A traveling we will go...

I haven't blogged in a while, being too busy and tired. (I sometimes feel that I should be paid by the kilometre.) We just got back from our annual class trip to Washington. Yes I know it's a h*ll of a long way from home but Boston and New York are taken by the other grades so off we go to Washington. This year we left on a Tuesday morning at 7 am and arrived in Philadelphia in the afternoon where we visited the historical city. We then went to the hotel and the next morning we left or Washington. Having arrived there we then visited the museums (Smithsonian and Holocaust) and walked around the monuments (Lincoln, Washington, FDR, Jefferson, and the war memorials) and streets of the city. The Americans sure know how to build monumental buildings in white marble. After three days we finally got back on the bus and after having driven all night, (realizing that I'm getting way too old to be trying to sleep on a bus) we finally arrived back at school. The trip went well and the kids loved it. What impressed the students the most you ask? Well the Holocaust Museum and the war memorials (Vietnam and Korean) as well as the Lincoln memorial were probably their favourites as well as the Medieval Banquet they participated in. The girls were all sighing over the Blue Knight who was our section's champion. The boys however were much more interested in the sword battles on horseback. ;o)

Earth Day

As well as celebrating my birthday tomorrow, it is also time to celebrate our mother earth. This picture, taken by Apollo 16, illustrates the beauty and fragility of our small blue planet. Let's take care of her, since this small blue ball is the only one we have.

Photo courtesy of NASA.

Arbeit Macht Frei

I haven't written in a while because I've been on a school trip to Europe with the students. We started at Paris and then went to Lucerne in Switzerland, through Liechtenstein to Innsbruck in Austria and finally on to Munich.

The final day in Munich we visited Dachau and it was this visit which marked us the most. We had decided to take the students there because we wanted them to see first hand man's inhumanity to man. In Canada we have never really had any first hand experience with that kind of systematic cruelty and barbarity and the students only read about it in their history books. Now they were able to witness it first hand and were able to get a feeling about what it was. How did the students take it? Well if their silence and thoughtfulness after the visit are any indication, it really hit home. I hope that it is a lesson they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
I consider myself to be a pragmatic, down to earth type of person, not much given to flights of fancy, but that day I admit I felt something tangible as I walked through the camp and the crematoria. It was a beautiful sunny day but there was a pall of darkness that seemed to hover over the camp. As I walked I could feel the miasma of human misery that permeated the atmosphere and I know in my heart that it will never be lifted as long as human memory remains. What also stuck me was the fact that this could have also happened here in Canada. Given the right circumstances of anarchy and a charismatic leader we could have also succumbed to the dark side. It was a very chilling realization, let me tell you. All that is needed for evil to take root is for a good man to shut his eyes.
Here are a couple of photos.

Dachau 1933-1945

Atheists arise

Have you ever been faced with an ad for religion while riding the bus or the metro? I'm sure we all have at one time or other, well the atheists (in the interest of full disclosure I must say that I am a long time atheist) are finally standing up and telling their side of the story. This has certainly ruffled more than a few feathers in the religious community.
In Ottawa the Ottawa Transpo originally refused to run the ads because it would be too controversial, yet it ran Christian ads all the time. It finally went to city hall where an acrimonious debate took place between councillors who were insulted by the supposedly anti-religious message and those who supported free speech. I'm glad to say that free speech finally won out.
Did you ever notice that for religion what is good for the gander is not necessarily good for the goose. The religious community can condemn the non believers to everlasting hell but if a non believer says anything against religion it raises a furor worthy of a global calamity. I have been accused of being immoral, of having no values and of being a terrible human being. Why is it that most of the atheists I know are much more tolerant and open minded than those who are fervid believers in a religion? It seems to me that what most religions preach is love thy neighbour, not love thy neighbour if he believes like you and hate the others. I have, despite being an atheist, read the Christian Bible from cover to cover, as well as the Koran, and Buddhist teachings (If I had to be religious I'd probably be Buddhist I must say.) and I have yet to find the kind of hate and intolerance that is shown by a good part of the religious community. I know that there are good people who believe in religion and some of them have done much for the community, but I think that there is also a certain amount of hypocrisy when your religion preaches love and your actions speak of intolerance. Maybe someone out there can explain it to me?

The Obituary Channel

Believe it or not a Québec entrepreneur has asked for and gotten permission from the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission*) to open a new television channel.... the Obituary Channel. Yes that's right a television channel that shows obituaries, 24/7. Now how strange is that. Only in Québec could this be possible. The entrepreneur was quoted as saying, "The first thing people look at in the papers is the obituary, so my idea should be a smashing success..." He also plans to call the channel, "Je me souviens" (I remember), which by the way is the motto of our fair province. The nationalists will have a bird. I can just imagine saying to my wife, "Honey, it's Saturday. Lets eat in and see who died on the Obituary Channel."

*the people who make the rules for telecommunications in Canada)

March Break

Last week was March Break where both teachers and students take a midwinter break from the homework, testing and corrections that go with them. So last week Mrs BB and I decided to go visit my family Québec. As you know from my previous blog my ancestors come from there, the cradle of New France. The weather was not at its best, since it rained on Thursday and Friday but by Saturday it was starting to clear up. It was cloudy but at least it wasn't raining and the temperature was a balmy 7 degrees Celsius.

