Sometimes I sit and think...

Sometimes one has to just sit on the back-deck and ponder the great questions of life, the universe and everything. For example, is Clark Kent's tie a clip-on or a full-tie unit? The advantage to a clip-on would be during Clark's quick change to Superman - a clip-on can be yanked off without too much ceremony while a real tie has to be unknotted. Granted with Superman's amazing power of super-speed he could probably whip off a real tie faster than a speeding bullet, but wouldn't that mean that a clip-on could be whipped off even fasterer than a speeding bullet? I would think that time is off the essence when one is off to fight crime.

Here's another one: why do we english speaking folk call Deutschland, Germany? Who was the first Englisher who ran into a square-head, and after asking him where he comes from, hears "Deutshcland" but says, "Oh I say, pip pip, that won't do. I'll call it Germany, by Jove." Typical move for some soft-headed Englishman I guess.

Or how about this: isn't the quail the perfect argument against evolution/natural selection? I'm talking about the California standard quail, not the Nova Scotia vulture-quail or the Nunavut Polar quail, and with the California standard, they are, as individuals or as a group, dumber than fresh pressed spit. When a quail finally notices that there is a threat it immediately forgets that it is a fully flight capable bird and tries to run away, and for the record these birds run like drunken, peg-legged sailors. Even cats will give them a ten second head start, and cats are not known for their sporting natures. To think that this is the end result of millions of years of evolution and natural selection, well, all I can really say is that those prehistoric sabre-toothed quail (or is it cave quail?) must have been really dumb.

Of course once one has pondered the science of natural selection and evolution it is only natural to think about the superstition of Intelligent Design. I wonder if our friends to the south (the United States) still have their chastity belts in a twist over the teaching of intelligent design in schools alongside evolution? As morally cowardly as the concept is, it had a certain amount of power over some of the less honest segments of United Station society back during the Bush years. Back when the politicisation of science was considered a good thing and it was thought by those who are what is known as "soft between the ears" that there was some sort of equivalence between reason and superstition (just like there is between astrology and astronomy, or between healing crystals and medicine, or between politicians and pig-poop. Wait, those last two are equivalent.)

There were groups of moral cowards who were trying to have "intelligent design" taught as just another theory, just like evolution. Actually evolution is a science with over a century of peer reviewed study behind it and "intelligent design" is creationism with a red clown nose on and big floppy shoes. Of course dishonesty has always been big with many of the religious crowd, lying for god they call it, or 'the end justifies the means', and when it comes to hypocrisy like "intelligent design", dishonest is the only way to describe it.

Of course I could be wrong. Maybe this has nothing to do with religion and superstition at all. Maybe by "intelligent design" they mean the earth and everything on it was created, sorry, I mean designed by monkey-whales from Alph Centari III. Ah, but who created, or designed, the monkey-whales? Maybe the gorilla-rats of Klothos VI. And who designed the gorilla-rats? I bet that would be the micro-elephauntors of the outer rim. Of course by now we are back to the beginning of our current universe, so who designed that by jump starting the big bang? Obviously that was the googleplexers out of one of the lower dimensions. And so on and so on, following the mobius strip theory of the universe, until we end up back at us. Well theoretical physics is not my strong point but at least using a model like this would mean that the "intelligent design" crowd are not a pile of hypocritical butt-lumps, which they are.

By the way, I just Googled "intelligent design" and under the news tab the top four hits were that Michele Bachmann, who is running to be the Republican nominee for president in 2012, thinks that "intelligent design" should be taught along side of evolution in schools in the United States. Well, I sort of suspected she was a rubber lipped moron anyway.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Rex on Vancouver 2011

Rex speaks for me.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Vancouver riot 2011

This video is really all you have to know about the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver on July 15, 2011. All the stupidity and willful ignorance of the day is condensed down to one act by one little "man". As the video show after a car is set on fire this genius decides that the only thing to do is jump over it. His judgement is right up there with his athletic ability as he slips on the windshield and lands on the car roof where he sizzles for a second before falling off and dancing around with a "I meant to do that" look of extra tall stupidity with a sprinkle of "mom and dad are brother and sister" tossed in. If you only see one video from the riot, this is the one to see. Imagine if instead of slipping on the windshield it had shattered and he had gone into the car. Not only would that have been breaking and entering, he would have cooked like the rancid turd he is. Now that would have stunk, but there would have been one less moron in the gene pool, and that would have been oh so sad. I guess this is what happens when someone is incapable of planning more that a tenth of a second into the future.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Wait a minute...

