:: The tsumani disaster in Southeast Asia continues to dominate the news, and rightfully so. It is difficult to appreciate the magnitude of this event for many of us in Canada. Latest reports have the death toll topping 123,000 people. Unicef is suggesting that children will account for one third of the dead:
NEW YORK, 28 December 2004 – Children are likely to account for more than a third of those killed when massive waves smashed into coastal communities across Asia, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said today.The saddest aspect for me is that each of these people was an individual with goals, dreams, and aspirations. Their deaths, so sudden and unexpected, will in turn impact millions of others who knew and loved them. For hundreds of thousands, there can be no closure, as their loved ones will be buried in mass graves or cremated, given that there are no other options at the moment. Many will be buried anonymously, or never found, adding to the prolonged grief of their friends and relatives. In the wake of the tsunamis, millions are homeless. Tonight, I will sleep comfortably in my own bed, and not worry about sub-zero temperatures outside, because I have shelter with food, clothing, water, electricity, plumbing, heat, transportation, and communication, and live in a city with an infrastructure supporting my daily needs. Feeling guilty because one is fortunate to experience a high standard of living is a wasted emotion. The tsunami disaster in SE Asia serves to remind us of that good fortune, and to not take it for granted.“Virtually no country has a population with less than a third of its population aged eighteen years or below and in some of the countries up to 50 per cent of the population is young,” she told reporters at the United Nations.
According to UNICEF, children account for a large proportion of casualties because they represent 39 per cent of the overall population in the eight hardest-hit countries. Eyewitness accounts indicate that many children died because they weren’t strong enough to hold on to fixtures or trees when huge tidal waves swept them off their feet.
If you wish to donate, agencies in Canada accepting online donations include the Canadian Red Cross, Unicef Canada, and Unicef, World Vision Canada.
According to geophysicists, the displacement of material by the earthquake was so enormous that the rotation of the earth has been permanently altered, with the Earth now spinning at 1/10,000th of a second shorter (3 microseconds). Scientists have estimated that during the earthquake, material approximately 600 miles long and 100 miles wide, inside the Earth, fell 30 feet closer to the planet's axis of rotation. Further details are emerging regarding how the quake has literally redrawn the map in the region, displacing some islands by several metres.
The Earth is changing. Permafrost is thawing and melting throughout the planet's cold regions, and grass has become established in Antarctica. Global warming, anyone?
| TrackBack (0):: I am stuffed after a series of delicious dinners and breakfasts which began on Christmas Eve, and ended this morning with dim sum. No more food for a while! I am grateful and very fortunate to have food in my belly nonetheless; many on this planet never know what it is like to be full after a meal. Anyway, how was your Christmas?
:: Chris sent a link to the Scared of Santa Gallery. Some of the photos are decades old, and many are hilarious. I suspect more than one photo has been used to embarrass the subject at a later date in his or her life (like, say, a wedding reception.)
:: Consider that this decade is half-over in six days. What has defined the - er - what is this decade called? The Aughts? The Zeros? The Tens? Regardless, in North America, decades tend to be defines based on events and developments in western, or more specifically, American culture, during the ten year periods. Is this the decade of terrorism, fear, and meaningless wars? The Decline of Pop Culture Decade, as represented by "reality tv" and bad lip-synching? The Decade of Aging Baby Boomers? The Emergence of the Millenials? (Remember the "Baby on Board" stickers from the early 80s? The Millenials are those babies.) (Boomers: 1946-1964; Gen X: 1965-1979; Millenials/Gen Y: 1979-2001; ???: 2001-whenever. All dates subject to endless discussion and argument.)
:: Darcy mentioned this site, and it is much fun! Make your own snowflake. Click the scissors when the red dot turns green. There is amazing creativity in the world.
:: Robert sent this pic of how The Rand Corporation, in 1954, envisioned what the home computer might look like in 50 years, i.e., like, right now. Check it out. I wonder what the steering wheel was meant to do?
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:: It's Christmas morning. Last night was spent at the Wests' home, sharing a delicious dinner with good friends, drinking wine and singing a few Christmas carols, and exchanging gifts. Today's events include breakfast at my friends' home, and then later in the afternoon, going with them to their friends' home for Christmas dinner. Calories be damned!
I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and hope you have a wonderful day as well.
