Chris’ Blog

I just returned from seeing Neil Young in concert at Rexall Place. I went with a friend from work and we both agreed it was a great show. I had never seen Neil Young perform before and was amazed at his style. He would lumber across the stage then savagely beat his guitar, somehow maintaining tone and rhythm. Very entertaining. Watching Neil Young reminded me of my dad. He was a big fan. I started listening to Neil Young a few months before my dad died. I was looking forward to having a shared interest, but it didn’t work out that way. I would like to have gone to the concert with him tonight.

Yesterday it snowed…today a bug splattered on my windshield. I guess it’s summer now.

I finished reading “The Measure of All Things” by Ken Alder, the story of the origins of the metric system. We follow Pierre Méchain and Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre as they endeaver to measure the Paris meridian across the entire span of France and into Spain in ordere to determine the distance from the pole to the equator and thus set the length for the metre which they had defined as one ten-millionth of that distance. By basing the metre on the size of the Earth, the metric system would be “for all people, for all time.”

Their seven year journey took them across France and through the French Revolution. The book was a reminder of the great cost of scientific advancement and the determination and discipline required by her adherants. It makes me glad to be an engineer.

I must say that the book was quite long and took a considerable amount of effort to read. However, despite the somewhat long-winded style, the information was very interesting and opened my eyes to the history buried within the things we use every day. If something as seemingly mundane as the metric system could have such a colourful and scandalous origin, what about milk cartons or yield signs?

You can see this book in my library here.

★★★☆☆

“That’s Me in the Middle” by Donald Jack is the second book of the Bandy Papers series. Continuing Bartholomew Bandy’s misadventures during World War I the book is equally enjoyable as the first. Donald Jack has a similar writing style to Douglas Adams, although unlike “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, this second installment has me looking forward to the next book in the series.

See this book in my library here.

★★★★★

After years of toil, I have beaten my father-in-law at Trivial Pursuit. It’s true that he was tired from a large turkey dinner and I was hopped up on caffeine and sugar, but that should not take away from my moment of triumph. Although I am strong on the science and history questions, he outperforms at sports and pop culture. He knows things about the National Energy Program and who the flautist is for Jethro Tull.

A milestone in the life of Chris.

I like that word, flautist.

This weekend, the service at our church was about poverty. It was very powerful and got me to re-examine what I do and think about poverty. Christine and I expect to make some changes in the new year. I find it very easy to forget about the six billion or so people that have a lower quality of life than I do and to resist an attitude of entitlement that I believe is prevalent in our society.

Although I found none of the statistics presented surprising (I’m not sure what is worse: knowing the statistics and doing nothing or being ignorant of what is going on in our world) I did find out that there is an online petition at http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/ asking for the government to increase efforts to meet the United Nations Millennium Declaration to spare no effort to eliminate extreme poverty in the world. It’s somewhat more of a guest book than a formal petition, but I signed it anyway.

Yesterday, Christine and I attended a craft fair. There was supposed to be a guy who makes amplifiers (guitar?) out of old household appliances: toasters, coffee makers, televisions, etc.. Needless to say I was pretty excited to go; I planned on buying at least ten different amplifiers. It turned out that he pulled out of the fair at the last minute, so it was mostly a bust.

After browsing umpteen tables of jewellery made out of buttons, printed circuit boards, and old clothes I was relieved to come to a table with some guy determined to solve the issue of the day. I asked him what he was all about and he said that he wanted to see proportional representation introduced for Alberta. He was about to start up into his speech, but before he could say anything more I asked him if he had a petition. He looked a little disappointed (no one else was talking to him) but said that he did, so I signed it and told him good luck.

Christine came by and signed also, again only allowing him a few words and picked up a brochure. I don’t pick up brochures. It has a website for those who are interested: http://www.fairvote.ca. Although the website has no information about the Alberta petition. I wonder if he brought the wrong brochures?

by Michael Adams

This book was a Christmas gift from my wife as a book I would like to read. It turns out she was right. In “Fire and Ice” Michael Adams compares values held within and between Canadians and Americans and maps out where those values are headed.

See my full review here.

★★★★☆

This book was quite good, very thorough. Jared Diamond explores mostly the effect of geography on cultures since the beginning of civilization and theorises why some cultures excelled and came to rule while others were conquered and disappeared from history or lingered into modern times.

See my review here.

★★★★☆

Someone. clearly with starving Ethiopian children on their mind, decided to put half their hamburger lunch back in the fridge at my work yesterday. Well, it’s still there this morning. Yummy!

I work in a federal government building. Surely this must violate some health code or internal policy.