Balmy

It's gorgeously sunny out today and the temperature is due to soar to +13°C. I shed my coat and gloves while walking to work this morning. And three snowdrops have popped up in our garden this past week.

*does happy springtime dance*

Animal Welfare Nutjobs

Here's a cautionary tale to start the week. Never try to reason with extremists of any sort. You'll only find yourself disturbed when they start foaming at the mouth and uttering veiled threats.

Some background: over the past couple weeks, various discussion threads concerning the Atlantic Canadian seal hunt have been started on a messageboard I frequent. These threads have all been started by well-meaning, yet (in my opinion) misinformed people whose information on the issue has come from the likes of Paul McCartney and other celebrities working under the aegis of various animal rights organisations, and were all along the lines of "Please click here to sign this petition and stop the barbaric killing of cute baby seals...isn't this awful?"

Whenever I see such threads, I feel compelled to comment, stating that I live in Atlantic Canada and that I urge people to educate themselves as to the other side of this issue. My main point is always that people should not believe everything that celebrities and animal rights groups tell them, and that seal hunters are ordinary people trying to earn a living in a remote and economically-depressed place. No rational, feeling person supports the needless killing of animals, but this is not a black-and-white scenario - it's a problematic issue that will not be solved simply by stopping the hunt. I try to explain this to people and provide links to sites like this one at the CBC, which in my opinion is pretty fair and balanced, and gives equal attention to both sides of the argument.

So far, so good, right? Well, rational argument only appeals to those who are rational, unfortunately. In the most recent thread I participated in last week, the originator of the thread lost it after several people (including myself) questioned whether the hunt was as inhumane and barbaric as all the propaganda from groups like IFAW and the US Humane Society would have the public believe. She wrote quite a bit about her passionate belief that the hunt was inhumane. And that's fine - I get that. She has the right to her own opinion. But then she finished her post with this nice little pronouncement:

I not only hope that anyone who hunts dies a miserable death, I hope that anyone who promotes or believes in it in any way does as well. I don't give a sh!t if the hunters starve to death or not.

Well. I found this rather shocking, to say the least. So on Saturday, I sent a private message to this woman, "S", which said:

Wow.

S., I can only assume that you wrote this out of anger and frustration, and that you didn't really mean it.

I don't know you, but I am sure you are a decent, rational, caring person, and that you wouldn't truly wish harm on others just because they don't agree with your views.

J.

I figured that after she'd simmered down a bit, she would realise that what she'd said was pretty awful, and I wanted to give her an opportunity to save face and gracefully retract what she said. So my amazement only deepened when she sent this response late Saturday night:

Wow?

No, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's how I feel. It is harsh. I wish I wasn't made to feel that way. I wish these kinds of things didn't happen in our world.

Eco-tourism is only one solution to the seal-hunting problem. People continue to do this (seal-hunt) because it's all they know is what you have said. Well, if we all thought that way, then we would all still be washing our clothes on a washing board.

We all need to learn to embrace change. Fear of the unknown and the fear of risk are the only things that prevents people from doing this.

I am a decent, rational, caring person. If you read some of my past posts here it would give you some insight to that. I haven't been on here in months and do not choose to continue to write on this forum.

I only came here because this subject moved me enough to stick my own neck out and to see if perhaps anyone wanted to help take action against views which I, myself, so strongly uphold.

-S.

Dumbfounded, I spent time yesterday wondering how or if I should even respond. Then last night I wrote back:

S., you obviously have very strong opinions and beliefs about this issue. They differ from mine, and I don’t think we will ever see eye to eye on this subject. But you know what? I think that is OK. While I don’t agree with your views and opinions, I respect them. Pity you have not extended the same respect to me.

I am indeed familiar with your past posts on this board, and know that you have posted here a lot, especially about animal shelters. The irony is that I completely support that. My husband is a veternarian, and in addition to our own pets, we often have animals in our home who are either being nursed back to health, or fostered until the clinic can find good homes for them.

Given that you are not a newcomer to this place, you should have known that [this] forum is a public message board, and when you start a thread on such a controversial subject, chances are good that others who do not support your position will post opposing views. We may not all like what others on the board have to say at times, but they have the right to say it!

Even thought I don’t agree with you about the seal hunt issue, I respected what you had to say. That is, until your words turned personal. When you stated (and then reiterated in your PM) that you would actually wish PHYSICAL HARM on anyone who doesn’t share your opinion on this subject, you lost me. Are you seriously telling me (and I still can’t quite believe you are) that you wish I would go away and ‘die a miserable death’ just because I don’t agree with everything you say? Are you? Because S., if you are – that is not the way that decent, rational, caring people behave. That is just crazy - not to mention criminal.

