( Death Camps on Campus )

I have discovered that my opposition to free trade and globalization is not the result of emotionally-charged nationalism, as I previously thought. Nor is it soley a considered criticism on economic grounds. Rather, it is somewhat theological, somewhat philosophical, significantly parochial, and entirely idealistic. Much to my relief.
( What am I talking about? )

I just got back from the Progressive Conservative Party's Kamloops Delegate Selection Meeting, where I was selected to be one of ten delegates to go to the national convention in Toronto and choose our new leader.
( Here’s how it happened… )

The first week of school, the university newspaper ran a cigarette advertisement. This provoked several months of sustained whining in the opinion section. The editor has occasionally stepped into the fray to defend his decision to run the ad, and to defend the right of the tobacco company to advertise. His efforts are rewarded with more of the ( Read more... )

Today, as I walked through our off-campus student ghetto, I passed a ground-floor apartment displaying (I felt) an offensive flag in the window. It was a Canadian flag that had been hung upside-down. In black felt, someone had drawn an Anarchy symbol over the maple leaf, and written something in Russian above and below it. Now, before I fire a ( Read more... )

Some time ago, I posted a poll in my journal. After subjecting the responses to rigorous scientific analyses, I have finished compiling the results. Assuming the future is determined by force of democratic vote, and my respondents represent an accurate cross-section of the global population, we can now accurately describe what the world will be ( Read more... )

Spring holidays have begun! I can't call them Summer holidays, since I start classes again in May. But until then, I'm so free! Tonight, after work, I'm making an asparagus casarrole for the big appartment warming party tomorrow. I think I'll make two: one with chicken and cow's milk, one without chicken and soy milk. You know, I tried some soy ( Read more... )

I saw it first in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume II. Wherever a date given was before 1 A.D. or soon after, it was helpfully followed by the indicator B.C.E or C.E. There was no explaination as to what these stood for, but I assume they mean Before Current Era and Current Era. Today, I saw a commercial for a kid's television ( Read more... )

World leaders are all decrying this atrocity, of course, as barbaric and horific, and western leaders are pledging that this is an act of war against not just America but "the entire civilized world." It will be interesting to see how these words will translate into actions. At the same time, it's somewhat ironic that this event is causing such a ( Read more... )

I arrived at class at ten o'clock, oblivious to this morning's tragedy. I was quickly informed: two hijacked commercial jets had crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Centre, and another into the Pentagon. Perhaps tens of thousands of people have died. The towers collapsed. The Pentagon and Manhattan are both in flames. It's just like a ( Read more... )