Notley Knocks on my Door

Tonight I was suprised when Rachel Notley (the NDP candidate from my riding) knocked on my door. She was coming around to all the people in the riding and talking to them about what she will be doing if she wins the seat in the provincial election on March 3rd. The NDP have been holding this seat for many years and has been one of the only NDP ridings in the whole province I'm proud to say.

She talked about what she would be doing about rent control as many of the houses in this riding are being rented out and rent control has become a growing problem in this city. The answer to that - just keep on trying. In question period just keep bringing it up until something finally gets done about it. And she talked about immigrants coming here are being taken advantage of because they don't know their rights.

Me, if I could vote I'd vote Notley and if you live in my riding I hope you do too!

To learn more about Rachel Notley visit her website at www.rachelnotley.ca.

Humans Being a Bad Role Model for a New Epoch

Ok - first of all, an epoch is a time period that lasts for many, many years. An epoch changes to a new epoch when a massive change happens. Well, scientists are saying that we have entered a new epoch called the Anthropocene. By the way, the epoch that we left was called the Holocene which started about 10,000 - 12,000 years ago when there was the last ice age. But this isn't excactly a time for celebration. The big massive change is that human activities have now become the dominating force of change on the planet and lets just say that us humans aren't being a good role model for the smaller, lesser beings on Earth.

If right now you are thinking, well, I'm not really that much of a dominating force on the planet, am I? Well, yes and no. One person alone is not a big force and threat to the planet but all 6 billion people on the earth is. If you look at the air, humans are quickly changing the compostition of our atmosphere by burning huge amounts of oil, coal and gas. So now Carbon dioxide levels are one third higher than they were 200 years ago! Ok, so that's one way us humans are drastically changing the planet. Humans are also the cause of the extinction of many species which may lead to a mass exticntion. Humans are also replacing huge areas of vegetation with agricultural crops.

Next we go to the oceans. Because of the burning of fossil fuels and creating carbon dioxide our planet is heating up and ice is melting so oceans are rising. As water heats up it also expands which makes it rise even more.

So that's that. Us humans have become such a force that now we have our own epoch just for us. What are we going to do with the earth within the next century, that is the question.

This information was taken from the David Suzuki website. To see the original article click here.

If Swimming was Easy They'd Call it Hockey!

And that's a true fact! I was at a swim meet most of the afternoon today and it wasn't that easy. I swam five races, first it was 50 metres freestyle, then 50 metres breaststroke, then 50 metres butterfly, then 50 metres backstroke and then finally a 100 metres IM. In case you didn't know a 100 metre IM is 25 metres butterfly, then 25 backstroke, then 25 breaststroke, then 25 freestyle. I improved a lot on each race from my previous race and that's really what counts! By the way, the picture above is of me doing my 50 backstroke.



Also everyone participated in two relays. This is where you are in teams of four people and each person does 1/4th of the race. The first relay was a fun relay where you had to balance an egg (it was plastic!) on a spoon and swim to the other side then hand it over to the next person in your team. The second relay was just a freestyle relay where each person swam 25 metres freestyle. The picture above is of me talking to my coach after a race.



The picture above is me doing the egg and spoon relay. About the "if swimming was easy they'd call it hockey" - it really is a true fact! Swimming takes a lot more skill than other sports such as Hockey or Football. It is also the number one best excersise!

New Childrens Book Talks of Malnutrition in Niger, Africa

As part of the World Vision fundraising activities that my class is doing, we are doing a readers theatre of a new book written by a friend of one of the kids in my class. This book is called "Ollie's Field Journal" and is about malnutrition in Niger, Africa. The people who are putting together the readers theatre came to our class today and we each got a copy of the book. It looks very interesting!
First of all though, some of you are probably wondering, what is malnutrition! Malnutrition is when children do not get enough food or not enough of the right nutritious food and it mostly happens to babies from age 6 months to five years old. This is a big problem because more than five million children die every year because of malnutrition.
This new book tells the tale of a Canadian girl named Orphelie (Ollie) who goes to Niger, Africa with her mother who is there to help children with malnutrition. Ollie meets many friends, sees a giraffe, learns five words in Hausa and learns lots about malnutrition.
One thing I learned a lot from reading the story and thought was interesting was the Peanut Paste Prescription. This is what doctors prescribe to the children who have malnutrition to help them get better. The Peanut Paste Prescription helps 9/10ths of the children who get it. The Peanut Paste Prescription contains: peanut paste, vegetable fat, dry skimmed milk, dry whey, sugar and mineral and vitamin complex.
This is a very interesting book and if you see it any where read it! I think it will be a great readers theatre too!

The Peters Map

Allison, this is for you!

There are many different maps all around the world. The map that most people are accustomed to is the Mercator Map. This is the map that almost everyone knows is really out of proportion. Canada and Russia aren't really that big and Europe is actually not bigger than South America though it does appear that way on the Mercator Map.

