I just signed myself up for Earth Hour. The idea is to agree to turn off your lights for one hour at 8pm March 29, 2008. We live in a world that blazes off light into space and in our houses and businesses where it isn’t needed. I remember the big blackout of August 2003 and how magical that night was. Everyone was looking up at the stars that night, not because there was something special astronomically to look at, because the stars were visible. The great light pollution that we humans generate to turn back something as natural as night. Not many people think about light pollution until a blackout occurs.
I’m going to do my part on March 29th to cut down on the light pollution I’m responsible for and turn off all the electricity I’d normally be using that night. It’s just one hour and I and my family can exist independant of electricity for an hour. In fact, I’m hoping that this will grow in many other hours we turn the electricity off and a different portion of our lives on.
Month: March 2008
Archiving Knowledge
I listened to Brewster Kahle on a podcast from 2004. It’s a little dated but very interesting. His group, the Internet Archive, is trying to archive materials that don’t have a great distribution already… that’s 99.9% of the material out there according to Kahle. As he says, a $100million movie or Madonna’s music doesn’t need his help: they have their distribution channels. But the small run out-of-print books or deleted albums or out of copyright movies are another story.
There are over 370,000 books, 100,000 films, 40,000 concerts and 240,000 audio recordings to choose from.
I would encourage you to go the library, get a free library card if you wish and just browse. The WayBack Machine is a cool way to look into the history of the web: check out “http://www.yahoo.com” in 1996, for example.
The project is impressively worthwhile and very valuable to anyone who enjoys history, does research or just likes to poke around.
Worst? Best? Canoe Trips
I enjoyed nearly all of the trips I’ve made by canoe but some shine out from my memories. Ironically enough, those trips that were the hardest, coldest, wettest, ecetera-est are, by far, the most memorable.
I recall one in particular, where my father, brother and I were canoeing in the mid west of Algonquin Park miserably through rain. But that point when we finally had our smoky fire going and into something drier at the camp site. Well. It’s hard to put that feeling of comfort into words. There’s a lot to say for a respite from some hard and wet portaging and paddling. And the wildlife I saw on that trip added to the experience. It was the first and last time I saw a black bear in the wild on a canoe trip. There were many loons, too, and there was the magic of being able to follow a beaver around on the small lake… wow!
I remember another canoe trip that brought whole new meaning to the word ‘arduous’. It was an 8 day trip, also from Algonquin’s west side although a different and circular route going well into the interior. My wife and the other couple we went with call it, aptly, “The Canoe Trip to Hell.” There was a drought but, when asked explicitly, the park attendant informed us that this would not affect the portages on our route. He couldn’t have been more wrong. The portages were 3 to 10 times as long in places. The fact that there was a fire ban (even though it was raining) and that we were traveling through a burnt section of the park only added to the fun. The first night we didn’t make our campsite even though the attendant had told us that it would only take us a few hours to get to it. Several hours later I was canoeing through a narrow channel in nearly complete darkness with my wife for whom nature has only one frightening creature: the frog. The water was so low that we were going past hundreds of frog heads poking up through the dark water. I didn’t say anything. This was her first real canoe trip and I wasn’t going to ruin it. We finally had to set up camp on a portage trail at 3AM in the morning, at least 8 hours after we left the cars. We all nurtured specific fantasies on what we’d do to that attendant if we saw him again. My friend Peter lead us that night by feeling the portage route with his feet. That may sound strange but it was absolutely true… he is blind but so gifted in other ways that he kept up our spirits and guided us on the dark path better than a sighted person could have.
The going just got worse. One small lake started out great but the water had gone down so far that the other end was really nothing more than thick, black quick-sand. We paddled like mad for two hours to try to reach a shore that was only 10 metres away. We had to use the momentum from one canoe to push the other in and then tow the other canoe in with a thrown rope.
