Hergest Ridge

Arrivederci, by Zemfira.

I will wait, call me at the usual six o’clock
I became older by a lifetime
You should possibly keep that in mind

A client just provided me with our website translation – I’ll learn the language sooner than I’ll figure out how it applies. The people I work with have zero imagination of the process beyond their part of the project. The reason I can’t work in the same office with them is that if we did, right now I’d be heading over to slap them hard – not writing this post.

Thank you Mr. Layton for your service to Canada and its people. You are an inspiration, and will continue to affect Canada in a positive manner for a long time to come.

Your genuine smile, your victories, legacy and memory live on in the hearts and minds of those you leave behind. You’re now absolved from the challenges you’ve taken on so bravely, only death able to stop you in your tracks. Thank you. Thank you, Sir.

Love is better than anger.
Hope is better than fear.
Optimism is better than despair.

Let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic and we’ll change the world.

– Jack Layton (1950 – 2011)

I was amazed at the awful quality of shoes in Poland. A pair lasts me about a month before the soles are thin as paper and often crack completely. Then I did some calculating: in the last few months, I walk about 150km per month – this goes a long way towards explaining why I need new shoes so often.

I started writing a rant about the absurd things even generally smart believers say when they finally get through their heads that I really, totally, and unapologetically do not believe in any gods. Instead I’m posting two of the countless reasons why life is much more beautiful without religion, and especially faith.

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.
– Bertrand Russell

Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.
– Oscar Wilde

“It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
– Oscar Wilde

Couple of days ago, I’ve sent a newsletter to my web design business subscribers. Below is a resulting exchange.

Client: Good luck I am sure the socialists in france will appreciate the extra revenue from their oppresive tax regime

Me: I find your reply interesting, yet not sure which of the many possible angles to approach it from, nor the source of the “extra revenue” which might enter the pockets of the “socialists in France.” Perhaps I can get a better understanding if you point me to which part of my Email you’re specifically replying to – a direct explanation is fine too. :)

Client: I assume you will be a taxpayer to an arrogant [French] government that still forgets it lost the battle of waterloo, relied on the United States for its freedon from the Nazis not to mention it was the country that most cooperated with them. But in todays world, you come to a country [Canada] that is by far, a country with a better financial situation, ample clean water, a country that is renowned for its assistance to other countries (incuding france) yet you make snide comments about it. Basically I am saying good riddance to someone who has no understanding of what Canada offers. Despite having cellular service that is more expensive in large part due to the countries size Vs population. The US carriers are far more profitable per subscriber as is Virgin Mobile. Canada is not perfect but overall. France is not a country to be proud to be in. I am a proud Canadian…I know what the country has done for my family and many others. If high cell phone bills chased you away…good for you

Me: One of the things that makes Canada so great is the freedom to voice personal opinions. My knocks are against the gouging of consumers in Canada by cellular providers, and not Canada itself. Economies far smaller than Canada’s are host to a thriving cellular network sector.

The statement that I do not understand what Canada offers is a complete miss on your part – your clearly stated and mistaken understanding that I’ll be a taxpayer in France perhaps offering an insight to your deeper misunderstanding of my entire sentiment.

I’ve flown the world over with the maple leaf on my backpack – I, and those I met on the way know where my home is. Your bigoted remarks against the French are likely the most un-Canadian part of the entire exchange – and I mean that in the most non-judgemental way.

I loathe bigotry.

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson. You find the present tense and the past perfect.

– Unknown.

I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – the quotation above comes from one of its last pages where it resides with a few others.

As usual with a good book, from my reading I’ve scribbled a few pages of excerpts on gridded paper. I write in the books I own directly these days, highlighting left and right, but when reading in electronic format, I just copy out the parts that I find most intriguing.

I used to try and keep the books pristine looking – like they just came from a bookshop – but now I think it’s much better to be able to leaf through it, and at a glance see the parts that’ve made the biggest impression. It also personalises my copy in a way that might say something about me, which I’ve not yet learned to express. (It’s like an economy of words where the words of others are left to describe me, while I’m left to pursue other things.)