Phone Smarts

IPhone First Generation 8GB (3680455198) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I survived the switch in internet providers.

But I must tell you that when the Bell service man asked if I had a smart phone I wasn't exactly sure what he meant.

I mean I know an iphone is a smart phone but I wasn't totally sure if other phones fell into the smart category or even if 'smart phone' was a brand name.

And I didn't want him to know that I didn't know.

So I just told him that I didn't have an iphone. 

"I just have a cheap phone ... from Bell,"  I added quickly lest he confuse me with the blogger who uses my name and always complains about his employer.

"So you don't have an iphone?"

"No I don't have an iphone." 

I relaxed.  We were communicating quite well I thought.

Then he looked at me the way a person who is paid to be polite looks at the imbecile to whom he is forced to explain the theory of relativity and said,

"But  you do have a smart phone."

It was a question although his voice didn't go up.

Jeesh. 

We were back to square one.

 "Welll,"  I said studying his face for a clue that might lead to the right answer,

 "It's definitely smarter than I am."

 No argument from him, my friends.

 Anyway, I survived, the Bell service man survived, my computer survived and even my phone survived.

But my image of myself as a baby boomer techno wizard sure took a beating.

 

 

I Love You, Ma Bell!

Julian Assange, from Wikileaks, at the SKUP conference for investigative journalism, Norway, March 2010 (see http://www.skup.no/Info_in_Englishhttp://www.skup.no/Konferansen_2010/Programmet) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My chickens are coming home to roost.

Or my words are. 

Is there really a difference

between chickens and words when all is said and done?

I mean what's it all going to matter in a hundred years, eh?

 

Anyway, that's the way I'm hoping Bell Canada is going to see it this week.

I'm switching my internet provider over from Bell Mobility to Bell.ca

tomorrow. 

Cheaper rates and I won't have to deal with Mr.

Slowasmolassesanddumbasadoorknob at the Bell Mobility

torture chamber store anymore.

The problem is that I bad mouthed Bell in several a blog.

And I'm worried that just the way the US waited grimly for Wikileaks

front man Julian Assange to make the teensy weensy mistake of not

wearing a condom one night in a Swedish hotel room, Ma Bell who

knows all and sees all, has been roiling and seething, waiting for me

to try to sneak on board.

Just kidding Ma!!!!

Didn't mean it, Ma!!!!

Anyway,  I'm hoping to be back online Wednesday.

Maybe.

If the river don't rise.

And Ma's in a forgiving mood.

Real Men Don't Eat Bambi

Deer (Photo credit: marttj)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been quite upset this week because a group of hunters from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca) are conducting a deer kill in the Short Hills Provincial Park.

 

It is their right by treaty.  They will be hunting with bows and arrows for 2 hours a day this week-end and next. There is no need for a cull, it is just that they intend to use the meat for ceremonial purposes.

 

I've been on a rant about the fact that there is a children's camp in use in the park and many family farms sit on its edge.  (True and true.)

 

But the main reason I'm upset is that I spend so much time in the Short Hills I feel as if I am on a first name basis with each one of those deer.

 

Today I was out walking Flynn with a friend and her dog.  I was going on about how gentle and timid deer are when it suddenly came to me that there are other animals in the park that would do just as well for a ceremonial feast.

 

And not cause such an uproar in the community.

 

I came home and googled a number of recipe sites.

 

Voici!  Here is a dish fit for a warrior!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

French Fried Skunk

By Iowahorse on November 04, 2003

5 Reviews

• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Servings: 3-4

About This Recipe

"Not for everyone, but good."

Ingredients

• 2 skunks, skinned and cleaned
• 1 tablespoon salt
• water, to cover
• 2 cups bear fat or 2 cups lard
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 3 cups milk or 3 cups cream
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons baking powder

Directions

1. Clean and wash the skunks, making sure that the scent glands are removed.
2. Cut up into small serving pieces.
3. Put a soup kettle on the stove and add the meat.
4. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Lower the heat and boil until the meat is tender, about 40 minutes.
6. Remove all the scum that rises to the surface.
7. Make a batter by mixing together the egg yolks, milk, flour, salt and baking powder.
8. Mix real good until the batter is about like cake batter.
9. Heat the bear fat or lard in a deep fryer to about 360 degrees.
10. Dip the pieces of skunk in the batter and then fry them in the deep fryer until golden brown.
11. Drain well and serve.

 

Teachers, Y'all Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

Ontario Legislative Building - Toronto (Photo credit: Al_HikesAZ)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Government of Ontario recently imposed a two year wage freeze on teachers and cut back the number of allotted sick days. Not given the right to negotiate, teachers' unions staged a number of one day strikes across the province in December.  Labour unrest continues.

 

Worried about the labour strife between the teachers' union and the provincial government?

Hate to be Mrs. Doom-and-Gloom here, but you ain't seen nothing yet.

The global financial markets are melting down faster than a Fukushima

power plant

and thinking that it won't affect Canada is like thinking you can

exchange bodily fluids with Typhoid Mary and not get sick.

Sooner or later the government is going to roll back wages for teachers

and all public service workers.

Roll them back big time.

And when it happens it won't be pretty.

 I'd like to think the unions will prepare workers for their choice:

accept  massive pay cuts or massive layoffs.

But it isn't the mandate of the unions to read the writing on the wall.

 

It is the job of an aging Cassandra wailing in the bloggy wilderness.

Apparently.

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Teachers Unions Shut Down School Districts to Protest Right-To-Work Law
• Education minister ready to impose contract on teachers, support staff

A New Years Resolution

 

 

I was having lunch with a friend a few weeks ago and she told me that she thought there were fewer interesting letters to the editor in the newspaper these days because people who like to share their opinions are blogging.

I realized that she is right. 

