I got my seasonal flu shot today, the same week that the provincial government is rolling out its H1N1 vaccine plan. I am not sure that I will get the vaccine because I don't think I quite fall into the danger zones. I have, nevertheless, been fascinated by the debate the program has caused. It is a testament to the information age in which we live that so many people would have an opinion, and a platform to deliver it, on a public health matter. It is a good thing; those that want to be informed have informed arguments to view. And while I would agree that the media has blown the threat of H1N1 out of proportion relative to its spread so far, that should not mean we don't need to be vigilant. I took a history course called The History of Disease and we studied the 1918 flu outbreak. More people died from the flu in 1918=1919 than did in World War 1. This threat may be no different than the bird flu of a few years ago but that does not mean we should be prepared.
I think I will check those ages again and then probably ask my doctor.
I got a call from Wheat on Monday where he let me in on a little secret. I have since been sitting on this secret wanting desperately to spread it. I have been patiently waiting for him to make some sort of public announcement, but that's just not his style, so I have been left wanting. I can sit on it no longer. On his recent trip to visit his brother in the Bahamas Wheat and Melissa got engaged to be married. It came as a shock to me mostly because I was never asked if I approved. Luckily I do, so I won't have to stand at the ceremony when they ask if anyone objects.
More importantly, this means that the list of Fredericton's most eligible bachelor's is shortened by 1 and the proud few of us that remain are the last of the unplucked gems.
File this under the list of things I feel I should have known more about, but it appears as though the oldest living Canadian was a New Brunswicker. Sadly, as you can tell by the tense used in the previous sentence, she has passed away.
Margaret Fitzgerald was born in 1896 and celebrated her 113 birthday a few weeks ago. She was born in Tankville, just North of Moncton and spent her last days in a nursing home in town. Her only living relative is her nephew Reg King, who is 90. She was thought to be one of the 15 oldest people in the world at the time of her death.
To put it in perspective, she was born when Canada was 19 years old and had Wilfred Laurier as Prime Minister; the same year that Henry Ford invented his first horseless carriage and 5 years before Marconi sent a telegraph across the ocean. She was 21 when Canadians won the Battle of Vimy Ridge and turned 49 the year the Second World War ended. She was 78 when I was born and turned 100 the year Jean Chretien 'had to choke a bitch'.
The images of my childhood are of big cars, rotary phones, and 12 channel tvs. Margaret grew up when horses were still the primary mode of transportation, iceboxes kept food cold, and radios were 'gathered 'round'. It's hard to fathom that our generation will see as much change in our lifetime as she did in hers. I guess it helps if you live to be 113. Amazing.
Friday night I stopped by North's and picked up some vinyl that a generous friend had left there for me. This was a good little score; the Dead, David Bowie, among others, including The Boomtown Rats. The only song I ever knew of theirs was I Don't Like Mondays. So I looked up a video for the song this morning and found a few. One of them included an explanation of the song, which is a story I never know, but everyone should. Maybe most people do, who knows.
The song is about a school shooting in 1979 in San Diego. The shooter was a 16 year old girl who lived across the street from Cleveland Elementary. She killed 2 adults and wounded 8 children and another adult. After the incident, when asked the one question of why, she is said to have shrugged "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." She is still in a California jail.
We tend to think of school shooting to be a reflection of today's societal ills; this debunks that at least a bit. Quite simply there have always been some messed up kids. We might be producing more now but that's just demographic inflation. Plus mental illness is mental illness.
I actually had no idea what this song was about. Hadn't even bothered to make sense of the lyrics. It's a better song after knowing that. Here is the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0qNGYxUwmU and here is someone else's sim city interpretation. No shit:
Seeing the original video now put Jeremy in context. Mind you that was almost 20 years ago too.
My intrepid friend Jonesy, the wandering financial advisor, is off on another global adventure after this one, this one and this one. He is off this time to do the one that seems to be the most physically demanding (or insane). He is going to the Sahara to run in an ultra marathon, or something like it. The Sahara Race is part of a larger, global competition called 4 Deserts which is appears to be 4 times as insane as doing 1 (which is in no way meant to diminsih the insanity of 1). Jonesy will be travelling between 10 and 50 miles per day for 6 days. In the Sahara. That's crazy.
