My pleasure. I just regret that most of the tracks on this and other Beatles albums get blocked for copyright reasons. It's entirely within their rights, but seems a trifle petty given that I am in no way seeking remuneration.
Being an American, born in 1962, this one of my first Beatles' records A "hand-me-down" from my older brother (9 years my senior) as he was now into Cream, Hendrix and Steppenwolf. This was just "bubble-gum, greasy - kid - stuff" to him! Haha. I was like five when he gave me the 1st American release. "With the Beatles" I think.
Great story. I was born in December '64 as the eldest sibling, so the first I heard of The Beatles was after I had already become a fan of Wings. I learned quickly after that.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Libertarians are all about individual liberty, so from that stand point their worship of Prof. Hayek makes sense. On the other hand, true-believer Libertarians do not have much of a role for government at all. Policing of crimes against person or property and defense of the nation's borders (possibly including duty taxes on imports, but also perhaps not) is about it for Libertarians when it comes to government. The F. A. Hayek who writes in THE ROAD TO SERFDOM is not such a Libertarian. Indeed, not only does he find a purpose for government, that purpose is remarkably similar to the Welfare State, something that is anathema for Libertarians. It must be a typically right wing selective reading - something that they usually reserve for THE BIBLE - that allows them to miss this aspect. Read Hayek himself: "There is no reason why in a society that has reached the general level of wealth which ours has attained the first kind of security [security against severe physical privation, the certainty of a GIVEN MINIMUM SUSTENANCE FOR ALL] should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom." pp. 147-148 [Emphasis mine.] The second kind of security includes: "the security of a given standard of life, or of the relative position which one person or group enjoys compared with others;" pp. 147-148 which Prof. Hayek clarifies in the same sentence as: "the security of a minimum income and the security of the particular income a person is thought to deserve." p. 148 This sounds like a significant amount of government intervention to me. Now, obviously, Hayek attributes much of this security to the workings of a Capitalist free market, but you can't get all the way there without government assistance. A security against "severe physical privation" could easily be read - but not necessarily - as a need for universal healthcare. The "security of a minimum income" is clearly, with no wiggle room to misinterpret, an insistence that there be a floor below which government cannot allow its citizens to fall. As for "security of the … income a person is thought to deserve," here we do get to a point where government should allow market forces to decide that income. Provided, however, that it does not fall below a societally determined minimum. Libertarians may choose to ignore these pages and the chapter (Nine: "Security and Freedom") in which these ideas are introduced, but it seems clear that Prof. Hayek's vision of government closely resembles the welfare state. In Chapter Ten, "Why the Worst Get on Top," Prof. Hayek describes how a totalitarian government can be formed, not by a majority, but by a minority that is "the largest single group … whose members agree sufficiently to make unified direction of all affairs possible." The process he describes is eerily prescient of a current wannabe demagogue with a fixation on … crowd … sizes. Here, I am afraid, I will have to quote Hayek at length: "In the first instance, it is probably true that, in general, the higher the education and intelligence of individuals become, the more their views and tastes are differentiated and the less likely they are to agree on a particular hierarchy of values. It is a corollary of this that if we wish to find a high degree of uniformity and similarity of outlook, we have to descend to the regions of lower moral and intellectual standards where the more primitive and "common" instincts and tastes prevail. This does not mean that the majority of people have low moral standards; it merely means that the largest group of people whose values are very similar are the people with low standards. It is, as it were, the lowest common denominator which unites the largest number of people. If a numerous group is needed, strong enough to impose their views on the values of life on all the rest, it will never be those with highly differentiated and developed tastes---it will be those who form the "mass" in the derogatory sense of the term, the least original and independent, who will be able to put the weight of their numbers behind their particular ideals. "If, however, a potential dictator had to rely entirely on those whose uncomplicated and primitive instincts happen to be very similar, their number would scarcely give sufficient weight to their endeavors. He will have to increase their numbers by converting more to the same simple creed. "Here comes in the second negative principle of selection: he will be able to obtain the support of all the docile and gullible, who have no strong convictions of their own but are prepared to accept a ready-made system of values if it is only drummed into their ears sufficiently loudly and