A nice couple of hours out last night in what turned out to be an almost informal gathering of the Iqaluit Blogging Society, what with me, Kate, Elvis and Dooner hanging out for a couple of hours. Despite my statement last night that I was off to go drinking, I didn't. Never have managed to find an alcoholic beverage that I enjoy. Beer doesn't do it for me. I can tolerate red wine or rum and coke, but it's not anything that wows me enough to make me pay the silly prices of alcohol up here.
Oh well, one of these days I'll figure it out.
Anyway, yes, nice time, with people patiently listening to me talk about curling and kindly not slipping into a coma when I talked about the novel. And myself and Elvis are both in agreement on celebrating the day when major record labels will collapse and die because they are no longer needed.
However, I will stick by this curious observation. Perfectly nice weather in Iqaluit the past few days. A few flurries, sure, but nothing serious. Kate lands in town yesterday afternoon. This morning, the ground in Iqaluit is covered with snow.
Coincidence? I don't know. I've suggested to Kate that she needs to return to Rankin Inlet until we can scientifically verify whether or not she's the cause. She seems....unenthused about the idea.
I don't think I can bear to comment on either the US presidential or Canadian elections today. The Canadian election continues to be deeply boring on a national level. Things remain quiet on the northern front, with the only headline from CBC today that the three candidates are travelling. Woo....hoo. And I haven't heard anything fun out of St. John's East in the last couple of days. Boring.
The US election is shaping up to have one of those deeply silly days when instead of looking at the different platforms from Obama and McCain on how to deal with the econmic crisis, there are stories on whether or not McCain is claiming to have invented the Blackberry and that one of his financial advisors said neither McCain or Palin could run her old company.
At least it's not debating whether the phrase "lipstick on a pig" is sexist makes you either a heroic defender of women's right or a complete moron. I should be greatful for minor favours.
Although I guess I should note some improvement on the presidential front, even if it's at the university level. Gil Dalton, MUN's Board of Regents chairperson, will not renew his term. The very least he could do, really, given the damage he did as chair of the Regents. It's not viewed as very serious body right now. Someone needs to step up and do a much better job of making it very apparent the Regents are not in the premier's pocket.
The bad news is, doesn't look like MUN is going to have a president any time soon. Disappointing, if not unexpected.
Finally, Alumni Affairs still hasn't sent me a reason why provincial privacy legislation precludes them from releasing the Board of Regents election results. It's going on about three weeks since I first made the request. I've been patient and tried to work quietly on this, but it's starting to get a bit silly again, I fear.
Last Five
1. What would you say to me, lord? - Hawksley Workman*
2. Lentil - Sia
3. Night moves - Bob Seger
4. Sunday mornings - Maroon 5
5. Naked as we came - Iron & Wine
2 comments:
Ha, and I remain unenthused! I now maintain that, if anything, it was the universe saying, "hey, here's some party decorations, welcome home!" Big, frosty, mushy, messy party decorations. And everyone loves party decorations.
Craig:
I hope the following gives you a case of the warm fuzzies - r
Dear Munalum:
As a recent voter in the Board of Regents election I was somewhat bemused to discover that the results of this election will not be disclosed to the public. Given that Memorial is a publicly funded institution and made a public call for nominations I would have expected the subsequent publication of the election results. I understand from reading the blog of one of the candidates that these results have not been disclosed due to regulations laid out under the provincial access to information/privacy legislation. While I will compliment you on adhering to the law of the land I cannot help wondering how this might affect the conduct of future provincial elections. Surely the publication of the results of provincial, federal and municipal elections is a violation of the candidates privacy rights?
Happily we do not live in a country where there is a democratic deficit and neither butterfly ballots nor hanging chads are a concern. However, the University administration might recall that 75 years ago other cheap phrases like "a rest from democracy" were used to justify depriving Newfoundlanders of their democracy. Administering laws requires that people understand and believe in the spirit of those laws as much as it requires an understanding of the letter of the law. Anything else and our carefully constructed system of laws and personal freedoms, built on legislation and hard won precedents become a self-serving pile of exceptions paying homage to the people with the most money and the biggest sticks.
Given the recent uproar over the Minister of Education's "intervention" in the search for a University President I would have expected a more principled policy from the Administration on the Board of Regents election. However this is not the case and it demonstrates that the University administration does not need a Minister of Education to emperil Memorial's reputation clearly the administration can do that quite adequately on their own.
RK
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