As we wandered around "la Basse-Ville" with its 18th century European flavour, I took a pictures with my trusty camera to give you an idea of what this part of the city looks like.
Let me explain the topography of the city of Québec. The city of Québec was originally built on a plateau bordered by the St-Lawrence on one side and the St-Charles River on the other. To give you an idea, it kind of looks like the bow of a ship. The fortifications follow the line of the cliffs and then cross to the other side, inclosing "La Vielle Ville". "La Citadelle" a fortress built by British after the conquest towers over the city from the highest point, "Le Cap Diamand" (The Cap got its name because supposedly Jacques Cartier found gold and diamonds there. They turned to be quartz and iron pyrites... ) Now the old city is divided into two parts, "La Haute Ville" or Upper town and "La Basse Ville" or Lower Town. On the map the "La Haute-Ville is in blue and "La Basse-Ville" is in red.

The "Haute-Ville was the richer of the two parts, but "La Basse-Ville" is the oldest part and dates back to the foundation of Québec in 1608. For the longest time after the conquest, the Basse-Ville became the poor part of the city and that is probably what saved it. The docks were close by and when the emphasis of trade moved more to Montréal that part was left to itself. In the 1960's archaeologists started digging around and discovered that most of the old houses dating back to the 17th and 18th century were still intact for the most part. The government of the day then decided that instead of tearing everything down they would renovate the buildings to bring them back to what they looked like just before the British captured the city in 1759. So here are the pictures.This is the Chateau Frontenac sitting atop the cliffs above the Basse-Ville.

This is the Petit Séminaire. It is here that l'Université Laval was founded as a seminary. You'll notice the cliffs dividing the Haute and Basse-Ville.
This is the original church that dates back to the beginning of the colony. (In fact it sits atop Champlains original "Abitation") It started life as l'Église Notre Dame and when Phipps fleet was sunk in 1690 it became Notre Dame de la Victoire then in 1711 when Walker's fleet suffered the same fate it finally became Notre Dame des Victoires. Unfortunately in the final battles of 1759 the chuch was heavily damaged as were many of the houses around it by the canonballs of the British fleet. When they were renovating the houses and church many of the canonballs were found embedded in the walls.

La Place Royale

The gate leading to the Bastion du Roy an artillery emplacement. Notice the Royal Crest above the gate.

This street is called Rue Sous le Fort and it is squashed between the building and the cliff face behind.


This is the Rue du Petit Champlain and it is the oldest street in North America. There are many fun boutiques and restaurants there.


This ia a "trompe oeuil" depicting the uses that the building had in the past. There is no longer any house beside it because in the early 19th century the cliff face collapsed and buried the other house under tons of rubble. Many people were killed and the end of the house that is painted was destroyed.
A shop sign in the Petit Champlain. The shop sells bird sculptures.

Since I know that quite a few of you have bird feeders, yes you, citizen and my lil sister Jazz, I thought to include this one. I found it quite humerous. ;o)

Losing face

It has been a very hard month for our national police force, the RCMP. They have been making more gaffes than the Keystone Cops, which unfortunately have not been very funny since they have cost two people their lives.
At the moment there is a Cororner's inquest into the death of a Polish man who was killed at Vancouver airport. On October 14th 2007 the Vancouver RCMP were called in when a man in the airport was acting strangely. Robert Dziekanski had arrived on a flight from Poland at about 4 pm and at midnight had not yet been able to clear the customs secure area. During this time no employee of the airport had asked him if he needed help. Speaking only Polish, Robert Dziekanski became frustrated at not being able to leave and soon became agitated. Instead of finding someone who could communicate with him, airport security simply called the RCMP. The airport security were even offered help from an airport employee who spoke Polish an hour before the incident and they turned him down.
When the police arrived they saw immediately that he was a terrible danger, after all he was threatening them with a stapler, so they tasered him within 25 seconds of getting there. Not once, not twice as they later said but at least five times according to witnesses...a little bit of an overkill. They said that after the first shock, he was still moving and screaming. Of course he was moving and screaming... he was writhing on the ground and screaming from the pain of receiving 50000 volts. So what do they do but zap him again, and again until they had subdued him.
To make matters worse instead of calling the emergency response team from the airport (a couple of minutes away from the incident) the supervisor makes the decision to not call them and call the Vancouver emergency response team who make it to the scene many minutes later and were not able to revive Dziekanski.
Now that the coroner's inquest is finally getting to the truth after the authorities tried to make it go away by dragging their feet, we are finally finding out what really happened that night. It took a year and a half before the inquest even started and I'm sure it is only because of the video that was captured by the witnesses that the authorities even consented to the inquest. I just wonder if the the four officers will ever face criminal charges of manslaughter for their role in Dziekanski's death.
Here is the video as captured by Paul Pritchard. Be warned it is brutal viewing.

