starcatcher.ca

I delivered newspapers when I was young (The Daily Gleaner in the Oromocto, NB, area, to br precise). I remember stomping around in the winter, going from house to house and dropping off papers in people’s doors. Things have changed a lot since then, mainly that kids don’t deliver papers, it’s assholes in their cars who run around at 5 in the morning with a very large load and not a whole lot of respect for their customers.

I say this because on any given day in my neighborhood, our street (yes, the street, and not the porches as it should be) is littered with the morning paper. Lawns, driveways, the middle of the road: there’s no escaping those trademark pink bags that the Chronicle Herald comes in.

We’ve been receiving the paper for quite some time now, and we’re accustomed to opening our door and picking it up from our deck. Lately, not so much. Usually, it’s behind our car. We’ve complained on numerous occasions… Typically, we’d get the paper by the door for a couple of days, but then it went back to being under the car.

This past weekend, we said ‘enough is enough’ and decided to cancel our paper. Of course, since we’re pre-paid, we’re still getting the paper for the rest of the month. And, since our carrier is a real asshole, yesterday morning, our paper was under my car, yet again.

This morning? There were two papers. Both under my car. (To be fair, one was under my car, and the other was WAY under my car).

Do me a favour and cancel your paper. If you want local news, visit the Chronicle Herald’s website. Or watch TV. Or do something else. Don’t enable these people by giving them work. The price of the paper doubled a few weeks ago, it’s disappointing that since, their service has halved.

Our friend Patrick Lundrigan has recently made headlines by starting a Facebook campaign to allow retail employees to have Boxing Day off. Actually, it’s more than a Facebook campaign, as it has involved direct (i.e., non-Facebook) contact with members of government, and it’s even made its way into MSM. It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, retail employees having to kick up a stink in order to get time off, time that most other employees already have off, but really, everyone is to blame on this one.

Many mall workers would rather have those days off to spend with family, but may fear for their job safety by asking for that time off, or perhaps they “can’t” have the time off because the store only has so many employees for these crazy shifts, and don’t want to hire more. For sure, there are people who relish in getting the extra hours, but not everyone shares those priorities. And of course there are those who’ll chime in with the usual “that’s what you get when you work retail” spiel, who don’t realize that not everyone is fortunate enough to have a 9-5 job.

We are a consumerist society. We want and want and want, and we’ll go to any length to get it. We want convenience, selection, and deals, although not necessarily in that order. Brick-and-mortar retailers are finding it more and more difficult to compete with online retailers that they have to resort to tricks like “midnight madness” sales, as well as by being open on holidays, and it’s the retail employees that end up carrying the burden.

I can say that I’ll support the retail employees by not getting sucked in to the malls on Boxing Day, regardless of whether or not they’ll stay open. Unfortunately, I can’t speak for the rest of society.

In this morning’s edition of the Chronicle Herald, there was an article about a same-sex married couple who recently gave birth to a baby. The issue at hand is that the one who didn’t give birth to the baby wasn’t automatically given status as “parent”, and that she would have to legally adopt the child to gain this status (if that is even an option)

Melissa is a strong gay-rights advocate, and anyone who knows her knows that she takes these kinds of issues seriously. She couldn’t get behind this case right away, though, because she was missing one crucial piece of information: in a “ol’ fashioned” marriage, where, let’s say, daddy’s not shootin’ quite right, and “alternate arrangements” were required, does the man automatically get to be legally considered “the father”, despite the fact that he’s not? If this is the case (which assumes lots of things), then the couple in the paper definitely have grounds based on precedent. If not (meaning men have to jump through the hoops too), then this couple should just get in line now and stop harassing the press.

You have to wonder, though, if the issue comes up very often in heteroland… What man is going to admit that his wife’s baby is not his? Or, if the hospital knows that the father is not the father, are they required to force the father to adopt the baby as his own? Does the *initial* legal definition of parents automatically refer to the “donors of biological materials”? In the end, it’s just a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo, yet another way for lawyers to make money. It’s sad that legal issues have a nasty way of getting involved in matters of the heart: those two ARE the baby’s parents. They know it, and their friends and family know it. What’s left?

