Fri 03 July 2009; 183
Canada Day was overcast, but warm and dry in the morning when i stopped by Columbia fields at Waterloo. This week had scattered downpours and the rest of the day on Wednesday was no different.
I went back and did some work at the Dan Porter library for a while. Later in the afternoon, Melba and I met up on the field. We got a smoked pulled pork sandwich with “sweet and sassy” sauce. Then we went over to check out bubble tea. It was Jin-Hee’s Sweet Dreams Tea Company offering the tea.
As we were chatting, the sky opened up and rain drops came down. She invited us under their tent to wait out the rain.
So we ordered a mango milk tea with both tapioca and fruit jelly from under the tea tent.
But looking at the clock i noticed I would be later for work, so I had to brave back out into the pouring rain.
Bye, thanks for the tea.
We walked past a martial arts demonstration. They were still all out in the wet when others squeezed under tents for shelter.
Those who didn’t find shelter walked back to depart.
Looking back I took a few photos of the field before my camera stopped working.
Yikes, I got so wet.
Once I got to work it was clear and sunny.
Canada Day is great because Canada great and a day dedicated to it is worthwhile. I do think, however, that many Canadians are irrationally proud and ignorant of their country and how important it really is.
A recent holiday Maclean’s article feeds the jingoism but a later Jeffery Simpson exposition cuts the tall poppy.
For our Canada Day special issue, Maclean’s scoured international opinion surveys, census statistics, think tank reports, policy papers and consumer databases to uncover the truth about this country’s place in the global order. The results may surprise you: we’re wealthier than the Americans, we live longer than the Swedes, we’re more industrious than the Germans, we have more lovers than the Italians, we eat better than the French and we have more TVs than the Japanese.
The best place on earth Maclean’s 30 Jun 2009
It is funny that in an article about our homelands eminence the writer touts a third place finish in the UN development index. Why that is better than a whole host of countries. It is even one place ahead of Canada Place (named for Canada’s leading fourth place finish count at the Turin Olympics). Wait actually it is second loser after Norway and Iceland.
Near the end of the article thankfully it says that Canadians won’t believe that stats (which I don’t believe, I think Canadians love the high, but not top rankings). It says we are self-deprecating. THat’s right we suck.
I prefer the Simpson article because it points where we need to improve. Yeah, go Jeffrey.
If there is one assertion around which almost all Canadians would rally, it is that, as the Chapters Indigo slogan puts it, the “world needs more Canada.” The assumption supporting this assertion is that we Canadians are so worthy, morally upright and generally well-intentioned that the world would be a better place if it were more like, well, us. Which, in turn, leads Canadians to their deadliest sin: an unsinkable moral superiority.
[...]
To repeat: There are admirable aspects of being Canadian, and these have all been justly celebrated on Canada Day. But self-satisfaction can lead to a refusal to acknowledge weaknesses, to allow patriotism to curb critical thought, to refuse to face hard choices, and to cover a slow, albeit comfortable, slide toward international marginality and domestic mediocrity.
— Yes, we love our country, but ‘best in the world’? Get real TGAM Jeffrey Simpson
Evan Thor has a blog post advising people embrace and manage their online image rather than trying to hide from it.
I agree with it. I don’t like the idea of people posting compromising photos of me, but I also know enough to avoid bad situations in the first place.
There is some contrary advice, which suggests you try to suppress and avoid exposing your warts of bad behaviour. I say, however, that the only thing worse than having blemishes in life behaviour is hiding from them.
I was surprised that there wasn’t more controversy about Obama’s drug use, but he didn’t run from it. He freely admitted that he did it. “I inhaled frequently. . . . That was the point.”
We are all human, we all like to have a little fun on the weekend and we all make mistakes. Get over it. Thanks to websites like Facebook, many of your smallest failures of judgment will now be smeared all over the web. Embrace it. Managing your digital footprint is like trying to change history. You can’t do it. All you can do is learn from it.
I’ve come up with three rules that I’ve adopted to embrace my public personal life and to leverage my digital footprint to improve myself:
— Google Doesn’t Lie… Why Should You? 3 Jul 2009
Wed 01 July 2009; 181
I noticed how some recently founded not-for-profit news organizations in the U.S. are charities, but I don’t know of any in Canada. It seems that because of differing scopes of charitable purposes American news organizations can attract tax deductible donations where Canadian ones cannot, at least not directly.
Online not-for-profit news organizations like the Voice of San Diego and MinnPost.com are in the IRS’s list of organizations that can receive charitable contributions.
[...]
In comparison, publications like the Tyee in B.C. request donations to funds held with a foundation that then offers grants for individual journalists to do work. It is a legal but roundabout way of funding operations and very restrictive.
– Not-for-profits are charities in the U.S., not in Canada WorkingTitle 29 Jun 2009
It is interesting that the definition of charitable purposes in Canadian common law comes from a 19th century court case. I wonder whether that definition could or should be expanded to our modern times or whether it still appropriate.
