I am on the PMO's (Prime Ministers Office's) mailing list for news releases. Early this morning I got a email from the PMO saying that Stephen Harper is planning to fulfil his promise to lower GST again this year to 5%. Many people may think this is good because they don't have to pay as much when you're buying something such as a book. For instance, if you're buying a book it might say it's $12.00, with 5% GST it would only be an extra $0.60 extra so the total would be $12.60. If Canada had 25% GST a $12 book would cost $15, 3 dollars extra. So that could be the good side of less GST.
Some studies show though that lower GST could mean worse health care, worse education, higher poverty rates, more drug use etc. But if you have higher GST it's exactly the opposite. With higher GST it could mean better health, better education, lower poverty rates and less drug use. This is a section of a study by the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives that explains higher standards in the Nordic Countries:
According to the study, tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation’s citizens. For example, the high-tax Nordic countries have:
lower rates of poverty, more equal income distribution, and more economic security for their workers;
- higher GDP per capita;
- higher rates of household saving and net national saving;
- greater innovation, including a higher percentage of GDP spent on research and development;
a higher ranking on their growth competitiveness by the World Economic Forum;
- higher rates of secondary school and university completion; and
- less drug use, more leisure time, and higher life satisfaction.
To see the study click here.
So I think that it would be a lot better if they started raising the money for GST so that we could all have a higher quality of life. I think that if we have to pay more for GST it's worth it if we will all have better health care, education, lower poverty and less drug use.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Gas guzzlers favoured by Harper's Tories
This was one of the headlines for the Winnipeg Free Press on December 27. Apparently Stephen Harper has purchased 844 SUV's. They defended their purchase by saying that one third of them are hybrids. Personally I don't think that's good enough. I think that a least three quarters of them should be hybrids but I'd rather have all of them be hybrids. Actually, I'd rather them have a whole different vehicle that doesn't guzzle as much gas. This paragraph from the article shows how much the government's purchase of SUV's has increased in the past years -
Even as the government offers rebates to encourage Canadians to drive more fuel-efficient cars, its own spending on SUV's rose 88 per cent over the previous year. The Public Works Department ordered 844 new SUV's last year, a large leap from the 500 purchased the year before and the 366 in 2004-05, the last full-fiscal year under a Liberal government.
This section shows that other domestic departments are also purchasing SUV's -
Some domestic departments also made large SUV purchases, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of Canada's food supply. The CFIA spent more than $3 million on SUV's last year, compared to $32,236 the year before, to replace an aging fleet of vehicles.
All but two of the SUV's purchased were hybrid engines.
So unlike the SUV's that Stephen Harper purchased, the CFIA's SUV's were almost all hybrids.
To see the original article in the Winnipeg Free Press visit the Gas guzzlers favoured by Harper's Tories article.
Even as the government offers rebates to encourage Canadians to drive more fuel-efficient cars, its own spending on SUV's rose 88 per cent over the previous year. The Public Works Department ordered 844 new SUV's last year, a large leap from the 500 purchased the year before and the 366 in 2004-05, the last full-fiscal year under a Liberal government.
This section shows that other domestic departments are also purchasing SUV's -
Some domestic departments also made large SUV purchases, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of Canada's food supply. The CFIA spent more than $3 million on SUV's last year, compared to $32,236 the year before, to replace an aging fleet of vehicles.
All but two of the SUV's purchased were hybrid engines.
So unlike the SUV's that Stephen Harper purchased, the CFIA's SUV's were almost all hybrids.
To see the original article in the Winnipeg Free Press visit the Gas guzzlers favoured by Harper's Tories article.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Newspaper Delay
Lots of people who receive my newspaper are probably wondering why they haven't got it yet. Well, I'm working hard, that's for sure! It will hopefully come out very early in the new year. I am very sorry about the delay.
On a different note - I have come across a great blog written by a kid around my age. It's called Ollie's Book Blog. A recent post talks about how the Windsor city council is planning to cut the amount of money that the libraries receive. As a matter of fact the person who writes this blog is the daughter of the person who writes Scale Down Windsor. (See post from December 13) So this is a very cool blog and I suggest you check it out.
On a different note - I have come across a great blog written by a kid around my age. It's called Ollie's Book Blog. A recent post talks about how the Windsor city council is planning to cut the amount of money that the libraries receive. As a matter of fact the person who writes this blog is the daughter of the person who writes Scale Down Windsor. (See post from December 13) So this is a very cool blog and I suggest you check it out.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Now the reason I have not been posting for a long time is because, of course, it's Christmas. I have been celebrating Christmas with my family and I have not had any opportunities to blog. So please keep visiting this site becasue I assure you that tomorrow I will get right back on blogging.
I hope that everyon has had a wonderful Christmas filled with hapiness and joy. So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
I hope that everyon has had a wonderful Christmas filled with hapiness and joy. So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Suprising Votes
First of all, I know, I know, I haven't written here for a long time. I've been very busy. My poll about what people do to make their lifestyles more environmentally friendly closed a long time ago and now I need to report on it. The votes are as follows:
What do people do at home to make their lifestyles more environmentally friendly?
Recycle: 31 people with 96%
Compost: 18 people with 56%
Florescent Light bulbs: 26 people with 81%
Environmentally Friendly Power Sources: 14 people with 43%
Hybrid Car: 4 people with 12%
I'm quite surprised at how many people use environmentally friendly power sources. I expected their to be only about five. I'm also surprised that so many people use florescent light bulbs. This is very good. Even though only 4 people have a hybrid car. I didn't expect there to be a lot.
I will be putting another poll on the side soon.
What do people do at home to make their lifestyles more environmentally friendly?
Recycle: 31 people with 96%
Compost: 18 people with 56%
Florescent Light bulbs: 26 people with 81%
Environmentally Friendly Power Sources: 14 people with 43%
Hybrid Car: 4 people with 12%
I'm quite surprised at how many people use environmentally friendly power sources. I expected their to be only about five. I'm also surprised that so many people use florescent light bulbs. This is very good. Even though only 4 people have a hybrid car. I didn't expect there to be a lot.
I will be putting another poll on the side soon.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
"A Killer Blog"
Now which blog are you talking about? It could be the blog of some famous celebrity, or a newspaper columnist but one person thinks that my blog falls under that category. On the blog Scale Down Windsor, one of the three writers on the blog wrote a post about my blog. He had first heard of me from the Windsor Star, I guess the article just keeps spreading! He even called my blog "a killer blog." His blog seems pretty "killer" too!
One of the latest posts on the blog talked about The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Here's a link to his blog www.scaledownwindsor.blogspot.com
One of the latest posts on the blog talked about The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Here's a link to his blog www.scaledownwindsor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Human Rights Day
I said that I would update you on how my human rights day thing went at my school so here it is.
In all, we wrote 29 letters of three different kinds. Most people wrote one, some wrote two, and some even wrote all three! Here are the three different letters that we wrote.
One to the Minister of Justice in China. It was about a journalist in China named Shi Tao who was imprisoned for sending an email. He was writing up on the anniversary of Tiannemun Square. The government had told all the journalists that this was what he had to write for the article. He then emailed the article that he was supposed to write to a correspondent in the USA saying look, this is what we have to write. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Another one to President Putin in Russia. This was about a "disappeared" student named Artur Akhmatkhanov had disappeared from his home. Artur volunteered for the Russian - Chechen Friendship Society which monitors human rights and promotes a peaceful end to conflict. Soldiers wearing masks took him from his home.
The last type of letter that we wrote was to General Than Shwe of Myanmar. It was about Aung San Suu Kyi who is the leader of the National League for Democracy which was voted for in the 1990 election. The authorities would not hand over power though. She was under house arrest for many years. In 2003, right after she was released from house arrest, she was one her way to the capital and she was attacked and arrested. She was put in jail with no charge and no trial.
I think that these were all very important topics and I'm glad that we wrote 29 letters. Visit the Write for Rights website to show were I created an account for my class and see what other people wrote about. Mine might be near the bottom. Anyway, it's a great cause and I will definitely be doing this again next year!
In all, we wrote 29 letters of three different kinds. Most people wrote one, some wrote two, and some even wrote all three! Here are the three different letters that we wrote.
One to the Minister of Justice in China. It was about a journalist in China named Shi Tao who was imprisoned for sending an email. He was writing up on the anniversary of Tiannemun Square. The government had told all the journalists that this was what he had to write for the article. He then emailed the article that he was supposed to write to a correspondent in the USA saying look, this is what we have to write. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Another one to President Putin in Russia. This was about a "disappeared" student named Artur Akhmatkhanov had disappeared from his home. Artur volunteered for the Russian - Chechen Friendship Society which monitors human rights and promotes a peaceful end to conflict. Soldiers wearing masks took him from his home.
The last type of letter that we wrote was to General Than Shwe of Myanmar. It was about Aung San Suu Kyi who is the leader of the National League for Democracy which was voted for in the 1990 election. The authorities would not hand over power though. She was under house arrest for many years. In 2003, right after she was released from house arrest, she was one her way to the capital and she was attacked and arrested. She was put in jail with no charge and no trial.
I think that these were all very important topics and I'm glad that we wrote 29 letters. Visit the Write for Rights website to show were I created an account for my class and see what other people wrote about. Mine might be near the bottom. Anyway, it's a great cause and I will definitely be doing this again next year!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Write, write, write!
For those of you who don't know, tomorrow is human rights day. It is a world wide event where people write letters to the leaders of countries where people have been injustly prisoned. For instance there was a man in China who was imprisoned for 10 years for writing an email. I think that this is a big problem and I encourage everyone who reads my blog and people you know to write to leaders of countries to try to solve this problem. Here is a link to the website that has all the information: http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/index.php.
Tomorrow I will report on how my day went of writing letters!