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:: This morning, while at dim sum at New Tan Tan, the lights went out. A power failure happened somewhere in the downtown area, perhaps due to the high winds. The staff passed out candles, and also had to deal with the tropical fish tank, which began leaking for some reason, after the power failure.
:: This weekend, I saw Ocean's Twelve, and Kinsey. Both enjoyable for different reasons, although in discussion with Taras this afternoon, I had to agree that Ocean's Twelve falls apart in the last 20 minutes. Kinsey contains a set of remarkable performances from a cadre of actors, and also has perhaps the funniest scene in any film I've watched this year, including Team America: World Police, which had me howling throughout the picture. I saw Kinsey with my friend Marissa, at the same theatre we saw The Machinist a week earlier. It was déjà vu all over again.
:: For me, the Christmas season brings mixed blessings. I cannot go into details here, but I take great comfort knowing that I have the support and friendship of family and friends who care. In the end, what more can anyone ask at Christmas?
I had planned to be off work from December 18-January 3, but will head in tomorrow to try to clean out my inbox, and finish some paperwork.
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:: Last evening my right eye was hurting, feeling like a small foreign object of some sort was under the lid and wouldn't leave. This morning at the U Health Centre, the doctor confirmed that the cornea has a small scratch right under the pupil. It is quite annoying, so I'm home to rest for the afternoon. I've got eye drops, and will pick up some ointment later in the day. Hopefully this will heal quickly.
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:: (Warning: use your popup blocker before looking at this clip) - Listen and learn that: the worst Americans move to Canada; we are lucky the US allows my country to share the same continent with it; only Western Canada matters (right wingers, cowboys, and ski areas here); we don't need an army; without the US, Canada is essentially Honduras, but colder and more boring; Norway would invade my country if it wasn't for our American neighbours - oops - neighbors; that the US doesn't need Canada (we're only the States' largest trading partner on the planet); and finally, Canadians with ambition move to the United States. Gosh, the things I didn't know. Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson need to sit down and shut the f*ck up.
I'll leave the last word to Steely Dan: "That right-wing hooey sure stunk up the joint."
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:: Hey, the Geminids are tonight, and promise to be spectacular. Don't know if I'll have the energy to check them out, I am SO tired tonight.
:: Earlier this evening, I broke bread with four fellow co-workers of Hungarian descent at a warm, friendly little Hungarian restaurant in north-west Edmonton called The Goulash. My dad's parents were Hungarian, and came to North America in the 1920s, settling in Winnipeg. Dinner was paprikás csirke with gnocchi, followed by a slice of Dobos torte for dessert, perhaps the most amazing, multi-layer chocolate cake with a hard carmel icing , and it was the best meal I've had in months. The food tasted just like the dishes my Grandma Reichardt made when we were little, which means it tasted home cooked, not like restaurant food. God Bless the cook(s)!
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:: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced its 2005 Golden Globe nominations. Leading the pack are Sideways with 7, The Aviator with 6, and three films with 5 nominations: Closer, Finding Neverland, and Million Dollar Baby. Overlooked in the Emmy Awards, Deadwood is nominated for Best Television Series - Drama, and Ian McShane is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama; he should be a lock in this category. The big winner in nominations is Jamie Foxx, with three acting nods for Ray, Collateral, and Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story. What's odd is that his nomination for Ray is in the category Best Performance by an Actor in Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. There was music in Ray, of course, but the movie wasn't a musical. That said, the criteria for that category must be, well, very liberal (or bizarre), because the other nominees include Jim Carrey for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Paul Giamatti for Sideways, two films I would call dramas rather than comedies.
:: Other awards have been announced, and Sideways is on a roll. Six The San Francisco Film Critics Circle awards went to Sideways. Sideways also took (at least) three of the NY Film Critics Circle Awards - not all have been announced as of this posting, with live voting still in progress. Sideways (surprise!) won Best Picture from the Boston Film Critics. The American Film Institute announced its official selections for Movies of the Year and TV Programs of the Year. The British Independent Film Awards saw Vera Drake sweep the awards for Actress, Actor, Supporting Actor/Actress, Film and Director.
Complete awards information is available at The Awards Scoreboard at Movie City News, with even more information available at Awards Watch 2005.
It's a fun time of the year to get caught up in analysis of the movie industry if you are a film addict like me. A good read is William Goldman's annual Oscar column from the Dec 12, 2004 issue of Variety.