Major news sources in Halifax are reporting that the news glass towers, or “Twisted Sisters” as they are being called, have cleared a major hurdle toward development. This issue has polarized many residents of the city, some saying that it’s about time that the old Tex-Park location gets a facelift, and others who (as I’ve mentioned before) can’t let go of the past, who want to retain the city’s heritage (and inevitably let progress roll right on by them). I’m all for progress, but I can understand that people would be concerned, given that these buildings may be an eyesore. Consider this artist’s rendition of what the Halifax skyline might look like with this new development:

Doesn’t that just make you wanna ROCK??

After over 4 months at sea, the crew of the HMCS Iroquois returned to Halifax today to the welcoming arms of family and friends. Melissa’s brother Jonathan was on the Iroquois, so we were there to welcome him home. And we took a bunch of pictures.

In the news story aired by ATV, Jonathan is shown moving heavy ropes around, and Melissa’s dad appears in one shot, as do I (from behind, for about 1/4 second) (video forthcoming). Apparently, Jolene (Jonathan’s fiancée) was shown in Global’s reporting of the docking of the ship, but we missed that one.

Apparently, polygamy is recognized in Canada for the purpose of awarding spousal support and inheritance payment.  Now they’re getting silly.  I suppose this is what they were worried about when they said that gay marriage was “opening the floodgates” or somesuch.

Besides, people don’t get married for love anymore, do they?

CBC News: Cloth image draws visitors to P.E.I. church

Mom told me about this one yesterday.  Apparently the Church was a zoo on Saturday and Sunday afternoon with everyone coming out of the woodwork to catch a glimpse of the Jesus-curtain.  Mom said she went to see it, but she couldn’t really figure out where the face was.  There was no sailboat in it either.

(for the uninitiated, St. Simon & St. Jude Church is Mom’s parish, as she lives just outside of Tignish)

Dr. Peter March must have definitely known what he was getting himself into when he posted those cartoons on his door.  Well, he got the attention he wanted (but didn’t deserve) today as a group of students calling themselves the Palestinian Solidarity Society demonstrated at SMU today.  Theirs was a more peaceful — and dare I say, enlightened — platform than those protests what we’ve seen from the whackjobs overseas.  They wanted a forum where they could discuss matters with Dr. March in person, rather than an office door.

This should not have happened.  Dr.  March putting the cartoons on his door did not provoke insightful debate, it just irritated people and garnered him negative attention, which was likely his goal.  He doesn’t need to post the cartoons on his door to get us talking… Everybody is talking about them anyway, because PEOPLE HAVE ACTUALLY *DIED* BECAUSE OF THEM.  Put that on your door, Dr. March.  If he wants to discuss it with his class, fine.  If he wants to announce a public forum where people can come to discuss it, fine.  But putting the cartoons up, out of context?  A recipe for disaster.

And another thing.  Would this demonstration have occurred if it were not for the demonstrations in Europe and the Middle East?  Moreover, would it have garnered media attention if not for the other demonstrations?  I doubt it.  Canadians are too complacent for this kind of thing.  Attention whores, on the other hand, are not.

So we have a new government. At what cost? People were looking for a change, and they’ll get it, but many people are decrying Harper’s victory as one step forward and two steps back. Well he become just like George Bush? While I highly doubt it, I’d like to hope that he remembers that we are a still country with our own unique identity, and that we aren’t necessarily the US’ little brother who asks “how high” whenever Uncle Sam says “jump”.

Well, it’ll be a while before we really know the true ramifications of having Stephen Harper as PM. Nevertheless, it really doesn’t matter who’s in power because SOMEONE is always going to have something negative to say about it. I suppose it’s really about pissing off as few people as possible, because you know not everybody is getting what they want out of the deal.

On a local level, voting was a pain for us again this year. In the last election, Melissa’s voter info was ok (even though she received two cards, one here and one at her parents’ house), but mine was totally missing. A few weeks ago, the census/pollster types came by to get electorate info, at which point Melissa said “my info’s ok, but Jean-Paul’s is wrong.” So what happens? I get my card, while she gets her card, for her married name, at her parents’ place.