The Peters Map is a map that shows everything in proportion. It shows that Canada and Russia are not as big as they seem and that South America is in fact bigger than Europe. One of the biggest things that I think you notice when looking at a Peters map is how big Africa is. It really is huge!

Some cool new CD's that are Out

I listen to a lot of music and a lot of that music has come out fairly recently. Here are just a few of those CD's.

1. City and Colour - "Bring Me Your Love". This CD from Canadian artist City and Colour came out just yeaterday on February 12 and I already have a copy! For those of you who don't know City and Colour is a solo artist named Dallas Green. I interviewed him last summer at the Calgary Folk Fest and he explained that he called himself City and Colour because his name is Dallas - like the city - and Green - like the colour. Though City and Colour is a softer genre of music Dallas Green also plays in the rock band Alexisonfire. His latest CD has songs like Forgive Me, Confessions, Sleeping Sickness, Body in a Box and Constant Knot. To learn more about City and Colour and listen to some songs off his new CD visit his website.
2. Stars - "In my Bedroom After the War". Stars is also a Canadian band and their new CD "In my Bedroom After the War" came out late last year. The CD's songs are haunting but at the same time peacful. Stars frontman Torquil Cambell asks, “What is the darkest possible situation that I could try to turn into a beautiful pop song? That was sort of my mission with this record. If you could make horror movies that were like love stories, that would be my ultimate genre.” The first song on the record - "The Beginning After the End" is escpecially dark and haunting as there is a poem that starts half way through the song replacing the music with a haunting voice. To hear more songs visit their website.
3. Manu Chao - "La Radiolina". Manu Chau is a French artist of Spanish origin and, even though his music is mostly in French and Spanish, it's great. It was released in September 2007 and is a great source of world music. In La Radiolina Manu Chao sings of politics all around and world issues in the form of tuneful world music. Some songs are upbeat and fast while others are slower and softer. To hear more of Manu Chao's music visit his website.
4. Buck 65 - "Situation." This might be my favourite artist and CD in this list, but it also might be because I haven't got a chance to get used to the other three. Buck 65 is a rapper from eastern Canada. Yes Canada, here's another great artist from Canada! Even though he is a rapper he's not all serious and mean and stuff like that. He's actually pretty funny and nice I imagine if you get to know him. There are songs like "Cop - Shades", "Shutter Buggin'" and "Spread 'em." My favourite song on is new album is "Way Back When." It has clever rhymes and lines like, "Old days. Golden. Covering the bases. Back when we used to punch each other in the faces." Buck 65 is very smart and clever with his lyrics and this is a great album. To listen to more of his songs go to his website.

I hope you like these new artists and CDs and I encourage you to try their music out!

Sorry for the Delay

In my latest issue of Die Zeitung I said that I would be putting the rest of my John. K. Samson (of the Weakerthans) interview on my blog. Well there is a problem with my tape recorder and I can not transcribe the rest of the interview. I will maybe be able to find another way to transcribe it but it may take a while.
I am sorry for the delay.

What Does All This Mean?

So, I'm back on the topic of the coalition government. Before posting about this, I had absolutely no idea what a coalition government was, or what it could mean to Canada. So I'll just sum up shortly what it is.
A coalition government is when several political parties cooperate to run a country. Usually coalition governments happen in a "time of crisis". I'm assuming that this "crisis" is the economy. Now I don't understand the process of how the coalition government could be formed or any of that stuff, but I know what it is, and that's all that seems to really matter.
I think that a coalition government would be a good idea for Canada. Many people I've talked to don't think it's a good idea, but I think it is. It would be a change and give a chance for some other parties ideas to be heard loudest.
Also, if a coalition government were to be formed with the Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, the MP in my riding, Linda Duncan would surely play a big role in it, as she is the only non-Conservative MP in Alberta.
Also, there is proof that this coalition government idea works! In Germany for instance, there have been many coalition governments over the past years. From 1998 to 2005, the FDP (some political party in Germany) formed a coalition government with the Green Party in Germany. And at other times the CDU/CSU (another German party) formed a coalition government with the SPD (yet another party), and at another time the CDU formed a coaltion with the FDP.
So, that's just my opinion for now, I know there aren't many facts or really much of anything, but I have very limited knowledge right now. I will post more as this coalition government idea continues.

What Really is the next step Towards Fighting Global Warming?

A recent study shows some interesting facts, that Ethanol, the fuel known for producing less carbon dioxide than other fuels, might be worse for the environment than other fuels. Ethanol is made from corn and the study shows that even though it produces less CO2, the amount of land it takes to grow it might even be worse. This worries me as I think it shows that we really don't know the next step towards fighting Global Warming. It seems that we are just taking stabs at different ways to reduce our CO2 emmisions yet in some cases we are just making it worse. This also has a big effect on peoples lives other than just that other peoples mistakes might ruin their earth. For instance if I was one of the people paying more for the Ethanol fuel because I thought it would help the environment, right about now I'd be pretty mad. Who knows what other globally impacting mistakes are being made right now? I'm pretty worried. What I'm trying to do though is just take small steps at a time towards fighting Global Warming. For instance, we know that composting and recycling are good things to do. For more information on how Ethanol might be worse click here to see the CBC article I got my information from.