Missing from all the lists - The Passion of the Christ.
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:: On Wednesday, I invoked closure on the book chapter, which at the moment clocks in at just under 12,000 words. Perhaps I'll add another line just to make it to that magic number. I sent the chapter to the editor at Penn State, and am going to spend the next six working days trying to clear some of my desk. I plowed through work e-mails today, reducing the inbox number from 175 to under 90.
:: I saw Sideways tonight. With Closer last week, I've seen two movies back-to-back featuring four central characters each, two men and two women, in relationship dramas, but decidedly different in tone, presentation and outcome. I enjoyed Sideways more than Closer, perhaps because the characters were considerably more likeable, although I found Thomas Haden Church's character, Jack, to be loathsome. I won't reveal why, should you decide to see the movie, which won a Top Ten Film Award for 2004 from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Haden Church received the NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor. The cast of Closer, meanwhile, won the award for Best Acting by an Ensemble.
Sideways also won the Gotham Award for Best Feature. Awards Season is officially underway. This time of year, it is much fun to read David Poland's 20 Weeks to Oscar, with only twelve weeks to go. Also of interest are Poland's various charts, with information on "This Week's Frontrunner" for Best Picture, Director, Actor/Supporting Actor, Actress/Supporting Actress, and Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay. His analyses are not limited to potential Oscar winners, but also to the Golden Globes.
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:: Rolling Stone is back with another list, this time The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. RS chose a "jury of singers, musicians, producers, industry figures, critics and, of course, songwriters", 172 in all. For the list, "the word song refers to both a composition and its definitive recorded performance, as a single or an album track."
As with all lists of favorites, the results are based on subjective judgement. Reading through the list, I expected to see at least one song by The Guess Who, Steely Dan, The Dave Clark Five, Dave Matthews Band, The Moody Blues, the Doobie Brothers, The Pretenders, The Fixx, Genesis or Peter Gabriel, but by the time I reached 400, I sensed none of these bands would have an entry. No "American Woman", no "Do It Again", no "Anyway You Want It", no "In Your Eyes" - astonishing, in my view.
Regardless of what you think of any of these artists, and probably countless others who belong here, there were individual gems among their collective output. Each of these bands might have placed two, three, or more tunes on a list of this size. However, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart checked in at #301.
What's wrong with this picture? Also, from my POV as a Canadian, there are some great national artists missing from the list as well. Did I mention The Guess Who?
:: And how much worse can it get in America? The right in the US detests my liberal country, but that doesn't discourage T-Shirtking.com from selling their new "Going Canadian" kit:
Americans Traveling Overseas - Consider Going Canadian!Aboot it? How about a boot to the head? How bad has it become in the USA when its own citizens want to disguise their identity when leaving the country? Marketed as a gag gift after the Nov 2 US election, sales have skyrocketed since the item was picked up on newsfeeds. From an article in the Edmonton Journal:Rather travel overseas or in Canada without having to discuss your politics with everyone you meet? Consider Going Canadian!
For $24.95 you get a complete disguise. A t-shirt with the Canadian flag and the saying "O Canada! (National Anthem), a patch for your luggage or backpack, a window sticker and a lapel pin. Plus - Free Report - How to Speak Canadian, Eh?!
Now when someone asks you about American politics, you can say, "I'm on vacation, I don't want to talk aboot it."
The company's website also suggests the Go Canadian kit makes "a great gag gift for that friend that wants to move to Canada" -- a much-debated urge among many left-leaning Americans in the wake of President George W. Bush's re-election.| TrackBack (0) | Comments (4)"It's not meant as a slight against the United States or Canada," Bill Broadbent told The Associated Press. "It was meant as something Republicans could give their Democrat friends to say 'C'est la vie.' ...But maybe not 'c'est la vie' because that's a French word."
The guide teaches buyers that "Cowtown" is a nickname for Calgary and "Hogtown" is Toronto. The words "hoser" and "Mountie" are among those defined in a Great White North glossary and phrases such as "deke out of a meeting" are explained for non-hockeyists.
"If your vacation is to be stress-free," says the company's website pitch, "leave those heavy politics behind and travel with a light heart and quick wit, Canadian style."
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:: Tbe Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys Dec 14 gig at the Sidetrack has been, well, sidetracked for now. James (bassist) is having problems with a sciatic nerve in his leg, and is unable to perform. So my debut with HDNB is postponed for now, but hopefully another gig will materialze shortly.
