I have a sneaking suspicion my Billy Bob Thornton obsession will become akin to Megan's Hoff fetish (oh god, I can only imagine the keyword searches I'll attract from THAT sentence).
Except I'm not sure if BBT's dipped into the world of psychedelic music video graphics... but there's still time. I understand he takes his music career very seriously. And every serious musician uses flying scenes in their music videos. Duh.
I made the following observation today while reading back on Darcy's blog about the Nunavut 10-year anniversary.
He linked to two news stories on cbc.ca:
One about education
and
One about mining
Both articles are on the longer side. So I'm not asking you to read them all the way through (but they are pretty interesting, and fairly well written). But here's the thing. Check out the byline.
Done?
It strikes me as odd (yes, sure, that's the word) that the Corp would post stories from a rival news source when it has many many reporters in the territory who live and work here. Seems like a strange use of resources to me.
Am I just out to lunch on this one? Or is this as bizarre as it seems?
As I'm sure some of you know by now... we had a bit of a tragedy in town over the weekend. And a first for me as a resident.
There was a murder in Rankin Inlet on Saturday. The woman who was killed was in her sixties. The man they have in custody was a relative of hers.
The police named the man as a son. But this is Nunavut, and family dynamics are far more complex than that.
It's not the first time I've come up against this. Personally and professionally. You really need to be careful how bitchy you are about people in this place. You never know who you are talking with is related to – either directly or indirectly.
I had a conversation with a woman today who has this theory that one cause of the “social problems” in the north is the way kids are adopted in and out with such fluidity.
I don't know if there's any truth to her theory. But I can say that the way kids are conceived and adopted and raised is very different from the way I was brought up.
If you think kids are having kids too early in the south, check out the average age in Nunavut. I think it was something like 24. Yes. Average age. Mid-twenties. And part of why that's the case I'D SAY is because when they have kids, they know they have their family (immediate AND extended) to lean on when things get tough. It's not so scary, having a kid, when your parents are going to raise it for you.
So you end up with all these very very non-nuclear family units. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Because I'm very sure that there are people out there who really and truly benefit from the whole “it takes a village to raise a child” scenario.
But then, there are others ... who end up passed around the extended family, never really knowing who their support is supposed to come from.
Don't get me wrong. I know nothing about the family situation in the situation I mentioned above. I have heard rumours, but I've tried not to give them any mind. But I have to admit, my brain is spinning a bit with the day's events... and it's scary to think a woman was killed just across town. This place isn't very big.
I have to say though, I'm surprised about the local reaction. The people I've been around don't seem all that shook up about the whole event. Shit, if there had of been a homicide in Cornwall... you'd hear people all worried for their personal safety, children would be put on tighter leashes... general over-reactions for all. But then, I guess maybe most homicides down south are random acts of violence. I don't have the stats to back this up, and maybe I'm just making this up for my own benefit, but I feel like family-violence deaths are the rarity, not the norm, back home. And that the reason why people are taking this whole thing in stride is because – god forbid – they are just USED to it.
And that's a scary thought.
IMHO.
I've been finding it increasingly difficult to focus as of late.
Probably because my efforts to be zen about how various economic stability issues right now are being thwarted at every pass.
When the first "getting through tough times" letter came around months ago, I vowed I wouldn't be one of those people who freak out about what COULD happen. I'd focus instead at the task at hand, and take everything in stride.
What else could I do, really.
But then ... well I was thrown off guard yesterday. And I blame Megan. While I was pleased to hear her chipper little voice on the other end of the phone line... I was NOT excited to hear the reason for her call.
A friend had heard the hosts in Victoria, BC joking about dusting off their resumes, because job cuts were on the way.
And, the Winnipeg Sun ran this story
My favourite part:
In a wide-ranging interview with Sun Media, Heritage Minister James Moore also said CBC layoffs were nearly certain and expected 600 to 1,200 people across the country would lose their jobs.*Gulp.
No further details were available about the size of the cutbacks, although the public broadcaster said it would make an announcement to staff by the end of the month.End of the month.
It's not often these days that I get a chance to touch the velvety fine material of newsprint.
Real newsprint.
Daily paper newsprint.
The exception being when my Dad sends clippings from the dailies down south and sends them my way.
