Sunday, May 08, 2005
Quiet Calgary Weekend (Happy V-E Day!)
Hello from the solo blogger this weekend, as Dr P is off in New York, shopping in Manhattan and generally having a nice time working the VISA card hard. She met up with old Coleraine pals Maxine and Julie for a couple of days' retail therapy before they attend a meeting in upstate New York on a big NIH project they're part of. As a result, I'm on my own and am passing a quiet, low-key weekend rightly. Getting up late, catching up on bits and pieces of paperwork, watching the odd DVD and reading reading reading. I'm about to finish a great book called 'How Bush/Cheney '04 Won' all about the recent election and I also watched a great documentary earlier on called Fog of War featuring JFK's defence secrerary Robert McNamara talking about the Vietnam war and American foreign policy in the 60s. It doesn't sound that great, but it's a compelling piece of film. I also finished watching the second season of Millennium on DVD and have been catching up on a few PS2 games. Not as much fun as if P was here, but it passes the time. She's back on Tuesday night, so only 2 more days to go.
How Bush Won
Fog of War
The weather is a bit weird this weekend - cold overcast mornings, only 5 degrees, then slightly warmer later on, up to 11 degrees, still overcast, with the hint of a bit of rain which never materialises, and then a cold and windy night. There's a thunderstorm forecast for tomorrow, too. It's now just over a year since we arrived in Calgary to do some house-hunting, although it doesn't seem as long as that. Seems to me that time goes slow when you focus on it, but as soon as you take your eye off it, it zooms off. It's been almost 9 months since the Whites were here in Calgary, but again it doesn't feel so long. I suppose the webcam keeps you feeling close to home even when you're 5,000 miles and 7 time-zones away. And it's less than a month until the arrival of Simon/Sandy/Sebastian. Time really flies!
Spent over an hour on the phone to Germany today with the Zschockes in Heidelberg, discussing birthdays, the new pope and politics in NI and the UK. Dr Anna Zschocke had a brilliant letter published in the Guardian Weekly, commenting on the media's reaction to the death of J-P II, and she was just right! You go, girl - we want to see more published work with your name on!
The Guardian Weekly
The letter
A familiar name!
I can't seem to find the letter online, so for the sake of posterity, here is the letter reproduced in full:
Guardian Weekly, April 22-28 2005, p.4, Comment and Analysis, Letters
Media Views of the Pope
You published your critical articles about Pope John Paul II at the wrong time. While your April 8 edition was landing on doorsteps all over the world, people everywhere, despite having been at times hurt or angered by Pope John Paul IIl, were coming to terms with the loss of a great person. The political reviews of the past papacy were strikingly at odds with the reaction of millions, both religious and secular, that his death released.
Most of the millions of people who travelled to Rome were not attending a pop event. In various ways their lives had at some stage been touched by the pope. He did not just fight for intra-uterine life but for the rights of the individual woman and man. Particularly in his final years he gave courage to people with debilitating illness and strength to all those living with and caring for them. These personal experiences and feelings, along with a little help from Easyjet and company, are solid reasons for millions of people to make their farewell in person.
I do not know how the other English media reflected on John Paul II, but here in Germany newspaper comments were warm and balanced. Could this be due to the even mix of Christian denominations in this country? German Protestants who with good reason could have spoken with reserve were generous in their tributes, and equally so the Jewish community. The Guardian Weekly, so often a source of informative yet sensitive articles about world religions, seems to have got it wrong this time.
(Dr) Anna Zschocke
Heidelberg, Germany
Not sure what to make of the big shift in NI politics this week, with the DUP picking up a total of 9 seats and 11% more of the vote at the expense of the poor old UUP which lost 5 seats (down to 1) and its leader David Trimble too. It seems not even a Nobel Peace Prize was enough in the end, and now both Hume and Trimble are off the stage and it's up to the extremes to sort it all out. Hopefully this election will serve the same function as getting the two sides in the room and knocking their heads together until they get a resolution. That certainly seems to be what people have voted for, this time around. On the East Antrim front, it's bye-bye Roy Beggs and hello Sammy Wilson. I'm sure he's not the first MP to have run around in the countryside with no clothes on, but he's the first one I've heard of. Good luck to him, as long as he keeps his pants on.
Across the water, it's good news/bad news for Teflon Tony. Good news: you won the election, and got your third term. Bad news: everyone seems to hate your guts and wants you to resign. It's not so much a question of if he'll go as much as how long he'll be able to hold on for. Michael Howard seems to have fought a good fight and will hopefully make way for a new style of Tory leader who can finally take Labour on at its own game.
