As I scramble to get all the outside work done around the house before
my shoulder surgery this coming Friday, I find myself fighting the elements. After
a stormy summer, we have had a very wet fall and the temperature variances have
been extreme. As I sometimes do, I consulted the radar last weekend, and
noticed a familiar blob of green and yellow covering the near north of Ontario.
What I was not ready for was a significant area of blue, indicating snow. Last
night we had the first snow of the season, and while there was no accumulation,
not yet at least, I’m not ready! One of my priorities this weekend was to
change the oil in the snow blower.
The Ebola virus has been front and center in the news of late as it
recently made its way into North America. A Liberian man died recently in Dallas,
Texas where he had been visiting his family. Much has been made of the likelihood that the Dallas
hospital mishandled this case. Not only did they not properly diagnose the
man’s illness in the first place, sending him home where he may have infected
others, but when the man was finally admitted, the hospital procedures for
protecting its caregivers proved inadequate as well. One or two nurses who were
treating the man were infected with the virus, and now hospitals all over North
America are re-assessing their preparedness to deal with this issue. While the
disease is thankfully not contagious by airborne transmission, unless bodily
fluids are exchanged, it is extremely deadly when it is contracted. This
particular strain has a mortality rate in the 50-60% range, and there is no
known vaccine at this time.
From the serious to the ridiculous… did anyone else catch that
gubernatorial debate story in Florida? Republican incumbent Florida Governor
Rick Scott refused to debate his Democratic opponent and former Republican Governor
Charlie Crist, because Crist was using an illegal fan under his podium to cool
himself. Pundits are calling it “Fangate” and it bespeaks the absurdity which
is U.S. politics. As satirist John Stewart quipped: “Thank you Jesus!” for this
chestnut of comedy gold. I wish the Republicans would wake up and join the
race. Another story which I caught on CTV News, and which I found bizarre,
concerns the video gaming industry. Apparently, several women who are becoming
successful in video game development have had their lives threatened because of
their perceived threat to the tide of violent misogyny in video games.
Admittedly, I know little about video games, except that, like todays films,
some of them are extremely violent. One disturbing trend seems to be the
depiction of women in these games as expendable objects of sexual fantasy. As
the news suggested, some vidiots out there, who thrive on these games promoting
misogyny, feel threatened by any female who would dare to intrude on their
violent woman-hating fantasies. I have for a long time harped upon the growing social
disconnect enhanced by advancements in technology. Cell phones and computers
give us more access to information and communication, but at the same time can
retard acceptable social behavior. Hey, here’s a great idea, I think I’ll text
this girl’s naked photo to all my classmates. Who knew she’d kill herself
because she was so ashamed? How strange is it to hear that someone is having an
existential crisis because a woman is interfering with his right to fantasize
about violence against women in a video game. It’s an existential crisis over
something that does not, or should not, really exist in the first place! It is
bad enough that these video games have an audience (it’s a free country right?),
but I think they need to catch these desensitized troglodytes and get them a
little behavioral therapy … perhaps make them watch The View for a couple of hours a day. O.K., that might be a little
too harsh.
Yesterday, I attended the memorial service for local country musician
Sam Fattore. A lot of his musician friends came out to the Katrine Community
center to celebrate his life by performing at the service, sending him out in
style. Goodbye Sam, you have some good friends.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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