But then it's not fresh. The paper gets brittle with age, you see. The ink dries. And that ink saturation's what makes the paper so smooth, so delicious.
ANYWAYS.
So I been browsing some of the southern dailies since I've arrived. And this caught my eye.
And really. What a sweet deal. I'm going to work that if/when the CBC gets their bridging funding.
I think it's just genius to use bailout money to reward executives for a job well done. It's not every year you have to go to the White House for extra cash. It's not every decade you lose 61 billion in ONE QUARTER. It's obviously time to celebrate! Cash bonuses for all! In fact, now that you have 170 billion in strings-free money... you might as well just start burning it!
Horray! Cash bonfires! You know they burn a lot brighter and warmer than regular bonfires. It's true. Try it if you don't believe me! In fact we'll all start heating our houses with dollar bills in a couple months, because it'll be cheaper than all other home heating alternatives (except, maybe, my parents' new pellet stove).
In other news, I'm really disappointed to read this. The idea of commercials on CBC Radio gives me a really bad taste in my mouth. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's a fear of change, maybe it's because we were always warned about the dangers of advert-contamination and its affect on fair and balanced reporting.
But really, we've had ads on TV, on the CBC.ca website for some time now. The world's not come to an end. Papers have almost ALWAYS run ads. They are still capable of quality reporting.
So when you think about it, CBC radio is actually an anomaly.
But still. I don't really like it.
But maybe that's just me.
Nothing chills my blood like the words "consolidating local stations"
According to Mr. Lacroix, if CBC fails to meet their multi-million dollar shortfall... the options to deal with that include:
Ugragh. I don't like that ONE BIT. I don't like it on buttered toast, I do not like it with a roast (detect a theme today, folks?)
- Introducing more American programming into television schedules (currently 100 per cent Canadian from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.)
- Downgrading or selling parts or the whole of TV or radio services.
- Increasing advertising on the air.
- Shrinking geographic coverage of the country by consolidating local stations, which would reverse the current investment CBC is making in building regional coverage.
Especially if it were the "winner of five nominations."
All those words and phrases are the annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness, produced by Lake Superior State University on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The 34th version of the list, released Tuesday, selected 15 entries from about 5,000 nominations, and the bulk of the entries came from the environmental category - for "green" or "going green."
"If I see one more corporation declare itself 'green,' I'm going to start burning tires in my backyard," wrote Ed Hardiman of Bristow, Va., in his submission.
Nominators had also had their fill of "carbon footprint" - the amount of greenhouse gases an individual's lifestyle produces.
"I'm a maverick, he's a maverick, wouldn't you like to be a maverick, too?" offered Michael Burke of Silver Spring, Md., in his entry for the label embraced by unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Although this year's sluggish economy and record rise in gas prices may have kept people closer to home, the word coined for it - "staycation" - is "idiotic and rootless," complained Michele Mooney of Los Angeles.
An emoticon also made the list for the first time. The strings of characters used in e-mails and text-messaging commonly represent a face, but the school singled out an emoticon heart, formed with a "less than" symbol and the number 3.
"Monkey" was on the list because of what some see as its rampant use as a suffix.
"Especially on the Internet, many people seem to think they can make any boring name sound more attractive just by adding the word 'monkey' to it," wrote Rogier Landman of Sommerville, Mass.
-
Lake Superior State's 2009 list of banished words
DETROIT - Lake Superior State University's 2009 list of banished words and phrases:
-green
-carbon footprint or carbon offsetting
-maverick
-first dude
-bailout
-Wall Street/Main Street
-monkey
-icon or iconic
-game changer
-staycation
-desperate search
-not so much
-winner of five nominations
-it's that time of year again
Okay.
So I WASN'T going to write more about this. But then I read this article (I was at work, working on a LOCAL political story during the actual address/s).
In case you care, here's my thoughts:
In his five-minute, pre-recorded statement, Harper spoke bluntly against the proposed Liberal-NDP coalition, saying the federal government must stand unequivocally for keeping the country together.Recorded? Really? Even Bush has gone live on less pressing issues than a coup d'etat.
