For no real reason at all, here’s me, Wendy and a giant pita at the 14th Good Food Festival and Market, which took place a couple of weekends ago:
Month: May 2006
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The Fuzzy Experiment, Part Deux
It’s been two weeks since the start of The Fuzzy Experiment, in which I decided to test the theory put forth in this article that states that you don’t need shaving cream. Since Tuesday, April 25th, I’ve been skipping the shaving cream and using only a razor. Since I shave immediately after coming out of the shower, it’s not a major change and so far, so good. In fact, not having the shaving cream makes it easier to shave around my trademark goatee and sideburns; I can actually see what I’m doing. Better still, Wendy hasn’t noticed any difference.
I should invest in a shaving mirror for the shower. I suspect that I’d great an even better shave in a nice hot shower. I don’t think I’ll go so “old school” as to add a straight razor to the mix; I can imagine all kinds of unpleasant shaving accidents, especially a few involving “Mister Wiggly”.
The most noticeable effect this experiment has had: a MetaFilter discussion on the topic, which as of this writing has 76 comments! Who knew that shaving was a topic near and dear to the hearts of so many?
More high-tech goodness from Accordion City: BarCamp Toronto takes place from Saturday noon-ish to Sunday noon-ish. I’ll write more, but in the meantime, go check out David Crow’s blog entry and the BarCamp wiki. It’ll be a cool geek gathering, so as I like to say: be there and be square!
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"Immigration Debate"-Related Comics
The comic does a pretty good job of summarizing my feelings about the opposing arguments on the “immigration” debate in the U.S.. The observant reader will note that I have place “immigration” inside quotes (a.k.a. “sarcasm tongs”). This is to voice my disapproval at the dishonest conflation of the term to include sneaking over the border and taking up residence. It’s a bit of an insult to those of us who did it the legal way, and it gives us an unwarranted stain on our collective reputation. It’s also inconsistent with the left’s insistence that the occupation of Iraq is illegal. there’s gotta be some consistency here, people.
Now don’t get me wrong, folks: I understand the reasons people come to the U.S. and Canada, becuase I have, to use the cliche, been there, done that and got the t-shirt. There are those who will argue that perhaps it’s better if would-be immigrants stayed in their home countries and made them better, but in most cases, that’s infeasible. We’ve got it good here and they’ve got it bad there because of virtuous and vicious circles. Furthermore, we feed both circles — it is often in our best interests to keep third world governments corrupt and kleptocratic and for other countries’ standards of living to be lower than ours. It keeps our goods cheap and plentiful. It is this plenitude that lets sit high atop Maslow’s hierarchy and pursue interests beyond mere survival: personal self-realization, creative expression, intellectual exploration and social justice. The irony is that the only reason we have the luxury of studying Marxist theory (I view Marxist studies as the educational equivalent of the TV show What Not to Wear) in detail beyond “here’s your AK-47; now go hide in the jungle until we tell you to come out shootin'” is because of capitalism.
This brings me to the “illegal immigrants do the jobs that we’re no willing to do” argument. This is essentially the same thing as saying “Hey, they’re an exploitable underclass who are undocumented and therefore can be paid sub-minimum wage. Hot damn, we got us Coolies again!”
Besides, we already have a built-in source of poorly-educated, unskilled labour:
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Happy V-E Day!
It just occurred to me that today is V-E Day, the day in which the Allies formally celebrated the ass-kicking of Nazi Germany and Hitler’s reduction in rank from dangerous megalomaniac to overused rhetorical device in arguments and gag character in a few Mel Brooks films.
For you budding history buffs, V-J day takes place a little later on this year: August 15th.
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David’s Blaine’s Hands
Well, now we know what your hands look like if you stay underwater for a week: like Keith Richards! Case in point:
(For those not familiar with Quebecois colloquialisms, “tabernac” is an all-purpose swear word. It is derived from the term “tabernacle”; in Quebecois French, many church terms are often used as profanities.)
The story about Luc Cagadoc, the Filipino boy in Montreal who was punished for eating his lunch Filipino-style with a fork and spoon, has been discussed widely amongst members of my immediate and extended family. It’s also caught the attention of the media on both sides of the Pacific and the Akbayan Citizens Action Party in the Philippines, who marched in protest at the Canadian Embassy in Manila:
Here are some links to stories covering the shameful spoon-and-fork incident and the protest:
- Toronto Star: Food Fight Angers Filipinos
- CTV News: Food fight Infuriates Filipinos at Home and Abroad
- Journal Group Online (Philippines):
- Asian Journal: Spoon and Fork Incident Sparks Protest
- Cebu Daily News: Do as the Canadians, Eh?
- Sun Star Cebu: Who’s the Pig?
- Philnews: Filipino Table Etiquette Under Assault by Intolerant Canadians
- West Island Chronicle: Filipino mom to ask for public apology — this one has a lot of comments following the article.
What the spoon-and-fork movement against the rat-bastards who run that Montreal school needs is a mascot. I cannot think of anyone more appropriate than the great superhero, The Tick…
After all, his battle-cry is most appropriate:
