Life, the universe, and lunch

This is just wicked cool

Proof that wind power doesn't have to be ugly:

posted by ...K @ 3:04 PM 0 comments links to this post

Re: "coalition government"-your thoughts?

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I was all for it initially, mainly because it was a move against Harper and I'm pissed at him for calling the election sooner than he said he would. (Not that I ever liked/voted for him anyway, but at least he used to be a guy who did what he said he would do.) With the realization that the NDP and Liberals had to throw in their hat with the separatists to make the coalition work I have since been kind of against it, and certainly backing off a bit to let cooler heads prevail seems to be showing some progress.

In general the separatists annoy me... not because they want to separate (well, that does bug me some) but because they have no aspirations anywhere outside of Quebec; effectively making their sole purpose (since they'll never have a majority and aren't in it to win) to dilute the vote, thereby f'ing the rest of us over and making crap like this far more likely to happen. If there were separatists in the party outside of Quebec, I could respect them a lot more.

On the other hand, the separatists are the elected representatives of a large number of my fellow Canadians and do represent their hopes and ideals, and the coalition would give them the voice they'll never have as a permanent minority. Given that a coalition government is legal (and despite Harper's desperate pleas of dictatorship, 62% of us were for not-Harper) it might be interesting to see how this works out. At least for the eighteen months for which the Bloc pledged their coalition support, which is a longer period of stability than we're ever going to see otherwise. I really don't want another vote, as the results will be no more conclusive than the last vote that we should never have had.

In the end I suppose I'm nothing but a typical Canadian; too wishy washy and uninformed to take a real stand on the matter. But hey, at least I voted... and for 'not-Harper' at that.

posted by ...K @ 2:43 PM 0 comments links to this post

HD versus House M.D.

I was glad to see them finally deal with Huntingtons Disease properly on tonight's episode of House. It's been mentioned in a few recent episodes with regards to Thirteen's (aka Dr. Remy Hadley's) family history and genetic testing, but they never quite got it right. (First a positive test result with no mention of the repeat count, then talk about the count as if it was some sort of follow up test to the initial pass/fail result.)

This time they showed Thirteen dealing with the childhood memories of her mother's struggle (mostly resentment and embarrassment at her mother's treatment of her, followed by regret that she'd never said goodbye to her mother as a result) that were brought back by the sight of another HD patient farther along in their progression. It was very similar to anecdotes I've heard both from within Tammy's family and within the caregivers support group, and touching to see it dealt with realistically on tv. The depictions of the physical symptoms of the disease were accurate (although it doesn't present this way in everyone), and the description of her mother's mental condition and abusiveness brought on by the fact her brain was 'shrinking' (a simplification, but effective enough for a tv drama) quite to the point.

As much as watching scenes of Thirteens' mother and the patient in the waiting room made me sad they also made me happy; knowing that this is a show that is watched and respected by millions, and that hopefully some of those people will be affected enough by what they saw tonight to start asking questions and getting involved. One can only hope.

posted by ...K @ 12:06 AM 0 comments links to this post