Feeling Festive

I am happy to report that I have officially given up on accomplishing anything this week before heading home. The Christmas spirit is just too infectious to not take advantage of. All the bad environmental news today is even having a hard time swaying me from the pure bliss of listening to Michael Bublé croon out some Christmas carols and "helping" my girlfriend bake cookies.

The life of a university student often doesn't lend itself to fully enjoying December. Even the stubbornly young at heart, a group that most assuredly includes me, have a hard time feeling festive when there are exams to be studied for and papers to be written. And real, full-fledged grown ups? Forget about it. Most adults are so overwhelmed by stress that they don't have time to get swept up in Yuletide cheer. I was fortunate this year in that the people in charge of my program were merciful and let us all be done our work and free of academic commitments as of December 5th.

In the time since then I have slowly fallen back into the mindset I took for granted as a child. The care-free, present anticipating, sugar ingesting, ornament hanging, carol singing state that filled me with the courage to tear fearlessly down steep toboggan slopes and truly enjoy the holidays. I have really missed it and I'm glad I have been able to find my way back. As much I would like to believe that its possible to feel this way all year, the fact is there is something special about the month of December. Maybe its the Christmas lights, maybe its the hustle and bustle of the shopping malls, maybe its the clichéd Christmas movies that are on perpetual repeat; but if you open your mind up to being a kid again, its an easy goal to accomplish.

And why shouldn't we all take advantage of that? Its very rare that the society we live in invites us to let go of our worries for a few weeks and really enjoy everything we have. If you are reading this blog you are part of a very small segment of people who are lucky enough to have their needs met in such a way that they have time to relax. Its very easy to forget that when you're bogged down with work, and bills, and meetings. The ubiquitous joy and spirit of giving that are at the heart of the holidays are a great way to escape the madness.

So this December, try to get caught up in it. Take a couple weeks for yourself. Stop worrying about the woes of the world and the obstacles you face in your own life and spend time with family and friends like it is the most important thing you have to do. The whole reason we all work so hard is so we can have some happiness in our lives. We would be foolish not step back and enjoy it when we are being bombarded with it from every angle.

I love Christmas. I always have. I always will. I understand that it is hard for some of us to get into the holiday spirit, but it should be a priority. Go out and find it if you have to. Don't be stubborn. Because when you finally find that you are able to view the world through a set of rose-coloured glasses, if only for a short while, all the bad things in life seem not to matter as much.

Happy holidays/Merry Christmas!

-Steve

Image courtesy of http://www.brothersoft.com/winter-wonderland-theme-201583.html

Rediscovery

I've been a nerd since long before it was cool. When I was ten years old we didn't have shows like Big Bang Theory and Numb3rs that exposed dorks to the wider world in a friendly and idolistic way. No, all we had were the shows that fostered our nerd-dom while keeping us firmly separated from popular culture. But man, did I love those shows. I can't tell you how many evenings of my childhood were spent watching Discovery Channel Special Presentations or National Geographic Explorer presentations. They made me the man I am today, and I truly miss them.

Unfortunately, I've had to watch as the Discovery Channel slowly became less about visually captivating documentaries and more about people doing physical labour in extreme situations or how matches are made. Occasionally though, they still hit the mark, and tonight was one of those nights. I saw an online advertisement a few days ago for a special entitled Drain the Great Lakes. This caught my interest for a few reasons. First off, I am a Southern Ontario boy, born and raised. I may have spent the past few months fulfilling a lifelong dream of living among the mountains, but the Great Lakes and the vast stretches of Boreal forest that make up my home will always hold a special place in my heart. Second, with a title like that, and a deep-running love for disaster movies, how could I not watch?

I'm happy to report that the show managed to exceed my expectations and took me back to the glory days of educational TV. I spent the hour learning about ancient fluctuations in lake levels that exposed cliffs hundreds of feet high. I learned how some of North America's first inhabitants hunted caribou along the now submerged escarpments. I listened intently to the story of undetected earthquakes of the shoreline of Toronto that have created geologic "pop-ups" up to three meters high and how these represent the astounding tectonic forces squeezing an area that many people think of as relatively stable. I even learned about the mysterious circular feature that is nearly two kilometers in diameter and could be one of the best preserved meteor craters on the planet, albeit under a few hundred feet of Lake Ontario waves.