Tomorrow I will report on how my day went of writing letters!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Garneau 2007 Winter Concert
Last night was the 2007 Garneau Winter Concert. It was alot different from past years becasue usually we do a play or something and each class does a scene. This year the Calgary School of Samba came for the whole week to teach us Samba dancing. Samba dancing is a type of dance in Brazil that they dance most in the carnival season. Each grade did a different style of dance. The grade 5/6's theme was freedom and we danced to the Makulele which is a warrior dance. The dance incorporated parts of working in sugar cane fields and war dances. It was very hard for everyone to get the dance memorized though as we only had one week. I only had 3 days because I was in Coquiltam the other 2. The practices started off rocky but in the end I think the performance was as good as we could have made it.
Also part of the Calgary School of Samba coming meant that a drumming teacer would come and teach us drumming. We each got to choose our percussion instrument but because I was 2 days late I didn't get my choice. I was stuck with the mighty - mighty triangle. Each section of instruments got a different part during the Funky Samba Groove and my part, along with two of my other friends, was to go cha - cha - cha cha cha cha cha. Others with humougous bass drums and me with the triangle, I felt smaller I guess - but it was still fun! We all did the drumming part after our dance of freedom!
Before the drumming and the dancing though the choir sang. Last year I wasn't in the choir but this year I decided I would. We sang three songs at the very beginning of the concert. Sleep Little One, Winter Troika Ride and Winter Fantasy. I think the choir was very fun and I enjoyed all the songs. My mom afterwards said that she though we just got better and better. She also though that the last song sounded the hardest though even though it was the easiest:)
So all in all it was a very fun night. Unfortunately though my mom only took one picture of the choir! And that's all! But anyway we might try to gather some pictures from other parents so there will (hopefully) be pictures to come!
Also part of the Calgary School of Samba coming meant that a drumming teacer would come and teach us drumming. We each got to choose our percussion instrument but because I was 2 days late I didn't get my choice. I was stuck with the mighty - mighty triangle. Each section of instruments got a different part during the Funky Samba Groove and my part, along with two of my other friends, was to go cha - cha - cha cha cha cha cha. Others with humougous bass drums and me with the triangle, I felt smaller I guess - but it was still fun! We all did the drumming part after our dance of freedom!
Before the drumming and the dancing though the choir sang. Last year I wasn't in the choir but this year I decided I would. We sang three songs at the very beginning of the concert. Sleep Little One, Winter Troika Ride and Winter Fantasy. I think the choir was very fun and I enjoyed all the songs. My mom afterwards said that she though we just got better and better. She also though that the last song sounded the hardest though even though it was the easiest:)
So all in all it was a very fun night. Unfortunately though my mom only took one picture of the choir! And that's all! But anyway we might try to gather some pictures from other parents so there will (hopefully) be pictures to come!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Vancouver Olympic Mascots Released
The mascots for the 2010 Olympic mascots were released last week. There are three of them - all very interesting but I still have some questions about the mascots and the Olympic games but first lets see what the mascots are.
Quatchi - is a Sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada. He really likes hockey and wants to be a world famous goalie. Quatchi is shy and clumsy but loves to go to new places and meet new friends.
Miga - is a sea bear who lives in the ocean out past Vancouver Island near Tofino, British Columbia. Sea bears are part killer whale and part bear. Miga is part Kermode bear, a rare white bear that only lives in British Columbia.
Sumi - is a animal spirit. He lives in the mountains and like many Canadians he is drawn from many different backgrounds. He has the hat of an orca whale, the wings of a thunder bird and the legs of a black bear. He is also the mascot for the Paralympic games.
Now I have a stuffed version of each of these mascots and what suprised me was that first of all the 2010 Olympic mascots came out in 2007. Kind of strange. Also the stuffies were made in China. I know them being made in China would be cheaper but if it's fro the Olympic games in Canada why would they be made in China. Also there has been some controversy over the whole Olympic games. Someone said in response to my "Send a Letter to Your City Council Today!" post that "The problem with "anti idling" bylaws, is that they become a way for local official to legally harass homeless people.It is a bad idea.You'll see a lot more ideas as we get closer to the Olympics." I don't understand the part about how anti - idling bylaws can become away for local official to legally harrass homeless people. I do understand though how it can become a problem around the Olympics and I don't agree wuth that. The part of the local officials legally harassing homeless people. I heard that in Vancouver they are kicking some of the homeless people out of downtown to "clean up the place." I also think that we will start to be seeing a lot more downsides to the Olympics in the coming years.
I guess we'll just have to find out. As for the mascots being made in China I think that something like this has to be a uniquely Canadian item that isn't made in China and possibly in a sweatshop where people are being treated poorly. That's just my opinion.
Quatchi - is a Sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada. He really likes hockey and wants to be a world famous goalie. Quatchi is shy and clumsy but loves to go to new places and meet new friends.
Miga - is a sea bear who lives in the ocean out past Vancouver Island near Tofino, British Columbia. Sea bears are part killer whale and part bear. Miga is part Kermode bear, a rare white bear that only lives in British Columbia.
Sumi - is a animal spirit. He lives in the mountains and like many Canadians he is drawn from many different backgrounds. He has the hat of an orca whale, the wings of a thunder bird and the legs of a black bear. He is also the mascot for the Paralympic games.
Now I have a stuffed version of each of these mascots and what suprised me was that first of all the 2010 Olympic mascots came out in 2007. Kind of strange. Also the stuffies were made in China. I know them being made in China would be cheaper but if it's fro the Olympic games in Canada why would they be made in China. Also there has been some controversy over the whole Olympic games. Someone said in response to my "Send a Letter to Your City Council Today!" post that "The problem with "anti idling" bylaws, is that they become a way for local official to legally harass homeless people.It is a bad idea.You'll see a lot more ideas as we get closer to the Olympics." I don't understand the part about how anti - idling bylaws can become away for local official to legally harrass homeless people. I do understand though how it can become a problem around the Olympics and I don't agree wuth that. The part of the local officials legally harassing homeless people. I heard that in Vancouver they are kicking some of the homeless people out of downtown to "clean up the place." I also think that we will start to be seeing a lot more downsides to the Olympics in the coming years.
I guess we'll just have to find out. As for the mascots being made in China I think that something like this has to be a uniquely Canadian item that isn't made in China and possibly in a sweatshop where people are being treated poorly. That's just my opinion.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Ridin' the Pineapple Express
The pineapple express could be a very large freight train that carries pineapples that goes from one place to the next without stopping. Or it could be a passenger train that you'd have to pay with a pineapple for addmisions that went from one place to the next without stopping. But it's neither of those. The pineapple express that I'm talking aobut is a type of weather system. The name is called pineapple express becasue it's a weather system that is carried from places like Hawaii where they grow pineapples. The weather that is in the pineapple express is very warm weather but has lots of rain. The pineapple express came through Vancouver today and we got tons of rain! Right now it's 13 degrees outside and still raining!
I took Wilma for a walk today and we got soaked. It wasn't raining at first but when it started raining Wilma wanted to go right back! But of course I made her walk another 10 minutes!
So obviously we have no snow anymore. Between the rain and the warmth the only thing left of my grand snow chair is a measly island of snow amid bright green grass. Yes - it's still green! I bet in Edmonton it's still brown. I also heard that Edmonton got snow today and it was cold. Lucky BCians!
I took Wilma for a walk today and we got soaked. It wasn't raining at first but when it started raining Wilma wanted to go right back! But of course I made her walk another 10 minutes!
So obviously we have no snow anymore. Between the rain and the warmth the only thing left of my grand snow chair is a measly island of snow amid bright green grass. Yes - it's still green! I bet in Edmonton it's still brown. I also heard that Edmonton got snow today and it was cold. Lucky BCians!
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Snow - In Coquitlam?
For the past two days in Coquitlam it's been snow, snow and more snow. What more amazing is that this aprt of BC hardly ever gets any snow. I talked to our neighbour and he said that there hasn't been this much snow since he moved here three years ago. Big, fluffy flakes of the snow pounded down. I have never seen such big snow flakes.
The first day it snowed - December first there was still a lot but only a couple inches. Right away in the morning we went in to the hot tub. Fun, fun, fun! We went on wintry walks through the forest right outside our door. Today ever MORE snow came over night and it's still coming! There is now almost a foot of snow! We tried to shovel our driveway and sidewalk but the snow was coming too fast. But more snow means more fun. We first made a gigantic snow ball which was big than me if I were to crouch in to a ball. I then carved it into a snow chair! Brrrrrrrrrrr. It was cold. And cold calls for... hot chocolate! Now we are just hanging around the house watching the snow fall down. Right now we are getting ready to set up the Christmas tree. I know you might be thinking - set up the Christmas tree? It's only December. But I really wanted to set up the Christmas tree while I was here so we are!
All in all a very fun weekend! Stay tuned for pictures of my snowy weekend! I gotta go set up the tree now!
The first day it snowed - December first there was still a lot but only a couple inches. Right away in the morning we went in to the hot tub. Fun, fun, fun! We went on wintry walks through the forest right outside our door. Today ever MORE snow came over night and it's still coming! There is now almost a foot of snow! We tried to shovel our driveway and sidewalk but the snow was coming too fast. But more snow means more fun. We first made a gigantic snow ball which was big than me if I were to crouch in to a ball. I then carved it into a snow chair! Brrrrrrrrrrr. It was cold. And cold calls for... hot chocolate! Now we are just hanging around the house watching the snow fall down. Right now we are getting ready to set up the Christmas tree. I know you might be thinking - set up the Christmas tree? It's only December. But I really wanted to set up the Christmas tree while I was here so we are!
All in all a very fun weekend! Stay tuned for pictures of my snowy weekend! I gotta go set up the tree now!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Send a Letter to Your City Council Today!