My Opinions on the Grammys

I don't really ever watch the Grammys though I did watch a little bit of them last night. OK, as I haven't really watched the Grammys a lot but from what I have seen this is what I've noticed. These are also just my opions and I'm sure lots of other people have totally different opinions.
It seems like mostly the people who get the awards and get nominated are just the really big popular artists. There are some other really great bands probably out there that aren't being nominated for Grammy awards but just haven't got their "big break." Then again, sometimes you do notice some great smaller, less known artists mixed in with the popular ones. For instance, for best movie soundtrack, the smallish movie Once was nominated. It didn't win but it was nice to see it being up there.
The other thing I guess is that if you are being nominated for a Grammy award you get TONS of publicity before hand. Also, I think that really any awards like the Grammys are kind of stupid because if you really are a good musician you don't need an award to know that.
Once again, that's just my opinion and I said lots of other people probably have other opinions.

Wii Injuries on a Rise

My family just got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas and I gotta say, it's pretty cool. The Nintendo Wii is a game system where our movements of your arm actually make your character move in the same way. That's kind of what it does. For instance, the game that comes with the Wii already is Wii sports. In it there are games such as Tennis, Bowling and Golf. In Tennis, if you swing your arm at the right time it will hit the tennis ball at the same time.
But now, there have been many reports of Wii injuries. I've got a couple Wii injuries I guess, but mostly just muscle sorness from play Tennis too many times. Many people though have accidentally let go of the Wii Remote and hit someone, one person even let go of the remote and it hit an overhead light ficture and the glass cut their hand. Nintendo did recall the gameing system at first when many people were accidentally letting go of the remote and smashing through their television screens. They then put handstraps on them to keep thme around your wrist but even after that they are still being thrown around the room! Apparently this is such a problem that there are many websites about Wii injuries. Just Google Wii injuries and you're sure to find at least a page full of Wii injuries.
I think this is kind of crazy. All that I can really say though is if you have a Wii, be careful!

Obama and McCain Take Leads After Yeaterdays Super Tuesday

Yes, this is American politics and I know I don't usually write about American politics. Actually, I don't think I ever have so this is new. I think that the way American federal elections go though is kind of interesting though, and to some Canadians it might be wierd.

The way I understand it is that the Republicans and the Democrats each put a bunch of people in the primaries. The primaries are where people decide which person is going to be representing the Democrats or the Republicans when the big election comes. So there's a mini election (a primary) in each state. Yesterday was Super Tuesday where about 20 states have there primaries all on one day! The main two candidates for the Democrats are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This is interedsting because if Clinton were to become President then she would be the first woman presdent the country has ever had. If Obama were to become President then he would be the first African-American Presidant the country's ever had. The three main cnadidates for the Pepublicans are Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and John McCain. There are also other candidates but those are the only ones that have actually won any primaries.

So, for the results after yesterdays Super Tuesday. Obama has pulled ahead for the Democrats with 15 primaries won and McCain has pulled ahead for the Republicans with 12 primaries won. It's very close though. With the Democrats Clinton is only 3 behind Obama with 12. And Huckabee has won 6 and Romney 11, just one behind McCain.

Back to how the American elections are interesting, what I find interesting and a bit strange is that for part of the time the parties don't really have a leader, unless they are the President. That's what these primaries are for. In Canada we have jujst one big political convention to decide.

I think it woud be very interesting to have either Clinton or Obama as President of the United Sates, almost as interesting as having a Liberal Alberta government...

Alberta Election Called for March 3

Alberta conservative leader Ed Stelmach anounced on February 4 that there would be an Alberta provincial election. Premier Stelmach anounced this less than an hour after the speech from the throne.

I talked a little about the election buzz in my latest issue of Die Zeitung. I said that my family would be happy for an election. We love sitting around the TV watching the votes come in. Of course an election is also another chance to get another party in power after 36 years of a Conervative provincial government, all of them being majorities. It would be great just to get a Conservative minority really.

If you look at the past election results there really hasn't been a lot of different parties in power. There are the Conservatives now, then there was the Social Credit, then there were United Farmers and then Liberal in 1905, 1909, 1913 and 1917. If we can make that happen again with a whole four years of Liberal government I think that would be pretty good.

In the past election in 2004 the results were - Conservative: 62 seats Liberal: 16 seats NDP: 4 seats and Alliance: 1. In the next election hopefully we can even out that a little bit more. Maybe.