I'm glad to see that, every once in a while, an eye catching documentary still comes along. It gives me hope for young nerds who are growing up in a time without Bill Nye the Science Guy or Popular Mechanics for Kids. Hopefully these fledgeling scientists are satisfying their curiosity in some other way. Possibly with the vast supply of BBC docs on YouTube or by way of some great education show that I am totally unaware of. 

Either way, one of the great things about being a kid is how all the fun facts that us grown people take for granted can still inspire awe. I remember, a while back, I was trying to explain the seasons to my little brother so I turned out all the lights in his bedroom, grabbed a globe and gave him a flashlight. The look on his face when he saw how the angle of the Earth effects the way that light hits its surface reminded me of the wonder I used to be able to find so easily. Now I have to dig a little deeper to learn interesting facts, but that dorky kid who dreamed of being a herpetologist is definitely alive and well inside me.

Until next time, stay curious; because the world is just awesome.

-Steve 

Photo courtesy of www.discoverychannel.ca

Alarmed and Disappointed

Recently I have taken to watching YouTube videos in a series called "What You Ought to Know." Most of the videos are delightful little quips about common misunderstandings that attempt to inform the general public about interesting bits of information using humour and a likeable, sarcastic host. Basically its right up my alley. Most of the videos are like this:

Fun, right? Well, yes. That video is a great example of why I grew to like these short information sessions and I will invite anyone who doesn't want me to burst their bubble to stop reading now. Because I'm about to tear this guy a new one...

Okay, well now that its just you scorn-loving readers and I, I'll get into the reason for this blog. As many of you know, yesterday I was watching some Rick Perry campaign ads and I ended up writing about why they are homophobic and wrong. As a consequence of yesterday's viewing, today when I logged on to YouTube one of my recommended videos was a "What You Ought to Know" rant called "Gay Marriage." I opened the video and watched in horror as the guy I had come to see as a bringer of fun facts explained why he voted yes on California's Proposition 8 - a bill that ultimately banned gay marriage in one of the most progressive states in the union. However, his arguments were based on what constitutes the proper avenue to change legal definitions and he made some decent points while remaining fairly even minded. So I cut him some slack.

The video that came next crossed a line, though. I'll share it will you now:

Yeah, he just broke my heart a little. He had so much potential. So well spoken. So charismatic. So sarcastic. But the house of cards has fallen and now I'm pissed. This video is taking people with a healthy curiosity about the world down a grossly misinformed path. First of all, he quotes Richard Dawkins from an interview given in Ben Stein's laughably ignorant documentery "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." Dawkins has publically reprimanded Stein time and time again for the nature of the film and how he was misled about its message before agreeing to do the interview. All of that is besides the point, though.

What really pisses me off is the perpetuation of misinformation. "If evolution ever happened, it isn't happening now"? "We have never seen evolution take place"? What? For a guy who comes off as being well-read and well-informed, he must not have looked very hard for evidence in favour of the accepted scientific fact that is evolution. I'll let Dawkins do the rebutting by using examples from his book "The Greatest Show on Earth: The evidence for evolution." These examples, fittingly enough, are from a chapter titled "Before Our Very Eyes," its almost as if he saw this video coming:

1) The Lizards of Pod Mrcaru: A population of lizards was caught on a piece of driftwood and transported to an island they had not previously inhabited. Within a period of 25 years the lizards, because of a modified diet based on plants rather than insects, had developed much stronger jaw muscles and an entirely unique digestive tract. Given enough time, this population will surely diverge far enough to prevent breeding with the original population. That, by the way, is what defines speciation, its not arbitrary with living animals like our friend in the video suggests.

2) Dr. Richard Lenski's Long-Term Evolution Experiment: Researchers in Michigan have been tracking the evolution of E. coli using rigorous methods to avoid contamination for over 20 years. That totals to over 45,000 generations of bacteria. Over that time, certain populations of bacteria taken from an origin sample have evolved the ability to exploit entirely novel food sources based their environment. This has led to a dramatically improved ability to reproduce only in those populations. If the separate experimental groups were mixed back together the forms that could more efficiently feed and breed would undoubtedly outcompete their cousins and wipe them out. That's natural selection driven by evolution.

3) Guppies: Basically the same story as with the lizards, but over a period of a little over a decade scientists have monitored adaptations to guppy populations based on their specific environments and based on what predators are present. This demonstrates how animals can drive each other's evolution. There is even a fascinating side-bar about sexual selection on the far of the female guppies, but you'll have to read the book to get that.