frequently. It will be those whose vague and imperfectly formed ideas are easily swayed and whose passions and emotions are readily aroused who will thus swell the ranks of the totalitarian party. "It is in connection with the deliberate effort of the skillful demagogue to weld together a closely coherent and homogeneous body of supporters that the third and perhaps most important negative element of selection enters. It seems to be almost a law of human nature that it is easier for people to agree on a negative program---on the hatred of an enemy, or the envy of those better off---than on any positive task. The contrast between the "we" and the "they," the common fight against those outside the group, seems to be an essential ingredient in any creed which will solidly knit together a group for common action. It is consequently always employed by those who seek, not merely support of a policy, but the unreserved allegiance of huge masses. From their point of view it has the great advantage of leaving them greater freedom of action than almost any positive program. The enemy, whether he be internal, like the "Jew" or the "kulak," or external, seems to be an indispensable requisite in the armory of a totalitarian leader." pp. 160-161 [CONTINUED IN SECOND COMMENT]
[CONTINUED FROM FIRST COMMENT] Remember that this was published in 1944, not 2024. The responsibility, for the majority who are not true zealots, lies in Negative Principle #2. The Deplorables who constitute the storm troopers, described in Hayek's First Principle, are beyond our ability to convert. No amount of logic, of explanation, or of example, will ever get through to these troglodytes. They are truly beyond redemption. The Third Negative Principle also lies beyond the non-believer's sway. There is nothing that we can say or do that will stop the Deplorable rabble from demonising the 'other.' All we can do, and what we must do, is to continually combat this dehumanising attempt from succeeding. To do this we must avoid becoming the complacent who are described in the Second Negative Principle. We must be vocal in our condemnation and contempt of any attempts to subvert the ideals of democracy in creation of a totalitarian dictatorship. Luckily, in recent elections in Europe, the wannabe demagogues have been shown the door, as the populaces of numerous countries have finally - and almost belatedly - reacted firmly against the politics of fear, hatred, and exclusion. There are upcoming elections in both Canada and United States. Recently, in one of these countries, against a tide of despair, there has been a galvanisation of resistance to the wannabe potential dictator. Whichever country you may be a citizen of, you must get out there for the coming election and vote against the tyranny of demagoguery. But it is not just enough to vote, and this applies equally to any readers/viewers not citizens of Canada or United States, you must make your voice known wherever you call home, such that you and those around you won't complacently allow your home in 2024 come to resemble the German home of 1934. This is the lesson of Hayek. His argument in this book concentrates on Socialism because (Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany included) that is what he was experiencing, but his ultimate aim was to prevent the potential rise of totalitarianism in his adopted home of United Kingdom. At the time of writing, 1944, with World War II gradually grinding to a close, F. A. Hayek feared that United Kingdom - and, to a lesser extent, United States - was moving towards totalitarianism. The medium for this was to be central planning. UK, because of the war, was then running on a planned economy. Prof. Hayek does not disagree with this practice; the exigencies of war had made it necessary. What frightens him is that, with the end of the war in sight, many of the intelligentsia, and much of the public, were arguing for a peace-time planned economy. Hayek, Austrian born, does not think that this boded well for United Kingdom's future. His perception, which he documents thoroughly from Europe's (Germany's) post-1848 past, is that planned economies lead inevitably towards a totalitarian government, and he argues further that a totalitarian government can have no good end. To Hayek's mind, and to mine, there can be no such thing as a good dictator. To us, today, this seems obvious. Until it is not. There are people today who are advocating for a dictatorship led by former President Trump, to the extent of possibly eliminating term limits for the presidency, or of eliminating the need for elections once their favourite is back in the White House. Admittedly, the folks declaring that elections should become a thing of the past are a relatively fringe element at present, but pleas to repeal - or ignore - the 22nd Amendment regarding term limits have gone more mainstream. Plus, insanely, the current Supreme Court, determined to surpass the Roger Taney Court as the worst in US history, has declared the position of POTUS to be beyond the reach of US law. (I wonder if this applies to Democrat Presidents as well.) Veering back to the possibility of a planned economy, though, remember that Hayek was not opposed to government involvement. He clearly states that there are standards that a government must maintain for its citizenry. He and I agree completely to this point, but it is here that we part