Jonesy is taking off next week and the race itself starts on the 25th. He will be sending updates from the desert here. Jonesy is stubborn as hell. He'll keep running until his feet fall off.
If The Rock would have won our game versus Ontario I would have spent last weekend in BC. That would have been pretty sweet. But as it turns out I am pretty happy to have been stuck in NB instead. Furthermore, I count myself very fortunate for the people I've surrounded myself with. My thanksgiving weekend entailed a big win (and league Championship) with the Loyalists, followed by a big night at the clubhouse. On Sunday I hit the road with my Dad and brother to join my sister and brother-in-law, my aunt (dad's sister) and her husband, mom, stepfather and grandparents at their house on the coast in Rexton. It was a lovely time with wonderful food and even better (hard to believe that's possible) company. It was everything thanksgiving should be and certainly reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for.
Back in the office this morning I was checking the weekend news and found this piece about an Amazonian tribe that was decimated by a greed driven genocide in the early 90's. There are only 5 members left of the Akuntsu tribe. I've always been amazed at the thought of an animal species going extinct during our lifetime but the thought of an ancient peoples going extinct and even more surreal to be reading a story about it on the internet. The remaining members will watch their own demise as it unfolds. It's a very sad testament to the state of the world.
On the flip side though, this thought made me doubly thankful that among my tribe times are good. The rugby club is fluid, some of the elders are moving on and changing roles, but others are coming into the fold. Among my family my two parental families have gotten closer and, in doing so, getting bigger. I'm sure mom would rather it would be growing with my children but I'm still hopeful for that too. For now, though, I hope they all know how thankful I am for them all. I mean I got two thanksgiving dinners!
It was announced yesterday morning that US President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The win has already been widely decried as very premature just 9 months into his presidency with almost all of his campaign promises still on the shelf. The win was basically for his re-introduction of diplomacy as a foreign policy tool for the States. He has done that, most notably engaging Cuba and Russia. At the same time, however, he has ramped up the war in Afghanistan and become more active in Pakistan. It's a dicey call but he is quite the salesman.
I had to coach in the rain this evening so I purchased a dollar store umbrella to keep my at least partially dry. It will be interesting to see just how long a dollar store umbrella lasts but I was willing to bet 2$ that it would last as long as 1 practice. As it turns out practice was cancelled so it will last at least another day. It did get me thinking, however, about who invented the umbrella. It was, of course, Normy's Egyptian forefathers. Although they also appear in ancient Greece and China as well. In modern times it was, not surprisingly, the British that waterproofed it and modernized it. The more you know. I'm almost positive mine isn't made of whalebone.
Today in Rio de Janeiro a major announcement was made to a sweaty throng on Copacabana Beach: the 2016 Olympics are coming to town. I can only imagine how much Olympic Bid Victory sex was had right there on that beach. If getting sand (or crabs) out of a thong was an Olympic event the Brazillians would win by a mile. And if figure skating can be an Olympic sport I think a case could be made for an event for the best Brazillian. I'll judge and everything. Here's a former champion:
In all seriousness, that is going to one crazy couple of weeks in 2016.
Based on this story from Deadspin, it appears that, in this Olympic year at least, that this is not your Grandfather's Canada. We are not playing nicely. The story is, basically, that we are sticking to the letter of the Olympic rules in alloting time for foreign athletes to train at the Olympic venues. In doiing so we are not honouring previously held gentlemen's agreement held by different sports' organizations. We are well within our rights to do this as host, the sense is though, that we just aren't being very Canadian about it.
Frankly, I love it. We will still be gracious hosts, but we will use every advantage afforded us in hosting these games. In Calgary we did not win a gold medal. We don't want to repeat that feat next February. For the time being, keep on whinning World.
As an aside, I hope to make it to the Olympics but more on that another time.