J.

Then this morning, this response:

J. -

first of all, let me tell you that I do not intend to reopen the seal hunt post. I said I was done with it and I am except for these last few PMs to you and others who have written things after I was finished there.

I think what you are looking for is for me to take back what I said. I am not going to do that.

I'm far from a criminal. I have never been arrested for anything in my entire life. As a born American, living here in New Jersey, I can pretty much say whatever I feel as long as it is not directed towards any particular individual. Just because I see lots of people wearing fur or whatever on the street doesn't mean I do anything about it. I ignore it. I turn my head. I however, can wish whatever fate for them I want.

I think that you, yourself, are making this personal. I am not the type of person who cares what others think of me. I don't need that kind of approval from people, especially ones that I don't even know on some message board about a rock band. I thought that the information would be useful to some of the people on here and it was.

The thread was posted by me after much thought and consideration, full well knowing the sort of responses I might get. I'm not into drama or dissention and am not an argumentative or violent person.

You can think what you wish of me.

Otherwise, in closing, with no intentions of answering any further PMs or posts regarding this - I do want to say that I applaud the efforts of both you and your husband in helping out the animal world.

Otherwise, I heard a quote once that may fit here -

"Let us call each other 'friends' with no special effort to ever see or speak to each other again."

Be well,
S.

Well. Obviously there's no responding to that. Call me oversensitive, but anyone who can so calmly tell you (and then reiterate) that they wish 'miserable death' on someone who doesn't agree with them (myself included - so yeah, you're damn right I take it personally) - I find that quite ominous, not to mention borderline sociopathic.

What makes some people think this kind of behaviour is acceptable?

Everyone's A Critic

Saw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? last night at the Neptune. Excellent stuff. Storyline (unsurprisingly) grim, but also blackly comic. And the two lead actors were outstanding. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

On the subject of theatre criticism, I was going to post about the overwhelmingly middling reviews the new LOTR stage production in Toronto has received. But Jonathan beat me to it and saved me the trouble. I figured the reviews wouldn't be great, actually, since 'serious' theatre critics don't usually like big, over-the-top musicals - juggernauts like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables were both slammed on opening. As for LOTR, it'll all depend on the audiences, I'm sure. Quite looking forward to seeing it now.

LOTR On Stage

Bought tickets online today to see the new Lord of the Rings 'theatrical epic' (the producers are emphatically not calling it a musical) when I'm in Toronto at the end of April.

I hope it will be OK and not too cheesy or anything. I can't quite believe I spent $125 on a ticket for a show which hasn't even opened properly and been reviewed yet. But there you are. I have a feeling it will probably be quite the spectacle, though. And if nothing else, it will be a nice time out with the family - I'll be going with my aunts M. and K., and my cousin S.

At any rate, I'll be certain to review it here in due course!

Tommy Douglas

Well. A first for me this evening. I finished watching a CBC drama and found it well-produced and enjoyable.

Last weekend, I recorded Prairie Giant, the CBC's four-hour miniseries about the life of Tommy Douglas. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, given that it was made by the CBC and that I'm not exactly well-versed or (*hides*) terribly interested in Canadian history. But it turned out to be quite a gripping programme - though unsurprisingly, there have been some criticisms of its historical accuracy.

No doubt riding the wave of Douglas' victory in last year's "Greatest Canadian" poll, the series was definitely timely. And I learned far more about the man than I expected. Like many young Canadians, all I really knew about Tommy Douglas was that he was a socialist politician from Saskatchewan who was the architect of the national Medicare system. But the most surprising thing I learned about him was the full extent of his radical politics. And they were radical - throughout his political career, he was routinely derided as a Communist. Yet his administrations introduced most of the legislative provisions we now take for granted - not only free universal health care for all, but the forty-hour working week, Old Age pensions, the Bill of Rights...the list goes on.

It served as yet another reminder to me of the pivotal role played by radicalism in history. Though radicals are routinely derided and sidelined by the mainstream (and I include myself in the ranks of the latter), some of the most urgent political and social change nonetheless comes about because of their actions. It makes me wonder which cockamamie ideas, presently being touted by radical thinkers and activists, will be common currency in fifty years. Just as Tommy Douglas' dream of free, high-quality health care for everyone in this country was, not even fifty years ago.

