novelty, I did the rest of the practice questions at home and answered 98 out of 105 questions correctly. Here are my results:

Autonomy and International Involvement 20/20
Canadian Politics and Government 20/20
Society and Identity 28/30
Standards of Living and Environment 16/20
World War Two and International Affairs 14/15

I suppose I should review the demographic transition model and other human geography elements in more detail, but I did talk about historical agricultural processes of fertile animal manure today, which led to a discussion of outhouses and various medieval functions within the walls of a castle fortified by an unpenetrable drawbridge. In terms of bridge-designing physics, I at least redeemed myself by providing a comprehensive explanation of Newton's laws of motion today.

The third law states that mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear. Translating to football, the physical nature of tackling takes its toll. That's why the BC Lions victory tonight after a 0-5 start is nothing short of remarkable. I could end by praising my own Social Studies results or detailing the transformation of Paul McCallum's career after the manure-throwing incident, but instead, I'll conclude with tweets from other people whose accounts I don't plan to hack anytime soon:

liamstockdale Liam Stockdale

I think Nickelback and @pmharper are similar: many people claim to hate them, but actually crank up How You Remind Me on the way to vote CPC
5 hours ago
Retweeted by alvinema

VancouverPD Vancouver Police

So nice to see the #99GC fans celebrating in such a positive way after the Lions win - that's the #Vancouver we know & #VPD loves. G'night!
3 hours ago
Retweeted by alvinema

westcosta79 Costa Bonnis

1994: #Canucks go 7 games & lose. City gets trashed. #BCLions respond by winning #GreyCup. 2011: Ditto! #GC99 #CFL
4 hours ago
Retweeted by alvinema

bholly Brent Holliday

Vancouver is #GingerCity right now. #Lulay #Schneider #Henrik #Daniel. Real fans should dye their hair... #justsaying.
3 hours ago

Retweeted by alvinema

Comparative Complexity

2011-11-26T18:49:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I lied like a corrupt politician. Today, I won't, in terms of shortness.

With a student, I discussed Agatha Christie again with a beyond the grave diary twist not unlike Derek K. Miller's legendary last post.

With another student, I discussed the quote, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," in terms of the Egyptian military betrayal and compared the Arab Spring revolutions to the revolutions of 1989.

I furthermore examined issues from a comparative politics viewpoint and delved into the complexity of different viewpoints not unlike feminists within Iran who hate the authoritarian regime, with the latest wedge in a country that wants to weed out corruption, Morocco. I also discussed the effective realist solution to problems in terms of teaching people how to fish.

Some things can't be taught, but many other things can. In terms of natural aptitude-testing, it's complex and I'll adeptly dodge that question like a politician.

But no, I didn't lie today.

Easy-Bake Oven

2011-11-26T04:01:00.000-08:00

I won't rant at all because it's 3:30 in the morning, but some things are easy when you're on a roll.

I could talk about tutoring a student today in Grade 5 math only to apply the same place value-driven arguments on an assignment based on the IBM SPSS statistics program, which I somehow ranted for 397 words in a question limited to six sentences. As you can see from my blog, I can clearly form long-winded, barely grammatically correct, non-run-on complex sentences.

It's too bad that his textbook examples of money are 24 years out of date. As ironic as it may seem because I rarely buy new latest-edition textbooks if any at all and because I am terrible at physics, I believe that especially for younger students, it's important to adeptly adapt to their adopted environment around them.

Relevance in education, which I try to inject through the discussion of the whalewatching industry alongside tsunamis, Bobby Hill, coniferous trees, and light bulb-powered heating not unlike what Easy-Bake ovens are based and also what one low-income woman in a 1960s story used to prepare a meal out of spite to her former friends' impatience alongside other incroyable-synonym moments, is certainly the way to go. And yes, the government should implement drug policy based on educated principles and not ideology, as is the case with marijuana today.

I could talk about Mexican drug policy failures, a $6.66 citron-laden "authentic" Mexican taco with all the fixings from the underrated but somewhat overpriced Adobo, or even the industry of rolling joints, but I'll leave that to Pierre Berton on the begrudgingly government-sponsored Rick Mercer Report. Instead, I'll talk about the concentration that cannabis can't provide.

I was on a roll in not only draining three consecutive relatively long-distance fade-away shots in a basketball game when my actual shooting percentage in general is about 10%, but also on a roll academically when I somehow felt strangely motivated to finish the aforementioned statistics assignment. And that's what I did before blogging. Similarly, the Canucks should play Cory Schneider when he's still on a roll.

But yes, I lied. I just ranted in a semi-moderate fashion. I'm on a roll.

Grumpy Old Men

2011-11-25T02:01:00.000-08:00

I won't discuss 51-year-old goaltenders again or my health when I reach that age, assuming I'm still alive by then. I'd be somewhat curious to see what political views I will uphold. Will I buck the statistically insignificant trend as displayed in my quantitative political science quiz today that older people tend to move away from the Conservative Party and remain a Liberal? I don't know in a similar way that I don't know certain fruit and vegetable nouns in French when accosted by a student today among other discussion topics such as unshaved-until-death Italian chest hair.

I haven't read Peter Newman's book on the death of the Liberal Party just yet, but I can say with a statistically significant and 19 out of 20 double standard deviation confident result that the Liberal Party isn't dead just yet, even though the location of tonight's "Why Don't More Good People Enter Politics?" conference featuring Paul Martin alongside moderator Ian Hanomansing ironically took place at the Museum of Anthropology.

UBCDemocracy live-blogged this event quite well, so I won't particularly transcribe the details verbatim. However, unlike yesterday's unfocused throw-every-allusion-at-the-wall post not unlike the quantitative analysis of today's quiz, this post will be more refined and specific to a singular topic. I will merely discuss some of the key points below. The conference itself did not solely focus on a singular topic, but it was rather spread out.

It started brilliantly with an introduction from a Musqueam reserve councillor alongside his small-community joke that his aunt would be his most vociferous critic. When Martin finally took the stage, he cracked that he was 73 years old and that the audience should forgive his faded memories and his politician-like demeanour to go in circles and avoid the questions altogether, though he was blunt on indigenous and international development issues. His main thesis to the main question at hand was that not enough people have the right yes-we-can attitude towards governance alongside the political spin from sound bite-heavy mainstream media due to the combative nature of Question Period.

Regarding questions for parliamentary change, I agree with Martin increasing the number of free votes and working with others across partisan lines. I disagree with the status quo of the Senate and the costly run-off first-past-the-post single member plurality system. In terms of policy, I strongly agree with his handling of the Canadian financial crisis in the 1990s despite disapproval from the provinces. Martin states that it might take decades for a politician to have his legacy determined and that governance for only instantaneous news headlines is dangerously short-sighted.

Martin acknowledges that it's difficult to please the voters, especially in the era of increased attack ads. However, not unlike what you'd expect to see at We Day, Martin concluded on a positive note by stating that the youth today are more active than people would believe. Certainly, Marin isn't a "grumpy old man" and, at this moment, neither am I.

Ensuring Salvation

2011-11-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

One aspect of Geography 12 that I didn't mention yesterday was my above-perfection essay that I attributed to Jeff Cowan, beating out my lucky charm in Trevor Linden, to whom I have retired all academic invocations notwithstanding provoked indirect mentions as seen today. Linden and Cowan combined to score a goal which prompted Tom Larscheid to exclaim, "GET YOUR BRAS READY GIRLS!"

In feminist discourse, this would be problematic. The same applies for certain elements of religion. I could talk about David Booth's courage in openly stating his beliefs in salvation, religiosity in general, or the lack thereof of the Salvation Army operating in Vancouver and defend my role in perpetuating institutional discrimination of the LGBT community through the indirect funnelling of funds and volunteering hours to a Christian-based charity which has some homophobic members in the United States, but aside from stating that the relatively unpractised ceremonial recommendation of celibacy in the international branch "discriminates" against a wider audience range and that nobody cares not unlike friendly and supposedly-Christian YMCA organizations, I won't delve any further than to shamelessly promote the kettle drive and the Impark unpaid parking violations amnesty.

Aside from insurance in terms of religion or vehicular terms, I could also talk about the hedge fund from insurance betting, picking Winnipeg + 7 in 1.91 decimal odds, but I won't necessarily do so. I could also talk about a fiscally conservative Liberal financial headline, especially since I'm attending a Paul Martin event tomorrow, Jean Chretien and Megyn Kelly in terms of pepper spray, which I have unpleasantly experienced before, and teargas in the South Korean legislature, which I don't define as civilized vulgarity but rather an over-the-top action, but I won't necessarily do so.

At times like the last point, I think conservative-style functionalism would work best not unlike the acceptance that sports is inherently good. I could talk more in depth about the functionalist sport ethic that Ryan Kesler possesses, but I won't necessarily do so. In fact, I could talk about many things, but still fall short of the perfection level I achieved, hence my annoying repetitive linguistic teasing.

Falling short of perfection as every mortal is, there can be times when fortuitous bounces strike. Just look at 51-year-old goaltender Paul Deutsch among other legends such as Chris Levesque. They may not save like Jesus does, but I would've loved to see them try.

Geography Isn't Boring

2011-11-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

Out of nostalgia, I read my GEOB 102 and Geography 12 rants.

Okay, I lied. It wasn't out of pure innocent-reclaiming nostalgia. It was done after reading the Rollerball-style dystopian "Welcome to the age of the boring and the bland" by John Doyle and the somewhat troll-worthy "Ozone gaffe shows Tories favour ‘spin over science'" by Jane Taber from the Globe and Mail:

The leaves turn and fall. The Leafs win, occasionally. Battle of the Blades is over and nobody cared much. Cover Me Canada limped to an end, and hardly anybody noticed. The Rick Mercer Report (CBC, 8 p.m.) and 22 Minutes (CBC, 8:30 p.m.) are already into repeats. The ultra-bland Taylor Swift wins big at the American Music Awards and gets big attention here. The Big Bang Theory is the most popular show in Canada. Hold everything: Sidney Crosby is coming back. “We’re all excited,” says Carole MacNeil on the CBC News Network. CBC goes live with the game. The Occupy movements are told to pack up their tents and move along. There’s Christmas music on an endless loop at the mall. There are ads in the Canadian media for Black Friday shopping in the United States.

Are we bored yet? Are we blanded-out? Welcome to the conservative age is what I say. The age of the boring, the bland, the tedious. The age of the small “c” conservative and big “C” Conservative culture is what I say too. The other day, this newspaper ran an interesting piece about Europe going conservative. From Britain to Italy and Spain, it’s all over for the centre and the left. True perhaps, but what is certainly true is that over there a consensus exists that the time of the bland culture has arrived, big-time. In Britain, several pundits have written about “The New Boring,” meaning a popular culture defined by Downton Abbey, wimpy pop music and dull fashion trends.

Hereabouts, I think, we’re experiencing the same phenomenon. And it is directly connected to years of a Conservative minority government followed by the new reality of a majority Conservative government. In these times, there is a fear of engagement, a fear of controversy and an impulse toward conformist culture. Rob Ford fleeing Mary Walsh from 22 Minutes was about a fear of engaging with comedy. In Ottawa, the majority government essentially declines to engage with the opposition, cutting off debate, ramming legislation through Parliament. That context explains the noise over NDP MP Pat Martin’s expletive-filled tweet last week. A swear word was a scream of frustration.
...
But there’s little of this non-conformist energy going on. Stephen Harper defines us now in our Canadianness and in every way. He doesn’t have to bully us. His authoritative blandness benumbs us, and stupefies the culture. Just a theory. Check local listings.

-----

Justin Trudeau figured he’d be made to look the fool but instead it was Environment Minister Peter Kent, who couldn’t answer the simple question as to what is ozone. And Mr. Trudeau, the Montreal Liberal MP, told The Globe Tuesday he’s “sure now that Minister Kent will deepen his knowledge of his extremely important file.”

“It just worries me that this government consistently prioritizes politics and spin over science and facts,” Mr. Trudeau said. “Canadians deserve better.” Too tightly scripted and perhaps caught off guard, the Environment Minister stumbled in the Commons Monday when the Montreal Liberal asked him to “explain to the House what ozone is and what is the difference between its impact at low altitude and high altitude?”

Mr. Kent, like every other minister during Question Period, did not waver from his talking points. Instead, of trying to answer the question he simply threw back an insult at Mr. Trudeau, criticizing the “quality” of the questions from the Liberal opposition. The minister added: “This government would gladly compare our record on the environment, in all its dimensions to...” At that point, a frustrated Mr. Trudeau interrupted: “You don’t know what ozone is.”

The Speaker called for order and Mr. Kent continued: “...to complete my question, again the opposition is using a questionable media source quotation of one of my staff that has been taken out of context.” Mr. Kent was referring to a Postmedia story in which a document uncovered by an access to information request talked about cuts to ozone monitoring programs. In a scrum after Question Period, Mr. Trudeau said his query had begun partly as a joke. He and his colleague, Kristy Duncan, had wondered what would happen if he stood up and asked the minister to define ozone and “just give him the opportunity to make me look like a fool for asking a question that he would obviously know the answer to,” he said.

Rather, Mr. Trudeau gave Mr. Kent the opportunity to play the fool. “I’m sure he’s right now going to Wikipedia,” Mr. Trudeau joked. The answer, Mr. Trudeau added, is “fairly simple”: ozone is an oxygen molecule with three parts. It is dangerous at low levels of the atmosphere because it contributes to smog and at high levels it is good because it reflects ultraviolet radiation. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May also weighed in. She told reporters she would be “stunned” if Mr. Kent didn’t know what ozone is. And she lamented that ministers are so scripted in Question Period. “If a question comes for which an answer has not been previously written, even when the answer no longer makes sense, they read their answers.”

The issue is nevertheless important, she added, noting there is a “huge hole over the Arctic ozone for the first time” in history. “We need to find out why it’s there.”

-----

I cut off the end of the latter article because it pertains to non-elitist politicians of the year. For better or for worse, despite his own singing, Stephen Harper will never be Silvio Berlusconi. Despite my own song against Harper regarding the tar sands based on content discussed in my environmental history and geography classes and having fun in the process, my singing is also amateur at best, even if my voice were still my former innocent child's voice.

Star Jump

2011-11-21T23:57:00.000-08:00

This is a quintessential form of exercise. Yes, I know I'm three days late to the celebration, but I probably set the Guinness World Record for the most star jumps performed while conducting a formal, paid French tutoring session. In terms of the record books, flipping through the book most commonly stolen from libraries while concurrently discussing a couple of other zesty body issues, the quintessentially versatile Ashrita Furman is undoubtedly inspirational.

It's incredible to see the remarkable human spirit in action. However, as seen in a documentary about the Minamata disease today in my Japanese politics class alongside the ridiculous position on asbestos that the most of the Conservative Party members have taken, though luckily some of them have distanced themselves from condoning an outdated industry like Gregor Robertson has conveniently distanced himself from the slightly scuffle-filled Occupy Vancouver tent city after he has won the election, the opportunities to harness the self-actualization of the human spirit can be limited.

But even with limits, some people aside from politicians are truly special and don't require lengthy amounts of time to jump-start. As predicted by Bob McKenzie before the game and at the same time I was star-jumping, Sidney Crosby pulled off a Mario Lemieux in a return for the record books.

Crown Royal

2011-11-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

I could talk about the dry start to the day in terms of dynastic lineage from 1 Kings and 2 Kings, but I won't.

I could talk about king-of-the-hill educational Monopoly, but I won't.

I could talk about JD from The Next Star, but I won't.

I could talk about various other hyperactive student infatuations beyond Dora the Explorer, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez, but I won't.

Let's just say that the level of ridiculous entertainment today was higher than what I would've experienced had I watched the BC Lions game live. Alongside the rising action in my day today, the BC Lions nevertheless proved, sort of, that it's not where you start, but where you finish. In order to achieve the climax of an unlost cause crown, I suppose the Canucks can take note.

Don't Let Me Get Me

2011-11-19T23:39:00.000-08:00

Everyday I fight a war against the mirror
I can't take the person staring back at me
'Cause I'm a hazard to myself
Don't let me get me
I'm my own worst enemy
It's bad when you annoy yourself, so irritating
Don't wanna be my friend no more
I wanna be somebody else

This song by P!nk is somewhat fitting. Apparently my ballot was almost, but luckily not, spoiled because I was caught by a scrutineer while discreetly snapping a few pictures with my cell phone. A friend who has worked as a scrutineer multiple times told me that in the best interests of "impartial democracy," I could not make my ballot not secret. It's a matter of protecting me from myself, though I see multiple problems that harm rather than promote democracy.

Stringent disenfranchising regulations that don't really exist undermine democracy and not strengthen it. When there are 30 choices on the thick legal-sized ballot sheet, it's difficult to not rely on technology for a memory aid. My choices as visually seen on the ballot are also easy for other people to decide if they voluntarily chose to follow my suggestions. I did not intimidate anyone to vote my way. I'm not affiliated with any campaign. I didn't make any donations to anyone.

If anything, contrary of Section 233 of the BC Election Act, the NPA representatives for Bill Yuen and Ken Charko should be fined for dialing my home phone number. I'm not a lawyer, but maybe because I'm taking a local government class, I actually took the time to look up some of the provincial legislation relevant to the controversy above to prove that I was in the right and the peeping-tom scrutineer was in the wrong:

Voting screens

83 (1) For each voting place there must be one or more voting screens.

(2) The election official responsible must ensure that the voting screens are arranged in such a manner that voters may mark their ballots screened from observation by others and without interference.

(3) A notice to provide directions for voting, in the form directed by the chief electoral officer, must be at each voting screen in use.

Voting to be by secret ballot
Each individual may vote only once in an election

89 An individual must not vote more than once in the same general election or by-election.

90 (1) Voting at an election must be by secret ballot.

(2) Each individual present at a place at which a voter exercises the right to vote, including individuals present to vote, and each individual present at the counting of the vote must preserve the secrecy of the ballot and, in particular, must not do any of the following:

(a) interfere with an individual who is marking a ballot;

(b) attempt to discover how an individual voted;

(c) communicate information regarding how another individual voted or marked a ballot;

(d) induce an individual, directly or indirectly, to show the ballot in a way that reveals how the individual voted.

(3) A voter may not be required in any legal proceedings to reveal how he or she voted in an election.

Prohibition against certain election advertising on general voting day

233 (1) An individual or organization must not publish, broadcast or transmit to the public election advertising in an electoral district on general voting day before the close of all of the voting stations in the electoral district.