My poll has said that indeed we should ask our municipal government to introduce an anti-idling bylaw. My poll has just closed with the results to the question "Do you think that your municipal government should make a bylaw against idling?" as:
Yes - 34 85%
No - 5 12%
Undecided - 1 2%
So I'm asking you to please send a letter to your city council asking them to introduce an anti - idling bylaw as soon as possible. I'm getting on it right away for the Edmonton City Council.
I've also added another poll on the side to look and vote on. By the way - as there is no archives for the polls I will post something about each poll after they have closed.
Send a letter to your city council today
Yes - 34 85%
No - 5 12%
Undecided - 1 2%
So I'm asking you to please send a letter to your city council asking them to introduce an anti - idling bylaw as soon as possible. I'm getting on it right away for the Edmonton City Council.
I've also added another poll on the side to look and vote on. By the way - as there is no archives for the polls I will post something about each poll after they have closed.
Send a letter to your city council today
Thursday, November 29, 2007
From Radio to Television
It all started out with a little radio interview at 3:oo PM. All the kids in my class said "oh, no one listens to CBC at 3:00 PM anyway." But then the husband of Marta Gold my interviewer for the Edmonton Journal saw my blog and recognized me from my CBC interview. And then I became in five newspapers. First the Edmonton Journal and then the National Post found out. Also - I don't just call myself "elementary school student and newspaper publisher." (See National Post article) Then the Victoria Times Colonist found out and the Regina Leader Post and the Vancouver Province.
What does this mean? Is it good bad? Sure publicity is good for the newspaper and my blog. And of course it's just plain cool to be on CBC and in five newspapers. You can even see it going up for the blog on my Google Analytics account. I think it's good because I can make my ideas public to the public. Not many kids and probably not even many adults even get to do that. I consider myself very lucky.
Oh yeah - I still haven't mentioned Global Television. Yep TELEVISION. They phoned me on Tuesday and said they wanted an interview on Thursday. They wanted to see me at home and at school. So it's all over now and it was very exciting. They came for about an hour and a half even. So for those of you in Edmonton the interview will be on Global Television at 6:00 PM on
Monday.
From radio to television. How about that for an eleven year old eh?
What does this mean? Is it good bad? Sure publicity is good for the newspaper and my blog. And of course it's just plain cool to be on CBC and in five newspapers. You can even see it going up for the blog on my Google Analytics account. I think it's good because I can make my ideas public to the public. Not many kids and probably not even many adults even get to do that. I consider myself very lucky.
Oh yeah - I still haven't mentioned Global Television. Yep TELEVISION. They phoned me on Tuesday and said they wanted an interview on Thursday. They wanted to see me at home and at school. So it's all over now and it was very exciting. They came for about an hour and a half even. So for those of you in Edmonton the interview will be on Global Television at 6:00 PM on
Monday.
From radio to television. How about that for an eleven year old eh?
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Handball Tournament
I've heard of a story about how my great-opa was saved from certain death by a sport called handball. Now many people now don't know what handball is. You're probably thinking that handball is like Racket Ball but with your hands not a racket. Well - it's not.
It's a team sport. It could be described as a mix between basketball and hockey, or basketball or soccer. Two teams play against each other with a with a fairly small ball that you pass between your team mates and try to score. You can only take three steps with the ball though and you can't enter the goalies crease. It sounds fairly simple and it is but it's still hard to play.
Anyway, on Saturday I went to a handball tournament at the University with the school. There were about 6 different schools there. The challenge though was that for many of the schools this was their second time at the tournament but for my school this was their first time. There were three teams for my school and each team was guaranteed three games. The first team I played had obviously been coming to the tournament for many years. They were the "jumping team" we named them because of their humongous, almost impossible to block, jump shots on goal. We lost 2 - 12. The second team we played was also very good. The "grabbing team" we named them because of one girl on the team who always grabbed the ball from our team. We lost 1 - 7. Our third game we played (the "fast team" because of their one fast runner who streamed from one side of the court to the other) was also very hard. But after all our other games we had definitely improved. I scored a goal. We lost 2 - 6. Not bad.
Now you may be thinking. "Oh - you must be bummed as you lost all your games." But no - I'm not bummed. I had a great time and learned a lot. In the end the second team for my school made it to the quarter finals. They lost to the "grabbing team." Too bad but still good for our first year at the tournament.
By the way on the side there is a slide-show of photos from the tournament.
It's a team sport. It could be described as a mix between basketball and hockey, or basketball or soccer. Two teams play against each other with a with a fairly small ball that you pass between your team mates and try to score. You can only take three steps with the ball though and you can't enter the goalies crease. It sounds fairly simple and it is but it's still hard to play.
Anyway, on Saturday I went to a handball tournament at the University with the school. There were about 6 different schools there. The challenge though was that for many of the schools this was their second time at the tournament but for my school this was their first time. There were three teams for my school and each team was guaranteed three games. The first team I played had obviously been coming to the tournament for many years. They were the "jumping team" we named them because of their humongous, almost impossible to block, jump shots on goal. We lost 2 - 12. The second team we played was also very good. The "grabbing team" we named them because of one girl on the team who always grabbed the ball from our team. We lost 1 - 7. Our third game we played (the "fast team" because of their one fast runner who streamed from one side of the court to the other) was also very hard. But after all our other games we had definitely improved. I scored a goal. We lost 2 - 6. Not bad.
Now you may be thinking. "Oh - you must be bummed as you lost all your games." But no - I'm not bummed. I had a great time and learned a lot. In the end the second team for my school made it to the quarter finals. They lost to the "grabbing team." Too bad but still good for our first year at the tournament.
By the way on the side there is a slide-show of photos from the tournament.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Fast track to the wide world
Isaac Wurmann may well be the only writer on blogspot.com who lists his occupation as "elementary school student and newspaper publisher."
The 11-year-old Edmonton boy has been putting out his own quarterly newspaper, Die Zeitung, (German for The Newspaper) for about two years. About 20 or 30 friends and family members subscribe, mostly via e-mail.
Much of Die Zeitung details the life of a typical kid his age. Isaac writes about his travels to Disneyland, the Badlands and to Germany, a family trip that inspired the name for his paper. He also writes book, movie and music reviews, ghost stories and puzzles.
What is most surprising about the paper isn't the quality of his writing, photos or design -- all very good -- or even the sheer volume of work put into each edition - huge - but rather, the amount of politics and opinion on display.
In recent issues, Isaac has tackled Canada's Kyoto commitments and the Throne Speech. He's evaluated Stephane Dion's leadership potential. And he's derided Stephen Harper after his minions answered Isaac's heartfelt letter of concern about the environment with a letter about the Clean Air Act and an autographed picture of the PM.
"But as I say in the story above, in the Clean Air Act there is nothing to do with big greenhouse gas emitters," Isaac wrote disparagingly in his July issue, at the tender age of 10. "So I guess if you want to have a picture of Stephen Harper, just write him a letter. Is this how he is 'Getting things done, for all of us'? Because everybody needs a signed picture of Stephen Harper in their office or home. Right?"
Isaac realizes some of his interests are not those of a typical kid. His blog includes links to Stop Sweatshop Abuse, Free the Children, the Rick Mercer Report and The UN World Food Program.
"My family talks about politics more with their kids than most families," Isaac says simply, adding, "I just like it because I understand it more than most kids."
His is a political family to be sure. His dad, Roy Thorpe, has a political science degree and has taken Isaac door-knocking for the NDP. His grandmother, Sharon Wurmann, is a Raging Granny in Winnipeg. His great-grandfather, William McNamara, was a Liberal senator in the 1970s.
"Isaac has always been interested in the world out there and his mark on it," says his mother, Kirsten Wurmann, who is credited as Die Zeitung's production assistant.
Last spring, she introduced him to the climate-change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, "and seriously, it changed his life. He heard Al Gore's message that we need to spread the word."
For Earth Day at his school, Isaac set up a classroom committee to raise money to plant trees, organized a litter clean-up, prepared a PowerPoint presentation and showed it to the whole school. For Christmas, he has organized a class committee to raise money for World Vision.
"I've certainly been impressed with how very sure of himself he is and sure of his ideas," says Beth Devries, his Grade 5 and 6 teacher at Garneau Elementary. "He has strong opinions for a kid his age, but they're well supported."
His enthusiasm and maturity have won over many adults.
When he asked for a media pass to the Calgary Folk Festival this summer, he got one. When he asked for interviews with musicians, he got several, including time with Dallas Green of City and Colour and British folk band Chumbawamba. Last month when the Weakerthans played Edmonton, he got an interview with singer John K. Samson, along with the singer's personal e-mail address, he adds proudly.
He asked prominent people about their favourite books as kids and received replies from Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, lawyer and former federal NDP candidate Linda Duncan and several childrens' book authors. Premier Ed Stelmach's assistant e-mailed him back, asking for his home mailing address before sending him a response, which he never received. "That is kind of stupid, don't you think?" he wrote in his July issue.
"It kind of blows me away a little bit," says mom Kirsten of Isaac's success. "Everyone just has been so supportive to him and that really encourages him."
Isaac knows his political passions aren't always shared, or even understood, by his classmates. When he was trying to engage them in raising money for an Earth Day project, one child asked to join his "baking club," he recounts with some annoyance.
But in many ways, he's just like "a regular kid," he says. He swims for the Penguins swim club, takes piano lessons and reads Harry Potter. His tastes in TV runs to The Office, Corner Gas and Pushing Daisies. His musical tastes -- the Weakerthans, Cold Play -- are closer to his parents' than his contemporaries'. He owns a Game Boy, but says he plays it only a couple of times a year. He likes the computer, but only for writing in his blog, compiling his newspaper and checking his e-mail.
"My best friend, I don't really think he's any bit like me at all. He really likes video games and he has a PS2 and a PSP and he plays indoor soccer," says Isaac. But the two share an interest in books and movies, he adds.
Isaac has no firm plans for the future, though he's toyed with the idea of writing or becoming a politician.