ways, and it is here that Libertarians and Conservatives embrace him, conveniently forgetting his Welfare State utterances. I believe that there are certain industries (transportation, utilities, healthcare) where a limited government monopoly is necessary to ensure that these services are equally available to all. Other industries, such as steel, automotive, computing technology, and so on, should, however, remain entirely in the public sector. Prof. Hayek disagrees, putting all of these industries into the private sector, even if the requirements of the industry demand private monopolisation. Given the demand, well demonstrated by private industry, to maximise profits, how then can it be assured that a minimum standard of life will be available to all? Private industry does not exist to provide a service. This is an obvious fallacy. Private industry exists only to maximise profit, and if that profit can no longer be attained at an adequate level, then it is the duty (to their shareholders) of Capitalists to get out of that industry. A government monopoly, however, does exist for the purpose of the service it provides. If it becomes necessary to run a service at a loss in order to provide that service to a government's entire sphere of responsibility, then run at a loss it should and must. Prof. Hayek seems to think that this type of essential-service monopoly is a slippery slope towards a totally planned economy instead of it being the necessary step required to provide the Welfare State that he has advocated as the government's responsibility. I wonder if he includes a government monopoly on childhood education as part of this slippery slope. [See above, regarding pages 147-148.] Hayek can be forgiven for this. He was writing in 1944. The Welfare State was still in its infancy back then. Hayek did not yet have the example of Scandinavia, much of Western Europe including United Kingdom, and - dare I say; yes, I do - Canada to provide him with examples of just how successfully a Welfare Stare economy can be run. So Prof. Hayek can be forgiven. It is 80 years later now. There are people who still argue that any government intervention is a fall towards Socialism and Communism and National Socialism. These people are idiots. There is no excuse for not seeing the successes of Welfare State Keynesian economies that once provided the greatest economic boom for all peoples, not just the rich, but for everyone. Instead, the rich, and the extreme rich, and their political toadies, decided that rich and extremely rich wasn't rich enough, so, using the extreme-capitalist economic theories of Milton Friedman,* the economic Right, increasingly co-opted by an irrational social Right, have created an economy with a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor, and with an alarmingly worrying shrinkage of the Middle Class. We have had 80 years of this evidence in favour of Welfare State economies and against unrestricted market economies, and yet there are chunderheads who still protest screamingly against any kind of government involvement in the economy. After 80 years, it becomes no longer possible to believe in their good will. The looming loss of the Middle Class is another of Prof. Hayek's harbingers of totalitarian government. It is little discussed, practically a footnote, but on p. 215 he observes "that the one decisive factor in the rise of totalitarianism on the Continent, which is yet absent in England and America, is the existence of a large recently dispossessed middle class." One wishes that Hayek might have expanded on this realisation further, but there are limits to the realistic scope of the book. Perhaps in his other writings. Ultimately, I disagree with Prof. F. A. Hayek. Obviously, I agree with him that totalitarian government is a bad thing, and I will agree with him that a planned economy is a path towards that horrifying end. I also agree with Prof. Hayek on the need for a welfare state government that protects its citizens. Where I disagree with the professor is to the extent to which he is willing to commit to the welfare state. He knocks on the door, but he backs away as it is opening. He lived until 1992, clearly long enough to see the benefits that a Keynesian welfare state provides, but he never took the leap to understand that while a planned economy is undoubtedly a bad thing, government control of absolutely essential services is … well … absolutely essential. This disagreement I have with the professor does not detract from the overall merit of the book, though. I am writing in the comfort of 2024, increasingly worried about the direction of the world, but thankful that thinkers such as Prof. Hayek were working 80 years ago to help safeguard the Western world from totalitarianism into his future and to my present. Prof. Hayek, you have my thanks for your efforts. *Milton Friedman was a decent man who sincerely believed that his theories were for the general good. He was wrong, but he was not ill-intentioned. The same cannot be said for the many who have since put those theories in practice for their own benefit against the public welfare. But I digress. I close with my usual collection of recently taken unrelated photos of life in Hayang. Haeseon Raw Tuna Restaurant Porridge and Salad and Gim Chamchi Plate Hana Bank Daegu Innovation City Branch Chinese Egg and Tomato Dish Lamb Skewers IV AT Express Coffee & Lemonade Geumnak Elementary School Bus Stop THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by F. A. Hayek Plus nine photos.