Random Saturday Musings

Hi all,

Hope your last couple of days have been great! 

I admit to doing some online shopping yesterday, but it was related to trying to get my shopping done as I want to mail all my packages on Monday.  I started decorating the house over the last couple of days and hope to get the tree as well this weekend and start decorating that as well.  I love this time of year and I have really taken the time to be thoughtful about what I am buying people this year, which is kind of nice, since sometimes in other years it was a bit of a chore.

Some things I am thinking about this weekend:

1) My email cup runneth over...

I got more emails from more companies in the last three days then I got the previous month!  Even businesses that I didn't think had my email seemed to have my email and wanted to tell me about their sale.

Now this would make some of your cranky.  I understand why.  It breeds mental and (potentially) fiscal junk.  You suddenly know about sales from companies that you didn't even know existed.  Of course, there is that 'delete' button and I put it to good use.  However, there were some sales I was unaware of (hello Chapters!) and it was great to find out about them. 

This is the ying and the yang of our new world, I guess.  Having said that, in my old job I used to get 100+ emails a day and at least 50 needed real action.  So my perspective on junk email, email that I can delete with impunity with a simple push of a button, is not a bad thing...

did you get a lot of love letters, too?

2) This is just what you say right before your long dead soap opera wife returns...

I read with interest this morning the following AP article:

China claims victory in scrubbing Internet clean

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government has declared victory in cleaning up what it considers rumors, negativity and unruliness from online discourse, while critics say the moves have suppressed criticism of the government and ruling Communist Party.

Beijing launched the campaign this summer, arresting dozens of people for spreading rumors, creating new penalties for people who post libelous information and calling in the country's top bloggers for talks urging them to guard the national interest and uphold social order. At the same time, government agencies at all levels have boosted their online presence to control the message in cyberspace.

"If we should describe the online environment in the past as good mingling with the bad, the sky of the cyberspace has cleared up now because we have cracked down on online rumors," Ren Xianliang, vice minister of the State Internet Information Office, said during a rare meeting this week with foreign journalists.

***
But here's the thing - it's the freakin' internet people.  And I remember 1982, when General Hospital was in its hey day and I was at university with apparently a lot of time on my hands, and Luke told his new girlfriend Holly that he loved her and they would always be happy and that he was well and truly over the death of his first wife Laura.  EXCEPT SHE WASN'T DEAD!!!!!!!!

And the pesky thing about the internet is you can't really scrub it clean.  There is always something creeping out there somewhere.  And it smells like democracy and freedom and it is insidious and this headline might better have read:

China in final death rattle of totalitarian regime

Cause you and I both know the truth: Laura is alive and she is coming back and sorry Holly, it turns out Luke still loves her....

3)   My New Love Affair - the local indoor track

It has either been torrentially raining or -10 here, so this week I had to find a new place to go for my long walks.  Enter the local rink/sports complex, which has a lovely walking track  with a specially engineered shock-absorbing floor.  I made it there 4 times this week and was so happy to find a spot when the weather is just too inclement!

no that isn't me on the left!

4) High School Musicals

I am off this afternoon to see a high school production of White Christmas with my daughter and her friend.  I love high school musicals - they work so hard and are so appreciative of the love they get from the audience.  Yay to Fredericton High School!  This will really help me get in the Christmas mood....

5) and speaking of White Christmas...

I am reminded of something every December: Bing Crosby has ONE OF THE GREATEST VOICES EVER.  Some of you may think that is an old fashioned perspective but I do not care.  Bing's voice is superb and he was the original pop singer - Mr. Popular Music from the 1920s onwards and that term was coined to describe his music.  Everybody copied him, including Old Blue Eyes.  Most of us only know Bing from his Christmas music now, but music historians and many current musicians would cite him as one of the best singers ever.

 Artie Shaw described Bing as the first hip white person born in the United States, and Louis Armstrong said that his voice sounded like gold being poured out of a cup.  I sat that his is a songbook worth exploring and really listening to and not simply at Christmas - it is a joy to listen to all of his music.

You know I love David Bowie as well, so here is my now annual playing of Bing and Bowie's hit, which I first saw live many years ago:





Finally, I would be amiss if I did not acknowledge the tragedy unfolding this morning in Glasgow.  My prayers are with them this morning as they work to free more of the club patrons.

Much love all - stay safe out there!