To sum up, if the guy in the video could think as well as he could speak, we might have a formidable debater on our hands. Unfortunately he has fallen victim either to laziness in his research, willful ignorance, or a desire to mislead people because of some vested interest in denying evolution. Its amazing that people still need to stress this point but: Darwin was right. Evolution happens. There is ample evidence of it from genetics, fossils, geology, and yes even from experiments that have taken place in the span of one human lifetime. Saying that new species aren't evolving right now is to demonstrate how little you actually understand how speciation happens. I've lost a lot of respect for the people in charge of "What You Ought to Know" and if I watch any of their videos in the future, it won't be with the same sense of solidarity... and that's a shame.

This whole example just goes to show how important discussion is. Even when you think something is common knowledge, it might not be to everyone. Talk about what you know. Have intelligent conversations. Be curious about the world and question things. All that is necessary for ignorance to triumph, is for informed people to be silent.

Cheers,

Steve

Bigotry, Misdirection, and Other Political Tactics

Politics are a funny business. When you get elected to represent a huge number of people you take on a lot of responsibility. Not only are you charged with representing the views of the electorate in the formation of laws and allocation of tax dollars, but you are also forced to make decisions that are in the best interests of people regarding issues that they may not understand in enough detail to know what is best. In a very real way, you take on the role of a parent for the people who elected you. It is your job to guide them to success in the future and ensure their happiness in the present.

At least that is how its supposed to be. I would even like to believe that that is how it once was. I'm fairly confident that the first couple Prime Ministers and Presidents had the legitimate best interests of people at heart when they were forming the foundations of Canada and America. Whether that is true or not, things have fallen a long way from the ideal state they are supposed to represent. Modern politicians often lack even the most basic respect for their constituents. They try to scare us with appeals to nationalism, saying that the Canadian or American way of life is in jeopardy and that we must act to restore things to the way they used to be.

Some of the rhetoric can even sound appealing until you stop to think about it for five seconds. Hell, who wouldn't want to live in an idyllic "Wonder Years" fairy tale that never actually existed anyway. But alas, many of us are cursed with the ability to think for ourselves and realize that "traditional values" and "The Canadian/American dream" are not at all what is at stake as our countries move forward; we are being presented with scare tactics meant to freeze us in our tracks and vote for the guy who promises to do the same for the country.

Times change and laws need to keep up in order to avoid stagnation. Think of where we would be if women couldn't vote, if we didn't have a constitution that guaranteed racial equality, if the government could declare martial law whenever it wanted. Progress is a good thing and it in no way threatens societal morals and future prosperity. That is why I get so angry when I see ads like this one:

A classic example of how modern day "conservativism" is so far removed from what it is supposed to be that most people can't even begin to relate to it. The priorities of conservatives have shifted from decentralized government to extremist propaganda. Rick Perry might not explicitly blame gay people for the "war on Christmas" but he comes outrageously close.

I may not be American, but the trends that I see in Canadian political ads aren't much better. I'm sick of being treated like an ignorant, bigoted child. The worst thing of all is that the guys who are running for president don't even care about gay marriage. Its all smoke and mirrors meant to distract people from the things they really do care about. Namely, perpetuating inequality by failing to tax the wealthy, degrading the environment as they attempt to put more money into the hands of "the 1%", and taking money away from scientific research that continues to point out how screwed we will be if they are able to fulfill their first two objectives.

It really scares me that in 2011 an ad like that can make it to air. It shows a huge amount of disrespect for the average American and promotes ignorance and intolerance on a level that is full-on disgusting. Its encouraging that the YouTube tally stands at nearly 300,000 dislikes to 6,000 likes, but that still means 6,000 people are buying what Perry is selling.

The tide is beginning to turn and people are tolerating less and less of this nonsense. In the last Canadian Federal election, the only party that didn't resort to using attack ads was the NDP and their support grew to the point that they are now the official opposition. I'm proud to be alive at a time when the average person is once again thinking for themselves and slowly bringing about the changes that need to happen. The fact that we have a Conservative majority government and that the House of Commons is broken beyond repair tend to wash out a lot of my optimism, though.

I guess I'm just left with hope that, next November, reason will once again trump fear and that Obama will become a 2-term president. I'll be biting my nails until then.

-Steve