A few more items from the UK

 

I was right! An Expert Has Written a Book...

I am thrilled to write this post. Today on The Current, a CBC morning program, Dr. Nina Jablonski discussed with Anna Maria Tremonte the concept of race as a political concept and also how and why skin colour evolves.

The way people carelessly bandy about the term race, even applying that term to religious groups (ie the Jewish race) and cultures (as they do in the UK when they refer to themselves as the English race), is distasteful at best and absolutely disgusting in the full.

I am glad to know the scandalous, misuse and sometimes criminal use of a fase concept has received high level study. I hope soon the use of the term 'race' in all its terrible permutations and for all the political reasons, will cease and the term itself will finally die out.

A link to the full interveiw follows. If that link becomes inactive, go to The Current or to the CBC website and search the program archives. CBC also provides written transcripts of its programs. Directions for acquiring transcripts can be obtained by e-mailing or calling CBC directly.

The following is a short excerpt from the interview:

(NJ) "The possession of any particular skin colour is an interesting story of adaptation but it tells us nothing of uniqueness of group membership."

(AMT) "It tells us nothing about race."

(NJ) "That's right. Exactly."

(AMT) "Does your work essentially argue that race doesn't exist?"

(NJ) "Clearly, that is the inescapeable conclusion. Mine is not the first study in which race turns out to be a biological falacy... use of racial labels in any kind of biologically usefull context is a complete nonsense and we already know from a social point of view that race has been very much maintained in our societies as a social construct. And we know, through many lines of evidence, how incredibly destructive that has been."

Dr. Jablonski goes on to point out that humans are one species wearing multiple colours, a point I also made in my post of Wednesday, December 7th. In that post, entitled Falacy of Race, I discussed this very subject.

Race as we use the term in the 'civilised world,' is a means of division, derision and stereotyping. But the values we attach to 'race' are invalid and untrue. Were people to divide and deride on the basis of eye or liver colour, most people would find such division/derision ridiculous. However do they then manage it when that division/derision is based on skin - also an organ of the body?

Here's the link to the interview. I encourage everyone to sit down and have a very good listen.

Here are some additional links:
Wikipedia: Human Skin Colour
Skin: a Natural History (Book) by Nina Jablonski
Profile of Nina jablonski

Back from England and Scotland: photos

Round two! We've just returned from a two week holiday in the UK. We spent 3 days with family in England prior to heading north to Inverness and area, where it was our intention to cycle the Great Glen cycle route.

The weather was gorgeous. With the exception of the first day we were in the UK, when it rained, but only lightly all day, and the morning of the last day we were overseas, we had exceptional, surprisingly warm weather. In the highlands, the temperatures ranged from 14 to 20 degrees C the whole time.

Oh, and also except for one afternoon, October 11th. That day it poured. That day was also the first of what we though would be two days cycling.

The Great Glen runs between Inverness and Fort William, and is bordered on the Inverness side by the Moray Firth, into which the River Ness flows, and on the Fort William side by Loch Linnhe, which empties into the sea on the wet coast of Scotland.

The Highlands are mountainous to say the least. We knew there are three climbs of some 900 ft each along the trip. What we didn't know and weren't necessarily prepared for is the rest of the route is very hilly otherwise, mostly going up - at least that's how it felt.

We had hired bikes from a place in Fort William. The owner transported the bikes up to Inverness for us - and hour's drive - and left them with his brother in law not far from where we were staying with my friend Penelope at her B&B Atholdene House (which I cannot recommend highly enough. It is GREAT).

We had also been provided an excellent, waterproof map by an on line acquaintance of mine, Steve, from Benderloch in Scotland. We had all the necessary rain gear and layering clothing and a couple off good mountain bikes, all of which was our undoing really.

My partner and I bike a lot and I run, often as much as 30 Kms a week, so we're reasonably fit for milddle aged people. We were, to be short, quite overwhelmed by the Great Glen.

