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Tarred & Feathered
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 2720
People think, when I suggest that we hang, behead, draw and quarter our politicians and lawyers, that I'm being a little extreme.
I'm not, it's simply that I think when anyone - whether it be a police officer, fireman, Judge or politician, is appointed to public office they have not only the civic duty (like the rest of us) to obey the law, but as well an exemplary duty.
And when, as so often seems to happen, the temptations of a 12 year old girl in a chatroom or hefty bribe prove too much for them to resist, the punishment should be an order of magnitude above and beyond what we'd sentence anyone else to.
The makers and enforcers of the law should be held up to a higher bar than the rest of us. It makes sense.
Yet when I suggest, to those so silly as to solicit my opinion, that we hang, torture, dismember or employ any of a number of other classic and antique methods of public justice to not only punish the miscreants that so abused their position, but to set an example and reinforce public belief that "justice has been served", people think I'm being a little extreme. It's enough that the cop that molested children lost his job, that the politician lost face,....
Of course it's not, and as always we sympathize with the perpetrator and not the victims.
Bringing to mind Brian Mulroney, who's recent role as chief beneficiary in the bribery scandal will never involve jail time or adequate restitution for the money he swindled both from his victim and the citizens of Canada, who so arrogantly sued and won millions of dollars for libel (although he was later proved to have: "broke his own ethics code, engaged in inappropriate behaviour and evaded the truth for years by purposely concealing hefty cash payments"), who has continually cost the taxpayers millions of dollars (and continues to cost us in investigative and settlement fees), where then is the potential for justice here?
There is, of course, none.
But what we could do, should do perhaps, is Tar and Feather them. Only a slightly antique custom, properly North American, we dip them in hot tar, roll them in feathers, and run them out of town. Or in Mulroney's case, out of the country. It gives people at their new destination a "head's up" as to what to expect, it properly expresses our contempt and ridicule, it (small consideration for the liberals) causes no permanent and lasting harm to the victim, sure, a bit of humiliation, but for the million(s) he's cost us I'd happily undergo the ritual...it's something, at least, to get our money's worth. It announces to the world that he's fallen far far short of the already low standards we have for politicians.
This Canada Day lets do something great. Lets tar and feather Brian Mulroney.
403-310-2255
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 13118
Interrupted from my nap today, cherished nap, by a call from this number: 403-310-2255.
Unknown number. I know who it is, I've looked it up, they call every day, 2 or three times even, on those few days when I'm home and I answer there's only dead air. You wait a couple of minutes, still dead air, then hang up.
I've called it back, but it's an endless menu of automated queues. It's Telus, and somehow they feel that because you've been foolish enough to buy one or two services from them it gives them the right to harass you, by phone, every day to purchase more. Maybe you'll be stupid enough to buy more. I've tried to think that maybe, just maybe, they were calling to see how I was, to tell me I had won a car in one of their promotions, that they'd like to give me a free upgrade on my internet, but the search results don't seem to substantiate that.
Over 10, 000 results from Alberta alone, many of the results are message boards with multiple postings. So, conservatively, 50, 000 irate customers?
Hell of a campaign. Most of the comments seem to express a similar viewpoint to mine, dead air, why are they calling, why can't they just leave me alone...Probably the marketing execs at Telus think it's a great way to advertise, call people, wake them, interrupt their eating, exercise, sleeping, fornicating, with dead air, sort of a telephone viral... calling two or three times a day lending an urgency to the calls, then dead air as you wait for their machines to transfer you to an agent.
What a bunch of fuckwits.
Package #1
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2627
Day off (call and confirmed), been busy the last couple days and so it was a little in doubt...
A large list of errands that included thrift shops, picking up a Wii and some accessories for my daughter's 9th birthday (the grotesque spoiling of children by the absent parent, most single parents can relate...), then a quick peruse of the transit map of Calgary and a bus up to collect my package from eBay.
Now it's perfect, I don't want to open it, perfectly wrapped, small, lightweight, and after I pick it up and get it home I put it on the desk without opening it. All the way from Tibet, although the postmarks all read China.
I have to open it, I've had messages from the vendor on eBay, he wants to know if I've received it, he wants his feedback...
But I nap, briefly, first, a pleasant medley of dreams interrupted finally by a call from 403-310-2255. Unknown number. More on that later.
Unpack the thrift shop finds, a Beanie for the daughter as well, she already has it, but bought it full price for $10, mine was a dollar and so I bought it to illustrate the financial benefits of recycling, a copy of the 1970's version of the "Lord of the Rings" on DVD for a colleague at work, other small trifles.
Then I open it. I'd leave it in the package for a week or two yet, were it up to me, but I have to inspect it for damage, leave feedback.
It's perfect, exactly as described, better even, for the price a bargain and I want to message the seller now and order a dozen more (if he can round them up at the price I won it at...). I've found a small spot on a wall and hung it up - it's perfect.
I'd take a picture so you could see, but it's better you take my word. It's perfect.
The Pioneer Anomaly
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2034
Small observations can often mean large scale changes in the way we look at the universe. Little semantic things, like whether the Earth goes round the sun or the Sun goes round the Earth.
Small changes in the way we think can have profound impacts on the way we interact, manipulate and predict the world around us.
The Pioneer Anomaly is one such small observation. Since exiting the solar system (inner) and reaching the outer solar system, both the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft (launched in the 70's) have slowed down more than any single factor can account for. Like the diminishing of the mass of the Kilogram, it's a small effect that might have big implications about the way we look at the universe.
Further Reading: Planetary.org, Cosmos Magazine
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