I Smell a Sell-Out

Shocking business news this weekend. L'Oréal has bought out the Body Shop for over £650 million. The Body Shop's founder Anita Roddick, the former high priestess of fair trade and ethical business practices, stands to make £117 million personally from the deal. Given L'Oréal's identity as a global behemoth in the cosmetics industry, it seems a pretty dodgy thing for Roddick to have done - as many in the press have already commented ("Oh Anita, It's Not Worth It", opined India Knight in today's Sunday Times).

In a press conference yesterday, Roddick protested that the French cosmetics giant had "flattered and seduced" her into accepting the buy-out. Indeed. (And I'm not even going to get into her choice of language there...that's a whole other rant in the making!)

I've never been a huge fan of Body Shop products, but I always admired Roddick's integrity and business model. She founded her first UK shop in Brighton in the late 70s, and most of the production still takes place at a factory not far from there. God knows what will happen to the business now.

Birthday

A.'s 34th birthday today. We went out for dinner earlier to Vinnie's, a new resto in the South End, as I'd heard good things about the food. And the food was indeed very good, but the service was so bad, it was actually comical. I'm not sure our waitress had ever waited tables before. She hadn't a clue what was on the menu, forgot to bring food for some people at the table, forgot cutlery...and was apologetic about her ineptitude to the point of being annoying. Oh well. At least it ended up costing us not much money - amongst the things she forgot to do this evening was include the wine on the bill. Needless to say, I also forgot to leave her a tip.

Sleepy now...but am bidding on A.'s birthday present on eBay at the moment. All the family are pitching in to get him a big fancy computerised nerd-boy telescope. Less than thirty minutes to go in the auction...we'll see how I do.

Paddy's Day

I was looking at the website for the St. Patrick's Day Festival in Dublin this morning. That thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger - this year, it's gone up to five days. Which is astonishing, given that it only started as a one-day event in 1996.

The history of Paddy's Day in Ireland is an interesting one, which I always used to enjoy telling visitors about when we lived in Dublin. All the stuff most people associate with the day - parades, leprechauns, getting blotto on green beer - are actually American inventions. While St. Patrick's Day has been a national holiday in Ireland for decades, it is still primarily a religious and family occasion there. The most traditional thing to do on Paddy's Day in Ireland is get up in the morning, put a bunch of shamrock in your lapel, and go to Mass. Afterwards, you'd go round to your family's for a big meal - and if you stopped in the pub for a pint or two en route, well and good, but there's no great tradition of getting wasted. In the afternoon, many of the larger county towns and cities have parades, but with the exception of Dublin in recent years, they are extremely modest affairs - absolutely nothing like you'd see in New York or Chicago.

The whole St. Patrick's Day Festival in Dublin - which is really pretty good - was started in the late 1990s by the government and tourist authorities. It was a response to both Ireland's growing prosperity (even fifteen years ago, there wouldn't have been the money to host such a thing), and the demands of visitors. The Irish Tourist Board was acutely aware of the fact that each March, hordes of (mostly North American) tourists were pouring into Dublin expecting the mother of all Paddy's Day celebrations, and going away very disappointed.

Even now, the Dublin parade - while very entertaining and enjoyable - isn't terribly Irish. I went to the parade three times, and each time nearly three-quarters of the participants came from outside Ireland - which is indicative of the diaspora, I suppose. People there are always amazed by how excited foreigners get about their national holiday.

The horror!

Some bizarre nature-related happenings at home last night.

Just before bed, A. casually mentioned that he'd noticed earlier in the day that there were 'a lot' of little spiders in the living room. As I can't stand spiders, I asked him to elaborate. How many? "Oh, 30 or 40...on the ceiling", he says. I freaked. Went downstairs, turned on the lights and had a look. And it was true - there were scores of tiny spiderlings all over the ceiling, spinning their little webs. I couldn't believe it. Got out the vacuum cleaner and made A. hoover them up on the spot. Had NO idea where they could have all come from. But in the light of day this morning, we had a look around the living room and discovered that the log basket next to the fireplace was covered in a fine net of webs. So we can only presume that there were spider eggs on some of the logs that came in from the woodpile outside, and they've been hatching. *shudders*

I didn't sleep very well last night, thinking about them. I really can't abide spiders - they're the stuff of nightmares for me. And it didn't matter that these spiders were practically microscopic. It's a known fact that if you leave spiders in your house be, they come skittering down from the ceiling, crawl up on you in the night, and eat your face.

*nods emphatically*

Neptuning

The second show of the studio series at Neptune was on last night. As this is an army course weekend for A., I invited W. to go with me instead. We met for dinner at Piccolo Mondo on Argyle Street (which neither of us had tried before, and which was quite nice), then went over the road to the theatre.