In a pre-taped rebuttal broadcast shortly after Harper's address, Dion defended the notion of a proposed coalition government "as normal and current practice in many parts of the world."I don't know guys. IP, I know you have written about this extensively... but if it was THAT normal to hold an election, get a minority government, then have the opposition governments team up and try to "de-throne" you... then why haven't many of us heard of such an option before? My argument is that it is NOT normal, it is used in SPECIAL circumstances. So please, people, stop calling it normal!!!
Moreover, the Conservatives have lost the confidence of the majority of members of the House of Commons, meaning "they have lost the right to govern," Dion said
Fair enough. He has lost the confidence of the house. But I'd really like to hear what THE PEOPLE think. I've been hearing so many freakin' politicians as of late, but no "the Canadian consensus" polls or anything. Granted I guess you could call the election an opinion poll... but when people voted, they thought they were voting for ONE governing party. Not a coalition.
He will visit Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean, who returned to Ottawa on Wednesday from Europe, Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET to discuss the issue, although it was not immediately clear what Harper will ask her to do.
WHAT? The current government is crumbling and the GG is going to make sure she gets her bagel with cream cheese and latte before discussing it with the PM? WHY are they not meeting tonite? She's already in Ottawa? Have a dinner date. DEAL WITH THIS.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/30/canada-coalition.html
I have trouble believing this is LEGAL.
More thoughts to follow...
2:30PM:
Okay, so good point IP... and you/this has finally answered a long-standing question of mine: when casting a ballot, does it make more sense to vote by the PARTY, the LOCAL CANDIDATE, or the POTENTIAL PRIME MINISTER?
Well, if you can just randomly half-dissolve government (because really, that's what they are threatening... it's not a TOTAL dissolution, they are just changing who gets to sit where), then you might as well just be selfish. Vote local, baby.
(I am quoting from IP's comment on the original post I made, which can be seen above)
And I'm having trouble believing that so many Canadians don't realize that this is not just legal, but a perfectly normal way of salvaging untenable situations in parliamentary democracies around the world.Seriously?? This is "normal"? Have I really just been living under a rock all this time? I really don't think I've seen something like this happen before. I'm not disagreeing, more just shocked that this might be such a regular, not to mention democratic, happenstance.
An honest letter to the editor... of course "name withheld"...
But all the same, a rare look into what funding provides for some.
Thoughts?
September 5, 2008
Free money doesn’t build better society
This letter is in response to the article "Mining windfall sparks spending spree in two Nunavik towns." As a resident of Kangiqsujuaq, I want to take this opportunity to thank our leaders in Nunavik with some of my suggestions.
I am 20-something years old, an unemployed father of two who keeps getting paid for being a beneficiary, keeps going to a free school, and receives free health care, free food coupons, and who keeps receiving free money from the mine. You all work for me. Thank you.
And every time I look for a job, I can find one very easily because of the fact that a high school diploma is not required.
We are a very lazy people sometimes, because we don't even finish high school. We don't even "need." We are rich, but poorly educated. Thank you.
I feel bad for the people who have to work hard to make a living. Every time I look out the window, I feel that something is not right.
Too much funding may be the reason why. Every time I see uneducated Inuit, who's to blame? Should I tell them myself that education will bring them somewhere? Should I be the one to discuss the problems that money brings?
Otherwise, I got a brand new flat-screen TV. Thank you.
Wake up leaders. It is your responsibility to teach us about our economy, with education being the main idea. Sure, the economy looks good here. Our standard of living has skyrocketed.
All the advantages are to be appreciated. But what about the disadvantages? What can we do to gain more knowledge of this world?
If I had a choice, I would not give away too much money. I would instead use it towards creating a better society - with better education.
Please don't show my name. Thank you.
(Name withheld by request)
Kangiqsujuaq
Because Towniebastard lacked the enthusiasm to write about this... I am going to instead.
From what I gather, a group of snoops (wow, that's fun to say!) hacked into Sarah Palin's "personal" email account, and published its contents. Kinda.
Now, I say "personal" because it wasn't really a personal email account. According to some, it was a sneaky way of hiding information from Access to Information. But I don't know if these guys knew that at the time. IMHO they probably just hacked in, looking for juicy bits... and came across more than expected.
But that's not the point. The point is that the internet is scary. There are people out there with the time and the ability to hack into email accounts, cell phone contact lists, and god knows what else.