How Bush Won
Fog of War
The weather is a bit weird this weekend - cold overcast mornings, only 5 degrees, then slightly warmer later on, up to 11 degrees, still overcast, with the hint of a bit of rain which never materialises, and then a cold and windy night. There's a thunderstorm forecast for tomorrow, too. It's now just over a year since we arrived in Calgary to do some house-hunting, although it doesn't seem as long as that. Seems to me that time goes slow when you focus on it, but as soon as you take your eye off it, it zooms off. It's been almost 9 months since the Whites were here in Calgary, but again it doesn't feel so long. I suppose the webcam keeps you feeling close to home even when you're 5,000 miles and 7 time-zones away. And it's less than a month until the arrival of Simon/Sandy/Sebastian. Time really flies!
Spent over an hour on the phone to Germany today with the Zschockes in Heidelberg, discussing birthdays, the new pope and politics in NI and the UK. Dr Anna Zschocke had a brilliant letter published in the Guardian Weekly, commenting on the media's reaction to the death of J-P II, and she was just right! You go, girl - we want to see more published work with your name on!
The Guardian Weekly
The letter
A familiar name!
I can't seem to find the letter online, so for the sake of posterity, here is the letter reproduced in full:
Guardian Weekly, April 22-28 2005, p.4, Comment and Analysis, Letters
Media Views of the Pope
You published your critical articles about Pope John Paul II at the wrong time. While your April 8 edition was landing on doorsteps all over the world, people everywhere, despite having been at times hurt or angered by Pope John Paul IIl, were coming to terms with the loss of a great person. The political reviews of the past papacy were strikingly at odds with the reaction of millions, both religious and secular, that his death released.
Most of the millions of people who travelled to Rome were not attending a pop event. In various ways their lives had at some stage been touched by the pope. He did not just fight for intra-uterine life but for the rights of the individual woman and man. Particularly in his final years he gave courage to people with debilitating illness and strength to all those living with and caring for them. These personal experiences and feelings, along with a little help from Easyjet and company, are solid reasons for millions of people to make their farewell in person.
I do not know how the other English media reflected on John Paul II, but here in Germany newspaper comments were warm and balanced. Could this be due to the even mix of Christian denominations in this country? German Protestants who with good reason could have spoken with reserve were generous in their tributes, and equally so the Jewish community. The Guardian Weekly, so often a source of informative yet sensitive articles about world religions, seems to have got it wrong this time.
(Dr) Anna Zschocke
Heidelberg, Germany
Not sure what to make of the big shift in NI politics this week, with the DUP picking up a total of 9 seats and 11% more of the vote at the expense of the poor old UUP which lost 5 seats (down to 1) and its leader David Trimble too. It seems not even a Nobel Peace Prize was enough in the end, and now both Hume and Trimble are off the stage and it's up to the extremes to sort it all out. Hopefully this election will serve the same function as getting the two sides in the room and knocking their heads together until they get a resolution. That certainly seems to be what people have voted for, this time around. On the East Antrim front, it's bye-bye Roy Beggs and hello Sammy Wilson. I'm sure he's not the first MP to have run around in the countryside with no clothes on, but he's the first one I've heard of. Good luck to him, as long as he keeps his pants on.
Across the water, it's good news/bad news for Teflon Tony. Good news: you won the election, and got your third term. Bad news: everyone seems to hate your guts and wants you to resign. It's not so much a question of if he'll go as much as how long he'll be able to hold on for. Michael Howard seems to have fought a good fight and will hopefully make way for a new style of Tory leader who can finally take Labour on at its own game.
Waiting for my new iPod this week, as my old one finally gave up the ghost when its hard drive died. I've plumped for a nice new 60GB iPod photo with a lovely colour screen. I might try and fix the old one too, but I need to track down a new drive and someone to install it. Also have received and installed the new OS, 10.4 or Tiger, this past week and it really is the bee's knees and the cat's pyjamas. It's got Spotlight, Widgets, Automator and a new 4-way iChat client as well as lots of clever bits and pieces. Like one-click google searches from any text, a one-click text dictionary and lots of other stuff. 
DeadPod
NewPod
Tiger OS 10.4 - Roar!
Granny Brown is also expected home again this week, in spite of the various predictions of doom from the staff at Inver. It's been over 2 months since her fall and as expected she's proved tougher than the average 85-year old, getting back to breathing on her own, eating again and now walking. She's a star! She had a 'home visit' this week, and I half-expected her to refuse to go back to the rehab unit, but she toed the line and will hopefully be released for good this week. 
Granny on her feet
That's all for now - have to go make my Sunday night solo curry!
More in due course,
J
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