The book chapter is essentially done. A few minor revisions are left, nothing more. What's it about? It's a guide to the literature of petroleum engineering and refining, for a book called "Using the Engineering Literature", to be published in 2005 by Dekker. Now I'm plowing through 170 e-mails at work, trying to catch up on them before breaking for Christmas. I'm off work from Dec 18-Jan 3. There is a lot to do in the next eight working days, including the dreaded annual report.
:: Been on a bit of a DVD tear of late, which for those of you who know me, is uncharacteristic behaviour. But it was hard to pass up a few deals at Best Buy, including: Local Hero, To Live and Die In L.A., Minority Report, Altered States, A Little Princess, and This Is Spinal Tap. I watched TLADILA last night, and it still holds up well after 20 years. I still love listening to the Wang Chung soundtrack. I wish they'd get back together for a reunion album. Jack Hues, founding member of Wang Chung, formed a band called Illuminated, in 2003. Listening to bits of three cuts on the web site suggests that Illuminated is an instrumental jazz band. What's interesting is a line in Jach Hues' biography on the web site, which reads, "new Wang Chung and ILLUMINATED albums in progress (2004)." Cool.
| TrackBack (0):: I was at Tim Hortons Donuts an hour ago, the mega-ginormous donut empire of Canada, to buy a gift card for someone for a Christmas present. I was surprised and annoyed to learn that 1) they only sell gift certificates, in packs of $5 or $10, in which one finds five $2 gift certificates, and 2) they don't accept credit cards, only debit. WTF? Isn't this the 21st Century?
Is there a major chain store/restaurant/whatever NOT selling gift cards, in whatever denomination you desire, save for McDonald's, of course, which continues to use the paper gift certificates as well? Well, yes, Tim Hortons Donuts! Insanity, I tell you. Plus, I detest using debit cards - it's a personal thing with me (I like credit cards which let me run up Air Miles...)
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:: For the past few weeks, I've been feeling like the Bill Murray character in Groundhog Day. The days seem to be repeating themselves. I've been working on the book chapter, redesigning the STLQ web site (based on Icy Blue, a Neil Turner template), and falling as far behind as I have ever been in answering or processing work and personal e-mail. I've spent significant time (by choice, of course) learning the original tunes of Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys, who will be performing at the Sidetrack Cafe on Dec 14 (show starts at 8:00 pm, should be over by 8:45 pm). So to those who are patiently waiting to hear from me, thank you for being patient.
I wanted to complete the book chapter this week, and tomorrow I hope to do so. The STLQ site is working, and I can live with that. It needs further tweaking, but that can come later. I needed to clean up the presentation because it wasn't working in Firefox. I haven't been getting to my Y workouts, either, which is my fault, and no one else's.
I've been hitting the sack after 12:30 am almost every night, and realize that I can't keep this pace. Fortunately, I will be off work from Dec 18-Jan 3, and plan to spend a lot of quiet time in that period (despite it being Christmas season).
It doesn't feel like Christmas, for any number of reasons. We have no snow, which suits me fine. The weather has been mild for a few weeks - the high in Edmonton tomorrow is 6C. This will change very shortly, however, as temperatures start to drop, reaching the -20s by mid-week. I don't feel that I am being bombarded with Christmas commercials either - could be because I'm not watching much prime time tv, other than Lost and the 3 L&O's.
It has been an interesting experience playing with the members of Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys. Consider that my electric guitar, in a virtual kind of way, has been in its case since 1991, with the exception of a few weeks in 1999 when I worked with Capt. Nemo (gone, but never forgotten.) Ironically, the last "electric" gig I played was with the Nemos at - you guessed it - the Sidetrack. My Telecaster is running through a Line 6 Flextone amp, a very generous gift from an old friend, Paul Anderson, of Ontario, who send it many moons ago. Now, finally, it is getting some use. Certainly I hadn't planned on playing live electric music again, but I've never been closed to the idea, either. This music is very different from anything I've played before, and not immediately accessible to the listener who is looking for melody and basic song structure. It is, however, very original, and quite challenging to perform.
I am intrigued that the decade is less than a month from being half-over, and still doesn't have a name or identity. The Aughts, The Zeros, The Tens? What has defined this decade so far? What do you think?
This bumper sticker made me laugh today. Bed time.
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