(2) An individual or organization must not sponsor or agree to sponsor in an electoral district election advertising that is or is to be published, broadcasted or transmitted to the public on general voting day before the close of all of the voting stations in the electoral district, whether the publication, broadcast or transmission is within British Columbia or outside British Columbia.

(3) Subject to section 234 (2) (a), subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in respect of any of the following:

(a) a notice of an event that the leader of a registered political party intends to attend or an invitation to meet or hear the leader of a registered political party;

(b) a message that was transmitted to the public on the internet before general voting day and that was not changed before the close of all of the voting stations in the electoral district;

(c) the distribution on general voting day of pamphlets or the posting of messages on signs, posters or banners.

Corrupt voting

257 (1) An individual who does any of the following commits an offence:

(a) votes in an election when not entitled to do so;

(b) contravenes section 89 regarding voting more than once in an election;

(c) contravenes section 105 (3) by applying for more than one alternative absentee voting package;

(d) contravenes section 109 (6) by failing to mark a ballot in accordance with the directions of the voter being assisted;

(e) obtains a ballot in the name of another individual, whether the name is of a living or dead individual or of a fictitious individual.

I signed the voter's pledge and looked at the instructions on the cardboard voting screen shield, but there was nothing that stated I couldn't transmit pictures. So just like the federal election and HST referendum, I will, to laws that don't exist, risk a $2000 fine that would essentially penalize the privacy of myself, no matter how ridiculous not unlike the copyright rules regarding creator self-publication that the media blackout rules are and the fact that Kash Heed still holds his seat despite his blatant campaign overspending, and do the same:

I could invoke Mike Gundy and elaborately tell election officials to come after me, but I'm not 40. It doesn't make me want to puke because my votes still counted. Even without my individual votes, and I know I'm going down a dangerous slippery slope path of voter apathy, Gregor Robertson would still win by nearly 20,000 votes. Voter turnout is, nevertheless, higher this year, though in all honesty, turnout is meaningless if voters don't understand what they're choosing and blindly vote for the sake of voting.

I delivered the same structural spiel to a student today as I did for a political party system essay. I also delivered a spiel on the stupidity, or maybe my own stupidity, of viewpoint conformity found in multiple choice questions on English standardized tests. The questions are not objective, but they're based on more luck depending on the subjective principal bosses than the subjectivity found in essays themselves.

If not crazy essays like the ones I wrote regarding the impact Osama bin Laden has had on my life in Grades 8 and 9, I'd much rather cast judgement on diary entries, which I did with my other student today in helping him find a creatively controversial voice, than tediously read monotonous blank-filling "correct" answers. Although this blog isn't necessarily a fullscale online diary, I tend to voice many creatively controversial viewpoints alongside downright ridiculous allusions and analogies that might render me as more unelectable than the alleged past of Jason Lamarche.

But I have enough self-esteem and swagger. Being World Toilet Day today, I'm grateful for everything I have, such as clean water, and I don't want to run the risk of being somebody else.

Détente

2011-11-18T23:19:00.000-08:00

Call it détente or call it pent-up delayed re-brinkmanship. It's the proverbial calm before tomorrow's storm, though it has not not been ugly in relative terms. In terms of offering a pompously elitist analysis of breaking developments, the injunction order could not have come at a better time for Vision Vancouver. The latest news would show that Gregor Robertson has made progress without the political consequence facing potentially ugly forced removals, of which the deadline is Monday.

It is not that easy to round up the remnants of the "99%" like it was historically to round up the Japanese in Canada and Canadians of ethnic Japanese descent in World War II. For its collaboration, UBC is attempting to right this wrong by providing honorary degrees to those whose education was cut short before their forced labour at internment camps. It seems like a reasonable gesture but the comments in the article indicate otherwise.

The hostile reaction not unlike the absurdity in acting like the intolerant "enemy" of extreme Islam that society opposes is the reason why, as stated in Grape-Stained Hands, I resort to a brand of benevolent multiculturalism, which is in fact closer to the concept of interculturalism discussed today in a political science class. Although it is practically unfeasible to round up all the people of Chinese ethnic descent if Canada were to go to war with China not unlike rounding up Japanese people in Hawaii, the us vs. them internal sentiment still lodges in the back of my mind due to this brand of upbringing.

Upbringing is very important. The Globe and Mail readers tend to be older Anglo-Saxon Canadians, though not necessarily protestant or conservative, and the discourse of Canadian textbooks produced in the 1970s is vastly different from the ones I encountered, though some in high school were still relatively dated. But that's still only counting Canada. I have students formerly educated in China who, as seen in my discussion about the Dalai Lama and Tiananmen Square today, hold strong views, perhaps due to their Chinese education, against liberal western discourse.

In my subconscious paranoia, I imagine that if Canada were to enter into a war with China, people with these perspectives would, ironically an avenue of authoritarianism, be accused of building a fifth column even though many people come here because they hate the government in their old country. Mass paranoia and suspicion would probably land my soft on crime liberal-leaning though ironically pro-Too Asian? self to prison indefinitely without charge. Then again, even big-c Conservatives actively recruit and elect conservative-minded ethnic Chinese people such as Wai Young and potentially the Burnaby Parents' Voice.

I could go on further about tough on crime policies, but instead, I want to lighten it up by going back to the student whom I discussed about China. He is in many ways Canadianized due to his hockey-embracing values. I also rambled about Wednesday's loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in detail alongside textbook content which featured stolen office tables and flood-soaked electronic merchandise.

With my other student today, aside from rampant misbehaviour, the best solution I discovered was to employ the "if you can't beat them, join them" technique by thematically rapping and singing the words in the storybooks in a somewhat but not entirely faux-baritone opera voice. Maybe if I fail at my destined dreams in life, I can make a living by becoming the next William Hung. It can't be worse than the justifiable scrutiny that politicians face in the wake of scandals such as Watergate.

Although one of my favourite redneck songs is "Sweet Home Alabama," Watergate does bother me. I don't know if Richard Nixon deserved a better legacy though, such as, to build on John F. Kennedy, his five o'clock shadow which cost him the 1960 election and would have been solved by the Schick Hydro 5 razors that I randomly received at UBC today, alongside the implementation of détente. I chose that word as the title for this post today because it apocalyptically, or maybe an idealist hippie lack thereof, builds on No Nukes and Minimalist Missile Misses. This post will conclude by listing all of my recommendations, which haven't changed:

PARK BOARD COMMISSIONERS (3 Vision, 3 NPA, 1 Green)

Sarah Blyth (Vision)
Rationale: Incumbent and doing a good job promoting the Homeless World Cup of Soccer.

Trevor Loke (Vision)
Rationale: Active hockey player who's used to all of the Vancouver arena facilities, with a community activist background.

Niki Sharma (Vision)
Rationale: Fresh face from Vision Vancouver to work with anticipated re-election of incumbents.

John Coupar (NPA)
Rationale: Known for saving the Bloedel Conservatory and provides a necessary business marketing perspective.

Melissa De Genova (NPA)
Rationale: Not afraid to flip-flop between parties and policies, which I personally find as a brilliant trait.

Gabby Kalaw (NPA)
Rationale: A wealth of experience locally and internationally in recreation and human rights policy.

Stuart Mackinnon (Green)
Rationale: Incumbent and doing a good job as a big-g Green.

SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEES (4 Vision, 3 NPA, 2 COPE)

Patti Bacchus (Vision)
Rationale: More level-headed than portrayed and a prominent soft on crime education-before-incarceration advocate.

Ken Clement (Vision)
Rationale: Being from a residential school himself, an expert on Aboriginal affairs in the education system.

Mike Lombardi (Vision)
Rationale: A long-serving respected veteran who knows what he's doing.

Cherie Payne (Vision)
Rationale: Strong public education advocate due to her background and former aide to Ujjal Dosanjh.

Fraser Ballantyne (NPA)
Rationale: Well-respected former counsellor of my high school.

Ken Denike (NPA)
Rationale: A long-serving respected veteran who knows what he's doing.

Sandy Sharma (NPA)
Rationale: Parents' rights advocate to counteract Bacchus and excessive teacher union demands.

Al Blakey (COPE)
Rationale: A long-serving respected veteran who knows what he's doing.

Allan Wong (COPE)
Rationale: Strongly support his seismic upgrade schemes.

CITY COUNCILLORS (in order by preference)

Mike Klassen (NPA)
Rationale: I may disagree with his vociferous blame-pinning of the Stanley Cup riots on Gregor Robertson, but Klassen would be an excellent opposition leader of sorts to keep Robertson in check. Despite his conservative tendencies, I do agree with certain issues he raises on his City Caucus blog. Klassen has shown to be transparent about his intentions and responsive to feedback.

Raymond Louie (Vision Vancouver)
Rationale: One of the most popular city councillors, I've seen nothing but honest hard work from him for the past nine years. I've also spoken to him in person. He's an articulate man.

Andrea Reimer (Vision Vancouver)
Rationale: Snapping out of her drug dependency ways as a teenager, Reimer has grown to become a prominent environmental advocate and defender of the Greenest City Action Plan. Insightful dialogue should arise between Reimer and NPA checks and balances hopefuls, prompting the need for feasibility moving forward.

Heather Deal (Vision Vancouver)
Rationale: Deal loves the arts and I do too. The NPA should serve as a means for economic checks and balances, but Deal should provide many creative suggestions.

