UBC Athletics
Okay laugh all you want, I have officially started competing in the all time most ridiculous sport Race Walking. My inaugural race was on Sunday along the Galloping Goose Trail in Victoria. I had a few preconceived notions about the sport and I was right you look really stupid when you race walk. The best part about the event is when UBC digs into their deep pockets and decides some of their money is mine and paid for my trip. This is what I am willing to do to get varsity athlete status, walk and take the ridicule from my triathlete friends. I won, ha!

Beginning of a Mid-term Week

It finally hits me...Today is MONDAY and all the time I spent pretending to study during reading break has caught up to me and now I am in a study cramming panic!! Oh well, only three more mid terms in the next 36 hour. This is the beginning of a very long week, with little sleep expected.

"Sport is the one language that knows no boundaries and sees no distinctions. It unites cultures, transcends values and defies convention. When words fail, a game can speak."

Best place to study at UBC

Here is a cool virtual tour of what the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre will look like once it is finished.

This library is one of the newest structures on campus and for the most part is completely undiscovered by most students. Instead of studying in the old 1960's Woodward Library that more resembles a concrete jail I would much rather lean back in my arm chair and crack the books in the Learning Centre with its 25m high windows and appreciate what $60 million dollars can build!

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do.  In fact, they're probably just jealous.
 You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others.  If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

CHAOS IN THE BRICKYARD
Once upon a time, among the activities and occupations of man there was an activity called scientific research and the performers of this activity were called scientists. In reality, however, these men were builders who constructed edifices, called explanations or laws, by assembling bricks, called facts. When the bricks were sound and were assembled properly, the edifice was useful and durable and brought pleasure, and sometimes reward, to the builder. If the bricks were faulty or if they were assembled badly, the edifice would crumble, and this kind of disaster could be very dangerous to innocent users of the edifice as well as to the builder who sometimes was destroyed by the collapse. Because the quality of the bricks was so important to the success of the edifice, and because bricks were so scarce in those days the builders made their own bricks. The making of bricks was a difficult and expensive undertaking and the wise builder avoided waste by making only bricks of the shape and size necessary for the enterprise at hand. The builder was guided in this manufacture by a blueprint, called a theory or hypothesis.

It came to pass that builders realized that they were sorely hampered in their efforts by delays in obtaining bricks. Thus there arose a new skilled trade known as brickmaking, called junior scientist to give the artisan proper pride in his work. This new arrangement was very efficient and the construction of edifices proceeded with great vigour. Sometimes brickmakers became inspired and progressed to the status of builders. In spite of the separation of duties, bricks still were made with care and usually were produced only on order. Now and then an enterprising brickmaker was able to foresee a demand and would prepare a stock of bricks ahead of time, but, in general, brickmaking was done on a custom basis because it still was a difficult and expensive process.

And then it came to pass that a misunderstanding spread among the brickmakers (there are some who say that this misunderstanding developed as a result of careless training of a new generation of brickmakers). The brickmakers became obsessed with the making of bricks. When reminded that the ultimate goal was edifices, not bricks, they replied that, if enough bricks were available, the builders would be able to select what was necessary and still continue to construct edifices. The flaws in this argument were not readily apparent and so, with the help of the citizens who were waiting to use the edifices yet to be built, amazing things happened. The expense of brickmaking became a minor factor because large sums of money were made available; the time and effort involved in brickmaking was reduced by ingenious automatic machinery; the ranks of the brickmakers were swelled by augmented training programs and intensive recruitment. It even was suggested that the production of a suitable number of bricks was equivalent to building an edifice and therefore should entitle the industrious brickmaker to assume the title of builder and, with the title, the authority.

And so it happened that the land became flooded with bricks. it became necessary to organize more and more storage places, called journals, and more and more elaborate systems of bookkeeping to record the inventory. In all of this the brickmakers retained their pride and skill and the bricks were of the very best quality. But production was ahead of demand and bricks no longer were made to order. The size and shape was now dictated by changing trends in fashion. In order to compete successfully with other brickmakers, production emphasized those types of brick that were easy to make and only rarely did an adventuresome brickmaker attempt a difficult or unusual design. The influence of tradition in production methods and in types of product became a dominating factor.

Unfortunately, the builders were almost destroyed. It became difficult to find the proper bricks for a task because one had to hunt among so many. It became difficult to find a suitable plot for construction of an edifice because the ground was covered with loose bricks. It became difficult to complete a useful edifice because, as soon as the foundations were discernible, they were buried under an avalanche of random bricks. And, saddest of all, sometimes no effort was made even to maintain the distinction between a pile of bricks and a true edifice.

BERNARD K. FORSCHER
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota

Science 142:3590, October 18, 1963.

Good Philosophy...

Not all those who wander are lost. I'm not lost, I've just temporarily lost sight of my destination.

Harper and Martin from Rick Mercer's Blog

Ballin
Decepticons
Marionettes
An Elexmas
Bad Santa
On the Pitch
Guitar Duel

Bring me the head of Jean Chretien
I Like Mustard!
Il Dodo
Conservative Fun Land
Deft block
It's not easy being green.
What happens behind the Swinging doors!
Next Time I'm Driving
One man band



Harper and Martin from Rick Mercer's Blog

Polar Bear Swim Madness
January 1st 2006




Keeping the tradition alive, I went to Delta for the annual polar bear swim with Bob, Kasandra, Sheree and Janice this year. I have done polar bear swim since 2001. It was extremely windy which made things a lot colder once wet. Our quick swim in the ocean was certainly refreshing.

If you missed the swim this year...don't worry there is always next year. This has become my New Year's Day ritual; all it takes is a brave soul to rush into the chilly waters of Boundary Bay.