The Highlands of Scotland are wild and vast and in places very scarcely populated. As we were cycling well out of the tourist season for the area, we were quite alone on our trip. Between the heavy bikes and the 10 or so pounds of gear we both had with us and the quiet and the wind and occasional rain that day, and the solitude - and the wrong turn down a 1.5 mile long, very steep hill, which we had to re-climb afterwards, we were quite overwhelmed by the time we arrived at Drumnadrochit.

Drumnadrochit is a gorgeous village at the NW end of Loch Ness. It is the home of several shops and businesses dedicated to everything about the Loch Ness Monster. It is also the village below the beautiful ruins of Urquhart Castle. By road it is 13 miles beyond Inverness - about a 2o minute drive. Via the Great Glen, it is about 32Kms, largely uphill. Add in an extra 5 Kms for a wrong turn and it's a bit of a distance.

On arriving there, 1.5 hours later than we had anticipated, we sat down at the the Glen Cafe for lunch and to assess. As we sat there, the heavens opened and delivered a deluge. Despite the rain, we decided to press on wards - we were not cold, owing to waterproof gear and proper undergarments - towards Urquhart Castle and to Invermoriston, our destination for the night. Sadly, on arriving at the castle only 2 miles on, we realised that neither of us was going to be able to manage another 32Kms to Invermoriston and so back we went to Drum in search of a B&B, where we would stay the night.

In the end, we decided to terminate the ride and go either to Fort William or back to Inverness for the night. We left our rented cycles with the very accommodating hosts of the Glen Cafe and called Martin, who rented us the bikes to explain.

During the day, we had tried to get a bus either to Fort William, our destination, or back to Inverness. None of the drivers would take our bikes - with the exception of the last guy, who was driving the bus we took back to Inverness; he said he'd be glad to take the bikes, which were already secured inside the locked Glen Cafe. Ironic.

The next day, we hired a car in Inverness - a Golf (right hand drive, standard, diesel with which I drove on the right side of the narrow, shoulderless road at 60miles an hour) drove to Drumnadrochit, loaded the bikes in the car and made our slow and merry way towards Fort William. Along the way, we discovered that the B&B we had booked for our first night was not 2 miles south of Invermoriston as we thought, but two miles south of Fort Augustus, which is itself 8 miles past Invermoriston. We would have been hooped, wet, tired and lost. Small mercy but mercy all the same.

The weather was gorgeous, warm, sunny and dry, which, although we appreciated it very much, added to our respective private chagrin at not having met our challenge to bike the Glen. However, we are realists and we knew that we were pushing ourselves beyond what was safe. We could have completed the ride we are sure but we also realised that we had lost heart.

The upside was the warm, surprised welcome back to Atholdene house by Lucy, the Angel of Coffee, and a bunch of lovely days spent tramping around the Inverness Area and fun evenings spent at the always excellent Hootenany's in Church Street in Inverness.

I have photos posted on my Flickr space. They are copyrighted so please ask me before you used them, but also please enjoy.

If you'd like more information on the Great Glen, the cycle path and the walking path, please leave a comment on this page.

I'd run, but....

This weekend, I ran in this event called "Run for the Cure," which is designed to raise money for breast cancer research and ultimately to find a cure for this disease. Those of you who've been reading my blog know my opinion on whether or not a cure 'can' ever be found (Untruths in Fundraising), given the devastation to the cancer industry a cure would cause.

But.

It was a blast. It was great fun to run down city streets with a ton - 15,000- other people. It was great. I ran with a colleague and beat my 5K time by about 5 minutes, which was great.

It's a huge event in terms of organisation and it went off without a hitch. Loads of media, tons of participants, no chaos. A good day in general.

The only thing I have to complain about is how people cannot grasp the principle of "walk to the right" and why they don't have any concept of how difficult they make it when they stand in the doorways during a very congested, busy event.

I'm sure there were a lot of people who didn't understand my look of daggers as I was trying to get from the inside meeting places to the outside....