Sean Bickerton (NPA)
Rationale: Supposedly the same as Deal, only on the side of the NPA. From his Facebook page, apparently he's also anti-Vegas casinos and pro-Michael Ignatieff.

Jason Lamarche (NPA)
Rationale: Strong federal Liberal supporter, a skateboarder, and an economist. Except for the first part to many people aside from me, not bad on a résumé.

Bill Yuen (NPA)
Rationale: More centre-right than Bickerton and Lamarche with his strong support for the BC Liberal economic policies, but he's also a federal Liberal.

Joe Carangi (NPA)
Rationale: I question his "problem solver" lawyer skills due to the mediocre English on his NPA website bio, but he's an East Vancouver boy who is also a Michael Ignatieff fan.

Tim Stevenson (Vision Vancouver)
Rationale: Veteran presence from a long-serving politician is necessary.

Ellen Woodsworth (COPE)
Rationale: Token COPE member.

MAYOR

Gregor Robertson (Vision Vancouver)
Rationale: It's a matter of incumbency retention. While I respect Suzanne Anton as a city councillor, Robertson's charisma is more effective in representing the city. As a former businessman, Robertson knows the laws of economics well and he has proven to not be a hardcore socialist despite his previous NDP affiliation. He's more of a Green Party supporter than anything with his strong stance on bicycle lanes and other issues in the 2020 Greenest City Action Plan. Yes, he may go a bit too far, but that's why city council exists.

Cee Lo Green

2011-11-17T23:46:00.000-08:00

I see you driving 'round town with the girl I love
And I'm like, fuck you, ooh ooh ooh!

Though I don't know if invoking the title of Cee Lo Green was wise for the ironically "unity" candidate in Pat Martin, as seen in my marketing-themed post yesterday, it's a great ad campaign. I've stated before that I enjoy civilized vulgarity and other various emotional outbursts.

I could also thematically discuss, as seen in my tutoring sessions today, raging hormones in the adolescent population among other health education material, failure stamps, "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, Cole Armour, the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, shots fired at the White House, or my WTF-worthy pizzafied self not unlike presidential hopeful Herman Cain's ode to pizza to the tune of "Imagine" by John Lennon.

Imagine there's no pizza
I couldn't if I tried
Eating only tacos
Or Kentucky Fried
Imagine only burgers
It's frightening and sad

You're lucky you have pizza
To feed your kids for you
Only frosting or cookies
And no dishes you must do
Imagine eating pizza
Each and every day

You may say that it's junk food
But to me it's so much more
It gives my life its meaning
And it makes a lot of dough

Imagine mozzarella
Anchovies on the side
And maybe, pepperoni
Rounds out your pizza pie
Imagine getting pizza
Delivered to your door

You don't have to give up now
On my skateboard I will go
I'll be back in 30 minutes
I just bought Dominoes

All I am saying
Is give pizza a chance
All I am saying
Give pizza a chance!
All I am saying
Is give pizza a chance
All I am saying
You've got to, got to give pizza a chance!

It's hilarious and perhaps still lyrically better than shoot em' up profane gangsta rap excluding Cee Lo Green's soul, but no thanks.

Unhating Japadogs

2011-11-17T00:11:00.000-08:00

The title is misleading. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the Japadog is not my type of food. Thank "Juice Man" Gregor Robertson for apparently sharing my distaste in, as seen in my Japanese politics class today, the rise of obesity-causing food. It's truly the reverse of the healthy immigrant effect, especially if those often-skilled immigrants are working as fast food servers, as discussed in two other classes today.

One of those classes also covered the touchy issue of multiculturalism in terms of immigrant adoption of Canadian values. The poll in the linked article states the obvious that virtually every Canadian, immigrant or not, agrees with the broad themes of "gender equality" and "tolerance of others," though in practice, I'm not sure if many people aside from myself find the latest "Unhate" campaign by Benneton tasteful not unlike the Ayn Rand campaign by Lululemon.

Yoga may teach you not to troll, but I'm sure many Vancouverites who sport Lululemon apparel morally support the superhero garb ToTrollaPredator campaign. I honestly find the videos hilarious, so I can't say that I oppose the entertainment concept not unlike the staged but ridiculously wrong Bully Beatdown show. However, given my tendencies to be soft on crime, or perhaps "smart on crime," unless if the misleading adventure is done with the cooperation of a sting police unit, it's probably not the wisest approach.

It's also not the wisest approach to judge anything based on sketchily incomplete information. Just like the entertaining 4-0 win by the New York Rangers a month ago, I suppose the 5-1 win by the Chicago Blackhawks tonight is a good example of misleading true performance.

Chicago Cubs

2011-11-15T19:06:00.001-08:00

When mentioning futility, I could mention the Vancouver Grizzlies. Before scaling, I apparently failed a seemingly easy political statistics quiz. But no, I don't care in the same light that I don't care about, as ridiculous as it sounds, breaking what is deemed copyright law in Canada as discussed today in a history class by directly quoting the following two articles about small-b bruins on my not-for-profit blog:

BC pot bear man faces new charges

Conservation officers say a B.C. man charged with feeding bears to keep them around his outdoor marijuana plantation is doing it again. Christina Lake resident Allen Piche's story went worldwide when he was charged with feeding dozens of black bears after police busted an outdoor marijuana growing operation on his rural property in August of last year. Pictures of police officers posing with the tame bears were picked up by various media outlets. Following the bust, Piche was charged for feeding dangerous wildlife and ordered to stop putting out buckets of dog food every day for the bruins. Earlier this year, he told CBC News that most of the animals did return to his remote property this spring, but once they understood he was not going to feed them, they just left. On Monday, the spokesman for the B.C. Crown prosecutors office, Neil MacKenzie, confirmed new charges have been laid against Piche for allegedly feeding the bears once again this past summer. "Between June 1 and Oct. 6 this year, he intentionally fed dangerous wildlife, that being black bears, at or near Christina Lake," said McKenzie.

Under the Wildlife Act, fines for feeding dangerous wildlife can be as high as $100,000 for a first offence, a jail term of up to one year, or both. Piche was not available for comment about the new charges, but is scheduled to be sentenced on the original charges later next month. Earlier this year, conservation officers said they shot 17 problem bears around Christina Lake this summer and some of them were undoubtedly "fed" bears. Piche never denied feeding dog food to wild black bears, but said it started innocently enough over a decade ago when he began trying to nurse one bear back to health. The feeding then snowballed to the point where Piche was putting out several kilograms of dog food a day for about two dozen bears that would amble out of the bush for their daily feedings.

Former Team Canada captain slams BC resort project

The former captain of Canada's Olympic gold medal men's hockey team says British Columbia is one of the world's few remaining homes to wild grizzly bears, which is why he's speaking out against a proposed resort development near his hometown in Cranbrook. Scott Niedermayer said Tuesday the proposed Jumbo Glacier ski resort project in the Purcell Mountains of southeastern B.C. threatens valuable habitat. Niedermayer retired from professional hockey in 2010 after 18 seasons in the National Hockey League and four Stanley Cups. He has teamed up with aboriginal leaders from the Kootenay area's Ktunaxa Nation Council and Opposition New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix in Victoria to oppose to the proposed development. "I believe the Jumbo Valley is a special place for all people who live in the Kootenays," said Niedermayer. "It's a place where you can go, throw on your hiking boots, and walk in the footsteps of grizzly bears."

He said there are many places in North America, including California where he currently lives, where urban development has decimated grizzly bear populations. Niedermayer said studies suggest that grizzlies need large areas of wilderness to thrive and survive. "It's disappeared around the world," he said. "To me that's something that we should be proud of, and try and be good stewards of, and that's why I'm here." Niedermayer brushed aside comments by Cranbrook area Liberal MLA Bill Bennett who said the Jumbo development has the potential to bring needed new jobs to the area. Bennett said Niedermayer has a right to express his views, but he lives in California and is not in need of a job. Niedermayer said he appreciates Bennett's efforts to create jobs for his constituents, but there are times when people are motivated to speak out. "He's right, I'm still currently residing in California," said Niedermayer. "That's his opinion. Because I love the area as much as I do, I'm willing to stand up for it."

You can't call Scott Niedermayer futile. You can't call any Stanley Cup champion futile. I could also stand up for big-b Bruins too, even when it's a taboo where I live to discuss them favourably, including another hometown boy, Milan Lucic. I partially agree with Brendan Shanahan's pragmatic ruling on his hit on Ryan Miller. As much as I love Rick Jeanneret, I don't think it was an intentional head shot. And there's a great deal of hypocrisy due to the Canuck lovefest for Darcy Hordichuk after his hit on Marty Turco.

I thought Turco still played for the Chicago Blackhawks. But I suppose I haven't kept up with him like I surprisingly kept up with the latest Kim Kardashian headlines that involved Michael Bublé. He's no Rick Jeanneret, but I wish he'd commentate another game against the Blackhawks, probably tomorrow, with as much of a giddy fertile rather than futile fervour as the game on February 7th, 2009.

Mixed-Member Systems

2011-11-14T19:51:00.001-08:00

I just finished writing an essay on this topic from an expository point of view. Because I devoted an almost unnecessary amount of energy into churning this paper, I'm going to be semi-lazy in this blog post today and instead redirect to already established, though not necessarily peer-reviewed, posts. Think of this post as an index card.

Read #fail for more information about my own preferences on the structural mechanics of electoral systems.

