Canadians and Americans - the differences #1 · Wednesday March 26, 2008 by colin newell
Working on a University campus, I am exposed to people from all around the World – and although the visible minorities are, well, more visible… some of the more surprising variations in personalities that I encounter are between my fellow Canadians and Americans…
And I watch a lot of American television and listen to American radio.
And no, I am not saying that Americans are bad and Canadians are good.
I am observing that there are some interesting differences… that in the year 2008 surprise and amuse me.
Example: I was watching a news report on a tornado that had just struck Atlanta, Georgia. You can imagine the chaos… and the obvious damage; overturned cars, shredded trailer parks, malls with their roofs missing.
And yet the stern looking newscaster on FOX assured the viewers that the event was not likely the product of a terrorist attack… and to be diligent… and on guard.
Difference: In Canada we blame La Nina for the snow in March. In the U.S.A. they blame Al-qaeda for cyclonic micro-bursts.
Example: In a hurricane ravaged New Orleans (still undergoing repair), Southern Baptist mullahs blame flagrant homosexuality for God’s wrath unfurling Katrina.
Difference: In Canada we middle-aged men blame gay men for showing us up in the fashion department. There was a time when I was in my 20’s and my 30’s that I thought I was pretty GQ. Not anymore. A Canadian heterosexual man cannot be in his 40’s and on top of the fashion game. So I am not crying about it.
In the U.S.A. people carry hand-guns for protection from each other. In Canada we carry rifles to catch dinner. Subtle difference.
In the U.S.A. drug addiction is a crime and helps fill the U.S. Prison system to overflowing – there are over 2 million Americans in jail… staggering.
In Canada drug addiction, like Alcohol abuse, is a sickness and is treated accordingly. Our prisons are generally well stocked with violent criminals and almost-successful White collar miscreants… businessmen gone bad.
In Canada we celebrate differentiation and multiculturalism. In the U.S.A. the government insists on integration; speak English or go home…
and yet in all my travels around America, I have yet to find an American.
I was in a room full of Americans in Los Angeles one afternoon (and what a horrible place that is!) and they kept referring to each other as The Vietnamese guy, the Italian Guy, the Portuguese guy and so on. Not one Yank to be found.
In Canada, everyone is a Canadian. And we speak all languages.
Subtle differences. Yet profound.
What bugs me about people rant #1 · Wednesday March 26, 2008 by colin newell
Anyone remember a time when Google offered a service for those people so busy that they did not have time to search the net – so they could call up Google… and get an operator on the line… to get someone else, a living person, to find what they were looking for… Naturally, this idea did not last long.
Makes you wonder: Is this one of the main reasons that the Planet is doomed? Or is there another reason?
Discovered this today – note photo above left: If you are way too busy to spend the minute and a half registering for my coffee website, there is a web site you can go to that has a userid and password already created just for you!
Uh-huh. And how screwed up is this?
I deleted the userid and password that was created for my website.
If only to screw with these lazy people. I mean, if you are going to visit the CoffeeCrew website, I have certain expectations…
And speaking of lazy. My favorite story is the one about the lady who contacted me from Southern California (and what a horrible place that is!) – She sent me a list consisting of question after question about coffee basics… all of which is on my website about one click or two away from the main page.
But no.
She was too busy.
And so I asked: “All of this is on the website. Why don’t you look it up?”
And she replied: “I am way too busy to spend anytime reading your website!”
It begs the question: How do stupid people survive? Is there an army of sympathetic people out there that have pity on the lazy and stupid people… kind of carrying them along… day by day. Or is it just a case of random chance? Everyone survives despite an assumption of a more logical outcome? Who knows?
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Ingmar Lee - Tip of the Fedora · Tuesday March 25, 2008 by colin newell
To call Ingmar Lee a professional protester is like calling your dentist a practitioner of pain for payment.
Ingmar, a Victoria area resident and (I am pretty sure) taxpayer, is the darling of University (and College) students, the unwaged, the working poor, and those, it seems, too unworthy of living on Bear Mountain… or in the Uplands… or in any privileged enclave too sacred to house the many (and seemingly teeming) population of unwashed on the lower Island.
Because hey, you are either pro-development or your not…
As if it was that easy to pick one side or the other.
But to dismiss Lee as a professional protester and his associates as Welfare bums and Hippies illustrates the utter contempt that most pro-development types feel for Activists of conscience like Ingmar Lee (and, by the way, anyone that doesn’t drive a Hummer or live on Bear Mountain).
Call me crazy but when was it such a big deal to throw up your hands and say: Hey, hang on a second here! How about some open discussion about what is going on around us?
Protest , the last time I checked, was not a crime.
Anyway – The CBC surprised me with an article on Ingmar this morning. It seems that he has taken out a permit on mineral rights for the Bear Mountain region.
Which for a Bum (not my words) like Ingmar — is utterly brilliant.
And we need to take a moment, regardless of our orientation on the subject of development… and credit Ingmar on his stroke of pure genius.
To put aside our differences… just long enough to think a little more clearly.
And think about… where we live. And remember that big development does not have to be painful, is not always necessary and like the dentist should be something we all attend to… when we need to.
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Mother Nature is your friend · Tuesday March 25, 2008 by colin newell
With Easter comes the tradition of visiting Tofino, British Columbia and the Middle Beach Lodge. And with this adventure comes the risk of strong weather…
Picture at left – A six foot two Blogger stands in a fresh fall of snow… in Spring
And not the kind of strong weather we associate with a mid-March West Coast; lashing waves, wicked winds, driving rains that feel like tornado driven acupuncture needles…
But winter weather; snow, sleet and horizontal hail the size of rosary beads… less forgiving as well.
But this is Spring – albeit early Spring. And the fact that Easter is at an unusually early juncture for this year; March the 23rd… and apparently it has not been this early since 1066 or something. The next time Easter will be this early will be in the year 2030… and hopefully by then I will be piloting a Hover-Honda between Victoria and Tofino…
Because this year, our little Honda Civic was a little life saver on the winding stretch between the West Coast and civilization. It was snowing. A lot.
Between the Tofino-Ucluelet junction at the Pacific Rim highway and Sutton Pass some 1400 feet above Sea Level and 25km from Port Alberni – this neck of the woods can be mighty unpredictable this time of year. And so it was.
Our little Honda sedan cruised confidently through a moderate snowfall, somewhat effortlessly, up to the summit – by which time there were 4’ snow drifts on the sides of the road (about 1’ of fresh powder) and maybe 1/2” of snow on the highway.
With the Honda wearing a fairly healthy pair of All Season Radials (read SUMMER TIRES), it is risky business to attempt this kind of hill climb. But we did it.
And it wasn’t blind driving. Oh no. I was watching the oncoming traffic for signs of a more intense conflagration… i.e. bloated snowmen mobiles… but this was not the case. The cars coming towards us were dusted lightly. So we pushed on and we were rewarded with clearing skies as we passed over the peak.
We arrived in Port Alberni within 45 minutes of the alpine experience and decompressed at Tim Horton’s with Maple dips, black coffee and some much maligned roll-up cups
The rest of the trip was uneventful except, ironically, for one mini-van driving bonehead that we encountered on the approach to the Langford turn-off (near the proposed Spencer exchange and Thetis Lake) who was dodging between lanes and cutting off drivers more unpredictably than a pin ball. He cut in front of us so close and so swiftly as to cause a minor shock wave as he blocked the wind in our path.
This is why people kill each other on our highways.
Anyway – it was a wonderfully romantic weekend at Tofino. We re-experienced the joys of married life – communing with other romantics, people watching, weather watching… and hoping for safe travel in the future.