Heh. When it’s a matter of national importance (like elections), the good people of the Federal Government are all over the map. On the other hand, come tax time, you’d better believe our names are spelled properly and that our tax packages come promptly (got them last week). It’s always when they want something.

I was just listening to the announcement on the net, and it’s official, that the Canadian Commonwealth Games Committee has selected Halifax as its bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games! This is humongous for a city that has tried so many times in the past to prove itself on an international level as a premier attraction for sporting events. It might just be the shot in the arm the city needs to install that much-needed infrastructure that has been holding the CFL back all these years.

Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that we’ll get it, because the final decision is only going to be made in 2007. It’ll be in tough against other cities such as Glasgow, but all we need is a chance to prove ourselves (look at me, speaking on behalf of the city!) to show that we are truly a World-Class City.

Can this man save the world?

A guy from Winnipeg claims to have invented a device that increases fuel efficiency in automobiles to around 97% (compared to the 35% it’s usually at), almost eliminating greenhouse gases, all the while reducing fuel consumption by between 10% and 40%. The device does this by injecting hydrogen directly into the combustion chamber, resulting in a cleaner burn. His invention is meant to bridge the gap between fossil-fuel-burning autos and the inevitable time when hydrogen-fuelled cars become practical.

This is awesome. One would hope that big oil would be funding these kinds of projects, because Lord knows that they’re going to need something else to do when the world’s fossil fuel supply runs out in 50 years or whatever. THAT’ll be an interesting time in world history… “Ok Saudi Arabia, we don’t care about you guys anymore.”

Yesterday night we went movie crazy and rented a bunch. Well, ok, three.

Melissa wanted to see Monster-in-Law. I stayed in another room and bashed my head against a wall, I figured that’d be a more pleasurable pastime.

We also rented Katsuhiro Otomo’s newest film, Steamboy. We haven’t watched that yet, but I might write about it tomorrow.

Lastly, we rented Black Hawk Down. Melissa watched a doc on it yesterday and she wanted to see the film, so we got it. It’s a harrowing view of urban warfare that highlighted a military strike force going into Mogadishu in Somalia, a city that clearly didn’t want them. 19 soldiers killed, along with over 1000 Somalis. Crazy stuff. And all true (for the most part, at least).

Today we have this nonsense going on in New Orleans. People down there are definitely losing it, and it’s getting to the point where the people who mean to help out those who are in need aren’t able to get in there because of a few crazies that have totally lost it.

It’s understandable that they’re frustrated, but their actions aren’t doing anybody any favours. it’s times like these that the American ultra-capitalist attitude of aggressively looking out for #1 is definitely going to complicate matters.

$1.30 a litre? Gas distributors are getting brazen. Next thing they’ll be coming to our houses and taking our money while we sleep instead of waiting for us to drive up to their establishments.

I understand that Hurricane Katrina has seriously hampered the Gulf refineries, but I don’t follow the severity of the price flux: apparently, the Gulf-based refineries account for around 10% of the US’s refining as well as 25% of the crude oil output (from this article). I always thought that North America was more dependent on foreign oil… Even accounting for shipping costs and delays, why should the hurricane have had such an impact on domestic/world prices?

The worst part about it is, like I’ve said before, we’re just going to bend over and take it like the good little gas whores that we are. We really have to stop relying on our cars. Thing is, for us to get to the South End, it’s STILL marginally cheaper for us to drive than it is for us to take the bus.

This gas price thing is getting ridiculous. $1.099 for self-serve regular? I thought when it got into the mid-nineties it was getting bad, but this is foolish! What’s more, we’ve seen a 10 cent increase in the last week ALONE! It could cost me $50 to fill my car now! I drive a little Suzuki Esteem!!! For that much money, I should get to fill my tank, then park my car wherever the hell I want, including (but not limited to) the middle of the street, on people’s lawns, or right in the middle of a swimming pool, without having to fear the repercussions.

Read the rest…

For some reason truly unbeknowst to me, the braintrust in the US has decided to extend Daylight Saving Time by two months. They say that it will help “save energy” for some strange reason. As a result the Nova Scotia (and other) provincial government is debating whether or not it should follow suit.