His teacher, Beth Devries, has no doubt he'll find his niche. "I think he'll be a leader, he'll be a visionary of some kind. He'll be absolutely successful in whatever he chooses to do."
mgold@thejournal.canwest.com
Read Isaac's blog at istw.blogspot.com
Yes, that is an article about me in the Edmonton Journal. I did not just write it up by myself. If you want to see the original article visit my article at the Edmonton Journal.
Fun fun!!
The 11-year-old Edmonton boy has been putting out his own quarterly newspaper, Die Zeitung, (German for The Newspaper) for about two years. About 20 or 30 friends and family members subscribe, mostly via e-mail.
Much of Die Zeitung details the life of a typical kid his age. Isaac writes about his travels to Disneyland, the Badlands and to Germany, a family trip that inspired the name for his paper. He also writes book, movie and music reviews, ghost stories and puzzles.
What is most surprising about the paper isn't the quality of his writing, photos or design -- all very good -- or even the sheer volume of work put into each edition - huge - but rather, the amount of politics and opinion on display.
In recent issues, Isaac has tackled Canada's Kyoto commitments and the Throne Speech. He's evaluated Stephane Dion's leadership potential. And he's derided Stephen Harper after his minions answered Isaac's heartfelt letter of concern about the environment with a letter about the Clean Air Act and an autographed picture of the PM.
"But as I say in the story above, in the Clean Air Act there is nothing to do with big greenhouse gas emitters," Isaac wrote disparagingly in his July issue, at the tender age of 10. "So I guess if you want to have a picture of Stephen Harper, just write him a letter. Is this how he is 'Getting things done, for all of us'? Because everybody needs a signed picture of Stephen Harper in their office or home. Right?"
Isaac realizes some of his interests are not those of a typical kid. His blog includes links to Stop Sweatshop Abuse, Free the Children, the Rick Mercer Report and The UN World Food Program.
"My family talks about politics more with their kids than most families," Isaac says simply, adding, "I just like it because I understand it more than most kids."
His is a political family to be sure. His dad, Roy Thorpe, has a political science degree and has taken Isaac door-knocking for the NDP. His grandmother, Sharon Wurmann, is a Raging Granny in Winnipeg. His great-grandfather, William McNamara, was a Liberal senator in the 1970s.
"Isaac has always been interested in the world out there and his mark on it," says his mother, Kirsten Wurmann, who is credited as Die Zeitung's production assistant.
Last spring, she introduced him to the climate-change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, "and seriously, it changed his life. He heard Al Gore's message that we need to spread the word."
For Earth Day at his school, Isaac set up a classroom committee to raise money to plant trees, organized a litter clean-up, prepared a PowerPoint presentation and showed it to the whole school. For Christmas, he has organized a class committee to raise money for World Vision.
"I've certainly been impressed with how very sure of himself he is and sure of his ideas," says Beth Devries, his Grade 5 and 6 teacher at Garneau Elementary. "He has strong opinions for a kid his age, but they're well supported."
His enthusiasm and maturity have won over many adults.
When he asked for a media pass to the Calgary Folk Festival this summer, he got one. When he asked for interviews with musicians, he got several, including time with Dallas Green of City and Colour and British folk band Chumbawamba. Last month when the Weakerthans played Edmonton, he got an interview with singer John K. Samson, along with the singer's personal e-mail address, he adds proudly.
He asked prominent people about their favourite books as kids and received replies from Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, lawyer and former federal NDP candidate Linda Duncan and several childrens' book authors. Premier Ed Stelmach's assistant e-mailed him back, asking for his home mailing address before sending him a response, which he never received. "That is kind of stupid, don't you think?" he wrote in his July issue.
"It kind of blows me away a little bit," says mom Kirsten of Isaac's success. "Everyone just has been so supportive to him and that really encourages him."
Isaac knows his political passions aren't always shared, or even understood, by his classmates. When he was trying to engage them in raising money for an Earth Day project, one child asked to join his "baking club," he recounts with some annoyance.
But in many ways, he's just like "a regular kid," he says. He swims for the Penguins swim club, takes piano lessons and reads Harry Potter. His tastes in TV runs to The Office, Corner Gas and Pushing Daisies. His musical tastes -- the Weakerthans, Cold Play -- are closer to his parents' than his contemporaries'. He owns a Game Boy, but says he plays it only a couple of times a year. He likes the computer, but only for writing in his blog, compiling his newspaper and checking his e-mail.
"My best friend, I don't really think he's any bit like me at all. He really likes video games and he has a PS2 and a PSP and he plays indoor soccer," says Isaac. But the two share an interest in books and movies, he adds.
Isaac has no firm plans for the future, though he's toyed with the idea of writing or becoming a politician.
His teacher, Beth Devries, has no doubt he'll find his niche. "I think he'll be a leader, he'll be a visionary of some kind. He'll be absolutely successful in whatever he chooses to do."
mgold@thejournal.canwest.com
Read Isaac's blog at istw.blogspot.com
Yes, that is an article about me in the Edmonton Journal. I did not just write it up by myself. If you want to see the original article visit my article at the Edmonton Journal.
Fun fun!!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Computers are About Murdering you in a Lake
Last night I posted this quote at 9:45 PM. Probably lots of you were wondering what I meant by all this.
Well, I was watching the Dunder-Miflin Infinity episode of The Office last night. In the very end Michael said "Computers are About Murdering you in a Lake" because his GPS told him to turn right into Lake Scranton.
Fun-ny!!
Well, I was watching the Dunder-Miflin Infinity episode of The Office last night. In the very end Michael said "Computers are About Murdering you in a Lake" because his GPS told him to turn right into Lake Scranton.
Fun-ny!!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Coquitlam!! Cont.
Scroll down - way down to see the rest of this post.
Here are the beautiful stairs from the front hall leading up to the bedrooms.
And my beautiful bedroom. There might still be one more picture of my bedroom to come.
And here from the hall outside of my bedroom another look at the living room. Just to give you the perspective.
Now we go down, down, down to the basement with the media room.
Just outside the media room here is the hall to Doug's parents suite. You also might be able to see the door to the reading room.
The might be some more pictures to come. One more of my bedroom and a couple of the back yard. Maybe.
Here are the beautiful stairs from the front hall leading up to the bedrooms.
And my beautiful bedroom. There might still be one more picture of my bedroom to come.
And here from the hall outside of my bedroom another look at the living room. Just to give you the perspective.
Now we go down, down, down to the basement with the media room.
Just outside the media room here is the hall to Doug's parents suite. You also might be able to see the door to the reading room.
The might be some more pictures to come. One more of my bedroom and a couple of the back yard. Maybe.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Horrible Idling Facts
OK, I just searched Tim Horton's Idling in Google and the second thing that came up was a project by the U of A. It's all about driving and conserving when you drive. What I wanted to look at though was the page about idling. It's horrible. On there it says that if every driver in
Canada avoided idling for just 5 minutes a day, we would prevent more than:
1 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere
This would be like removing 200 000 cars for 1 year
Collectively, we would save 1.8 million litres of fuel
We would save $1.7 million in fuel costs
You could save over $100 each year
OK, so that's the good part. The bad part is this:
Daily emissions at one Tim Horton's outlet:
University of Alberta estimates 385 kilograms of CO2 emissions per day.
That's just ONE Tim Horton's outlet. Just ONE!!!!! So that's 140 525 kilograms of CO2 emissions per year and 3 372 600 kilograms of CO2 per year in all of the Edmonton stores, by the way, there's 24 in Edmonton. Of course that's thinking that all the stores have a drive- through, they probably don't all... phew! But still, that is terrible!! In all of Canada per year Tim Horton's (assuming all the stores have drive throughs) emit 384 054 825 kilograms of CO2 per year. Ahhhhhhhhh! Once again that's assuming that they all have drive throughs! And if you count all the Tim Horton's in the whole world ( 2 733 in Canada, 345 in the USA, and 1 outside of Kandahar Afghanistan) that emits 432 676 475 kilograms of CO2 per year. Once again, assuming they all have drive through.
So there it is. The facts. It might be horrible but it's very, very true. So, if you want to save our environment don't idle and definitely don't go to Tim Horton's drive - through. Also if you want to know more about what I told you visit the Drive Wiser project put together by the U of A.
And don't even get me started with McDonald's!!!
Canada avoided idling for just 5 minutes a day, we would prevent more than:
1 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere
This would be like removing 200 000 cars for 1 year
Collectively, we would save 1.8 million litres of fuel
We would save $1.7 million in fuel costs
You could save over $100 each year
OK, so that's the good part. The bad part is this:
Daily emissions at one Tim Horton's outlet:
University of Alberta estimates 385 kilograms of CO2 emissions per day.
That's just ONE Tim Horton's outlet. Just ONE!!!!! So that's 140 525 kilograms of CO2 emissions per year and 3 372 600 kilograms of CO2 per year in all of the Edmonton stores, by the way, there's 24 in Edmonton. Of course that's thinking that all the stores have a drive- through, they probably don't all... phew! But still, that is terrible!! In all of Canada per year Tim Horton's (assuming all the stores have drive throughs) emit 384 054 825 kilograms of CO2 per year. Ahhhhhhhhh! Once again that's assuming that they all have drive throughs! And if you count all the Tim Horton's in the whole world ( 2 733 in Canada, 345 in the USA, and 1 outside of Kandahar Afghanistan) that emits 432 676 475 kilograms of CO2 per year. Once again, assuming they all have drive through.
So there it is. The facts. It might be horrible but it's very, very true. So, if you want to save our environment don't idle and definitely don't go to Tim Horton's drive - through. Also if you want to know more about what I told you visit the Drive Wiser project put together by the U of A.
And don't even get me started with McDonald's!!!
Coquitlam!!
Finally after 4 days after being back from Vancouver I finally have pictures!! I couldn't post more than 5 pictures so there will be many more to come.
Here is my dad in the new office. It's a perfect size with a very nice desk.