We saw a new play called Soul Alone, written by two Nova Scotians. W. enjoyed it, but I thought it was a bit of a mixed bag. Interesting ideas, but a bit melodramatic and pretentious in places. Fairly depressing as well, but that seems to be the general theme this season at Neptune! ;-)

Oh well. We're due to go again later this month, to see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on the main stage. I really like Edward Albee, so I'm looking forward to that.

Y tu mamá también

Well, it only took me five years, but last night I finally got around to watching the Mexican film Y tu mamá también. It was hilarious and very entertaining, with great performances. Has there ever been a truer onscreen portrayal of typical adolescent masculinity? If there has, I'm not sure I want to see it. ;-)

Juno Buzz

And the latest act announced yesterday as part of the Juno Awards performing lineup is...Black Eyed Peas.

AhahaHAhahaaaaa.... *wipes eyes*

This just keeps getting better and better.

Da Mudder Tung

Ah jaysus. Some fools have gone and published a Cape Breton dictionary.

Whatever next?

More Rabbits

Gnasher and Ears are back with us - just for a couple of nights though. A.'s clinic is having a new ventilation system installed and their cages are in the room where the work will be done. So they'll stay here until the weekend, when that should be finished. I hope that homes can be found for them soon - they would make nice pets (though Gnasher is still a grump). They've gotten quite porky since Christmastime when they were here with us last - the girls at the clinic are definitely over-feeding them.

So that makes six animals in the house at the moment! Argh! And earlier this week, I put my foot down and said NO to A.'s suggestion that we board an ill puppy whose owner is going off to Toronto for three weeks. I mean, I love animals, but we can't become a refuge for every waif and stray out there. Sheesh.

Still Tinkering

Some good improvements (I think) to my blog's formatting this morning. 'Granny's wallpaper' wasn't really working, so I did some searching (this site is great) and found this really nice marbled-paper effect for my background - as was commonly used for the endpapers of old books. Given this blog's general scribal theme, I think it's a suitable match. I'm really loving the dark bluish-red colour too.

Anyway, I'll live with it for a bit and see how it goes. There's still a few more small things I'd like to fix, but those can wait. Now if I can just figure out how to get rid of that big ugly blue Blogger bar up top, I'd be really pleased - but I suspect that won't happen as long as they're hosting my page!

To Long Lake

This morning, we decided to go take a look at Long Lake Provincial Park, the main access point for which is not even two miles up the road from our house. We've driven past it regularly for a year and a half, but never stopped. It's not really developed (there's no proper trail system or anything like that) but it's nice enough. Its greatest attraction, though, is its proximity to downtown Halifax. The park was busy this morning, mostly with dog walkers, but also lots of parents and kids. The lake itself is frozen pretty solid and a few hardy souls were shovelling an area of ice to make a skating rink. We'll have to visit more often - and certainly on hot summer days, it would be very handy for a refreshing swim.

Afterwards, we went to the Trident Café, which is probably my favourite café in Halifax. Not only do they have a fine selection of beverages, and ample free supplies of quality periodicals to read while you sip, but there is also a bookshop attached. The shop is small, but with a great collection of new, nearly-new and used books - I almost never go away from there without buying something. And so today I bought for a pittance a fine hardcover copy of Ladies of the Grand Tour: British Women in Pursuit of Enlightenment and Adventure in Eighteenth-Century Europe by Brian Dolan - yet another addition to my groaning 'unread' shelf.

Hammy Come Home

Gah! Awoke this morning to discover that the little hamster we're fostering escaped from its cage during the night. We must not have secured the latch properly when we put her back in the cage last night.

The problem, of course, is that she's tiny, and could be anywhere in the basement. We had a quick search this morning, but no luck. I think A. is going to try and get a live trap from Lee Valley today. Short of sitting around all day, watching to see if she pops out, I really don't know how we'd find her otherwise. Hopefully a live trap with lots of food in it will coax her out. I'm a little worried about the lack of water, too. *fingers crossed*

UPDATE: A. found the little blighter when we got home Friday evening. While scouring the rec room downstairs, he noticed a little heap of what looked like insulation next to the radiator. On inspection, when the radiator cover was removed, a tiny whiskery face popped out of a hole in the wall. The hamster had found the spot where the radiator heating pipe goes into the wall, gnawed out a bunch of the foam-type insulation that had been sprayed into the hole around the pipe, and made herself a warm, cosy little nest. We tempted her out with some parsley.

Critters, I tell ya.

Newsflash!

It was announced yesterday that Pamela Anderson will be hosting the Juno Awards this year! Woot woot! Whooooooot!!!







Er, hang on a minute. She's crap.