Read the omnibus but not necessarily C-10 Omnibus Food for Thought for more information about my "soft on crime" (though I've diluted this phrase way too many times outside of this post to even make it worthy of a separate blog post label) views on justice, especially in light of watching a video in class about Japan's 99.6% conviction rate and reverse onus style of conservative courts.

Read No Nukes and Minimalist Missile Misses for my Vancouver municipal election recommendations, which haven't changed even in light of the changing sentiment of voters towards conservatism regarding Occupy Vancouver.

Read Grape-Stained Hands for my varying viewpoint on multiculturalism, which is actually more in line with sociological interculturalism as discussed in a local politics class that is hardly local in terms of content unlike Occupy Vancouver.

Read Defending Liberty for my views on Anders Behring Breivik, who's controversially in the news again alongside the controversial topic of euthanasia which, surprisingly, I haven't discussed yet according to searching the key term "assisted suicide."

Read Le Balai Fait Le Ballet for a comprehensive discussion on depression and hockey tragedies, the latter of which is unfortunately in the news today, though sensationalized to an extent that we forget, not unlike the hidden statistical relative conditional probability flaws in the prosecutor's fallacy, thousands of other cases where people die in car accidents on the way to the rink than inside the rink.

Read The Sweet Escape for my general views on the unnecessary glory of injury-filled shot-blocking when the game is not on the line, though I also don't think a nanny state where coaches must wear helmets when they step out on the ice to shake hands is necessary.

Read Food for Thought (2009) for more of my views, or actually the views of David Myers, on irrational fear and knee-jerk overreactions to freak or otherwise unusual events, which unfortunately tough on crime or hawkish conservatives pledging allegiance against the Axis of Evil have cultivated regarding the bomb Iran political climate.

If you haven't clicked on any of the links above, at least watch the following video of George W. Bush's one-fingered victory salute, somewhat of a discussion subject in a recent tutoring session:

And there's politics in a nutshell, sort of. Don't get bogged down in the details of mixed-member systems, for Canada and the United States don't have them. Just appreciate the civilized vulgarity.

Jung Marxist

2011-11-14T02:27:00.001-08:00

If I wanted, I could've written a parody of "Electric" by Shawn Desman to repeat the word "dialectic" alongside Carl Jung's "collective unconscious" and Émile Durkheim's Marxist "collective consciousness."

Given that I wrote at a NaNoWriMo pace today, I won't. I won't even discuss the specifics of my somewhat ridiculous comparison between the bottom-up social movement of early Christianity and the Occupy Wall Street tent city events in terms of social change.

If I wanted, I could've also written a parody or an adaptation of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable (To the Left)" or Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings," both of which I pleasantly heard it on the radio today. But I suppose wind could easily damage, like in Grade 7 and even today when helping a student with a physics experiment, any suspension bridge I attempt to design not unlike the Tacoma Narrows Bridge fiasco.

I made it up by helping him with his social studies project on investing in stocks. I admit that I'm no real expert in economics, but at least I know the underlying nature of stock markets. I could talk about trends all day, but I've already done so in my essay.

I shall stop talking here and let "Electric Worry" by Clutch take over like it did today.

I Am Not Swedish

2011-11-12T18:44:00.001-08:00

I won't discuss Sweden today, for I have a ton of other things to discuss. I'd have to write the equivalent of a NaNoWriMo pace this upcoming week in terms of research papers. Impossible is nothing. It's not overly difficult if I have my swagger.

I had it today when, building on Agatha Christie and John F. Kennedy from last week, I delivered impromptu lectures on the circulatory system, the role of minerals and vitamins alongside saturated and unsaturated fats, distilled water, phosphorous and iron, the Korean War alongside the red iron curtain of communism after World War II, Joseph McCarthy, the right to bear arms, George Orwell's lodging house, Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" alongside Inception, the "public good" of oil, and philosophical controversies over NATO's involvement in Libya and Syria.

I felt like a genius today by association of delivering these impromptu lectures steps away from the Chan Centre for the TedxVancouver conference. But no, despite my genuine interest in elitist intellectual galas, I'd rather pass on my own knowledge and watch these excellent geniuses in more ways than one as seen with Hans Rosling, the "seemingly impossible is possible" inspiration for my blog post title, when I have more time next month.

For now, I will return to my essay on the country which eclipsed Silvio Berlusconi and Italy as the most unstable democracy by the sheer number of prime ministers since the end of World War II.

Master Plan

2011-11-11T11:49:00.001-08:00

Prominently expressed in the themes of Remembrance Day, many people my age historically and in the present day do not have the opportunity to live with the opportunities I have. I don't want to talk about relative poverty and absolute poverty, but sometimes, across a diverse range of people from all classes, selfishness is the norm.

I'm not saying that we should all be subservient and live in an artificial consensus of solidarity without protests, for that would go against the anti-authoritarian norms that veterans fought to keep, but third-way unity is a viable way forward. In terms of protests, I strongly oppose the quashing of the commendable Occupy Halifax protesters in the same manner that I strongly opposed the Victory Square blockade 21 months ago.

It all depends on the level of societal tastefulness which determines whether the viewpoints expressed in protests should be adopted, though ironically I rail out against the tyranny of the majority. As seen in my complex but relatively libertarian position on free speech with benevolent forces using benevolence to prevail, I think people such as Jennifer O'Brien should state what's genuinely on their minds in their personal life.

I openly ramble about both the joys and relative challenges that I face with my students all the time on this blog. Is O'Brien supposed to artificially say to her friends that all is fine and dandy when she has essentially been robbed? Outside of this case, perhaps the best checks and balances deterrent is to befriend students so that there's more restraint in rash impulsiveness.

But if someone, due to a deep philosophical conviction, truly feels the need to share candid thoughts, then so be it. It should lead to a productive discussion on how to improve the education system or the students rather than a lengthy trial of a teacher's tenured position. I'm not necessarily a teacher in the traditional sense, but I know from years of tutoring that it's an under-appreciated yet ironically rewarding career, depending on the cohort of students and the boom or bust environment.

Right now, I'd say that I'm on a boom, with approximately ten students spread out across 18 hours on six days. My schedule is certainly busier than the summer, but I still plan on balancing the budget once again by neither cancelling any sports and tutoring sessions on my own accord nor sacrificing a great deal of sleep despite my comprehensive academic master plan queue list below:

11/14: 3000-word POLI 322 essay due (35% of term)
11/14: 3000-word POLI 306 essay due (60% of term)
11/15: POLI 380 assignment 3 due (12.5% of term)
11/18: self-imposed 24-paged HKIN 360 group report deadline
11/23: 25-minute HKIN 360 presentation (~15% of term)
11/24: POLI 380 "test" #4 (5% of term)
12/1: HIST 485 final project and blog "deadline" (50% of term)
12/2: POLI 380 assignment 4 due (12.5% of term)
12/2: formal HKIN 360 group report deadline (~15% of term)
12/6: POLI 306 final, 8:30 am, BUCH A102 (35% of term)
12/9: HKIN 360 final, 3:30 pm, SWNG 121 (40% of term)
12/15: POLI 322 final, 3:30 pm, BUCH A103 (35% of term)
12/17: POLI 380 final, 8:30 am, WESB 100 (30% of term)

I'd gladly take this schedule over dying in war any day.

Western Standard

2011-11-10T21:46:00.001-08:00

"Why is Count Michael Ignatieff pretending he comes from humble roots?"

Well, there's Ezra Levant for you and the type of leadership character assassination that the Liberal Party wants to avoid, as seen in their Roadmap to Victory in 2015. Of course, American-style open primaries make the leadership race intriguing. I don't know if any prominent elected Conservatives would openly dare to encourage non-Liberals to vote a certain way in a destructive manner, but I'm sure the negative politics message would occur one way or another. It's not just a conservative thing either, for I suspect many liberals would vote for the non-withdrawing Rick Perry in the upcoming Republican primaries.

If I were an American, it would not my brand of politics to vote for Perry so that Barack Obama and the Democrats could, barring a massive voter disconnect, win a landslide. I'd probably go with the relative moderate Jon Huntsman, Jr. who has been known to productively work with Obama and progressives before diplomatically in terms of China. But still, even after keeping an open mind and watching with a dozen conservatives the surprisingly hilarious Norway-ignoring I Want Your Money Republican propaganda film featuring Ray Griggs and Kate Obenshain today to balance Militainment by Roger Stahl yesterday, I'm not swayed into the tent of hardcore conservatism.

However, I am relatively conservative in terms commemorating Remembrance Day with a reflection of "A Pittance of Time" by Terry Kelly, "In Flanders Fields" by John McCRae, and "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen. I covered Remembrance Day material with my students today in terms of providing historical lessons not unlike the ones I picked up in my own history class today about neo-slave trade coolies, popular wartime American presidents, and the usage of the belt and overcoats as food in numerous conflicts ranging from Chinese civil wars to historical battles between Germany and Russia in the winter.

I won't bother going through the Russian lineage of Ignatieff. But then again, I suppose that if I were featured in the Western Standard, I'd be just another liberal elitist.

Peter Perry

2011-11-10T00:18:00.000-08:00

I still recall this one rare occasion in Grade 1 where I woke up at midnight and couldn't sleep. To make myself feel drowsy again, I listened to a Peter Pan cassette tape for the next three hours. I suppose that's better than the spooky "We're off to Never-Never Land" as found in "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, which may or may not have come from "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes, the original song that "Mayor Moonbeam," as mentioned yesterday, parodies.