Obviously, if the biggest megapower in the world is going to start mucking with its time system that it might be in our best interest to follow suit. I of course am of the opinion that Daylight Saving Time should br thrown out altogether (since it’s a throwback to the days when agriculture was among the primary industries in North America).

By suggesting an extension to DST, they’re implying that the Standard Daylight Time framework is inherently flawed, and that it might be in our best interest to have DST year-round (of course, it wouldn’t be called “Daylight Saving Time”, it would just be “Time”, which is fine, but a little harder to pitch to the consuming public due to its blandness). What’s the worst that could happen? If the sun rises at 6:30AM and sets at 5:30PM in December, why not make it rise at 7:30AM and set at 6:30PM?

I can think of a few advantages:

• Ski hills with no artificial lighting system would be open longer!
• People would never be able to use it as an excuse as to why they were late for church on that one Sunday
• We’d finally be on par with mighty Saskatchewan

On the other hand, many of our computers and electronic devices are hard-wired to change their clocks to/from DST automatically. For PCs, it’s nothing a patch won’t solve (a modern-day Y2K, almost), but VCRs and the like would be a bit of a pain, because you’d have to either change your clock 4 times a year (if the proposed change goes through, not if DST is dropped altogether…think about it), or invest in a new piece of hardware.

The final word: this desire to change Daylight Saving Time is a ploy by the electronics industry to sell more VCRs.

There was a piece on Canada AM this morning about how there is an apparent link between barbecueing and cancer. While this is apparently old news, it’s still a bit of a bummer for someone like me who loves to fire up the grill and throw a few burgers and steaks on it, and who loves nothing better than a good flare up from time to time.

The meat (heh) of this research is that barbecued food is really only bad for you when it’s charred, that steaks and such should only be cooked until they’re medium/medium rare, to minimize the formation of these “heterocyclic amines”, which are apparently carcinogenic. So much for my harping on smokers, pass the A1 please. Of course, hamburgers present you with another dilemma, being that they should be cooked straight through to kill all bacteria (steak bacteria exists primarily on the surface).

So what’s a BBQ freak to do? Well, for starters, cook on low heat for longer (rather than charring), which is what we’ve been doing lately, mainly because it makes for better, juicier food. We should probably also replace our lava rocks because of all the gunky buildup of fat and cheese on them, which usually cause flareups as soon as you light the sucker. We might also want to start BBQing healthier, maybe some salmon steaks, or perhaps some veggie-kabobs. Of course, if you’re gonna go kabbobing, I believe there’s an unwritten law that states Bacon-Wrapped-Scallops have to be involved.

Mmm… Bacon.

Do politicians really take musicians seriously? I’m not a politician, but I know that if I were, I wouldn’t be able to take Bob Geldof seriously. His Live 8 concerts taking place right now are gained at raising awareness about a problem that has always existed, hunger and poverty in Africa.

Making the concerts free was an interesting move, probably motivated more by a desire to focus on the message rather than to keep the commercialism out of it (if they charged admission, everyone would have wanted a cut, and that’s missing the point). It’s easy to conclude that his heart is in the right place, although regardless of how big his heart may be, it’s still overshadowed by the size of his ego. (”I haven’t done anything in a while… Hmmm… Artists always release “Greatest Hits” albums when they’re in a slump… What was my greatest hit? ‘I don’t like Mondays’? Naw… I got it! I’ll re-issue Live Aid!”)

But cry and cry as much as they want, what effect will it have at the end of the day? What will people do if nothing is really accomplished as a result of these concerts? Vote their leaders out of office? By and large, it really doesn’t matter who’s in power, because the little guy always gets screwed in some way in the end, regardless of who’s in power. While debt reduction makes sense in a way (do countries like the US and Canada REALLY expect poor countries in Africa to repay their debts?), there’s no guarantee that the despotic African leaders would actually do good with their extra cash.

The bottom line: Enjoy the show. With most of the world’s biggest acts in concert on the same day, including a freakin’ Pink Floyd reunion, you can’t go wrong. Life will go on in Africa, and not much will change. If you really want to make a difference, there’s always missionary work.