This is an ad against Premier Dalton McGuinty of the great province of Ontario. To be honest, I don't care about Ontario, at all. It is just one of those provinces that seperates the west from the maritimes and that is about it. It is just in the way, but the ad is interesting to me for another reason. This fellow, Tim Hudak, who is running as a member of the Conservative Party, seems to be a touch confused. A close watch of the commercial shows him complaining about the HST Tax Grab, as well as a Sneaky Eco-tax, a Health Tax, HST tax on Hydro, and unspecified future tax hikes. Then at the end he says he would reduce the HST tax on Hydro. Does that mean he is in favour of the HST tax grab, and future unspecified taxes?

I have to say, these politicians are slipperier than pigs dipped in liquid lard. They're just not as appealing, that's all.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Guilty pleasures - the only consistancy is inconsistancy

D.O.A., Gene Kiniski and Terry David Mulligan - for sure!


Fugazi, oh yes...


Minor Threat...







And so much more.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Baby birds

And so it goes in one of the sparrow nursery out back.

Anyway... Humouroceros

UBC hospice kerfuffle

Compassion Takes A Holiday - As it turns out there are plans to build a hospice on the University of British Columbia grounds in Vancouver. A hospice is a medical facility providing, as much as possible, a home-like end-of-life environment for people who are dying and their families. A hospice provides round the clock medical care to people who are in extremely tough situations and are generally regarded as good things. By people who are reasonable anyway.

Then there are the residents of a high-rise apartment building, which is also on the UBC grounds. Many of the residents there have an issue with the hospice being built next door – I admit that while my first thought was, “What a bunch of horrible, uncaring, self-centered cretins,” it is possible that these people might have a good reason for being against the hospice. So, are they concerned about the huge diesel generators that will be running day and night to provide for the hospices energy needs? Nope, that’s not it. Are they worried that the dying people will be partying all night with loud music, squealing tires and drunks reeling all over the streets? Nope, that’s not it either. Are they worried about millions of tourists coming to gawk and point at the hospice, blocking the roads and stuff? Once again, that is not it. Are they worried about people dying at the hospice and the stench of death overwhelming and destroying the neighbourhood? Sadly, that is almost it.

It appears that some of the people who live in that high-rise don’t want the hospice built there because having a building nearby where people are dying will bring negative energy to the area. I’m a little unclear on the whole superstition thing but it would appear that most of the folks complaining are recent immigrants to Canada from mainland China and Korea and there is some sort of belief system called Feng Shui (not the Feng Shui that tells interiour decorators where to put an ottoman in a room, but a different kind) that makes them believe that the hospice being there may bring bad luck, sickness, the breakup of marriages, effect the healthy growing up of children and even cause death. As one of the high-rise residents, Jane Ni, says, “This is no superstition, this is 5000 years of culture and religion.”

Nice use of irony there, Jane. Not “superstition”? That is exactly what it is. Ghosts and boogie-men and unicorns and garden gnomes do not exist and have never existed, not even 5000 years ago. Actually I liked the 5000 years old comment because it made me wonder, what other 5000 year old beliefs is Jane clinging to? Wasn’t it at one time a cultural tradition in China to bind the feet of little girls so they couldn’t walk? Wasn’t the Chinese emperor considered related to the gods? What is going on with those things?

Something that has been brought up is how the Board at UBC should be more culturally sympathetic. Resident Lucy Lin says, “I like Canada, I enjoy living here. It’s a multicultural society and every culture gets respected, so we just hope our culture get respect.” Sure, of course that “respect” is a two way street isn’t it. It is Canadian culture to have compassion for those who are going through a really rough time, and end of life illness is pretty friggin’ rough. Another resident, Jie Wu, summed up her feelings thus, “If you were in my shoes and every day you look our your window an see a hospice, how would you feel?” Well I don’t think the world revolves around me so I would be feeling for what the residents of the hospice and their families are going through.

Cultural sensitivity and respect are fine but they only go so far. If someone wants to maintain a tie to a culture that they themselves chose to leave then more power to them, just don’t expect other people to dance to your tune. My family left the motherland in about 1872 and I would be willing to bet that in the past four generations or so not a one of us has ever thought that where we live should conform to the cultural rules of where my family left. That is just a messed up way of thinking and I just can’t support it, sorry (ok, I’m not sorry, how Canadian is that?)

There have also been some claims of intolerance by some of the high-rise residents and that is laughable. The only people I see being intolerant here are living in that high-rise. They have the same right to protest that any of us have, just don’t expect any special treatment because of some sort of cultural mumbo-jumbo. Oh, was that insensitive? Walk it off.

Anyway… Humouroceros