It was getting laughable. We kept saying to each other that it couldn’t get worse and then it would. But none of us wanted to go back the same way… that was a horrible ‘known’ but the chance, getting slimmer all the time, that it might be better ahead kept us going.
After four days we finally reached a bigger lake and had some nice sunny weather. We pulled our exhausted bodies and canoes up on the rocky shore and collapsed, finishing every drop in our 4L wine in a box. We washed, relaxed and soaked in the sun. It was wonderful. Incredible. But looming ahead for us was the knowledge that we were going to have to take a route involving a small creek out of there in order to return from the interior. It turned out to be heavily dammed by &%^#$@( beavers. But it didn’t matter… by that point we were so eager to get out that we went at ramming speed over the top of each dam. My wife, the intrepid coureur de bois was running on our final portage out of there. When we reached civilization (Huntsville) we ordered a table full (and I mean full) of food at the only restaurant we could find open.
But we still fondly remember our trip. We saw 26 moose and many other animals… because of the drought they weren’t as shy as they normally were. Of course it could have been the one moose family (buck, doe and foal) following us to make sure that we left. It seemed like a lot of moose to me and I had worked for two summers in the park in my youth as a canoe ranger (Junior Rangers). I saw a great deal of the park on many canoe trips but I could add all the moose I saw on all my previous trips and come up with less than ten.
My poor wife. She hasn’t wanted to go on a long canoe trek like that since and I don’t blame her. It was the worst trip I’d ever been on.
But, strangely, perhaps that’s why we still talk about it!
One Sentence
This is a cool site where people try to tell a story within the confines of one sentence: a challenge!
Startling Clay Animation
I found this bizarre claymation on Youtube. It’s dark and frightening but there’s something about it and the Mask guy in it that I like. I’m not sure why. Check it out and see if you can find your way to liking it. And if you can, please tell me why.
H.P. Lovecraft
The work of this writer of horror/science fiction from Providence, RI, is much venerated by many. It is certainly an important inspiration for many writing in the horror genre. Lovecraft’s creations are so horrific, so anti-life that they are difficult to visualize or even imagine. I think of his work similarly as I do that of Edgar Allan Poe (who was an important influence on Lovecraft).
I find At the Mountains of Madness to be the most distinctive example of Lovecraft’s work. If you aren’t scared by this novella, I don’t know what can scare you!
Those interested in Lovecraft may find these YouTube selections of interest:
- I am not sure of the authenticity of this video interview with the man himself but it certainly seems real
- An interview with the author Neil Gaiman on the subject of Lovecraft
- The hilarious Calls for Cthulhu video presentations start with this episode
- And don’t forget Cthulu Lego
Reaper
This is a new sitcom, filmed in Burnaby, BC. It isn’t about the same type of reaper as we saw in Dead Like Me which I reviewed earlier, the main character (Sam Oliver played by Bret Harrison) is working for the Devil (exceedingly well done by Ray Wise). I’ve only seen the first episode so I don’t know how the story progresses but it seems that Sam has to retrieve escapees from Hell. It sounds challenging and with friends like Bert ‘Sock’ Wysocki (Tyler Labine is fantastic) it is but this series seems to work excellently well. Just the right mix. I definitely want to see more! Just as engaging as Dead Like Me was.
Highly recommended.
Sensory Test
Here’s a site hosted by the BBC which allows you to test your knowledge and senses. The only think I don’t like about it is that each question has a set time limit and you don’t get very much time to do them.
Language is a Virus
Another interesting web site I stumbled upon. I especially liked the advice on Cut-up Spellcheck to give the creative juices a workout. But there’s more than just advice on the site. There’s always widgets! Although the Title-o-Matic is definitely skewed towards nature and foods it is entertaining!
All that and you can post your own material there too.
Worth a look if you’re interested in creative writing.
Breathing Earth
I came across a fascinating site while using StumbleUpon yesterday. It’s called Breathing Earth. It uses a global map to show a estimated birth/death/carbon emission rates for all countries.
Exceedingly interesting!
Golbing 