[  Mood: Hypnotized ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
So I was doing some surfing as I finished up my tea, and I came across this article/photo gallery entitled "Harry Potter and the Muggles of Doom".

Mixed in with the usual literary criticisms and dumping on fantasy literature, is this quote from Rev. Msgr. Robert E. Maher, Vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, Texas:

So not only am I a sexual deviant (see Blog post on the results of being spanked as a child), but now I am in danger of consorting with the powers of Satan.

Thank goodness people like Rev. Msgr. Robert E. Maher exist to save me and my immortal soul.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
I teach in a very culturally diverse school. About a third of my students are Muslim. (Used to be half) So I am always looking for youth fiction that is interesting and relevant to a broad spectrum of my students. Hence, when I saw one of my students reading this book, I picked it up.

This novel tells the story of Amal, a sixteen-year old Australian Muslim of Palestinian descent. Her father is a doctor, her mother a dentist. They are affluent enough that she can go to a private school.

She is a typical sixteen-year old girl. She watches Sex in the City and Friends. She reads Cosmo. She has crushes on boys. And she sees herself as a devout Muslim. So devout, that one day she decides to put on the hijab.

This decision causes her life to change. Not in what she does, but how she is perceived by her friends, family and classmates. As a reader, you get a very good look into what it is like to be a woman wearing a hijab in a post 911 world.

Woven into the story are threads of Amal’s two other Muslim friends, one who comes from a more secular family and one who comes from a more traditional family. Add to that her completely westernized Aunt and Uncle, the devoutly Catholic next door neighbour, a Jewish friend at school, the weight problems of another friend, and the racism experienced by an Asian friend and you have a complete book.

And it all works. It is not an afterschool special. The characters in this book are real and so interesting. This is easily one of the best young adult books I have read in a long time. I am recommending my school buy a small group novel study of it.

Go get this.

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Yesterday, I blogged about Wiarton Willy being a big fat fraud. Which I still think he is.

But then as I got up from the computer, I thought, if you are a conspiracy theorist, you might think that this storm was sent north by the Punxsutawney forces who are looking to discredit the Canadian groundhogs. Punxsutawney Phil, unlike his Canadian counterparts, predicted a longer winter. Either way, groundhog weather prediction has been thoroughly discredited by this week’s precipitation.

This inspired me to sit back down and write down my thoughts about Wiarton Willy, fraud and conspiracies and send them to my local CBC radio station. They read the letter on the air, stating that I deserved an award for being so witty that early in the morning.

I think I deserve my own show.

Back in November I bragged on Wal-mart for carrying Everex’s TC2502 gPC, the first mass-market under $200 desktop computer. The low-cost PC featured gOS, a custom distribution of Ubuntu Linux. At the time, reports circulated that the new computer had completely sold out at the 630 Wal-Marts that offered the product.

Now this from Wal-Mart:

But later in the same article:

So is Bill Gates a Wal-Mart shareholder or what?

The only good news gleamed from this article is that Walmart.com carries the newer version of the low-price PC. Though currently Walmart.com claims this computer is NOT FOR SALE ONLINE!

It is safe to hate Wal-Mart again was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Confused ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Wiarton Willy is one of the Canadian groundhogs that predicts the coming of Spring every February 2. That’s right, one of. We are such a socialist country that we have three of them.

Anyways, this year, the rodent predicted an early spring. So did his comrades.

As I look out my window at the 56 cm (official final total) of snow that fell this weekend, on top of the 28 cm from Wednesday – bringing us to 410.7 cm in total this year – I have come to the conclusion that Wiarton Willy is a fraud.

I think it’s time this rodent becomes roadkill.

As a guy who gave up “pay” software many years ago in lieu of Open Source, I find this Vista mess amusing. For others who rely on Microsoft, the whole mess is just pathetic. The New York Times offers a very good overview of the fiasco.

The Vista Fiasco was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The New World Entropy – a conference on Michael Moorcock
Liverpool John Moores University, UK – 5-6 July 2008

This conference hopes to explore the rich and varied writings of Michael Moorcock’s fictions whilst providing a rounded picture of the writerly environments Moorcock has developed in by contextualising his work alongside his many other social involvements and his interactions with other writers. As such this conference is focused upon developing a critical appreciation of Moorcock’s best known and most loved writings in combination with an appreciation of his historical development as a writer. To this end we welcome papers which tread across the boundaries of genre which Moorcock himself trod and also welcome papers which relate Moorcock to the circles of friends and associates whose writings and work connect to his own. We hope that this will provide a lively and multiplicitous series of discursive responses to Moorcock’s remarkable body of works.

Abstracts of 200-300 words should be submitted electronically by 31st March 2008 (new extended deadline) to (mark.williams _at_uea.ac.uk) and (Martyn.Colebrook_at_ english.hull.ac.uk). All correspondence should have the phrase MOORCOCK CONFERENCE in the subject line.