Here's the family room. It's right in front of the kitchen and to the left of the Office. It has very nice big windows and to the left is a door to go outside.
This is the kitchen and eating area. This also has nice windows and in the eating area is the door to the backyard.
This is the dining room even though we hardly ever eat in it. I think you can see the humongous mirror to the left. If not it's a humongous floor to ceiling mirror. In the background you can see the living room.
Here's the living room. It is a very nice place to just sit and read or listen to music. Once again it gets lots of light from big windows through which you can see the backyard.
Once again much more pictures to come!!
Here is my dad in the new office. It's a perfect size with a very nice desk.
Here's the family room. It's right in front of the kitchen and to the left of the Office. It has very nice big windows and to the left is a door to go outside.
This is the kitchen and eating area. This also has nice windows and in the eating area is the door to the backyard.
This is the dining room even though we hardly ever eat in it. I think you can see the humongous mirror to the left. If not it's a humongous floor to ceiling mirror. In the background you can see the living room.
Here's the living room. It is a very nice place to just sit and read or listen to music. Once again it gets lots of light from big windows through which you can see the backyard.
Once again much more pictures to come!!
Friday, November 09, 2007
Qbesq
I know, strange name but I didn't come up with it.
Qbesq is a website where you can make really col drawings like the one on the right. (I don't know if many of you will be able to see the drawing.) I made this using on the website. It allows you to make symetrical designs. You get to choose how thick your lines will be made and how many line there will be. You can make very presise images with thin lines or blotchy abstract images with thick lines.
This is a very cool website and I suggest you check it out and http://www.qbesq.com/.
Qbesq is a website where you can make really col drawings like the one on the right. (I don't know if many of you will be able to see the drawing.) I made this using on the website. It allows you to make symetrical designs. You get to choose how thick your lines will be made and how many line there will be. You can make very presise images with thin lines or blotchy abstract images with thick lines.
This is a very cool website and I suggest you check it out and http://www.qbesq.com/.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Go Sweatshop Free!!!
Here is another great website that I found. It's called Stop Sweatshop Abuses and it is all about sweatshops and how to stop them.
For those people who don't know what a sweatshop is a sweatshop is: A manufacturing workplace that treats its workers inhumanely, paying low wages, imposing harsh and unsafe working conditions, and demanding levels. Factory workers get poor pay and are very common in the clothing industry. Some companies that use sweatshops are Nike, Disney, The Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Wal-Mart, Levi Straus, Old Navy and many more.
It is sad and disgusting to think that companies in this day and age still use sweatshops. Some sweatshops use child labour to get their work done. These children are treated like slaves and are beaten and payed very low wages.
If you think that this sounds disgusting and inhumane just don't buy anything from companies such as Nike that uses sweatshops. Also visit the Stop Sweatshop Abuses website and learn how to make a difference.
For those people who don't know what a sweatshop is a sweatshop is: A manufacturing workplace that treats its workers inhumanely, paying low wages, imposing harsh and unsafe working conditions, and demanding levels. Factory workers get poor pay and are very common in the clothing industry. Some companies that use sweatshops are Nike, Disney, The Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Wal-Mart, Levi Straus, Old Navy and many more.
It is sad and disgusting to think that companies in this day and age still use sweatshops. Some sweatshops use child labour to get their work done. These children are treated like slaves and are beaten and payed very low wages.
If you think that this sounds disgusting and inhumane just don't buy anything from companies such as Nike that uses sweatshops. Also visit the Stop Sweatshop Abuses website and learn how to make a difference.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Another Swim Meet!!!
On Saturday I went to another swim meet with the Penguins swim club. It was fun but a lot different from the last swim meet that I went to. The last swim meet that I went to was the Penguins Challenge with just the Penguins swim club participating. This one was with the Penguins, the Olympians, Keyano, one from Drayton Valley, one from St. Paul and one from Leduc.I did five races in the swim meet. The first one I did was 50 freestyle. I also did 50 breaststroke, 50 butterfly, 50 backstroke and a 100 IM. For those who don't know an IM stands for Individual Medley and is where the swimmer must swim a 25 of every stroke in a row. In the order of 25 butterfly, 25 backstroke, 25 breaststroke, 25 freestyle. This was the first year that the Penguins swim club handed out I Beat My Time ribbons (I know this because my mom was Chief Timer.) I got a I Beat My Time ribbons 4 times, in all of my swims except for my IM. I really should have got it for my IM because my mom (as Chief Timer) told me that my times form the Penguins challenge was: for 50 breaststroke 1:07. For 50 butterfly 1:07. (She forgot the times for 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke.) For IM 2:07. So obviously they just made those times up but I still did good without the extra ribbon.
Before the swim meet I was VERY worried about my dives for the swim meet. For the warm up we had to do a start for each stroke and swim a 25 of that stroke. My first dive for the warm up I think was perfect and the others were OK. But still after that first dive my worries were gone...almost.
This was a very good swim meet and a very good second swim meet for the Penguins swim club experience. It was also very fun! I will definitely be doing another Penguins swim meet (the next ones in February.)
Sunday, November 04, 2007
This is what our yard looked like at 5:22 PM today. Notice that in the background the field of the school yard across the street is still completely white. I wonder why... 
Snow!!
And I'm serious this time!It's very weird. I woke up at about 8 o'clock technically 7 because of the time change. Anyway I was awake for about 45 minutes before I looked outside my window and saw that there was a couple centimetres of snow!
It's going to be four degrees today though so it might very well melt. In Calgary though I guess it's still snowing and hard!!
By the way, the picture to the left was taken with my new webcam. Cool eh!!
But now that it's November fourth I almost feel ready for the snow to come ... for good.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
New Stuff
Maybe you've noticed that I've added some new stuff to my blog. I added a new video, and four new websites.
MINDHABITS: Mindhabits is a website "Founded on social intelligence research by Dr. Mark Baldwin at McGill University, these stress busting, confidence boosting games use simple, fun-to-play exercises that help players develop and maintain a more positive state of mind." My mom sent it to me and it is very interesting! For free you can make an account and access four games with out any high scores and all that but it is very interesting without paying the extra 19 dollars. It has games where you must find the happy faces amid all the sad faces. This is a great website and I suggest that you visit on the link to the right.
Free Rice: Free Rice is a website that began on October 7 this year. It's a word game that with every word that you get right donates 10 grains of rice. "The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger. The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice." This is a great website and you should definitely check it out. In less than a month already 635,231,060 grains of rice have been donated so check it out!!
Stuff You Didn't Know: This blog is full of facts and things that you probably never knew before. For instance the longest one-syllable word in the English language is“screeched.” And the dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle. Or the longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary,is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.The only other word with the same amount of letters ispneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural. This is a great website chalk full with interesting facts.
Big Things: This is a website with all the world's biggest things in Canada. It has categories for every province and it looks like actually Saskatchewan has the most biggest things. For instance the biggest UFO landing pad is in St. Paul Alberta. And the biggest Santa Clause is in Watson Saskatchewan. Or the biggest fiddle is in Cavendish PEI. This is also quite an interesting site with hundreds of worlds biggest things in Canada.
I also put a new video on the right hand side of my blog. It is the just released video for Civil Twilight by the Weakerthans. It is a very interesting and funny video from the new CD Reunion Tour. I hope it works on your computer though as sometimes it works on my computer and sometimes it doesn't.
If you have a blog and want to put some of the cool new features that I have put on my blog but don't know how to do it here it is. You go to blogger.com and sign in. Then you click Layout. Then you click Add a Page Element. It will give you a list of page elements that you could add. There are polls and pictures and videos a links. It is all very cool.
So check out all the new features that I have recently put on my blog. Hope you like it!!!
MINDHABITS: Mindhabits is a website "Founded on social intelligence research by Dr. Mark Baldwin at McGill University, these stress busting, confidence boosting games use simple, fun-to-play exercises that help players develop and maintain a more positive state of mind." My mom sent it to me and it is very interesting! For free you can make an account and access four games with out any high scores and all that but it is very interesting without paying the extra 19 dollars. It has games where you must find the happy faces amid all the sad faces. This is a great website and I suggest that you visit on the link to the right.
Free Rice: Free Rice is a website that began on October 7 this year. It's a word game that with every word that you get right donates 10 grains of rice. "The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger. The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice." This is a great website and you should definitely check it out. In less than a month already 635,231,060 grains of rice have been donated so check it out!!
Stuff You Didn't Know: This blog is full of facts and things that you probably never knew before. For instance the longest one-syllable word in the English language is“screeched.” And the dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle. Or the longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary,is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.The only other word with the same amount of letters ispneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural. This is a great website chalk full with interesting facts.
Big Things: This is a website with all the world's biggest things in Canada. It has categories for every province and it looks like actually Saskatchewan has the most biggest things. For instance the biggest UFO landing pad is in St. Paul Alberta. And the biggest Santa Clause is in Watson Saskatchewan. Or the biggest fiddle is in Cavendish PEI. This is also quite an interesting site with hundreds of worlds biggest things in Canada.
I also put a new video on the right hand side of my blog. It is the just released video for Civil Twilight by the Weakerthans. It is a very interesting and funny video from the new CD Reunion Tour. I hope it works on your computer though as sometimes it works on my computer and sometimes it doesn't.
If you have a blog and want to put some of the cool new features that I have put on my blog but don't know how to do it here it is. You go to blogger.com and sign in. Then you click Layout. Then you click Add a Page Element. It will give you a list of page elements that you could add. There are polls and pictures and videos a links. It is all very cool.
So check out all the new features that I have recently put on my blog. Hope you like it!!!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
World Vision Charity
Me and some friends at my school thought that a great thing to do this Christmas would be to donate money to World Vision through their Christmas catalogue. You can donate many things. For 55 dollars you can buy to hens and a rooster to a family that needs it most in poor countries. For $1200.00 you can fill a stable with animals. The catalogue is full of things like that.