Here are other links to more information: CBC News, National Post (generally right wing so it's not just us lefties who are shocked)

Now on to the next gaffe, on February 15th Marie-Josée Fortin and her husband, Gilles Blackburn got lost while skiing out of bounds at the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. The couple were not found for ten days despite the fact that their tracks and SOS's in the snow had been reported at least three times. On February 17th the first SOS was reported and the authorities checked the hotels and the ski rentals and found nothing, so no search was started. On the 21st, two more SOS's, were reported and again nothing was done. The RCMP simply checked with Search and Rescue to see if they had checked the hotels. Finally on the 23rd they were reported missing by the Montreal authorities and the next day an SOS was again spotted by pilot of a heli-ski helicopter. As the pilot was noting down the GPS co-ordinates he saw a man waving his arms. Not being able to land, he contacted the Golden RCMP who finally sent out the Search and Rescue and saved the man. Unfortunately they were too late to save his wife who died of exposure.
Now the Search and Rescue team and the RCMP are tossing the blame back and forth for the debacle... unfortunately Marie-Josée Fortin died while the both of them were trying to get their acts together. It seems to me that usually when someone in the back country scrawls SOS's in the snow it is because there is something wrong and that maybe a search might be in order. I will concede that skiing out of bounds in the Rockies is not the smartest thing to do, but still it does not take away from the responsibility of the authorities to verify that everything is OK. Here are some links for more information: CBC News

So there you are, our beloved national police force has egg all over their faces. Now the question is, what will they do about it? Will they try to shove it under the carpet or will they finally stand up and say "Yes we f**ked up big time, and we'll do everything we can to see that it doesn't happen again." and then take concrete action, including job loss for negligence and dereliction of duty or even criminal proceedings for manslaughter in the case of Dziekanski.

Brrrrritain in snow.

Usually the UK is pretty much wet and damp but not chilly and snowy, but this year they are getting snowed under. They are expecting another 20 cm (8 inches) of snow and high winds on Monday. Not being used to the rugged conditions of our Canuck winters they were pretty much paralysed last week and they are getting hit again.
Since there is a global recession and our Canadian economy is starting to suffer maybe we should export our expertise in road salt, winter tires, slush, how to dress for the snow, snowman and snow fort building, snowball fighting and general winter knowhow. Here is what it looked like in the UK.

Snowstorm Causes Chaos in London

Concepts

We obviously have some municipal employees that are not clear on the concepts... Does the sign mean that anyone is allowed to park except authorized vehicles. Since it is in an out of the way place, maybe they don't want the municipal vehicles to park there so the employees can snooze. ;o)

The best of times and the worst of times

As a Canadian we are used to a rather ho hum, middle of the road, type of leadership and government. The Liberals are just a bit to the left of centre, the Conservatives are a bit to the right (They would be much farther to the right if our PM had his way.) The leadership is pretty much grey with no real extremes. We could even say that we are a rather dull bunch.

Our American cousins on the other hand, seem to love going from one extreme to the other. They have had presidents that have inspired generations and changed the world. Men such as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, who had a glorious vision of what their country could be and inspired their citizens to reach out and grasp that vision. But they also had presidents that were the opposite, Nixon, Reagan, Bush. Men who would do anything to win power, who would bring out the lowest common denominator of pettiness and narrow mindedness.
The last president is a perfect example of this. He was an unmitigated disaster for both America and the world. Under his watch America went from a balanced budget with a surplus to a veritable ocean of red ink, the American and world economies were devastated because greed and stupidity were allowed to go unchecked, America has lost thousands of young men in a futile war, whose drive and creativity are lost forever, America has made enemies across the world by its highhanded ruthless disregard for basic human rights. Under his watch we have seen examples of torture, wrongful imprisonment, an almost complete disregard for all international conventions that the United States has signed such as the Geneva Convention. He has masterminded an erosion of the rights laid out in the American Constitution that he was supposed to uphold and has trampled the very rule of law on which all democracies are based. And George W Bush was elected twice, wasn't once enough?
And yet just when the world despairs of ever seeing an America that plays a leadership role instead of being the world bully, the American electorate does a "beau geste" and elects an African American to the White House. Not only a visible minority but a man with a vision who can inspire the American people to reach out and grasp a dream of a better world for everyone who shares our common humanity. America can once again become an inspiration instead something to be reviled. Congratulations for having elected President Obama. There is now more hope for the future.
As for we Canadians, we'll muddle along with our grey uninspiring Prime Ministers. We'll probably never have a Barak Obama, ... but then again hopefully we'll never be stuck with a George Bush.

Ode to Cross-country skiing

Those of you who have read my blog from time to time know that in winter I love to cross-country ski. Today was one of those perfect days. The weather was about -12 degrees Celsius and we got 20 cm of fresh powdery snow this week. With the right wax you can literally fly across the snow. There is nothing quite like it, the cold sparkling air like a fine champagne, the sun and bluish shadows on the snow, the the squeaky sound your skis make on the snow and the feeling of gliding across the landscape. Despite what my lil' sister says there is some good to winter weather...

The brook isn't quite frozen yet.


Ski trail by the side of the Lac des Deux Montagnes.


Uprooted by the lake

Shadows and sun


Skiing toward the ice on the bay



La cabane à sucre (sugar shack)


Sunset on the lake