Celerbation

Today, I am going to celebrate my 10th anniversary of something I like to do. I am not sure if it is exactly 10 years since I first started doing this, but since I have nothing else to celebrate on November 16, today will be the day.

When I first started, like any kid of that age, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I watched other people do it a bit, but I think they generally didn't like that. I tried to learn what I could from some books and magazines, but in this fluid activity you can only learn so much with still images. As I kept at it, though, I began to improve - leaps and bounds at first, before slight gains, and then no improvement at all for a while.

With the exception of a few dry spells here and there, I have been doing it pretty steadily since I first began. Sometimes I would be out in the field with the army for a week and unable to do it, but I always tried to make up for it when I got back.

I have had a few regular partners, a couple for a few months and even one for over a year. I have had some partners only once, too. For the most part, though, I have been doing it solo-style ever since the beginning.

Fridays are never a good bet for it. I usually drink way too much, and am totally physically incapable. I usually try to make up for that with Saturdays, though, when I have all day free.

It is healthy, it is natural, it is even a good thing to talk about at the office. I am considered a bit of an expert around here, and have even counselled others on improving its place in their life.

Wow. 10 years. That's a long time. You would really think I would be better at it by now. What is it?...







It's WORKING OUT! ...What else?

To Hang Hussein

Judging Saddam Hussein is a good opinion article from The Economist. Seeing as I agree with it, instead of trying to convince you of my position through half-complete thoughts and run-on sentences, I will direct you to that source and suggest you give it a read.

Remember

I bet they would have given anything for a girl and a beer and a warm summer night with their buddies. But instead they got death, death all around them and a headstone without a name. Their lives were given to their cause, even those who lived. If we remember what they gave us, then their sacrifices were not in vain. For one day, please...Let us remember them.

For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Polling

I hate polls. Where did they all come from? Why are there so many polls these days? You can't watch CNN, you can't watch Much Music, you can't even watch TSN anymore without getting the results of a poll. Seriously, yesterday there was a poll on TSN showing which Canadian team people thought had the best chance of winning the Stanley Cup this year. The poll had Calgary and Ottawa at the bottom. 5 weeks previously, the exact same poll question had Calgary and Ottawa at the top.

So why do we care what polls say? I think it was in Men In Black when Tommy Lee Jones said, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

Today I came across this poll from CBC. Look at number 6, the percentage of respondents who approve of Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Look at how it has changed. Are we skittish? Cold feet? Wary of casualties? Over-emotional after 9/11? Number 7 is not too surprising - only half of the people giving responses know why who Canada is working for over there.

Governments cannot make decisions based on opinion polls. They MUST not make decisions based on opinion polls. I am happy our government has not done so yet in this matter. We all know what Jack Layton would do about it. Then again, everyone knows he will never form the government, so he is free to say anything he likes to please his target audience.

I guess the overall message is this - research, vote, and ignore all the polls. Sure, I would give responses if they called me for a poll, but I don't know if I would even trust those answers.

Getting less fatter

A(nother) recent study from Statscan. The news? Canadians continue to get fatter...but at a slower rate. Between 2003 and 2005, men only gained an average of 0.7kg and women 0.6kg, whereas in the previous two years the numbers had been 1.1 and 1.0 respectively. Hurray!

No?

No. But I guess that is better than rates increasing. The more worrisome number actually came from a University of Rochester study that was comparing abdominal fat levels. Levels of "abdominal obesity" in 2-5 year old boys went up 84% since 1988. And even more ridiculous, it went up 126% in 18-19 year old girls.

Holy crap. There is really no excuse for that at these young ages, and it is seriously reducing any motivation I have to go hang out around high schools these days. What, too far?

Anyway, the funniest part of this whole deal was in a comment posted on the Globe and Mail article, which reads as follows:

Spicy Doc from Canada writes: So we're still getting fatter but at a slower rate?? And the Chinese are out of control?? Time for the UN to get its act together and set up a 'Bloato' Protocol. Canada and other nations must get back to 1990 weight averages or else buy 'Credits' from starving countries to comply. Naturally the US will boycott, citing huge pressure from the fatty snak lobby. China will chow through dim sum like there's no tomorrow. In Canada the libs will promise to comply, but aside from getting Rick Mercer to do a '20-lb challenge', Canada will continue to pork up. The NDP will ridicule Harper for not promising Canada will lose 20 lbs per person in 2 weeks. Rona will suggest a plan of sensible eating, combined with safe exercise, leading to a gradual but meaningful long-term improvement. The media eat her alive, screaming that she is an incompetent moron. Bloggers call for the Tories scalps (whilst chomping down Doritos and Coke). The song remains the same..,..