Today we brought this up with the class and everyone wanted to help. This is great but I think that the problem with this is that people probably think that we will do a bake sale and the World Vision Committee will quickly become the Baking Club. The same thing happened last year where I started an Earth Day Committee. The second day that I started talking about a girl in my class came up and asked if she could join the Baking Club. So me and Rebecca (my friend who also came up with the idea and is sharing the role of chair person of the committee) decided that this year we will definitely not be doing a bake sale.
Last week our class formed a Halloween Committee to put together a Halloween Committee. The committee and the party went very well. Every Thursday we have a class council meeting with our class government. Me and Rebecca put forward the idea of a committee for World Vision. Everyone agreed that this was a great idea. Later on someone thought that the people for the Halloween Committee should get paid with our class money Scholar Dollars. Then people thought that the World Vision Committee should get paid. I definitely do not agree with this idea! Anyway Aden in the class council moved that the Halloween Committee and the World Vision Committee get paid. It passed!!
Urgggggg!!!
The reason I don't want to get paid for this is because it's a charity. I think that a charity means that you help someone or something with no reward and I think that a reward even includes fake class money. Now people will join because they think that we will be doing a bake sale (which we will not!!) and they will get paid for it! Oh boy. In the committee I want people who will contribute to discussion and help the committee.
That's just my view.
But I do think that this will go well and I hope that we raise a lot of money for World Vision and if we will be getting paid, I for one will not be accepting it.
Today we brought this up with the class and everyone wanted to help. This is great but I think that the problem with this is that people probably think that we will do a bake sale and the World Vision Committee will quickly become the Baking Club. The same thing happened last year where I started an Earth Day Committee. The second day that I started talking about a girl in my class came up and asked if she could join the Baking Club. So me and Rebecca (my friend who also came up with the idea and is sharing the role of chair person of the committee) decided that this year we will definitely not be doing a bake sale.
Last week our class formed a Halloween Committee to put together a Halloween Committee. The committee and the party went very well. Every Thursday we have a class council meeting with our class government. Me and Rebecca put forward the idea of a committee for World Vision. Everyone agreed that this was a great idea. Later on someone thought that the people for the Halloween Committee should get paid with our class money Scholar Dollars. Then people thought that the World Vision Committee should get paid. I definitely do not agree with this idea! Anyway Aden in the class council moved that the Halloween Committee and the World Vision Committee get paid. It passed!!
Urgggggg!!!
The reason I don't want to get paid for this is because it's a charity. I think that a charity means that you help someone or something with no reward and I think that a reward even includes fake class money. Now people will join because they think that we will be doing a bake sale (which we will not!!) and they will get paid for it! Oh boy. In the committee I want people who will contribute to discussion and help the committee.
That's just my view.
But I do think that this will go well and I hope that we raise a lot of money for World Vision and if we will be getting paid, I for one will not be accepting it.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Guess What I'm Being for Halloween!!
After many. many weeks of deciding I finally came to a decision of what to be. I just finished the rest of my costume last weekend.
I'm being...
Hades - God of the Underworld!!
Friday, October 26, 2007
SNOW!!
Ok, that might have been a bit of a strong reaction but it's not a lie! We got about a millimetre of that fluffy white stuff this morning. I woke up got dressed and my mom sayed guess what. Right away I asked did it snow? I know it had to be coming for days now. But I think we got it quite late compared to other years. I just hope that the rest of the snow will hold off until Halloween.
It wasn't just over night too. As I walked to school alot of it was floating down in a curtain so that everything was white. Oh, and it was cold! I think it was just Monday that you didn't need a sweater to go outside! I even had a short sleeve shirt on last week for recess! It's crazy I say.
SNOW!!
Ok, that's once again an exaggeration. Like they say if you don't like the weather in Alberta just wait twenty minutes.
It wasn't just over night too. As I walked to school alot of it was floating down in a curtain so that everything was white. Oh, and it was cold! I think it was just Monday that you didn't need a sweater to go outside! I even had a short sleeve shirt on last week for recess! It's crazy I say.
SNOW!!
Ok, that's once again an exaggeration. Like they say if you don't like the weather in Alberta just wait twenty minutes.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Cont. A Little Bit Of Canadian Political Wisdom
Scroll down to see the rest of this post.
Before as I said there were unfortunately (and scarily) much more stupid quotes than clever. Last time I showed the stupid quotes. This time I will show the clever ones! (Though there may be a bit less!!)
1. "Brian Mulroney is the head reptile among a party of political chameleons." Liberal MP John Evans colourfully critisizing the federal PC leader Brian Mulroney in the House of Commons on February 10, 1984.
2. "If you're a mayor and you have a problem what do you do? You blame the provincial government. And when you're the provincial governement and you have a problem what do you do? You blame the federal government. And for us, we cannot blame the Queen anymore, so we blame the Americans once and a while." Jean Chretien in an interview with Peter Gzowski on CBC radio, March 1, 1995.
3. "He is one of the most inflexible, obstinant Tories I have ever encountered. He's like the Pre-Cambrian Shield in human form." NDP leader Stephen Lewis referring to Conservative MPPDon Irvine in the 1970s.
4. "It's true, I speak out of one side of my mouth. I'm not a Tory. I don't speak out of both sides of my mouth." Jean Chretien on September 27, 1993, poking fun at his speech impediment, which was caused by a childhood illness.
Here is one last quote that I didn't know which section to put it in. Stupid or Clever, stupid or clever, stupid or clever. It's quite funny though so I saved it until the very end.
5. "Dalton McGuinty. He's an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet." Description of Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty contained in a news release issued by the Ontario PC on September 12, 2003. What's so funny about this one is that it was in a news release so they actually thought about saying it was were like oh, this sounds like a right description. An evil reptilian kitten eater.
So that's all the really good quotes from "The Little Book of Canadian Poltical Wisdom." There are many other good ones too though. If you really like it you can get it from the library the authors names are Rick Broadhead and Andy Donato.
Before as I said there were unfortunately (and scarily) much more stupid quotes than clever. Last time I showed the stupid quotes. This time I will show the clever ones! (Though there may be a bit less!!)
1. "Brian Mulroney is the head reptile among a party of political chameleons." Liberal MP John Evans colourfully critisizing the federal PC leader Brian Mulroney in the House of Commons on February 10, 1984.
2. "If you're a mayor and you have a problem what do you do? You blame the provincial government. And when you're the provincial governement and you have a problem what do you do? You blame the federal government. And for us, we cannot blame the Queen anymore, so we blame the Americans once and a while." Jean Chretien in an interview with Peter Gzowski on CBC radio, March 1, 1995.
3. "He is one of the most inflexible, obstinant Tories I have ever encountered. He's like the Pre-Cambrian Shield in human form." NDP leader Stephen Lewis referring to Conservative MPPDon Irvine in the 1970s.
4. "It's true, I speak out of one side of my mouth. I'm not a Tory. I don't speak out of both sides of my mouth." Jean Chretien on September 27, 1993, poking fun at his speech impediment, which was caused by a childhood illness.
Here is one last quote that I didn't know which section to put it in. Stupid or Clever, stupid or clever, stupid or clever. It's quite funny though so I saved it until the very end.
5. "Dalton McGuinty. He's an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet." Description of Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty contained in a news release issued by the Ontario PC on September 12, 2003. What's so funny about this one is that it was in a news release so they actually thought about saying it was were like oh, this sounds like a right description. An evil reptilian kitten eater.
So that's all the really good quotes from "The Little Book of Canadian Poltical Wisdom." There are many other good ones too though. If you really like it you can get it from the library the authors names are Rick Broadhead and Andy Donato.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A Little Bit Of Canadian Political Wisdom
I just got back from the Library where I got a wonderfully funny book called "A Little Book of Canadian Political Wisdom." It has a bunch of funny and stupid quotes that politicians have said. You wont believe how stupid some of the people who run our country are!!
1. "Okay we've won. What do we do now?" Brian Mulroney after winning a landslide victory in the 1984 federal election.
2. "Just as Lake Erie drains from North to South, there is an ongoing drain i nthe terms of our young people." Stockwell Day on October 24, 2000 during a campaign stop in Niagra Falls Ontario. (Lake Erie drains from South to North.)
3. "Seals don't eat beef. I was interviewed one day in France. I explained one of the problems is we have too many seals. A reporter came to me and asked if it is true that seals eat cod. I don't know, I'm not a seal. But I can tell you seals don't eat beef because the seals are not living in Alberta." Jean Chretien on July 8, 1995 speaking at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Calgary.
4. "My style of leadership, uh, and in my former role as well, was to state what my idea was but also encourage uh, you know, I know what I know and I know what I don't know." Belinda Stronach being interviewed on a Winnipeg radio station on January 21, 2004.
5. "Good afternoon, Croation people." Sheila Copps speaking infront of a Serbian audience.
Unfortunately, there are many more stupid quotes and it's quite scary too:) In the book there are many clever ones to and I will post some tomorrow but now I need to go to bed.
1. "Okay we've won. What do we do now?" Brian Mulroney after winning a landslide victory in the 1984 federal election.
2. "Just as Lake Erie drains from North to South, there is an ongoing drain i nthe terms of our young people." Stockwell Day on October 24, 2000 during a campaign stop in Niagra Falls Ontario. (Lake Erie drains from South to North.)
3. "Seals don't eat beef. I was interviewed one day in France. I explained one of the problems is we have too many seals. A reporter came to me and asked if it is true that seals eat cod. I don't know, I'm not a seal. But I can tell you seals don't eat beef because the seals are not living in Alberta." Jean Chretien on July 8, 1995 speaking at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Calgary.
4. "My style of leadership, uh, and in my former role as well, was to state what my idea was but also encourage uh, you know, I know what I know and I know what I don't know." Belinda Stronach being interviewed on a Winnipeg radio station on January 21, 2004.
