Spring

When is spring - yes dear reader I know it is suppose to occur on the 21st of March, but how do we know when spring actually is? Is it after 2-3 days of warm weather - is it after the first warm rain? NO - in my opinion you can tell that spring has arrived when you can smell the mud as the frost leaves the ground and the frozen dog pooh starts to dissolve.

Many years ago I was taught (by a native elder) how to estimate when spring is going to arrive. Over the past 20-25 years I have been right far more often than wrong Five weeks ago I predicted that spring would start to appear in about six weeks. That is next week.

That doesn't mean that we won't get another storm. I was once caught in a snow storm in May as I hitched west. and it doesn't mean that there won't be another cold spell. But the frost in Peterborough will start to leave the ground next week. It has been warm for a few days, but the water is still sitting on top of the ground - give it another 5-7 days and it will have slowly drained into the soil.

All of which explains my serious infection of spring fever. My poor students. I may have been more hyper than usual

Enough of Winter

I am done. That is it. I am finished with winter. It has not been a particularly bad winter in Southern Ontario. There were only a few times when it snowed enough that I had to shovel my tiny driveway, and only a few days when the cold and the wind made going out almost unbearable. In fact compared to many Canadians - the weather has been almost delightful - but I am still done with winter.

Could we have some spring some time soon. Please.

 I am tired with this white stuff  that is so frequently brown. 

I am tired of having to wear heavy boots/shoes, a winter coat, hat and gloves. 

It seems to me that if Canadians can get on Facebook and sign a petition to get the government to change policies - shouldn't we be able to sign a petition to get Spring to happen sooner ?

Just a thought.

Time for a New Toy

I have for some time wanted a new toy. Specifically I want a new computer toy. Please note that I am saying "want"  not "need". I have a perfectly good computer at home and I generally have access to a computer at work and everywhere else I go- so I don't need a new one.

Before I went west last summer I debated about buying a small notebook. The logic was that I could do the blog much easier if I had a computer with me all of the time. I could do it daily so folks would know where I was and what I was doing. But the cost and more importantly the potential fear of losing it was enough to discourage me from buying one.

However ever since Christmas (partially because my daughter bought one) I have wanted a tablet. They look neat and I could use it as an e-reader as well. It is hard to find books when traveling and with an e-reader I could have a 100 books with me. I suspect that Tablets are not very useful as a typewriter but it would be enough to do short blogs.

Of course I could have bought one just like my daughter's fairly cheaply after Christmas but I was waiting for the next version to come out. I am still waiting because every time a new version comes out I start to read about the ones that are going to be released next month. Tablets are getting more and more sophisticated. But honestly - who needs a camera in a tablet? There are lot of tablets available now - but I don't want to order one directly from China - there seem to be very few available in Canada. I don't understand why the market is so limited here.

Have you ever noticed that computer prices don't really ever drop? They just keep adding bits and pieces on to them so they can keep the price high.

So I don't yet have a tablet - but I will -someday...... or at least I will want one until a new toy comes along.

Should we have free access to the internet?

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of public noise about the fact that there is something wrong when one or two companies control access to the Internet. Something is especially wrong when one of those companies tries to make too much money. Which I find quite frankly rather strange coming from the people who say that government should not regulate businesses -  that the market will find its own level. Guess that is only true when you are the one making the money.

The way I understand is.... Imagine someone building a road - perhaps a road to their cottage. They used their own money and continue to maintain it including plowing it and on occasion widening it. Some other people build cottages on the lake and want to use  the road. The owner says sure - pay me $10.00 but you can only use it 10 times a year. I don't want it to get too busy.

Then some other folks come by and they too want to use the road - but they are building condos. And they want the new condo owners to be able to use the road as often as they want to. The road owner says no - if they are going to use it more often than the other people they are going to have to pay more.

The government steps and says - sorry you have to let the condo owners use it as often as they want - otherwise it is not fair to them. Personally I would drop some trees across the road and say that no one could use it.

The people that are complaining about perhaps having to pay more are not the occasional users but rather those who download (read steal) movies and music or those who play games on line. They joined the smaller companies because they could download a lot more at a fixed price.  I can understand why they don't want to pay more - who does? But if you use something more than I do - you should pay more.

There is another solution. If the Canadian government believes that access to the Internet at a reasonable price (or even better for free) is a right and it is good for the economy (although why stealing movies and playing on line games is good for the country is beyond me) - then nationalize the system. And then use taxpayer's money to maintain it. Socialize the Internet - that has a nice ring to it. The we would all have equal access and we would all pay for it.

While I would love for private companies such as Bell to put me first - and their investors second - it ain't going to happen. We can't expect private companies to subsidize our fun. Mr. Harper you lack the expertise to mess around with system - so either nationalize the Internet or let free market have its way with us.

Eygpt Part 2

I may have been wrong. I had previously posted the opinion that Egypt's revolution would not meet the demands of the participants.

Last night on TVO ( arguably the best TV station in Canada) on the program "The Agenda" ( arguably the best news program on TV) there was a great discussion on Egypt. All of the 5 panelist had deep roots in the Middle East and three had been born in Egypt - which gave the discussion an air of authenticity.

One of the comments made some sense to me. First this is a conservative revolution - people want to re-build the capitalistic democracy that once existed. They may be content in at least the short term in some sort of modified democracy - not like we think we have in the west  - but something close.

While I am not ( as you may have guessed) a fan of capitalistic democracy - this approach gives me some hope that there is not a revolution happening but some form of speeded up evolution of the political process. Perhaps the Egyptians have found a route to stability and some minor growth in terms of financial security with out the bloodshed. Perhaps this can be a route to a social democracy. If so - good for them. It is time there were some new ways of doing business.

minor point on blogs

I know some people (relatively few) read these blogs - I have a counter and so I know for example that 4 people visited the site yesterday. I don't know who or whether it was the same person  who visited 4 times.

On occassion please feel free to leave a comment,  it would be nice to know what you think.

Thanks

Eygpt - what are they thinking?

I find it a bit depressing to see on the news all that is going on in the Middle East. It can not end well. Now that all of the western European/North American have decided that they need to support those who want the President gone - it is only a matter of time. But I keep on asking myself - where are the intellectual leaders  (as defined by Gramsci)? Why haven't they talked/taught about the need for change before this in a way that gives people the tools to make reasonable decisions? (not that we do any better in Canada in terms of making rational political decisions)

There seems to be two positions. The first one is the one that now appears to be the politically proper one - that is - get rid of the dictator. And immediately, according to some of the protesters, there will be both a democracy and even more importantly such things as food prices will drop down and there will be jobs for all.. There is no proof in any country that a capitalistic democracy insures that everyone can afford to feed their family. All of those young people who are out there, sometimes risking their lives to protest the current regime, desperately want a change so that they can have freedom, also want to get a job and to have a reasonable economic future. I am afraid that they are going to be disappointed on one if not both counts.

The other positions argues that things are not so bad under the present regime and that Egypt needs a strong (read dictatorship) leader. They appear on the TV news to be slightly older. They want the protest to stop so that they can get on with their lives. One has to wonder how many of those who support the President are unemployed and/or poor? Of course those who are doing well under the present systm want to keep the status quo.

This is not just a protest to get rid of a president- it is also, and perhaps even primarily,  a class struggle between those who have and those who do not. Until that is understood - any changes that occur will just be placing a band-aid on a festering wound.