Oh, Man...

...How could you not "just want to hug him". His story, if you believe it, which I do, is so inspiring, just like his voice:

Yesterday...

...Brad Wall's government brought down their budget and it included ending a subsidy for the "Arts Community". Today, the "Arts-Entitled-to-My-Entitlements-Community" is up in arms. Listening to them howl and whine is great entertainment in and of itself.

Thank you Brad Wall!

Hehehehehehehe!

Global warming hysteria has had its counterparts. I remember most of these, which I guess is one of the reasons I remain skeptical about the "man-made" angle:

Past Alarmism and the Future of Manmade Global Warming

I can hardly wait to watch the greenie babies scurrying about trying to bury their religion and pretend they never believed it in the first place. I'm so evil!

Good Place To...

...cut.

Prepare for howling from all the usual suspects.

What they won't tell you, though, is that there are budget cuts across the entire gamut of government departments.

IT services, for example.

"As it stands, government departments and agencies operate their own IT programs. Because of that, there are more than 100 different e-mail systems, more than 300 data centres and more than 3,000 network services operating across the government, Ambrose said."

Sounds good to me.

From the Science and Religion File

Saudi Arabia's war between god and archaeology

"For decades, Saudi Arabia's powerful clerics have waged a bitter battle against pagan faiths, idol worship, heresy, alcohol – and archaeology."

[---]

"News that David Kennedy, an Australian scholar, has succeeded in identifying almost 2,000 unexplored archaeological sites using Google Earth has focused attention on the wages of that battle: the destruction of Saudi Arabia's own heritage"

[---]

"The Kingdom's ultraconservative clerics believe that the veneration of ancient sites associated with the Prophet Mohammad and his family is heretical, and want potential shrines obliterated.

In October last year, a Saudi clerical body was reported to have renewed long-standing calls for the demolition of several historic Islamic sites – including the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the grave of his mother.

Fears that archaeology could cast light on Saudi Arabia's pre-Islamic past also led them to campaign against excavations."

[---]

"Najran, where an ancient Christian kingdom was overrun by the Jewish king Dhu Nawas a century before the Prophet Muhammad's birth in the 7th century CE, has yielded a treasure trove of ancient stone inscriptions.

There have also been significant finds at Jurash, overlooking the Red Sea, where US archaeologists have excavated new evidence on the trading routes which once ran across the region.

Prince Sultan Bin Salman, the first Saudi Arabian astronaut, played a key rule in easing up restrictions on archaeology, as head of the Kingdom's commission for tourism and antiquities.

Museums in the Kingdom have now begun displaying finds from these sites – including nudes of Hercules and Apollo, cast in bronze. Female figurines, however, are still not on display.

However, there still seem to be limits to the kingdom's tolerance of archaeology – particularly when issues of faith are touched on. Public access to an ancient church discovered by tourists in 1986, for example, is still barred."

Hmmmmm. Similar to certain issues faced by archaeologists in North America. How many times in the past thirty years have Aboriginal people claimed that certain sites should not be excavated, citing spiritual beliefs and customs as the reason, when in fact the real reason is that archaeologists might chance upon strong evidence that disproves their absurd claim that they were "put here by the creator". Funny how religious zealots get a pass provided they aren't of the Christian variety.

Sorry Folks...

...They're empty:

Giant Beer Vats to Head to Toronto

"A swath of southern Ontario will see road closures, power outages, downed cable lines and displaced traffic lights over four nights starting Friday — all in the name of beer.

Massive vats that can hold six million bottles of beer will be hauled on flatbed trailers from Hamilton Harbour, where they arrived from Germany, to a Molson Coors facility near Pearson International Airport in suburban Toronto.

The empty beer vats are huge — 45 metres long, eight metres high and more than seven metres wide..."

[---]

"Challenger Motor Freight Inc. has worked with 70 different organizations in planning the route to avoid overpasses, co-ordinate with several police forces to close intersections, raise or cut hydro and cable wires to get the vats through, steer trucks by remote control through tight areas and remove metal poles and then weld them back in place."

[---]

"The beer vats, which resemble jet engines, have been loaded onto six giant flatbed trailers to be hauled by transport trucks.

They leave Hamilton on Friday night and wind their way through Burlington, Halton Region, Oakville, Milton, Peel Region, Mississauga, Brampton and York Region before ending up in Toronto on Tuesday morning.

The convoy will travel between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. to minimize disruption to local residents and businesses, Sheehan said.

The six transport trucks are part of a 40-vehicle convoy to escort the vats. It will stretch more than one-kilometre long, and will often be travelling at walking speed. During the day, the convoy will park along the side of the road.

Twenty of those vehicles will be police cruisers, though more police officers will close down roads as the convoy approaches intersections, Sheehan said.

Because of the height of the booze-bound cargo, about 1,614 service wires will be raised or otherwise manoeuvred to ready the route for the convoy, and others still will have to be cut.

Sheehan said power, phone and cable outages are expected to last about half an hour. The convoy will stop and wait until all wires are reconnected to proceed.

Utility vehicles will also make up the convoy, as will a mechanic, a welder to reattach the approximately 250 traffic lights that are expected to be moved for the trucks to get through, and a food truck.

The convoy can't exactly make a pit stop at the Tim Hortons drive-thru, Sheehan quipped."

As a Canadian, I like a good cold beer as much as the next Canuck, but sheesh! This is a bit much. All that rigmarole and no beer? And no Timmies????

My Last Anti-CBC Rant of 2010

Driving back yesterday from Oil Country I have to confess I listened to the only station my pathetic excuse of a car radio could pull in the whole way - CBC. It always helps to listen once in a while just to confirm it hasn't changed its tune.

This time it was Jian Ghomeshi's Q. You can listen to it here.

Highlight of the broadcast comes at the 16 minute mark with musical artist, Chilly Gonzales. Gonzales believes artists should not receive government funding. Ghomeshi was aghast. Not only was he horrified with the idea, but he was clearly disturbed that it was floated on his program!!