PS: Michael Stipe looks really weird with his face painted blue. That is all.

It’s a shame that we chide our American brethren for their seemingly uncivilized behaviour, but the actions taken by the vandals who broke the windows of the cars from Massachusetts on Grafton Street yesterday afternoon are nothing but reprehensible.

People have to realize that not all Americans are narrow-minded assholes. Regardless of what kind of people these folk actually happen to be, acting in this manner definitely makes us look less than the image that we’re trying to project. I mean, American people got their negative reputation not by all being conservative rednecks, but by just a few people very VOCALLY being conservative rednecks, which is unfair to the many level-headed Americans who inhabit the vast expanse to our southwest.

The Nova Scotia Tattoo’s choir director, Dr. Walter Kemp, recently wrote an article in the Chronicle Herald decrying the government’s stance on funding for the Tattoo. They claim that the Tattoo has no cultural value.

Their claim, of course, is prepostorous. The Tattoo is filled to the brim with acts representing many aspects of Nova Scotian and Canadian heritage, along with its longstanding affiliation with the Military. It also provides a venue for Nova Scotians (and our visitors) to get a glimpse of other culturally-viable performances - witness this year’s participation of troupes from Russia and Kenya.

Maybe, then, it’s because there isn’t much in the way of Nova Scotian culture. But what is culture? It’s what a people are about, isn’t it? What is Nova Scotian culture if not an amalgam of what made it what it is?

Would they be happier if the show was more representative of our current cultural norms instead of our ancestral history? Would you pay to watch performances about teen swarmings, VLT addictions, industrial pollution, and the Finck/VandenElsen debacle? I think not.

The government has it wrong. Not only is the Tattoo culturally viable, it IS Halifax culture, for many people, year in and year out. We don’t want to let it die just because of what some bureaucratic mucketymucks think.

It’s kind of ironic that the Canadian government will spend billions on helicopters and derelict submarines that serve no real purpose (National Security? Puh-leese) as opposed to putting money into something that is not only enjoyable to the people who live in and visit Halifax yearly, but is also very beneficial to the local economy.

So open up your coffers, Ottawa, and spend it on something useful for a change. It can’t be any more wasteful than just about everything else you’ve done in the last few years.

Yesterday, a few Dalhousie architecture students erected a sign proclaiming that they were going to build a Walmart on the site of the old Halifax infirmary. While this was a hoax concocted to study people’s reactions, the notion of bringing a big-box store to the downtown area shouldn’t be dismissed so quickly.

First off, anything has to look better than the mess of the old infirmary. It is an eyesore for to anyone who has to spend any time in that part of Halifax. The space is going to waste, and anything would be an improvement.

Secondly, a Walmart in downtown would definitely bring consumers in who wouldn’t normally frequent the neighborhood. This is not to say that it would take business away from the stores on Spring Garden Rd. On the contrary: many of the Spring Garden businesses cater to a certain clientele that probably wouldn’t be able to find what they’re looking for at other stores, especially at Walmart. Furthermore, these businesses might benefit from some spillover spending brought on by people shopping at Walmart, so they might have MORE money coming in. In a sense, it would have the same effect as Walmart has had at Penhorn, being the “anchor store” in the downtown area, attracting traffic, who then stay to eat at the numerous restaurants, or to catch a movie at Park Lane, for example.

Lastly, if people are concerned about “the crowd” that a Walmart might attract (whatever that means), it can’t be any worse than the homeless people who currently infest the downtown area. What more, it might just give some of those an employment opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have had!

There are downsides, though: some smaller, generic businesses would suffer, and inevitably close down. Also, Walmart doesn’t really fit in with downtown’s “look” (you don’t find one in downtown TO or Montreal, you’ll find more upscale retailers like Sears or Eaton’s). And finally, it would definitely increase traffic on the already congested downtown streets.

Of course, it could never happen now. Big-box stores don’t have a place in downtown Halifax (where are you, Woolco?). It definitely was an eye-opener, though, especially to those who couldn’t catch on to the fact that it was a hoax. Honestly, would walmart ever boast the fact that it employs only “Non-Union” workers? I don’t think so.