Of course, I could talk about the unintentional double meanings of the song regarding a child's nightmare at Neverland Ranch, but since I'm soft on crime and love his legacy of songs such as "Man in the Mirror," I don't believe Michael Jackson was guilty of the criminal charges laid against him. I'm not sure about his doctor, for I haven't followed the case. I also haven't followed the Penn State football controversy resulting in the firing of Joe Paterno until riots broke loose today.

I won't weigh in on that issue, but locally, sports-related riots was a topic discussed on the much more civilized CBC debate today. It was civilized but nothing stood out. In the context of today's news headlines that I actually care to follow, there was no Rick Perry moment. It's past 3 am in Michigan. I don't think Perry is sleeping.

Balls, Birds, and Bees

2011-11-08T22:23:00.000-08:00

"Now we're getting it up the ass!"

With my balanced municipal election recommendations in Minimalist Missile Misses and No Nukes, I can see beyond cheap but nevertheless hilarious attack ads such as the "Mayor Moonbeam" portrayal of the sexy Gregor "Juiceman" Robertson. I can also see beyond the political correctness sensitivity in the aforementioned quotation and subsequent accusations that Elizabeth Ball is homophobic through her condoning of the above video not unlike the alleged "Rob Fucking Ford!" and Naheed Nenshi's "off your meds" fiascos.

I'm not saying that some conservatives within the NPA are not homophobic, but there's really little chance that Ball is. She started Carousel Theatre, a company dear enough to my heart that I've watched Julius Caesar three times this summer alongside donating time and money. And yes, local theatre is something that often attracts a very social liberal crowd with progressive values without the class conflict administrative versus worker divide.

I didn't recommend Ball though, not because I don't like her personally, but pro-arts Vision incumbents and NPA hopefuls like the proud gay man Sean Bickerton alongside his more open and pragmatic liberal record render Ball redundant. But of course, some big-l Liberals still don't like Ball personally over the quotation above. I suppose I could stretch beyond the latest Glee episode aired today and encourage your imaginations to run wild, for there are many birds and the bees methodological permutations and combinations that stretch far beyond the pluralization pun in the first word of the title of this post.

I could now segue into my tutoring session today, but aside from simple accounting of writing out $999,999,999,999,999 in words and modifying select risqué parts from a textbook, I think the rest of the hilarious session should be left to inference. I'll merely end with the following darndest phrase which led to a long-winded age-appropriate tangent:

"Do cats have boyfriends?"

Confident Butter-Churning

2011-11-08T01:22:00.000-08:00

I like to keep my head held high at all times, as in holding a high sense of confident psychological stimulus-driving swagger in my self-esteem despite several recent New England Patriots moments. It doesn't have to be elitist arrogance, though some people such as, in the context of today's discussion in a political science class, radical straw-grasping feminist scholars might or might not rightfully interpret me that way.

But no matter how brilliant they are, I can almost say for certain that all scholars have experienced bust economies in their mental capabilities. I'm not necessarily talking about public screw-ups that you'd expect people of lower-sophisticated intellect to cause-damagingly make and cause prominent Occupy Vancouver organizers to defect, though if I were to talk about this topic, I'd merely say that my soft on crime mentality of innocent until proven guilty applies to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Herman Cain, and even Justin Bieber, pending a paternity test.

Of course, many people don't think the same way I do and thus, I might be called an elitist. However, especially with the capping of the year of the incumbent with a gigantic victory for Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party, people are averse to butter-churning risks and negative smear advertising works because suspicious allegations are enough to not gamble on innocence.

Opposition parties now have to become creative and risky if they want to break the incumbent stranglehold. The Liberal Party will innovatively introduce American-style primaries for their next leader, hopefully sans the ugliness of the current Republican campaign. I'd actually like all parties to implement a similar system. And no, I don't believe in deliberately screwing over another party for personal political gain, for I'd rather work cooperatively in a similar way to how everyone in my kindergarten class sat in a circle to take turns shaking a bottle of cream to manually churn butter.

Somehow that was mentioned in my supposedly French tutoring session today alongside Mexican jumping beans and math drills where I successfully answered 25 relatively complex for mental math decimal-adding questions (such as 124.8 + 0.39 + 7.16) in 2 minutes and 54 seconds. I guess I still have my elementary 100 simple questions in 3 minutes arithmetic-proficiency swagger.

But no, despite my confident competence in French and math when other areas are at a relative trough, I won't become the new auditor general.

Cellular Respiration

2011-11-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

There's no hard evidence that Joseph Stalin said this infamous phrase, but we see that in our willful blindness to dire foreign affairs. Arguably, as the speaker of my church proclaimed today, it's due to greed caused by a lack of faith in God's provision, which in my opinion ironically plagues bible-thumping conservatives more than atheists.

As an addendum to statistics which list Democrats as more concerned over the Mormon Mitt Romney, however, I'd merely state that liberals in general are wary of anyone who uses their faith to justify malevolent intolerance. Then again, I know that sometimes tolerance can go too far and it's best in the end-goal spirit of tolerance to not descend into lofty, inefficient solutions. Such may be the case in the latest Occupy headlines, which is best summed up by the following comment:

The Halifax group is a shining example of how the Occupy movement should act when issues arise between the movement and the city. Not only moving for Remembrance Day, but putting effort in to clean up after themselves. The Occupy Halifax group deserves tremendous kudos for this.

The Vancouver group, on the other hand, is a shining example of how the Occupy movement should not be acting. Two overdoses, one death. In response to concerns about the safety of the camp, one spokesperson (I believe it was Kiki) stated that they do not recognize the authority of officials asking that they ensure access for emergency crews, and that police officers are not welcome in their "community." The refusal of Occupy Vancouver to move their camp to accommodate the upcoming Santa Claus parade, while not an enormous deal, does reflect poorly on their view of the citizens' concerns.

Vancouver occupiers, take note of your cousins on the East coast if you want to maintain public support from the other 98% not among your camp.

Luckily, a Black Bloc squad didn't materialize as the Vancouver Police Department warned earlier today. Although, in the Machiavellian sense, it may be time to heed to whispers of a police-perpetrated violence-inciting plant operation as the method of dispersing squatters, as stated in Do Something, the negative legal repercussions may outweigh the expected initial gain.

Though I'm not necessarily a hippie, I'd rather talk about plants in terms of photosynthesis and cellular respiration formulae. I'm clearly not an upper-level science teacher either, but that was the role I took with one student. For the other student, I merely sat in a still position and asked him to spell random words while he sketched a portrait of me.

I still don't consider myself as having a Stalin-like cult of personality.

And Then There Were Bees

2011-11-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

I'd face intense political controversy if I proudly advocated for the one-by-one killings of councillors or whatever supposedly corrupt entities of which I may be part presently or in the future that involve the number ten in the originally-titled Ten Little Niggers, so I won't due to my soft on crime stance, not even for people like Canada's Casey Anthony in Guy Turcotte.

That won't limit me from merely projecting "you rock, you rule" messages, for I'd even challenge the overwhelmingly positive historical legacy of this book such as the situational ridiculousness of Vera's suicide though not unlike the ending of my Commonwealth Essay and the judge's physical power not entirely unlike Abdelbaset al-Megrahi under the terminal illness pretense, covered today with a student alongside the early Roman Empire and Christianity, by Agatha Christie as I did in the positive self-actualization realignment spring in more than the literal meaning of 2006.

Given my relatively to-my-standards mediocre results in that year aside from a non-binding annual GATE test at the beginning of the year, I carefully phrased my words, even dumbing it down, in order to avoid suspicion of plagiarism and differentiate my writing from the then-upstart Sparknotes and other online paper mills. In general and not necessarily talking about myself, I really despise a system where a teacher expects a short-leashed student to barely pass and that anything else above expectations is grounds for a big fat plagiarized zero.

But the following year was a fresh slate and I started to use the complex vocabulary that I've proven to know under the GATE test with a twist to relate back to course and current event themes to make my own my own. To this day, this is why I write with "spontaneous allegories, wild analogies, and irrelevant but engaging allusions." It might take me several hours to organize my thoughts to ironically type stream of consciousness posts, so clearly I don't fit in with a breaking news ticker. That's why I won't subject Roy MacGregor's latest article about being first to deliver news headlines to scholarly criticism. Ironically, I'll include a section below which might yield many hits:

The obsession with “content” has meant next to no time for substance. In far too many cases, tweeting and blogging have become a form of public masturbation, where size matters – as in number of hits or followers one can attract. Hits, newspapers will one day realize, are not circulation.

I've already discussed not dissimilar themes about my views on readership with a relative doppelganger innuendo before, so I won't say it again. Nevertheless, I didn't have to provide any sort of elementary censorship with a SSAT-prepping student bent on rote spelling bee methods of learning linguistic etymological structures far beyond university-level scores on GATE tests in terms of discussing the political assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, their surrounding conspiracy theories, and the resulting historical hippie movement which was perhaps a lot more credible than the Occupy Vancouver branch, which unfortunately has now claimed a life.

In terms of local politics, perhaps under stern admonishment from firefighters and an election campaign where for the first time I actually saw Suzanne Anton for mayor lawn signs, Gregor Robertson is now pragmatically shifting to a position to clear out applicable "squatters." I don't think that issue will be settled soon, but I suppose it offers a clear distraction from bee hives on the city hall roof.