I used to send letter s to the editor.

I've had letters published in the St. Catharines Standard, the Toronto Sun and the National Post. 

One of my letters even resulted in one anonymous irate phone call and one phone call from a fan who did identify himself.  Much to my embarrassment.

The power of the printed word, eh!!  Ha ha.

Anyway.

I guess my New Year's Resolution is to speak out more often about issues that I think are important.

And not just in blogs.

 

Here is my letter published in the Standard last night:

 

 

 It's a start.

 

I Could Get a Gun

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P.) These dogs are wearing H-back freight harnesses. Photo from 1957. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could get a gun.

 

If I wanted to join a shooting club. 

I would have to apply for it, take a test, wait a while and there are stringent laws about storing weapons, but still, if I was so inclined, as a law abiding Canadian citizen, I could become a gun owner.

If I wasn't a law abiding Canadian, but  a member of the criminal world, I guess I could go downtown and buy a gun on the street.

 But, in general, Canadians don't want to be gun owners.

 So why the big difference between us and our BFF the Americans?

I mean we are small in population, sitting next to their massive, militaristic country that has invaded us once already. 

Why aren't we armed to the teeth?

 One explanation that has come up in my recent conversations with people, is that we always had the British army here keeping the peace in pre-Confederation days and behaving ourselves just became our norm.

Of course they weren't here to keep the peace, they were here protecting British interests, but law and order was a natural side bar activity.

And shortly after Confederation arrived in 1867 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, (Northwest Mounted Police in those days), with their red jackets so reminiscent of the British army, was established by an act of parliament.

 And if you are in any doubt about how they affected our Canadian identity, you must read some of the stories about the Yukon Gold Rush in 1898. 

Like a lot of the American west, Alaska was a crime ridden, death zone for the gold seekers, but when they reached the Canadian border at the top of the Chilcoot Pass they were met by Sam Steele of the NWMP. 

He and his small band of Mounties ensured the law was obeyed on this side of the border.

 The upshot of this is that we never developed a fear of other Canadians,

the way the Americans seem to fear each other.

 

And apparently we don't fear them either,

although I must say,

shopping stateside has become less appealing recently.

Santa is Canadian

Naturally because of our politeness, we do share him

- but only if you've been good!!

Welcoming the Christmas Baby

English: One of the corridors on the lower level of the cloister with statues of the God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At the Viceregal Museum in Zinacantepec, Mexico State (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my small Muslim students once told me, (with great amusement), that God has no relatives.

***

The Christian God is a Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, (aka Wisdom or Sophia).

God's human relatives are Mary, the Mother of God, Joseph who would be, (and this is the only palatable relationship), God's step-father and if you happen to be Protestant then the siblings of Jesus would be God's half brothers and sisters.

And of course there were probably cousins of God.

That's quite a gang around the cosmic dinner table

and I had never seen it through someone else's eyes until that moment.

How absurd Christianity must seem to non-Christians.

Especially to the children.

 

I threw back my head and laughed until the tears came.

***

I believe there are many good paths that one can follow in this life

however,

(speaking of Christianity), 

there is one path that begins next week -

in the darkest, coldest, dead of winter.

The birth of a child.

A child who comes every year

and brings light and renewed hope to our deeply troubled world

***

and I hope that no matter what your path is,

or how strange it may seem,

that you take time this week

to welcome Him.

The Blood of Lambs

Wiltipoll ewes and lambs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was living in Montreal when Marc Lapine shot and killed 14 female engineering students.

I remember how it was the next day.

Women were looking at each other.

Really looking.

Connecting without speaking.

We are still here.  Life will go on.

Today I haven't been able to stop looking at little kids.

And yes there is some comfort that the ones I see are still here

and life will go on,

but the slaughter of lambs yesterday

marked the end of the world as we knew it.

The Mayans were right.

My deepest sympathy goes out to the families, the community, and the American people.





***

Busy! Busy!

I've been watching this one little pansy for ages.

It has hung on, all alone for months now. 

As happy in the snow as in the hot summer sun.

Which seems forever ago.


I've been looking for a cartoon that made a joke about being busy at Christmas

but maybe this is better.  

Sweeter.

Brave little flower ...


Sorry I've had to catch up on your blogs everybody.

I've been fricken BUSY!!!!

Beaver Wars

English: An Iroquois longhouse. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

The Iroquois lived in the area that had the St. Lawrence as its northern

border.

From there they spread south throughout what we would

identify today as New England.

 

Although not exactly happy with the arrival of smelly, hairy white people

they took advantage of the opportunity to obtain the interesting new

goods that the fur trade brought them.

Unfortunately the smelly, hairy people also brought guns which the

Iroquois quickly learned  to use and soon beavers were in short supply.

 

So the Iroquois started to look north at land along the

St. Lawrence River where their traditional enemy the

Huron tribe lived.

 

The Hurons were, if you remember, allied with the French.

They were also vulnerable because in 1639 a small pox epidemic

had killed at least half of them.

 

And pretty much the rest of them were gone after the Mohawk and other

Iroquois tribes got through with them.

 

Leery of the Iroquois, the French then started doing business with the

Algonquian speaking tribes - the Cree, the Mi'kmaq, etc. 

Fearful for their own survival and angry at the loss of this potential market

the Iroquois started to attack the French settlers.

This is the time of the horrific Indian raids which included scalping and killing

the men and carrying off the women and children.

Things got so bad that eventually the King of France sent in the troops

and the Iroquois decided to negotiate a peace.

 

And that is where we are as the 17th century ends.

 

The English* are in New England, the French are in New France

and the Iroquois are in the land between them.

 

Like this is going to last.

 

 

New England was settled mostly by Puritans and Pilgrims who left England after the English civil war in order to find a safe place to practise their faith.