I used to say (somewhat jokingly) that I'll know I've "made it" when I have my own Wikipedia page. But the more I think about that, the less I hope it will ever happen. I'm obviously not scared of people knowing things about me. I have a blog. And I get a decent amount of people stopping by on a semi-regular basis. But I still can hide behind a thin veil of anonymity... because let's be honest... no one really CARES who I am.
Sure they can make the linkages... CBC, Rankin Inlet, Jackie "S"... but seriously. No one cares. So for now I'd say I'm comfortable and (maybe, naively) safe in my little online world. Where no one has the desire to hack into my personal email accounts...
But just to be safe, maybe I better dream up a more secure password.
Elizabeth May and Elizabeth Hay are NOT the same person.
Elizabeth May:
Blonde woman.
Green party
Elizabeth Hay:
Blonde woman.
Journalist/author.
And no. Author/Journalist Elizabeth Hay is NOT going to sue if the Green Party is excluded from televised debates.
I was just a tad confused, is all.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/08/06/peta-mclean.html
So the PETA is trying to get an ad published in the Portage la Prarie local newspaper... directly comparing Tim McLean's struggles to what happens to an animal as it's being slaughtered.
I found the ad on a PETA blog, here it is:
The editors at the paper had the good taste and sound judgement to refuse to post the ad. See? It's not ALL about revenue. There are still SOME morals in journalism.
But seriously.
I don't understand who in their right mind thought this was a good idea. I just don't get it. People around the world are watching as this gruesome story unfolds... and the PETA is using it as a campaign message.
It's one thing to promote vegetarianism. Seriously, I love veggies. But this is so disrespectful, and makes me so sick, that I'm actually feeling the need to donate a large sum of money towards an organization that promotes the inhumane slaughter of animals. Just to stick it to the PETA.
You've gone too far on this one.
Fish pedicures: Carp rid human feet of scaly skin
Monday, July 21, 2008 | 09:55 AM ET
The Associated Press
Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.
Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the Washington, D.C., area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.
"Check it out, it seriously looks like someone took Angelina Joli's lips and stuck them on a fish body. It's gross."
So I'm sitting at work, reading the April 21st issue of MacLean's.
And the "from the editors" blurb (which is quickly becoming my favourite section of the magazine... generally quite well-written, current and witty*)
This one is about the penny... and it's slow descent into worthlessness.
I'm not sure how I feel about abolishing the penny. I believe I read on CBC.ca that there's something like 600 pennies in existence for every person in Canada.
That's a lot.
But the jury's out on if the penny is actually costing us time/money to keep in circulation. Maclean's says each penny costs approximately four pennies to make... but the mint says it only costs 0.8 cents per one-cent-piece.
And Desjardins says we'd save about $130 million a year if we scrapped the coin.
Here's my take. If MacLean's is right, and it costs 4 cents to make one penny... and if CBC is right, and there are something like 20 billion pennies floating around the country.... why can't they just STOP MAKING THEM FOR AWHILE.
Surely we're not going to run out of pennies in the immediate future, given these stats. Am I missing something here? Or do I have a promising future in economics?
*unlike the article I read before this one, written by Megan's favourite mommy columnist... (I've gotten the impression typing her name will only further encourage self-indulgent googling on behalf of "the columnist-who-must-not-be-named"). Check out the Bizarre section of May 12th's Maclean's to see what I mean.
I tend to stay out of "political" debate on my blog... maybe because I spend a lot of my day reading or writing about it... but I found the following news story veeery interesting.
CBC just "broke" the story about 3 minutes ago.... it's not on the web yet, this is just a bare-bones of the story.
The president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association has resigned.
Joe Otokiak was elected on March 18th.
But that was before voters learned that he was six months into a 12-month suspended sentence for assault.
And that he has a criminal record dating back two decades.
In a written statement, the executive director of the KIA says a new election will be held within the next few months.
In the meantime, Raymond Kayaksark will be acting president.
Kayaksark is the first vice-president of KIA.
For those not up on the origins of his resignation... here's a little background:
Kitikmeot board members outraged by president's criminal past
New KIA president's assault conviction appalls Nunavut women's council
UPDATE:
Now, to be fair, and to provide "both sides to the story" my local producer here in Rankin says Mr. Otokiak is actually a very nice little man. But has a nasty history of wife-beating. So there you go.
