Not Enough Updates?

So it seems that I do not update often enough. I think I can see the validity of that criticism. Things have been rather hectic of late with visits to friends and family. I'm sure that if the near future as summer blooms I will have oodles to share.

I recently completed 2 (that's right, 2!) sweaters! I am very proud of myself.




Both patterns are from Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet; The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller.

Hey Feds! That's MY money.

CBC is running a story about the case brought to the Supreme Court by Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), a labour union that is fighting against the misappropriation of Employment Insurance funds by the federal government. The problem stems from the EI surplus being reverted into general revenue and used for debt reduction and other administrative costs. The union says that this is an indirect tax and therefore unconstitutional.

When you pay in to EI do you expect to see any of it back unless you make a claim? Should we be refunded individually when there is a huge ($55 million since 1996) surplus? I was on EI for a grand total of 1 and a half months. It was great but I knew it wasn't going to last, nor did I want it to last. I didn't expect to receive any benefits beyond what I had paid in to the system to that point. The EI contributions I had made and continue to make are mine, the government is merely holding it for me. I do not expect my EI contributions to go towards debt reduction, because my income taxes are supposed to be paying that.

If the government insists on holding on to the EI surplus the money must be spent on EI and employment related ventures, even better it could be used to lower Student Debt because I will bet that many students are going to pay in to EI for a good, long time. An EVEN BETTER idea is to use some of that surplus for pay equity. Women still make much less than men while working jobs of equal value, take the surplus and use it to compensate women who are being unfairly discriminated against. Why should Sanitation workers make more than child care workers? There are many better ways to spend that surplus if the government doesn't want to give it back but they have no right to spend it on themselves.

Stupid Mondays

I really did not want to get out of bed this morning. Yesterday was such an awesome day off that I want to pretend it's not Monday. Husband, Doodles and I went geocaching again. We went to the park for a big picnic with sushi for me and chicken and taters for the boys. After the picnic we drove and hiked to geocaches around town. It was fun, we got to see parts of town we would never have seen otherwise including a neat walking bridge over train tracks. Then we went to DQ and got ice cream. It was yummy. Then we went to see Iron Man. I really enjoyed it. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job and Gweneth Paltrow was awesome.

The Great Flood of 2008

Found this on a Flickr Set. There are some crazy pictures coming out of Fredericton and Oromocto. I almost wish I was there to see it, and I'm glad everyone I know is doing well and no major damage has happened.

To those who aren't familiar, the downtown core of Fredericton, NB is on the flood plain of the St. John River. It floods every year to varying degrees but occasionally there is a major flood. This year the water reached well above flood level and closed down most of downtown Fredericton. The above picture shows the water about 3 meters above where it should be.

New Colours

Based on this:


I'm not sure what I think of it.

Ch-ch-changes

Turn and face the Strange...

I've discovered a site that generates codes for colour palettes. It allows you to enter the URL of an image and it will give you the hex values for the main colours.

The current colour palette is based on this picture:


I may be experimenting over the next little while, so forgive the inconsistency.

1st Drunk Post!!!

Husband, Doodles, C and I are a little drunk right now... Sourpuss + Ouzo + Japanese Beer + Chocolate Beer = Weirdness.

C was posting on LJ so I felt the need to post here. Husband keeps grabbing Doodle's boobies, I'm a little freaked out. Now he grabbed mine. Doodles seems to be locked in the bathroom. We are trying to order pizza, I'm not sure how that's going to work out.

Deep Philosophy for the day..

What the hell happened to Saturday morning cartoons? I'm watching ABC Saturday morning programming and although it's good, I miss the cartoons. On CBS they seem to have resurected my favorite cartoons from childhood. I have seen parts of Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake. Apparently gardens need love, and Peppermint Fizz is a moody, emo bitch with an iguana.

This is the Strawberry Shortcake I remember.

This is Strawberry Shortcake as she appears now.

I'm so confused. Saturday morning shows are back to the touchy-feely girly shit of the 80s. Most of the main characters are female and they always "learn" stuff. At least in the 80s we had Transformers to balance out the girly crap. Sometimes I want to see giant robots kick the crap out of each other. Right now the Saturday morning line-up feels like a combination of the TGIF line up and the Saturday morning line up of the early to mid 90s. I'm half expecting to see Boy Meets World on next.

My First Cache!

Husband, Doodles and I went GeoCashing today. We went looking for three and found two. We went to the beautiful park in town. There were a lot of people out today since it was the first nice weekend we've had in a while. Here are some pictures!



We climbed up Jacob's Ladder, walked to the waterfalls, and got very tired. We finally made it to the reservoir.

"FREAKS UNITE AGAINST CENSORSHIP!"

In a feat of censorship worthy of a crazy, conservative, right-wing government the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission has banned the Monsters of Schlock!, a stunt/comedy show with some "extreme" content from a bar in Grand Prairie. I found the press release at ModBlog, the best body modification blog ever(NSFW).

The ALGC shut the show down the show using a law that allows complaints about "Entertainment that has the potential to be considered bizarre, grotesque or offensive" to be referred for approval to the commission. In this case the bar was informed of the commission's decision to ban the show at 4:30pm the night of the show, which had been well advertised and was sold out.

According to the press release I linked to above this show has been performed across Canada "to thousands of satisfied viewers" with little complaint. Most people who are interested in a show like this are going to be forewarned that it is not for the squeamish. Since the show was booked to perform at a bar I would assume that everyone who planned to be in attendance was an adult, capable of determining if something was too "bizarre, grotesque or offensive" on their own.

We don't need to state to censor events that are clearly meant for certain audiences. I highly doubt that anyone who bought tickets to this show would have been offended by the content, they may have been a little squicked-out but that's part of the reason for going to these shows. People who are easily offended have the option of not purchasing tickets for shows they might find offensive.

The state has not right to be the morality police. Our rights are not violated by events that we have the option of not attending. If the show were performed in a very public place, such as on the steps of the legislature, then the government has a duty to intervene. In this case consenting adults who were undoubtedly aware of the potential for the grotesque hard the right to see this show and the government had no right to shut this show down.