Life’s Weirder Than Fiction

Once in a while, I have an urge to be politically incorrect. This is one instance. WhiteTrashXmas is outrageous, sometimes offensive, but illustrates the commercialisation and sometimes meaninglessness of Christmas.

A new analysis of Beethoven’s hair and bone by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois determined that Beethoven died of lead poisoning.

According to the results, and historical facts, it would have been a slow death. Beethoven began having digestion and irritability problem as early as in his twenties. Lead poisoning was probably also responsible for his deafness. So, it wasn’t poetic angst that was responsible for his beautiful music, but a basic metal.

On another quirky note, Claude Cyr, a pediatrician from the University of Sherbrooke, wrote the definitive article for the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Tintin’s perennial young boy appearance (for those unfamiliar with Tintin, he’s a popular cartoon character).

Tintin [...] looks like a young teen because of a growth hormone deficiency and the effects of too many blows to the head, a study says.

[Dr. Cyr] wrote the study with help from two experts, his sons Antoine, aged five, and Louis-Olivier, aged seven. “We hypothesise that Tintin has growth hormone deficiency and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism from repeated trauma[...] “

• At a Music Store: Out to lunch. Bach at 12:30. Offenbach sooner.
• At a pizza shop: 7 days without pizza makes one weak.
• Gym: Merry Fitness and a Happy New Rear!
• Notice in a field: The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges.

Every once in a while, I find a website that tickles my funny bone. GoodQuotes.com - Funny and Inspirational Quotes mixes humour with wordplay in quotes. They can’t really be called quotes, however, since the sentences are not attributed to anyone.

Doesn’t matter, everyone needs a chuckle once in a while.

Sigh. We’re back to the drawing board. Most people knew that Martin’s Liberal minority government wouldn’t last four years, especially with the Conservatives and Bloq quebecois having such a big chunk of the opposition –and having one goal in common: ousting the Liberals– but to start a campaign in December, that seems more than idiotic.

Who’s going to listen to political speeches amid Christmas songs? What’s going to prime, here, worries about what Martin or Harper is saying, or worries about what to get the kids for Christmas?

Canadians were bombarded so much with the sponsorship scandal that a lot of other parliamentary business was swept through without so much as a mention (except for the same-sex marriage bill, of course). I found an informative site that might help in deciding if you’re satisfied with the way your MP (Member of Parliament) has represented her/his constituents. How’d They Vote? Canadian MPs in focus provide a yearly summary of how each MP voted on bills presented or passed in the house during the year. The site is a “non-partisan website which provides a variety of in-depth information on the operations of the Canadian Parliament, specifically, how our politicians vote and what they’ve said.”

Another helpful site is CBC’s Canada Votes 2006 which reports on media events related to the election, giving a relatively equal time to all four Party Leaders (Liberal, Conservative, New Democrat, and Bloq quebecois). You can also get information on your own riding, and also on Leaders, Parties and Issues. And if you prefer to find out what other Canadians like you are saying, you can read the Blog Report, a daily summary of blog comments on the election.

There are also the official party sites, and many newspaper sites to consult –although I’ve never found a non-biased newspaper–. Nevertheless, it’s still makes me wonder that Harper and Layton chose that time of year to bring down the government. With voter turnout decreasing every election, and the difficulty in raising interest in political issues even in a “normal” time of year, I think I can predict that voter fatigue, and not only because the issues are still the same as the previous election, will have a direct effect on turnout on 23 January. Many people I’ve talked about are shrugging, saying “what’s the use, they’re all the same”. It takes a lot of energy to inform yourself, analyze, separate the bullshit from the truth, something that may be lacking in the dead of winter.

In addition, I find myself frustrated that our government has decided to spend another few million campaining while they’re all screaming about lack of funds for Healthcare, children poverty, unemployment, etc. Having an election at this time is simply a power grab, with no real agenda behind it. It slows down to nothing the effectiveness of the government and, in the end, will result in the same damn situation: another minority government.

I just discovered the photography of Jonathan Clark through his website Afterlife. It’s a mix of photography with added video features, and music. The photographs depict the span of seasons at Steatham Cemetary near London, England. As Jonathan Clark says:

The Afterlife series [...] was shot between the hours of dusk and dawn over a period of 2 years.

The series of photographs, broken into four seasons, are done with Macromedia Flash. Some of my favourites are in the winter series.

I also spent some time on Jonathan Clark’s other website. The Drink Milk ads are absolutely hilarious.