Greeks and Guillotines

2011-11-05T00:56:00.000-07:00

"So the EU agree to bail out Greece and now the Greek gvmt isn't sure and puts it to a referendum....huh! Need some help to understand this."

Similar to the new Order of Canada recipient Trevor Linden as seen from this tweet, I'm also confused, even after covering banking in the context of the 1990s Japanese bubble burst in one class today and Marxist organizational structuring in another. I'm admittedly not an expert on banking economics aside from the liberal layman's perspective that regulation is good and that unnecessary bailouts are bad, but congratulations to Mark Carney nevertheless.

As seen yesterday, I do believe in a personally balanced compassionate socialized capitalism. I think today's tutoring services in an undesirable, non-price-gouged environment where the student chewed on an eraser and licked or spat on everything in the room despite my personal economic boom serves as a brilliant symbiotic relationship example because I'm merely giving the child's mother some quiet time in the evening, for she's the person who must constantly endure his boastfully principal-reprimanding behaviour.

Students like the one above really make me realize the glory displayed by many of my other students. For my other student today, we discussed the hanged, drawn, and quartered method of execution alongside French Revolution guillotines, the failures of Russian conquest by both Napoleon and Hitler, Lego, and the difference between voilà and il y a. It was entertaining, though a couple of extroverted paper-bag whisky-drinking guys with whom I struck a social commentary conversation on the bus not unlike the guy who offered weed to me in First Impressions Are Not Always Correct, aside from "I need a wee" seal-breaking digressions, proved to be even more entertaining.

In the above-linked post, I also delivered a post-examination rant for English 12, which surprisingly fell below anticipated standards. I didn't fare much better the second time I wrote the exam, but somehow I proverbially sold my stock at the right time and my high second-term English mark elevated me to a university where I've never gotten below an A- in an English course, perhaps due to the number of wild analogies I employ and my expansive library of vocabulary terms that I may or may not have learned through playing the United Nations World Food Programme FreeRice game.

As seen above, I can also make lengthy descriptions without necessarily turning them into grammatically incorrect run-on sentences. However, aptitude tests like any brand of SAT are not only based on subjective traits that I try to exploit by catering to the anticipated reader's interests with my unorthodox sense of bizarre creativity, but they require "intelligence," whatever that abstract that gave me 21/25 on the SSAT sample questions or 108 on Test the Nation: IQ may be.

I don't know of any wannabe elitist scholar who will say the following, but despite my intrinsic Greek Socratic desire for wisdom and the avoidance of Reign of Terror-style guillotine executions and in the same inconsistent light that the bruised ego of the Canucks face currently, I understand that I was not and am not the brightest person in the world. Although I take pride in some aspects of my creative elementary school work, there was, in my academic life, an economic downturn in my Grades 7-9 years where I wallowed in mediocrity until reaching an epiphany in a class that featured the UNICEF-promoting film Long Way Round.

In absolute poverty rather than the relative poverty that the 1% of the 99% that is still in Downtown claim to face, as described in the pamphlet I received from UNICEF today that featured Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, I could be in a position that's significantly worse. Relatively speaking, and I mean relative in a strict personal first world pains sense, I'd be a floundering mess had a good friend with a refreshing outlook not stimulated my B-range Grade 9 mind by challenging, "Why don't you aim for higher marks? I'm sure you can get straight A grades!"

I recovered my Grade 6 verve in a matter of months. Crazily extrapolating the themes of my personal life, idealistically the world economy alongside the Canucks, can too.

Porter La Croix

2011-11-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

"Mandarin is far more different from Cantonese than French is with any sort of Romance language."

The above quote from a history class today can't be closer to the truth, for I received an incomprehensible message in Mandarin from a student's mother in my voice inbox yesterday. Another student today, on the other hand, pronounced French words with a noticeable Spanish accent. Yeah, I know that everyone has an accent and the more politically correct term in the linguistic world is something along the lines of a cultural upbringing educated dialect.

I won't go into the latest John Crosbie controversy over political correctness, though it's intriguing to see how many people two weeks ago deplored suicide and now find it funny. Then again, many people during that time loved the prospect of an Occupy Wall Street global revolution, but now, Occupy Vancouver is dismissed as a drug-infested welfare-scamming dump. That's the malleable nature of politics, and as a king of hypocritical flip-flops out of centrist pragmatism, it's easy to laugh.

While I could talk about Christy Clark's pragmatism to ward off the BC Conservative surge in the latest polls and the petition to stop the crime bill from yesterday's post, I'll merely expand on the theme of hypocrisy in religious pursuits. I could talk about the 1 Corinthians 10:23 principle of everything being permissible but not everything being beneficial at length, but I'll merely state that I view Christianity as a form of unity over division and rational moderation over rashness.

I'll describe an example of this balanced force within me. Today, a stranger decided to wait a few seconds to leave the door open for me. My leisurely walking pace today still trailed him into a not-so-crowded hallway where a $10 bill lay on the floor. Perhaps psychologically thinking that I would change whatever first impression I had on him, he didn't pick it up, but instead side-stepped it to open a nearby washroom door. Perhaps over-thinking this scenario both then and now, and out of gratefulness for waiting a few seconds to hold the door open for me, I left Sir John A. MacDonald untouched and left the discretionary responsibility up to him.

There's a reciprocity component to this issue and I don't think my conscience would have allowed me to seize the opportunity, for twice in a span of two weeks a month ago, I dropped money and other people notified me. Thinking it was more profound than a clumsy coincidence, I donated the equivalent of that amount to various charities. That's the form of non-conservative higher calling I personally see but don't want to necessarily force upon people like hardcore communism.

But I'm not a saint either, for how I earn money in the first place is unabashedly questionable, such as the discussion of Macau gambling joints. I'm clearly not a technical person. As seen on many of my published teaching adventures on this blog, I constantly try to make education fun. That includes showing how to play "O Canada" on the piano and singing the French version like I did today. And yes, the French version containing the lyrics "porter la croix" is easier to pick up than the Mandarin version.

Fist-Bumping Fuming Football

2011-11-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

"Didn't we play football together?"

A signature in almost every single essay I write, my introduction is always what I perceive to be as my strong suit. And that's how I began my sport sociology midterm exam today. It was only worth 10% and I expect to lose about 2.2% for my rant on the all politics is local and the personal is political paradigm-shifting aspect of social change found through soccer programs in apartheid South Africa prisons and Israel.

In terms of local politics, I might change some of my recommendations as seen in No Nukes and Minimalist Missile Misses due to controversy with, for example, the pimpin' Jason Lamarche. Maybe because I'm not a feminist and rather someone who appreciates those who, to an admittedly lesser extent than plane crash responder heroes, put aside their own personal beliefs and bias in order to listen and respectfully take an alternative viewpoint in the manner that Immanuel Kant proposes, but I just find it hilarious that feminists are blaming figures of their own gender for sexism such as Suzanne Anton for quipping that Lamarche only wanted a date.

And yes, I'm defending Anton despite my preference for Gregor Robertson. They're both compatible with a liberal centrist brand of politics and hence the reason why I'm splitting my voting card between NPA and Vision. After reading the thick voting guidebook delivered in the mail today, I wouldn't necessarily mind changing some of my recommendations, at least on an LOL platform, to the CAPS LOCKED Robert Allan Stark, the single-issue UN-hater Peter Raymond Haskell, Wendythirteen, Amy "Evil Genius" Fox, or Cord Ted Copeland.

Politics is supposed to be fun and light-hearted rather than vitriolic vendetta-filled smear-tactic heavy diatribes. I suppose we have it excellent in Canada in the sense that we generally don't communicate political viewpoints through deadly violence, but when you see the latest news regarding Lamarche above or Kash Heed, politics as a profession doesn't seem to attract many "good" people. I've stated before that I wouldn't vote for him despite lukewarm support for Christy Clark and progressively moderate BC Liberal policies, but even that support is vaporizing.

Prominently soft on crime, I'm somewhat disappointed that Christy Clark sided with the federal Conservatives in a tough on crime approach, though I understand that she wants to curb BC Conservative growth and do damage control to become friends with the federal Conservatives in order to cut a better HST termination deal. In addition, there's the fallout from the events of June 15th and Clark is pandering to the hang 'em high populist reverse mob mentality, as illogical as it may be due to the resulting backlog of the already overloaded court system.

But no, I'm not fuming over this political policy issue. If it were a personal attack like the virtual fist-punching offence on Justin Trudeau rather than the hilarious fist-bumping from Dean Del Mastro, I'd be fuming too. Yes, I'm a hypocrite in many ways and I'd probably criticize the Christian Right similarly for their neo-Pharisee way of religion. However, I wouldn't descend into American-style politics where I'd directly use a fellow politician's personal religion as my basis of ammunition.

Instead, out of political disagreements, I'd reach out across partisan lines and ask if opposition members want to play football.

Dummy Variables

2011-11-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hurray for Binary Day!

Or better yet yet, hurray for finishing the coding of dummy variables infused with binary values! I know I'm probably totally out to lunch in terms of computer programming lingo, so I'd rather discuss my own lunch. While I didn't take any pictures and it's too small-scale to be worthy of a full restaurant recapitulation recommendation since I don't dole them out like Halloween candy anymore, Hue Café is almost as brilliant as Ba Le Sandwich Shop for Vietnamese submarine sandwiches.