Sounds like Canada is doing an "all-Quebec City" episode today.
And nothing has made me this nostalgic for la belle province than the past 16 minutes.
Among other elements of the show... is a convo with a former colleague of mine, Catou MacKinnon.
Ever since I've started my "reporter" career (which I DO distinguish from my "shows/current affairs" career... aka what I was doing in Quebec before I got this job up north) I've kind of kept her in my head as the kind of reporter I want to be.
She was friendly, but took her job seriously.
She worked long hours when she needed to ... but made sure to take that time off when she could be spared.
She was driven, dedicated, but level-headed.
And always up for gelato lol!
I think the coolest thing about Catou was that she always made sure to include me. She threw /organized my "welcome to Quebec" AND my "Bon Voyage" pub nites. I was only there 5 months, but she totally made me feel welcome.
But what really got me ... and something I try to think about whenever I have to do a little extra time, or go to a conference or a public meeting that maybe I'm not really keen on going to... is how she dealt with the first fatality from the Valcartier crew. I was working in QC when the first batch went to Afghanistan... and that was intense enough. But then we had those deaths... three I think...I remember hearing she dropped everything when she went out and just covered it. Middle of the night. No one had to tell her to go. She just knew it had to be done, and she did it. It would have been the longest day ever for her, but she didn't complain.
She had to talk to the wives, mothers, fathers... friends of these men. And she did it with flawless grace. Sympathetic without pity. Somehow kept her own composure.
I can only dream I'd be able to pull something like that off with the same dignity.
So kudos, Catou. Kudos.
I was perusing the CBC.ca site today (yes, not only do I work for them, I'm a total addict) and came across a veeery interesting "in-depth" article about the media's use of Facebook photos.
Take a look, it kind of made me think about the photos I've posted on my blog.
Though I guess you have to remember that public means public. If you aren't willing to post what you write on your blog on a billboard somewhere, then you're writing the wrong things, I suppose.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/internet/facebook-legal.html
And Kate Nova... if you read this... maybe you can explain to me the whole "creative commons license" in the comments?
Poor sap.
Here's the thing though. At what point would it kill Bell to give the guy a courtesy call and say "by the way, our records say you've used $200/200/20,000 of bandwidth... are you aware of this?"
If credit card companies bother to call to check on "unusual usage" then Bell should too.
Sully is alive and well.
Sometimes TOO alive... but that's just cuz the poor guy is cooped up during the day... and boy does he ever run loose when I get home.
It's actually kind of funny to watch him run into things... very much like that toilet paper commercial.
But unlike Sully, some of his former pen-mates at Snookums pets... weren't so lucky.
I don't know what to think about this. Honestly, my first emotion was sympathy. The guy who owns/runs the shop (Bud Wheatley) is probably the most involved pet store owner I think I have ever... or will ever... meet. He got Sully up to me safe and sound, and insisted that I call him when I got my puppy... even though that was going to be after midnight, PEI time.
He refused to ship a puppy up to the north ... that he didn' t think could make it... that means it had to be over a certain weight... and he quickly discouraged me from considering getting a Yorkie ... because it would just be too small, and lacks an undercoat.
He consulted with a vet in town to make sure a corgi would be "comfortable" in the north... and made all the flight arrangements for me.
The store called me several times in the first week I had Sully... and when I was scared about some of his "droppings" they calmed my fears.
But the thing I WAS TOLD, many times over, and what makes me wonder about some of these puppy deaths... was to NOT FEED HIM ANYTHING EXCEPT THE FOOD HE CAME WITH. No rawhide bones, no treats. And to give him half a pill (some sort of medicine they developed with the vet....) every day till they were done. Come to think about it, I now think the pills were for parvovirus... which they explained to me even before I paid for Sully, and they sent him on his way.
And I got him right around the same time these people did.
Now, I don't know anything about dogs. I don't know anything about the people who lost their pets, and I'm sorry they did. But I can't help but sit here and wonder... if my puppy survived shipping up to the north, being cooped up in a travel crate for a horribly long time ... and unexpected plane delays... maybe it wasn't the puppy.
I'm just putting it out there.
