What do we think of nationalism?

December 18, 2004

David Orchard is interviewed by Justin Podur for ZNet. In a larger sense, the question is all about how Canada can keep its distance from a too-close US embrace. Is it an irony of history that Canadian “nationalism” (nationalism being a throw-back to categories rooted in the19th century) should be for us what the EU […]

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Future Tense — not just a book

December 16, 2004

Everyone at my house is reading Gwynne Dyer’s Future Tense. I finished it a while ago, my son just finished it, and my daughter’s reading it right now. (We’ll even get the husband to read it!) YOU should read it, too. Other reviews and commentary here (The Tyee) and here (Pulse Niagara). Among many other […]

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Those breasts!

December 15, 2004

What a relief — I’m not going mad yet after all. A couple of days ago I was experiencing a kind of “flashback” effect, hearing a spoken line over and over again, without having a clue where to place it. It was about breasts. About armoured breasts, and this really drove me crazy since I […]

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Budding creep, plays too many video games, likes to fence and hit people to “win”

December 15, 2004

This is one of those entries where I feel I should ask permission to post, …but I didn’t. If I end up pulling it, it’ll be because of fall-out from those concerned, i.e., family. It gives an indication, though, of some of the more mundane concerns around here … which in turn factor into my […]

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More from Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and some thoughts on equality

December 10, 2004

On November 2/04, Theo van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam by an Islamic fundamentalist. I wrote about it on November 3/04, in an entry titled Sex and shame and barter. A key emphasis of that post (as well as a subsequently more vehement one the next day, November 4/04) was that in reporting van Gogh’s […]

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Fundamentalism stinks, fundamentalism is insanementalism without the benefit of an excuse

December 7, 2004

Would like to put that translation up (mentioned last time), but am just not ready, and haven’t had time. However, there’s always enough energy to vent, eh? So, forthwith: we have a really terrific magazine in Victoria called Focus. It’s available for free at various locations throughout town, but I’m seriously considering a subscription because […]

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Translating separating reporting blogging

December 5, 2004

Maria is combatting early-onset blogging-ADD by …(re)starting another blog called Marin Outings. It’s a “writing separating” strategy that makes sense since it’s impossible to put everything into one blog. I wonder whether Marin will be outed in more ways that one here… Co-incidentally, I started writing in a separate category last week, but it’s not […]

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I thought you said you didn’t do “diary posts”?

December 3, 2004

Yeah, I did, but it’s been that kind of week, and damn, I wanted to get a post in! It’s December already! This afternoon I had some of the best samosas I’ve ever tasted. My neighbour’s mother, who was born and raised in East Africa, made them. Different from ordinary restaurant samosas because a) they […]

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Name that tune

November 30, 2004

Sit down at the computer, Y., you have an hour to spare, the very first one in the day, in fact. You had Chinese take-out for dinner inbetween picking up the kids from their swimming lessons and taking the daughter to choir; you pick her up in two hours. Pour it out now, what do […]

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Wastrels

November 27, 2004

Wastrel — great-sounding word, isn’t it? Woody, not tinny. Here’s a definition: wastrel n : someone who dissipates resources self-indulgently [syn: waster] Chet Richards reviews Winslow Wheeler’s The Wastrels of Defense; How Congress Sabotages U.S. Security (US Naval Institute Press, 2004) for Defense and National Interest. (Don’t ask how I came across that particular site, […]

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