Topics for discussion include but are not limited to: The Multiverse, Pluralism, Metropolitan life, Moorcock’s relationship with Modernism, Music and fiction, Jerry Cornelius, Order and Entropy, Moorcock’s support of lesser known writers, The Holy Grail, Elric of Melniboné, Anti-Racism, Moorcock as Victorian Novelist, New Worlds, Feminism, Moorcock the editor, Anarchism, Myth-making, “Fiction” and “Autobiography”, Psychogeography/ The London of the Mind, Moorcock’s trans-Atlantic, Political Activism, The avant-garde, Early Moorcock versus Late Moorcock, Friends on the Fringes, The ‘Between the Wars’ Quartet, Counter culture/ Counter literatures, Liberty and Freedom of Speech, Moorcock as Mentor, Moorcock as Student, The Reforgotten Writers, Character and Caricature in Moorcock.

Non-presenting delegates will be welcome.

Conference Fees: £20: Student/Unwaged; £30: Delegate.

WOW! What a potentially fascinating conference. I cannot think of a more deserving writer. Wonder how I can scrape together the pennies for the flight?
(Thanks to Chris Nakashima-Brown.)

The New World Entropy was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Watching Coronation Street ]
As of 4:00 am – we have had 49 cm, so I suspect we have topped the 50 cm mark by now. That’s half a yard.

Husband Unit has Bronchitis, so he can’t shovel. Luckily I have great friends. Two are coming over this afternoon to snowblow out the driveway. When they do that, I can go get groceries.

I’ll keep you upto date.

EDIT: The measurement is now 52 cm. Total for the winter 410.7 cm. 34 cm away from the 1971 record. And we have more coming.

Toronto the wimpy only got 30 cm, yet they are whining all ready. Our mayor, on the other hand, has just asked us to be patient. They plan to have the snow gone by Tuesday and have opened up the city parking garages for free so people can get their cars off the streets.

[  Mood: Cool ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Tanya Huff is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy authors in Canada today. Her books are smart, witty and don’t always follow a conventional path.

Blood Price is the first of her Blood series. I have read it before, but have picked it up again because I have been following the Lifetime series based on it. It sees Vicky Nelson as a private investigator in Toronto. She used to be a homicide cop, until she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. This progressive eye disease means Vicki would have been stuck behind a desk pushing paperwork. Not one to sit behind a desk, she quit to become a PI. Now she spends her days sitting behind a desk find missing heirs and doing skip traces.

In Blood Price, Vicky witnesses a murder one night. The body is exsanguinated, but there is no blood. As similar murders mount, Vicky is hired by one of the victims’ girlfriend to find the murderer.

Into her investigation walks Henry Fitzwalter. He is a romance novelist who also happens to be a 450 vampire and the illegitimate son of Henry the VIII. Henry wants to find out who is committing the murders too. His motivation has more to do with the fact that if he doesn’t, he might be run out of town by the modern equivalent of peasants with torches.

The novel moves at a quick pace, with sexual tension and lots of supernatural goodness. Vicky is a no-nonsense heroine who is kicking butt and taking names. I recommend you pick this one up.

[  Mood: Shocked ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
So remember when I mentioned a record breaking snow fall?

Well it ain’t over yet. Environment Canada is tracking a system coming up from the Gulf of Mexico that will give us a minimum of 20 cm and upto 50 cm starting tonight.

For those of you that are counting, that’s about half a meter to a meter of snow in a week. For you Imperial users, that’s a foot and a half to half a yard. So far this winter we have had 357 cm – that’s about 12 feet of snow.

The largest snow fall in Ottawa history was in 1970-1971. I was actually gestating in my mommy’s tummy in Winnipeg that winter. Husband Unit was around, but he was very little and doesn’t really remember. We got 444.1 cm of snow that year. That my friends is over 14 and a half feet of snow. Take that Yao Ming!

That winter had people tossing their kids on the roofs and taking snapshots for posterity. They were also using their roofs as the beginning of a killer toboggan run.

This winter is not as bad cause we have had a couple of warm snaps to melt away some of the snow, but the banks outside my house are taller than Husband Unit who is 6’3".

And think of this man. I am pregnant. I can not shovel. So he has been doing this all alone. Wednesday saw him out there before dinner and after dinner, trying to get the way clear. Thursday he was out again at 7:30 am after the plow dumped a windrow at the end of the driveway. (A windrow is that mound of snow the plows leaves. We Canadians have a name for it.)

So this Saturday, as you sleep in, think of Husband unit, shoveling. He really is the best man ever.

(Tomorrow I will rant about my School Board’s inability to clear snow, thereby endangering the lives of students and teachers.)