5. "Good afternoon, Croation people." Sheila Copps speaking infront of a Serbian audience.
Unfortunately, there are many more stupid quotes and it's quite scary too:) In the book there are many clever ones to and I will post some tomorrow but now I need to go to bed.
Throne Speech
On Tuesday the Conservative government released their throne speech which stated what would be happening in the next term of government which hopfully Stephen Harper won't be the Prime Minister of.
The main parts that it focused on was crime, taxes and extending the Afghanistan mission to 2011. If the speech is defeated then there will be an election. What I am confused about though is does that mean if people don't vote for it is that defeated? Anyway it is a very interesting matter. Unfortunately I didn't watch it becasue it was too early but hopefully some of you did. If you did please help me understand this more.
To read more about the throne speech visit the cbc website: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/16/speech-throne.html or you can wait until I write about it the next issue of Die Zeitung which will hopefully be coming out in the end of October.
The main parts that it focused on was crime, taxes and extending the Afghanistan mission to 2011. If the speech is defeated then there will be an election. What I am confused about though is does that mean if people don't vote for it is that defeated? Anyway it is a very interesting matter. Unfortunately I didn't watch it becasue it was too early but hopefully some of you did. If you did please help me understand this more.
To read more about the throne speech visit the cbc website: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/16/speech-throne.html or you can wait until I write about it the next issue of Die Zeitung which will hopefully be coming out in the end of October.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
October Penguins Challenge Swim Meet
Yesterday I finished my first swim meet with the Penguins swim club! It was called the Penguins Challenge and was just for the Penguins Swim Club. It lasted about four hours and was very fun! When I got there we had to figure out which team we were in becasue the Penguins Swim Club had been split into two teams before hand. They couldn't find my name so we asked Amanda who said that they forgot to register me but someone was absent so I took his place.
My first race was 50 freestyle and I was in lane one: the lane where my dad was timing. It was very exciting. The thing that I was most worried about my races were my dives. I think I did a pretty good dive, at least I didn't do a belly flop. After this I hardly had any time to dry off before I did my next race which was 25 butterfly. I think I could have done a 50 butterfly but the person who was absent wasn't registered to do a 50 butterfly. I thought my butterfly was pretty good and when I got out my dad said that he was very immpressed by my butterfly. My dive was good again, no belly flop at least. I had a little wait before I did my 25 breaststroke, once again I think I could have done a 50. I like breaststroke because I think it doesn't take as much effort as my last stroke which was butterfly. Once again no bellyflop. My second to last race was 25 backstroke. Here I think I could have definately done a 50! I find backstroke quite easy and I liked it because I didn't have to do a dive! My last race was a 100 IM. The boy I was posing as wasn't registered for an IM but they slid me into a spot. Unfortunately they slid me into a spot with the 18 and up year olds. My mom said the person in her lane was 23! It was VERY tiring and after I got out I just stood there, very tired. After this my dad told me that he thought that if I was in the next IM race I would have maybe even won it!
After all the races the whole Penguins Swim Club did a big relay. There were aproxamately 35 people an each team and every person did a 25 of freestyle so it took a VERY long time! The part I was most worried about though was the fact that to enter the water we had to dive over the person who touched the wall. I was worried that my dive wouldn't be far enough and that I would hit the person, but I didn't. My team won the race by like two seconds.
I had alot of fun at this swim meet. I also liked that both my mom and dad were timers. I was in my dad's lane about 3 times and in my mom's once. So I was only in another persons lane once! What I also liked about it was that there was a big age range. There was one boy who looked about 5 years old and then on this sheet I saw that one of the Master swimmers was 42! That's a difference 37 years! This swim meet was very fun and was a great experience!
My first race was 50 freestyle and I was in lane one: the lane where my dad was timing. It was very exciting. The thing that I was most worried about my races were my dives. I think I did a pretty good dive, at least I didn't do a belly flop. After this I hardly had any time to dry off before I did my next race which was 25 butterfly. I think I could have done a 50 butterfly but the person who was absent wasn't registered to do a 50 butterfly. I thought my butterfly was pretty good and when I got out my dad said that he was very immpressed by my butterfly. My dive was good again, no belly flop at least. I had a little wait before I did my 25 breaststroke, once again I think I could have done a 50. I like breaststroke because I think it doesn't take as much effort as my last stroke which was butterfly. Once again no bellyflop. My second to last race was 25 backstroke. Here I think I could have definately done a 50! I find backstroke quite easy and I liked it because I didn't have to do a dive! My last race was a 100 IM. The boy I was posing as wasn't registered for an IM but they slid me into a spot. Unfortunately they slid me into a spot with the 18 and up year olds. My mom said the person in her lane was 23! It was VERY tiring and after I got out I just stood there, very tired. After this my dad told me that he thought that if I was in the next IM race I would have maybe even won it!
After all the races the whole Penguins Swim Club did a big relay. There were aproxamately 35 people an each team and every person did a 25 of freestyle so it took a VERY long time! The part I was most worried about though was the fact that to enter the water we had to dive over the person who touched the wall. I was worried that my dive wouldn't be far enough and that I would hit the person, but I didn't. My team won the race by like two seconds.
I had alot of fun at this swim meet. I also liked that both my mom and dad were timers. I was in my dad's lane about 3 times and in my mom's once. So I was only in another persons lane once! What I also liked about it was that there was a big age range. There was one boy who looked about 5 years old and then on this sheet I saw that one of the Master swimmers was 42! That's a difference 37 years! This swim meet was very fun and was a great experience!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Weakerthans Cont.
Scroll down to see the other Weakerthans CD's and Weakerthans concert review. On the right are the four Weakerthans Webisodes check them out!
Just a couple weeks ago the Weakerthans released their latest CD "Reunion Tour." It is probably the best CD yet, they also made four funny webisodes about making the CD's, I have all four of them posted on the right they are VERY funny! The first song Civil Twilight about a bus driver in Winnipeg who, every evening around twilight has to pass a house that something very bad happened. He might have seen something or someone for the last time or made a mistake and he was thinking about how hard it would be to do that. The third song is called "Relative Surplus Value" which is about a downfall of a compnay. A really funny song that they talk about in one of the Webisodes is called "Tournament of Hearts" which is obviously about curling any Canadian would know that but for those USians curling is a sport in which you throw a rock a try to get it in a ring of circles, it may sound boring but apparently the average Canadian curls at least four times a week. John K Samson even curls two times a week when he's not on tour. Probably two of my favourite songs on the CD are called "Sun in an Empty Room" and Night Windows." I think that "Sun in an Empty Room" has some very nice harmony and that "Night Windows" is quite haunting. Some other songs on the album include a song about someone who saw Bigfoot and about the countless bands that have gone on Reunion Tours.
Once again this is a VERY good CD and please watch the very funny Webisodes on the right.
Just a couple weeks ago the Weakerthans released their latest CD "Reunion Tour." It is probably the best CD yet, they also made four funny webisodes about making the CD's, I have all four of them posted on the right they are VERY funny! The first song Civil Twilight about a bus driver in Winnipeg who, every evening around twilight has to pass a house that something very bad happened. He might have seen something or someone for the last time or made a mistake and he was thinking about how hard it would be to do that. The third song is called "Relative Surplus Value" which is about a downfall of a compnay. A really funny song that they talk about in one of the Webisodes is called "Tournament of Hearts" which is obviously about curling any Canadian would know that but for those USians curling is a sport in which you throw a rock a try to get it in a ring of circles, it may sound boring but apparently the average Canadian curls at least four times a week. John K Samson even curls two times a week when he's not on tour. Probably two of my favourite songs on the CD are called "Sun in an Empty Room" and Night Windows." I think that "Sun in an Empty Room" has some very nice harmony and that "Night Windows" is quite haunting. Some other songs on the album include a song about someone who saw Bigfoot and about the countless bands that have gone on Reunion Tours.
Once again this is a VERY good CD and please watch the very funny Webisodes on the right.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Weakerthans Cont.
To read about the rest of the Weakerthans CD's scroll far down. To see the review on the Weakerthans concert scroll down.
In 2003 the Weakerthans released their 3rd CD "Reconstruction site." It has some of my favourtie songs that the Weakerthans ever realeased. One of my favourite songs is called "Our Retired Explorer" is about someone who was with Ernest Shackleton on his expadition to Antarctica is dining with Michel Foucault and they talk about Antarctica and Shackelton and such. It is very good and it is very hard rock. There is also a song called "One Great City" and it's about Winnipeg. It's about the bad parts though, about the cold, high gas prices etc. It is so, so good and at the Weakerthans concert they played it for the first encore. Another song they played was "Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" (Virtute pronounced Vir-too-tay) about a cats perspective of a depressed persons cat. At their concert the Weakerthans played that song and the sequel to the song call "Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure" which is in the CD "Reunion Tour."It also had many other great songs!
Now I have to go to piano lessons right now but check back later for "Reunion Tour."
In 2003 the Weakerthans released their 3rd CD "Reconstruction site." It has some of my favourtie songs that the Weakerthans ever realeased. One of my favourite songs is called "Our Retired Explorer" is about someone who was with Ernest Shackleton on his expadition to Antarctica is dining with Michel Foucault and they talk about Antarctica and Shackelton and such. It is very good and it is very hard rock. There is also a song called "One Great City" and it's about Winnipeg. It's about the bad parts though, about the cold, high gas prices etc. It is so, so good and at the Weakerthans concert they played it for the first encore. Another song they played was "Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" (Virtute pronounced Vir-too-tay) about a cats perspective of a depressed persons cat. At their concert the Weakerthans played that song and the sequel to the song call "Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure" which is in the CD "Reunion Tour."It also had many other great songs!
Now I have to go to piano lessons right now but check back later for "Reunion Tour."
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Weakerthans Concert!!
