Mary Soderstrom's Blog, page 91

Appointment in Samara Department: The Path of the Russian Meteorie Charted

You remember the old story about the appointment in Samara: a man tries to outwit Death who makes a threatening gesture to him in a market in Baghdad.  He flees to Samara only to find Death there. it seems the gesture was  only a start of surprise, because, says Death, "I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

Or, put more crudely, when your number's up, your number's up.

A lot of us had a close call a little while ago when that meteor plunged into the atmosphere over Russia, causing considerable damage.  Scientists apparently have been spending a lot of time reconstructing just what happened. The thought, it would seem, is that there might be some way to avoid a closer call in the future.

But if we're really concerned about saving civilization from catastrophe, wouldn't we be better off putting our resources into getting out of the fossil energy addiction?

Sea Level Rising is Nothing New, But What a Challenge!

The Daily Mail has a fascinating story about submerged settlements between the British Isles and what is now mainland Europe.  Of course, anyone who has been folowing things knows that there were various  landbridges over which people and animalsl travelled since we began roaming around.

Catastrophic events occurred in the past too.  Besides the volcanic eruptions that wiped ou Pompei and other cities, it's quite probable that the flooding from the Mediterranean basin into the Black Sea happened when people were around.  Hence the cluster of stories and myths about a colossal flood in many cultures from Noah to Gilgamesh. 

Word to the wish: might be good to take a lesson from the past and plan for big changes, now that the sea level is rising.

Saturday Photo: Ice Castles

Given the rock 'n' roll temperatures, kids wanting to build snow castles have had mixed success.  Just after the year end holidays someone(s) built a magnificent snow castle at St. Viateur Park.  Jeanne and I explored it a bit, and she was a little confused when we went back a week later and it had all melted.

The kids at École Querbes obviously ran into the same problem and solved it by making some ice blocks for their own castle.  A little food colouring makes the block all that more interesting....

Unconnect and Live a Little: Living without Electronic Crutches

Last night at a dinner with neighbors we--all of more than a certain age--talked about our electronic attachments. Only one of us had a cellphone, and I was the only one with a Facebook page.

 Not doing a lot of Internet folly gives much more time to live, was the conclusion. As an early adopter of some Internet tools, I see just how easy it is to be distracted from real things by virtual ones.

There have been days lately when I thought I couldn't keep focused on anything for longer than 20 seconds. That I'm working on a short story that isn't going well doesn't help. There's nothing like a little trip to the Web to take your mind off the fact that the words aren't flowing.

And then this morning I came across this video which is nothing if not ambivalent. Guy goes off-line in all senses of the word for 90 days and loves it. Then he makes a video about it.

Choosing to Become Mothers, Women in Vietnam Break Barriers

Having just spent a day with my own grandkids, I am perhaps particularly open to this kind of story.  The New York Times   reports that a small group of Revolutionary women in Vietnam who found themselves with very few marital chances at the end of the "American War," chose to "ask for a child" from men with whom they had no further contact.

They obviously were pretty tough cookies, because what they proposed doing was as revolutionary as any war to throw out colonialists.  Some of them settled in a small village, where their status is now recognized.  Many of them ha've lived long enough to enjoy their own grandchildren, too.  Bravo!

To Mark International Women's Day and Honour Immigrant Women....

The lot of immigrant women is particularly hard, and to honour them as part of the International Women's Day celebrations, NDP Outremont is organizing another film forum for Monday March 11.
Family Mote l, directed by Helene Klodawsky, will be shown, followed by a discussion with the participation of Chistine Paré,Co-président of NDP Section Quebec's Commission on Cultural Communities, member of la Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ) and of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
In Family Motel a Somali refugee and her teenage daughters, confront the unexpected when they are evicted from their apartment for arrears in rent. The film follows their subsequent move to a beaten down motel for the homeless on the “other side” of town. A touching, thought-provoking  docu-drama.
Free admission, but contributions accepted.

Place. Café EM, 5718 Park Avenue, Mile EndTime: 7 p.m. Monday. March 11, 2013

Living History in Winnipeg

Okay, let's say I'm always a little conflicted about this whizzbang stuff commemorating past battles. But history is history, and the more we learn about it and keep it alive the better.

Emmanuel is in Winnipeg this week, giving workshops on the history of French as part of the 44th Festival du Voyageur and the 225th anniversary of Fort Rouge. I'm sure that he's opening some eyes there to the fascination of the past, with all its wonders and questions that ring out still today.

As for the shots shown above, they were fired Friday night as the celebrations opened. 

It was cold again this morning--down near -16 C and not f...

It was cold again this morning--down near -16 C and not far from 0 F with a strong wind that made it seem even colder.  Yet I saw some hardy cyclists out, braving the elements.  There are more and more of them, using their bikes frequently equipped with studded tires to get around.

So I supposed I shouldn't be surprised to learn that the City of Montreal opened a traffic count on one of the bicycle paths in the heart of the city today.  It is set up where Laurier Avenue narrows, where a one way section begins with two bike lanes taking up much of he pavement. 

When the street configuration was initiated a couple of years ago, motorists were not pleased, because it eliminated one quick way to go west in the neighborhood and supposedly made for more traffic congestion.  But the bicycle fans argue that in fact the new safer bicycle path has actually increased the number of individual human beings using the stretch.  A figure of 2,000 a day was bandied about as the number of cars that passed before the changes.  Three times that number of bicycles supposedly took their place. 

The survey is designed to give some real numbers to the discussion.  Will be interesting to see what happens. 

But cycling this cold?  You've got to be kidding.

Saturday Photo: Green Houses on Cold Days

This is a picture of the Palm House at the Royal Gardens at Kew.  It is a very lovely place, and the inspiration of glass houses all over the world.

Saturday Jeanne and I spent a delightful hour or two in one of the local examples, the green house next to Westmount Library.  It is place where Elin, Lukas and I went frequently when they were little, combining getting books with  looking at the gold fish in the ponds inside conservatory and savouring the lovely smells.

I'm delighted to report that Jeanne enjoyed it just as much as her mother and uncle did.  Now I'm looking forward to taking her and her cousin Thomas there next winter.

Zombies and the Republicans--and Conservative Economics in General

Once again Paul Krugman takes up the battle against the forces of darkness.
"Zombie economic ideas have eaten his brain," he writes in The New York Times, talking about Florida Senator Marco Rubio and his official  Republican reply to Obama's State of the Union address.  

Zombie ideas are  propositions that have "been thoroughly refuted by analysis and evidence, and should be dead — but won’t stay dead because it serves a political purpose, appeals to prejudices, or both," he explains.  Then he details how the Republicans are rewriting history in order to argue that the horrible Great Recession mess we've been living through since 2008 is  due to big government.  The truth, of course, is that free market types are the ones who produced the problem and their solutions--cut, cut, cut--are making things worse wherever they've been tried.

The same kind of argument has been heard here, but luckily a combination of the NDP, federal Liberals and the Bloc Québécois held Harper's feet to the fire back in 2008-2009 and we got a real stimulus package.  It now is time for the forces of clear thinking to work together to drive silver stakes through the hearts of the zombies. 

Note: the photo is from a site featuring zombie costumes.  The scary thing is that they look just like people we know....