I only have two rules for busy places but they apply to all of amusement parks, busy malls, churches, big outdoor events - anywhere there are lots of people

Walk to the right - and this includes on escalator and for entering elevators. Simply walk to the right! How bloody hard is that? In England - London - there are signs in the Tubes directing people (tourists) to walk to the right so that those who want to walk up the escalator can do so. If you happen to stop on the left, Londoners will push you out of the way. And so they should!

Second rule is do NOT block doorways. Imagine if YOU had to quickly get your child out of a busy place and all these people were blocking the doorways!

Doorways are entries and exits. They are NOT where a person should stand and talk. Neither are narrow hallways.

Remove yourself to somewhere that will not prevent others easy entrance/exit.

The bottom line is to always remember that you are not alone. Manners make YOU easier to be around.

Here's a great book by a GREAT writer, Lynn Truss, for anyone who doesn't know the rules.

Also see "Miss Manners" or anything by Emily Post.

YAY FOR TRUTH!

go HERE! THERE IS TRUTH IN THE MEDIA.

Here's to you Keith Olbermann! It is aobut time someone spoke up.

George W. Bush;
Liar
Worst Administration in History
Blamer
Coward.

Go here for the excellent, outspoken commentary by video

Go here for the complete text of Olbermann's speech.

Here's More on the 9/11 attacks

Musings on Sins, Sinners and Sinning.

Is it worse to screw up and, by extension, not by design, piss someone off, or to be the pissed off person and not accept an apolgy?

Having been in this position - that of the inadvertently wronged person - a few times in my life, and also having been in the position of being hurt and not wanting to accept an apology, I want to know which is the greater sin.

Anyone know a Rabbi?

People, being the falable humans they are, are prone to making bad decisions, being idiots, saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, being insecure and reverting to pretty animalistic behaviour sometimes.

However, in most cases, people don't sit about plotting to piss other people off. I'm sure there are people who have some psychological syndrome that predisposes them to finding ways to piss off their friends and family, but I think those people are reasonably rare.

The rest of us simply make asses of ourselves without any planning or pretense. So, if a person screws up, is surprised by a reaction, feels bad about it and offers an apology but the apology is refused, I'd say the refusal is the greater sin.

I've been reading a synopsis of The Anger Diet by Brenda Shoshanna and how anger is often the outlet of choice, "...when people are depressed, feel anxious or suffer mood disorders, they really are angry, she says. Anger also appears as apathy, hopelessness, promiscuity and passive-aggressive behavior, she adds.

Speaking for myself, that was certainly the case in the past. I lived many years feeling powerless, ugly and incapable; I didn't believe that I had any viable skills or anything to offer anyone. This serious lack of self-esteem allowed me to marry the absolute wrong person (I temper this with gratitude for my children, who I would not have had were it not for that bad marriage).

I suffered intense anger for years - everthing set me off including others' unintentional slights, looks from strangers, frustrations - you name it, it pissed me off.

My saving grace was (is) a wonderful friend who has been instrumental in forcing me to look at my life, my self and my accomplishments from a rational, not emotional, point of view and to allow myself some self-congratulations. This is a whole 'nother post so I'll leave it for now.

I still have moments of anger and self-doubt but also have a much greater, useful ability to sift through the situation and consider it from a non-emotional point of view. It's rare day that I lose my temper now. It's a question of not proceeding from an emotional basis on every point , but from a point of view of analysis - my dad would jump out of his skin if he were to read this... "respond, don't react" was his mantra.

Having said all that, it does make me a bit angry to have an apology tossed back in my face - ignored in this case, but, as I beleive most people don't actually go out to piss off their friends, I'm in a position of forgiving the tosser. Weird and circular!

Dawson College

Just a quick note about this terrible event.

• Not all young men who wear trenchcoats are dangerous.
• The shooter was in possession of a legally obtained, registered gun
• The shooter had problems that were not related to his dress, age, place of residence or his choice of website.
• His mother, quoted in the paper saying she was in shock and hadn't raised her son to kill people (WHO DOES??) is asking for privacy. Good luck.
• Unnoticed or ignored depression in adolescents can result in suicide, whether by the adolesent's own hand or via the adolescent causing a situation where they risk dying or being killed.