I'm back from the Weakerthans concert!! First of all Jada, Risa, and Cheryl came from Golden at excactly 4:00 and we went to the park and just talked for a while. Then my mom came home and we went to the Weakerthans concert. We got there at about 5:45 and the interview was going to be at 6:00. I phoned the tour manager and told her that I was here, she said that it would be awhile but to wait downstairs. So we waited downstairs while City TV reporters came passed us and many other news reporters. Then finally someone came down and took me Jada, and Risa upstairs. At first she introduced us to Stephen Caroll who is the guitar player for the Weakerthans. We went into the dressing room for the opening band Last Town Corus and I asked Stephen Caroll if I was having the interview with him. He said yes. I told him that I had all my questions ready for John Samson and Stephen Caroll just said OK, I'll go get him. John Samson entered the room and the interview began.
He was very nice, he even answered in full sentences, I hate when they answer with just yes, no, 7 years yes okay we live in different cities, it's hard. I asked them all the questions I had prepared and he answered in great answers. I can't hwait to transcribe it and put it into the newspaper.
Then the concert was about to start. We went into the theatre nad the Last Town Corus played first. They were quite good they playedfor about 30 minutes. Then it was intermission and I went out into the hall. I got a Weakerthans T-Shirt. It is VERY nice. On the front is a Curling Club logo that says The Weakerthans then Winnipeg. It was time to go back in for the Weakerthans concert. They started off with Civil Twilight off the new CD. They played all my favourite songs except for One Great City. They left the stage and we all stood up and clapped. We clapped and clapped and clapped and finally they came out again. They played One Great City My Favourite Chords and three other songs. Then they left. We clapped and clapped and then they came on again they played two other songs. Then, they were gone for good.
After the concert my ears were still ringing with the drums and guitars it was very exciting though. Wit the concert and the interview! It was a GREAT night!!!!
He was very nice, he even answered in full sentences, I hate when they answer with just yes, no, 7 years yes okay we live in different cities, it's hard. I asked them all the questions I had prepared and he answered in great answers. I can't hwait to transcribe it and put it into the newspaper.
Then the concert was about to start. We went into the theatre nad the Last Town Corus played first. They were quite good they playedfor about 30 minutes. Then it was intermission and I went out into the hall. I got a Weakerthans T-Shirt. It is VERY nice. On the front is a Curling Club logo that says The Weakerthans then Winnipeg. It was time to go back in for the Weakerthans concert. They started off with Civil Twilight off the new CD. They played all my favourite songs except for One Great City. They left the stage and we all stood up and clapped. We clapped and clapped and clapped and finally they came out again. They played One Great City My Favourite Chords and three other songs. Then they left. We clapped and clapped and then they came on again they played two other songs. Then, they were gone for good.
After the concert my ears were still ringing with the drums and guitars it was very exciting though. Wit the concert and the interview! It was a GREAT night!!!!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Weakerthans Cont.
To see the first part of this post scroll down.
In 2000 the Weakerthans recorded their second CD called Left and Leaving. It's hard to place a genre for this CD as some songs are softer and folky where as some songs are much more rock. For instance the song Aside is more rock and the title song Left and Leaving is much quieter. Left and Leaving was the first CD I got of the Weakerthans which I got at the Edmonton Folk Festival. In the book with the song lyrics for Left and Leaving above some of the songs there is a quote. Above the song Left and Leaving it says: "And for a moment both of you believe you can hear the city breathing you are both tired you want to be done." And then the first line of the song is: "My city's still breathing (but barely it's true)." Then for the song History to the Defeated the quote above it is: "The stars are dead the animals will not look We are left alone with our day, and the time is short and History to the Defeated. May say alas but cannot help or pardon." I think that John. K. Samson is inspired by poems of other to write the lyrics for his songs.
I need to go help my mom to bring up the mattress from downsstairs but stay tuned for CD's 3-4.
In 2000 the Weakerthans recorded their second CD called Left and Leaving. It's hard to place a genre for this CD as some songs are softer and folky where as some songs are much more rock. For instance the song Aside is more rock and the title song Left and Leaving is much quieter. Left and Leaving was the first CD I got of the Weakerthans which I got at the Edmonton Folk Festival. In the book with the song lyrics for Left and Leaving above some of the songs there is a quote. Above the song Left and Leaving it says: "And for a moment both of you believe you can hear the city breathing you are both tired you want to be done." And then the first line of the song is: "My city's still breathing (but barely it's true)." Then for the song History to the Defeated the quote above it is: "The stars are dead the animals will not look We are left alone with our day, and the time is short and History to the Defeated. May say alas but cannot help or pardon." I think that John. K. Samson is inspired by poems of other to write the lyrics for his songs.
I need to go help my mom to bring up the mattress from downsstairs but stay tuned for CD's 3-4.
Weakerthans
The Weakerthans are a band from Winnipeg that I was introduced to in 2005 at the Edmonton Folk Fest. They folk/rock band. I read somewhere that they've always been catagorized as a something slash something. They don't really have a specific genre. The lead singer whos name is John. K. Samson writes the songs as poems and then puts them to music.
They put their first album out called Fallow in 1997 during the flood. In the very back of the little booklet that has all song lyrics it even say: "Recorded on two-inch 24 track tape at Private Ear Studios (Winnipeg) during the flood of 1997." I think that this album was more folky. Also if you look on the back page it says: "For all your literary, caffeinated, and musical desires in Winnipeg please visit Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse (91 Albert St.)" Almost everytime I go to Winnipeg I go to Mondragon which is a restaurant that is completely Vegitarian. My favourite dish there is the Elusive Pupusa by the way. Beneith this it says: "Long live the small and independant. Death to superstores everywhere." You gotta love them!
Right now I gotta go do my homework but stayed tuned for Weakerthans CD's two - four.
They put their first album out called Fallow in 1997 during the flood. In the very back of the little booklet that has all song lyrics it even say: "Recorded on two-inch 24 track tape at Private Ear Studios (Winnipeg) during the flood of 1997." I think that this album was more folky. Also if you look on the back page it says: "For all your literary, caffeinated, and musical desires in Winnipeg please visit Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse (91 Albert St.)" Almost everytime I go to Winnipeg I go to Mondragon which is a restaurant that is completely Vegitarian. My favourite dish there is the Elusive Pupusa by the way. Beneith this it says: "Long live the small and independant. Death to superstores everywhere." You gotta love them!
Right now I gotta go do my homework but stayed tuned for Weakerthans CD's two - four.
Monday, October 08, 2007
October Coquitlam Trip
I just got back from Vancouver where I visited my dad. It was very fun and I got to see my dad, Doug and Josh after what felt like a very long time since I last saw them. Mostly I explored the new house and worked on my newspaper. My dad works from home so I wasn't entirely alone though I did have to think of things to entertain myself while my dad worked. I got a lot done on my newspaper and I think it will be done by the time I want it to be finished - the end of October. But it wasn't just me and my dad at our house. At my house there was my dad, me, Josh and Josh's nanny. Josh's daycare is on strike right now so there is a nanny at our house from Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to about 1:00 Pm when Josh gos down for his nap. So actually there was quite alot of people there.
One day after work we all went down to Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver for a walk by the ocean. It was very beutiful. It was strange to see that it was still warm and everything was quite green even though it was October. In Edmonton the week before it was chilly and the grass had turned a yellowish grey colour in some places. After our walk we went to Fat Burger which is a restaurant that serves probably the best burger in Vancouver. It was very fun and when we went back home we watched a Planet Earth episode and went to bed.
On Saturday we went and bought some new tables for the living room. It was fun except for the never ending Dora the Explorer or The Backyardigans playing on the TV in the van, that was quite annoying. We also went to get Josh a haircut at this "cool" haircut place just for kids where there was a TV playing Dora the Explorer at every little spaceship that the kids got their haircuts in. The plus side to this was that I got a new book called Safe As Houses by Eric Walters about the hurricane called Hurricane Hazel that hit Ontario in 1954, I think that was the year. It was a great book you should definately read it if you are 11 years old.
The next day was almost the same. We went to return one of the tables that we got because the glass was broken on the top. Then we went to get some new lamps for the living room all the while with the never ending Dora The Explorer or The Backyardigans on the TV. Then we went to get another book by Eric Walters called We All Fall Down. This one is about the 9/11 attacks. It is also an excellent book.
Then on Monday it was time to go. It was much to short. Me and my dad drove to the airport in Abbotsford and I left on the plane. It's suprisingly a very short plane ride only 1 hour 9 minutes. Then, I arrived in Edmonton.
One day after work we all went down to Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver for a walk by the ocean. It was very beutiful. It was strange to see that it was still warm and everything was quite green even though it was October. In Edmonton the week before it was chilly and the grass had turned a yellowish grey colour in some places. After our walk we went to Fat Burger which is a restaurant that serves probably the best burger in Vancouver. It was very fun and when we went back home we watched a Planet Earth episode and went to bed.
On Saturday we went and bought some new tables for the living room. It was fun except for the never ending Dora the Explorer or The Backyardigans playing on the TV in the van, that was quite annoying. We also went to get Josh a haircut at this "cool" haircut place just for kids where there was a TV playing Dora the Explorer at every little spaceship that the kids got their haircuts in. The plus side to this was that I got a new book called Safe As Houses by Eric Walters about the hurricane called Hurricane Hazel that hit Ontario in 1954, I think that was the year. It was a great book you should definately read it if you are 11 years old.
The next day was almost the same. We went to return one of the tables that we got because the glass was broken on the top. Then we went to get some new lamps for the living room all the while with the never ending Dora The Explorer or The Backyardigans on the TV. Then we went to get another book by Eric Walters called We All Fall Down. This one is about the 9/11 attacks. It is also an excellent book.
Then on Monday it was time to go. It was much to short. Me and my dad drove to the airport in Abbotsford and I left on the plane. It's suprisingly a very short plane ride only 1 hour 9 minutes. Then, I arrived in Edmonton.
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