It was dry this morning and reasonably warm. It rained briefly in the morning and a bit in the afternoon, but it did get warmer in the afternoon. Into the evening it poured rain and we were out on the soccer pitch.
Often when it rains, it subsides for a little and you might get some more rain. While we were out on the soccer pitch, the only variety was raining even harder.
We were facing Mladost, a good team we had beaten in cup quarter-final last year.
The third official showed up late a few minutes after kickoff and then slowly walked around the field to his side while the referee stiood under a tree doing something.
The conditions were terrible. You don’t know unevenly reacting surface until you kick a slick, wet, round ball on soaked grass with puddles. On wet grass the ball can skid and bounce, but whenn it hits a puddle it stops short losing momentum in the water.
It makes for scenes that are funny to an observer, but frustrating for a player. Once Chad and Mladost striker Mike were chasing a ball. The ball hit a puddle and they overran it by a good three metres.
In the match they opened the scoring on a pretty open shot and the striker potted it past Brent. We equalized soon after. Minutes later they pulled ahead on a corner with a near header deflecting it on a tight angle into the net.
The referee called the match at 26 minutes into play.
We walked back and hung around chatting for a bit.
At least it was free from lighting and we didn’t have monster hail like at the tournament.
Sun 28 June 2009; 178
Big news, well buzz, and not yet. Bell and Telus may get the Apple iPhone soon, but not soon enough.
Sources say the two former phone monopolies are set to roll out a joint $1 billion upgrade of their wireless networks as early as this fall, months ahead of schedule, that will allow them to support a range of GSM-based devices including Apple Inc.’s iconic iPhone, which so far is only available in Canada through rival Rogers Communications Inc.
[...]
Officials at Bell and Telus declined to comment but noted that their proposal to jointly “overlay” an HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network on their existing CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks would give them the technical capability to support the device.
– Bell, Telus buzz about iPhone upgrading Toronto Star 26 Jun 2009
We wait so long just for baby steps. I remember when people thought the iPhone coming to Canada (after a long wait) would open up unlimited data plans and bring down pricing, but it hasn’t done anything like that nearly enough.
We had another family dinner tonight, Saturday. It was pretty simple, just burgers and salad.
Ooms made lentil, walnut patties. I made hamburgers. Those who have read about our previous dinners might wonder about the sourdough. Yeah, we had sourdough buns.
The lentil patties cooked in the oven and Macd, who is an ace with the grill, barbecued the hamburgers.
The salad was just lettuce and I made honey mustard dressing. I also made bergamot rooibos iced tea with lime and honey.
I just had one lentil burger and one hamburger. I was only half empty to begin with because Ooms made some channa flour flat bread squares, which were tasty. I ate quite a few of those.
This was a good easy and simple dinner. It has been busy recently.
I went to the IPA Challenge at Volo last weekend. I am not a big beer drinker let alone drinker, but this event had “challenge” in the name, so it was more compelling.
It is a single elimination tournament of Ontario cask IPAs as judged by patrons that come in, buy, and rate the selection.
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Sat 27 June 2009; 177
After a couple of wins we returned to middling performance with a 2-1 loss last Tuesday.
I had previously dubbed this league the complaining league, but began to think differently with the introduction of three officials this season. I have seen umbrage returning as we meet other teams for the first time this season.
It seems crazy to me that people make such nonsense arguments or raise a fuss as some kind of tactic. One fellow charged me off the ball and complained that he had been elbowed before. So, essentially he didn’t dispute the foul.
It turned out to be a busy day for me. After class, teleconference, and interview work in the morning and early afternoon, I got a call from work that several people were sick and they needed my skills.
I responded that I was willing, but still needed to make my soccer match. So, I rushed into work, but left in the middle then came back to work until deadline. “And I wasn’t even supposed to be here today,” I told people referring to that Smith film about the cashiers.
We gave up the first goal in defensive confusion. A guy was tripped in the box and the official granted a penalty. They got it. We equalized shortly after as Ben put it home.
Though we kept most possession throughout the game, they would just bomb long balls into our end for their speedy strikers. And they got an easy break at the top of the box and slipped one by Brent, who is an amazing keeper.
We need the discipline to play our game how we want and not lapse based on different challenges from different squads. We are getting close to the halfway point, so a lot of games have passed, but there are more matches to come.
Thu 18 June 2009; 168
We got another win Tuesday night and I was satisfied with the outcome.
It was not just that I want our team to win and succeed, but that a few players on the other team were particularly ungracious. It is a weird thing that somehow I am always surprised when people obviously cheat. One guy I was marking would reach out and pinch me when I beat him to the ball. once he fell backwards into me while I jumped up for a high header.
The referee was of little use (which is one of the conditions for developing a destructive culture of honour in sport).
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