The reality is that this guy was very certainly exhibiting lots and lots of warning signs and probaby for a long time. In a 'civilized country' where women learn to yell "FIRE" rather than "help" if they're being attacked (because people are not included to help but very inclined to avoid), it comes as no surprise that this individual, who was obviously very disturbed and distressed, took action, albeit the worst action possible. The attack was his "FIRE" call because his repeated calls for help - to his family and friends - had gone entirely unheeded.

The fact that his mother was in such outright denial - and that no other members of his family have chosen to speak publicly - indicates the roots of the shooter's problems were very firmly in the the family. If they didn't acknowledge that their child was in serious distress, who else was going to?

As for the young woman who was killed, she will now become the symbol for the tragedy, when she has little to do with the actual tragedy - a young man in such distress that he attempts to kill pile of people just so someone notices him! There are many who call his behaviour a suicide.

I don't mean to be callous towards the young woman who was killed or the others who were injured. Her death is devastating in every sense. I cannot imagine losing a child - I have a daughter at university at present. In my deepest heart, I'm terrified for her every single day; who knows who the people around her are and to what lengths they might go?

What I wish is that the media would finally place responsibilty where it belongs; with the family because it is always within the family that problems start.

I also wish that parents would reach out much sooner when they're having problems with their children. There is no shame in asking for help, or if there is, it cannot match the shame that this family will now live with.

The media will never actualy expose the truth of this story or the Columbine story or the Taber story. Family matters and problems, crappy parents and crap parenting are not news. Those are just the hallmarks of our 'civilized' country.

Politics of a Different Stripe

So, I heard the funniest thing the other day, via the office grapevine...

I have taken this post down, not because I didn't like it or because I have any remorse about anything I write here but because I had great concerns that I was about to be revealed to the subjects of the blog.

As all bloggers and their readers know, the blogosphere is a freewheeling kind of place where the writers say whatever they will, without fear of reprisals from their friends, co-workers, readers or bosses.

A caveat: I do not believe that there is any room in the blogosphere for violence and racism, but I also hold dearly to free speech, so yeah, sometimes that stuff gets into the space because people have the right to express themselves even if some of us would rather they just shut up.

Those of us who keep anonymous blogs do so no only to protect ourselves, but to protect those about whom we write.

Most of us are ethical enough to not slander our subjects and I specifically do everything I can to not identify my subjects, including, whenever possible, not identifying even their gender.

Having said that, we who have noms de plume or who remain anonymous do so for a host of usually very good reasons - one being keeping our day jobs.

Those readers who are invited into the inner circle must always hold that privilege in high regard as entry implies respect and trust. Broken trust is very difficult to repair.

Bombs and when they bomb

So it looks like the last ditch effort to make Mr. Blair popular again with his countrymen has bombed....

The so-called planned terrorist attacks on 10 commercial airliners was just that: planned. But planned to highten the prime-minister's very sagging popularity there, as he is living in GWBush's other back pocket - along with Stephen Harper. What a bloody weird party that all is.

So out he will go, leaving the airline industry very affected, the adjunct services losing massive amounts of revenue and with his head hung low and his tail between his legs.

Now people, if you actually believe that there was any threat at all, you are being played. There was no real threat. The only threat that exists is to people who's skin is brown and who's ethnicity is Pakistani (even if they're third generation Brits). Those people are being used as pawns in the war to create the 'coalition of the willing' in Britain, as it has been created in the US via the 'attacks' on the towers. Fortunately, Mr. Blair is quite clued in and he knows that such a large scale attack as that on the towers would never have the same effect with the British public. That's why such a thing never happened there. He may be unpopular but he knows his people. It's a damned shame that he's been so poorly played by the US government.

911 Cover Up

Loose Change 2nd Edition - Korey Rowe / Dylan Avery / Jason Bermas

If you can watch this and come out at the other end believing that 9/11 happened the way the US government wants you to think it did, you are a SHEEP.

In the Bible, SHEEP are regularly sacrificed.

Congratulations.

They got you.