Print Edition: January 16, 2013
No silence: Social comfort not a necessity
I heard an anti-Semitic remark in the hallway the other day. A student was referring to his associate’s frugality in a manner used by doltish eighth graders. I wanted to punch those words back into the slobbery gob whence they came. But I didn’t. Nor did anyone else. Nor did anyone else do anything.
I interrupted the conversation and asked him why his companion was “acting like a Jew.” His explanation, I told him, was as ignorant as I expected. It was uncomfortable for everyone within earshot, but social comfort is hardly a constant necessity.
Whenever I hear a joke that reinforces stereotypes or prejudices, it feels like a fly just dumped a steamy coiler on my tympanic membrane. I’ll say something that usually fills the atmosphere with tension, because I’m criticizing their normal, idiotic behaviour.
It seems like an over-reaction to some people, but these people, I say, under-react to their environment, like vultures only responding to corpses of thought, laid out for their maggoty enjoyment.
Holiday turnover gone mad
The hangover buzz is still in the air, the smell of champagne gone bad lingers on sparkly outfits in the backs of people’s closets and people are wondering why exactly they got so excited about wearing ill-conceived 2013 eyeglasses. But lo! What is that red and pink in the corner of the store? What? It could not be. It would be ridiculous to start this early. It’s . . .
It’s Valentine’s Day.
The thing is . . . it’s barely January. Valentine’s Day isn’t for a month-and-a-half. And we’ve barely shaken the sparkly dust of New Year’s Eve off our coattails.
Is it just me or has the holiday turnover reached new levels of ridiculous? Christmas trees show up in Costco right beside summer flip flops. Cadbury Mini Eggs crop up alongside Christmas clearance. And now red and pink heart-clad tea towels are already making me reach for the wine.
Can we slow down, world? Do we have to be in such a rush?
How about one moment when holidays aren’t dominating the impulse section?
How about a break?
A call to all mail carriers
Snail mail may be an old fashioned system, but it is still perfectly viable. Problems, however, do arise. When every week a little boy from down the street is sent to deliver your letters or packages by hand, because the mail carrier has put them in his family’s mail box, I have to wonder how much of my mail has been misplaced or simply gone missing.
Since, from my understanding, mail carriers are contract based and are paid by the day and not by the hour, they rush through their work as quickly as possible so they can call it quits sooner. This results in the neighbourhood picking up the slack. But, how many people just throw away letters that aren’t for them?
It’s impossible to say.
Email may be the way of the future, but it can’t deliver packages or cheques.
This is a shout out to postal service carriers: make sure you do your job right!
Germany’s solar energy outshines Canadian attempts
While it may not seem like it out here on the aptly-named Wet Coast, much of Canada enjoys a lot of sunlight throughout the year. So much so that the Canadian Centre for Energy says that there are “abundant” solar energy resources in Ontario, Quebec, and much of the Prairies. Despite these clean, available resources, Canada only generated 400 Gwh (Gigawatt hours) from solar power in 2011. Meanwhile in Deutschland, 2011 yielded 19,300 Gwh. In 2012? 28,500 Gwh, accounting for a nearly five per cent of Germany’s total electricity consumption for the year. And solar energy production in the country only continues to grow at an incredible rate. Germans are well-known for their tech-heavy culture, but much of the country faces plenty of rain. Living in north-west Germany for a while myself last year, I saw less sun in June than I usually see in BC in May. After the initial investment, solar power infrastructure rapidly began to drop in price, allowing sales of consumer-level devices to flourish. So what’s the deal, Canada? If Germany can do it, so can you.