That place was more or less close to my tutoring location for the day, which included allusions to bopomofo Mandarin accents, a personal baseball story not unrelated to Hans Moleman or maybe even Henrik Eriksson in the pronunciation of u-sounds in French, and 1 plus 1 equals box and 2 plus 2 equals car graphic designs that would make either George Orwell or even, to a much less profane extent, Pitbull proud.

While positive student engagement always makes me proud, I can somewhat extend my pride in seeing Quebec and Ontario refuse to pay for the omnibus crime bill with provincial money, especially in the context of alternatives such as my unabashedly soft on crime solution of restorative justice alongside the truth and reconciliation committees discussed today in a history class.

So in this lovey-dovey context applied to tonight's game, many fickle Canuck fans have now forgiven the numerous transgressions that Roberto Luongo made in the month of October, which saw the team put up mediocre binary-infused numbers of 11 points in 11 games played. But of course, out of the two dummy variable options of getting a shutout and not getting a shutout for #1 in net, the latter, though still a binary number of 1, prevailed.

Undefined Blog Statement: October

2011-11-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

Total posts: 32

Total number of words: 26,481 (a monthly record high that I won't attempt to match for November, and hence no Nanowrimo even with a narrative style of Joseph Conrad)

Total number of page views: 1906 from 599 "unique visitors"

Best keyword entrance to this blog: "build a mayday obstacle course"

Total candy handed out: 62 bars (with statistical coding, I didn't care)

Sir Sandford Fleming

2011-10-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

In terms of legends, Sir Sandford Fleming was one for his contribution to standard time and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

I didn't understand the complexity of daylight saving time, with widespread variance among different countries. It would be brilliant if time, along with dates and months, were truly standard. The ambiguous MA should be eliminated and replaced with MAR for March and MAY for May.

In terms of May, I could say the same thing about holidays such as the suggested harmonization of Victoria Day with Memorial Day, though I wouldn't go so far as to integrate Canada Day with the Fourth of July.

Canada has an eclectic blend of British English spelling with a relatively American English pronunciation style. It was fun to spend 15 minutes teaching a British English-schooled Hong Kong native the proper Canadian English way to pronounce his own name.

I could talk about how Canada made its own distinctive name in the context of today's tutoring session, but I primarily focused the session on World War I propaganda posters that appeal to segregated groups.

Some groups were sent to the front lines more often in comparison to their representation in perhaps not a non-racist strategical decision not unlike the dangerous dynamite assignments given to the Chinese workers when building the Canadian Pacific Railway.

But I don't hold a post-colonial point of view, for I think the Raffi Torres Halloween blackface controversy over Jay-Z is as ironically ridiculous as banning "I Love Boobies" bracelets or To Kill a Mockingbird novels over offensive language. Sir Sandford Fleming was a legend.

Experience the Legend

2011-10-30T03:09:00.000-07:00

"I don't speak Japanese, but I do speak hammered."

As stated by Rachel Maddow, the video of a bumbling Shoichi Nakagawa displayed obvious incoherence. I could talk about him at length, but my Japanese politics professor has already done so. He also discussed beer politics of Japan and its stringent nature of domestic protectionism to appease certain brewer lobby groups.

I was intrigued enough to try Sapporo Premium today. As with rice lagers, there was a hint of Special K rice cereal content with a crisp, relatively bitter aftertaste. However, the ending of the Canucks game tonight was all but bitter. My pregame prediction of a 5-4 Canucks victory with fans blaming Roberto Luongo regardless was almost correct. Luongo didn't have his best game today, as seen in his attempts to fight the puck in the first couple of periods. He became stronger and rose to the occasion not unlike Grant Fuhr to rob Alex Ovechkin of a hat trick.

Of course, it seems like the bar is set low. Quite justifiably, it's difficult to rationalize Luongo's performance as good today from the statistics. But similar to the slow start of the BC Lions, the future looks promising and unlike the Boston Bruins, the Stanley Cup Final hangover seems to be nearing its end. A fitting conclusion would've been a quote from a Toronto Maple Leafs backup goalie in the 1950s who was found drinking at a bar before suiting up to win a pivotal Stanley Cup playoff game, but I couldn't find my source.

But no, I will stop short of calling liquid courage as the factor to how legends are made.

Cards' Coding Sense

2011-10-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

I acknowledge the triteness of this post compared to the common sense posts in the past couple of days. I've been occupied with a lengthy annotated bibliography statistical coding tenfold more tedious than microfilm and an undefined limit more tedious than calculus. Somehow I threw in a tutoring session filled with gummy worms, the end of World War II, garbage-eating grizzly bears, and Molotov cocktails. At least my vivacity in teaching remains, for the above two tasks are apparently tasks in which I have virtually no confident clue of what I'm doing. I also invested time into designing another academic blog featuring the Empress of Asia ship:

Hopefully it's aesthetically pleasing. Although humility is much-needed, I'd like to say that I walk with my head held high as if I made a eureka discovery into understanding the Monty Hall problem. And yes, that epiphany has happened. I could also talk about cards or capital-c "Cards" in their improbable World Series victory today based on more theoretical Drunkard's Walk deficit probability, but I won't. Overall, heroes such as David Freese find a way to code formulae correctly.

Common Sense Addendum

2011-10-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Building on yesterday's theme, I can communicate a common sense conservative tone when warranted in opposition to my somewhat elitist liberal viewpoints that ironically espouse anti-tyranny of the majority messages. Good luck trying to dissect my centrist ways. Grape-Stained Hands should help.

Expanding on the themes in that post about forward-moving multiculturalism rather than post-colonial white man's guilt, I share a relatively common sense conservative opinion about the "racist" Halloween costumes controversy in the sense that it trivializes actual racism in the world. While I credit the Ohio University's Students Teaching About Racism in Society group for opening a sense of dialogue, there are already social norms to avoid KKK, Nazi, and suicide bomber constumes due to their tastelessness.

As stated in 90+ Years Ago, sports teams constantly face this brand of controversy in establishing or perhaps changing their established identities. As long as inclusive self-deprecating jovial humour as expressed by Peter Chao or Russell Peters is the norm rather than an exclusionary GTFO model, I will gladly appreciate anyone who dresses up as a prototypical Asian nerd.

Consideration in terms of social norms should be taken by everyone. It's common sense to not offend anyone, but it's also common sense to not be offended that easily.

Common Sense Revolution

2011-10-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

Apparently "common sense" is synonymous with realist conservatives. It's associated with Suzanne Anton's "Common Sense Team" and Mike Harris, the principal character of discussion in a political science class today, with the "Common Sense Revolution." The ideal is supposed to be pragmatic solutions based on what works in contrast to over-idealistic liberals. But should the appeal to tradition prevail despite truer pragmatic options in the parsimonious name of science and statistics? Read the following:

Canada's homicide rate last year fell to the lowest level since the mid-1960s, according to Statistics Canada, a decrease the agency says was driven largely by fewer incidents in major cities and the western provinces. In 2010, police reported 554 homicides in Canada, 56 fewer than the year before, the agency reported Wednesday, following a decade of relative stability. The homicide rate fell to 1.62 for every 100,000 population, its lowest level since 1966, the agency says. The data was released a day after the Conservative government launched its third attempt in the House of Commons to abolish the federal long-gun registry and destroy its records, arguing the program is wasteful and ineffective in preventing gun crime.
...
The national decrease in the homicide rate follows a downward trend in Canada's overall recorded crime rate over the past three decades. Canada's crime rates have become the subject of a fierce debate in Ottawa, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority government moves forward with its tough-on-crime agenda, despite opposition parties pointing to declining crime rates and questioning the price tag of the measures such as mandatory minimum penalties and sentences at a time of a record federal deficit. Some government members, including Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, have maintained the number of crimes that go unreported is on the rise, which they say suggests Canadians have little faith in the justice system and underscores the need for tough measures.

But Melchers said homicide figures tend to be the most reliable indicators of overall crime rates because "not many homicides are invisible. Crime is really going down," Melchers said. "What it does is confirm that what is happening is actually happening, despite what some ministers say — and will say again." When contacted by CBC News on Wednesday, Toews's office issued a statement saying the minister is pleased to see the numbers of homicides down, while adding the latest information "does not change our approach."

"Canadians gave our government a strong mandate to crack down on crime and keep our communities safe," Toews's press secretary, said in an email. "This government’s tough on crime measures, additional investments in more officers on our streets, and tools to fight crime are working. However, one homicide is one too many. That is why we will continue to take action to toughen the laws, stand up for victims and hold criminals responsible."

Yeah, I'm soft on crime. I'm also typically not known as a conservative, but I do agree with the efficient steps that Mike Harris took to decrease the number of legislators in Ontario. We don't need more MPs but rather an American rep-by-pop adjustment system every ten years. We also shouldn't need, as discussed today in a sport sociology course and in Black Bloc Billionaires, massive G-20 summits with all the world leaders physically present for the sake of ridiculous security costs due to provoked protests because in this technology-driven age, Skype and conference calls should come in handy.

I don't know the future of the Occupy Vancouver tent city, but it's apparently common sense to forcibly remove protesters. Although I don't know if squatting is the best forward-moving policy, forced removal can only get uglier, as it might descend into heavy-handed riotous fervour. Well, at least all of the people of Vancouver had the common sense to not riot after tonight's loss to the St. Louis Blues.