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] We’ll keep moving east all the way to Canada’s Maritimes, starting first with New Brunswick. This province, one of the Original Four, was host to 16 seats, more than the two western provinces combined, if only just. The railroad National Dream had little or nothing to do with New Brunswick, so the taint of scandal in that matter did little in the way of their interests. The loss of public monies did, however, cost the entire nation, helping New Brunswick to vote ten of its 16 seats the Liberal Party’s way. One more went to an Independent Liberal. This left five seats for the Conservative interests, except of even these few, two of the seats went to Independents. Of the remaining three, the Conservative Party captured two and the Liberal-Conservative Party the final one. It was still a small pool, but one that convincingly belonged to the Liberals. In terms of popular vote, the Liberal Party here also had almost an outright majority, capturing 47.1% of the province’s voters. Unknown, resoundingly powerful, held onto 19.9% of votes, and Independents were at 17.6%. This left the Conservative Party with just 6.8% of New Brunswick’s voters, and the Liberal-Conservative Party little better at 8.6%. The Conservative coalition was going to have to do better than this if it wanted to hold onto the reins of Canadian government. Sticking to the Maritimes, the next province to show up alphabetically is another of the Original Four, Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia had earned a reputation for being contrary during the first election, back in 1867. They stayed contrary this time, too, giving the Liberal Party 15 of the 21 Nova Scotia seats up for grabs, with another one going to a self-professed Independent Liberal. Once again, only five seats were left for the Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives to fight over; and, once again, one (at least this time it wasn’t two) of these seats went to an Independent. Of the remaining four, the two conservative parties split them, with Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives winning two apiece. The Maritimes, with Prince Edward Island still to be discussed, were turning out to be a shambles for the ruling party. A small - very small - consolation was that the popular vote was narrower here than it was in New Brunswick. In Nova Scotia, the Liberal Party had 38.1% of the vote and the Independent Liberal another 8.2%. The Independent had managed 7.7% of the province’s total votes. Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives had a respectable showing - if not a seat-winning showing - of 17.8% and 19.2%, respectively. Not actually all that bad in the vote column, but the seat column is the important thing. After the two western provinces, and two of the three eastern provinces, the Conservative / Liberal-Conservative coalition and allies had just 11 of the possible 47 seats, while the Liberal Party and allies held onto 32. Rounding out the field were the four true Independents. But the two central provinces, and Prince Edward Island, were still to be counted. With the preliminaries - most of them, anyway - out of the way, it’s time to look at Ontario. The two original Canadas that made up Canada were by far the overwhelming power in the newly formed country, and of these two, Ontario was electorally the most important, being host to 42.72% (88 of 206) of Canada’s House of Commons. Regardless of what happened in the hinterlands, if John A. Macdonald could hold sway here, he could likely hold onto the title of Prime Minister. Conversely, the opposite held true as well, and this election was apparently Opposite Day for the electorate. Alexander Mackenzie’s Liberals stormed to the fore with 61 of Ontario’s 88 seats, with another two going to Independent Liberals. The Conservative Party could not stem this tide, managing just 15 seats, with the Liberal-Conservative Party capturing a mere ten, for a combined total of 25. The Liberals had captured 39.6% of the vote and the Independent Liberal had 1.7%. Unknown tallied in at 27.2 %, only slightly under the coalition’s combined 29.9% (19.5% Conservative and 10.4% Liberal-Conservative). The election wasn’t over yet. 104 seats were needed to win a majority government, and Alexander Mackenzie’s Liberals sat at just 95. They needed to win nine more seats. This, however, looked pretty much in the bag with a total of 71 seats still unlooked at by us. We’ll take a bit of a tiny break here, as Prince Edward Island’s six seats won’t be enough to decide the election. This was Prince Edward Island’s first Canadian Federal election, despite Charlottetown, PEI having been the birthplace of Confederation. Go figure. The Liberals and allies had won 27 of the 37 other seats in the Maritimes region, and Prince Edward Island proved no different. If anything, the five seats won by Liberal candidates was an even more dominant performance, leaving just one seat to the Conservatives as a condolence. The popular vote was particularly galling to Sir John A.’s side, as Liberal candidates captured 56.8% of the provincial total. Even adding the Liberal-Conservative’s 15.4% to the Conservative’s 17.5% gave a paltry 32.9% of the vote. The might of Prince Edward Island had spoken. Alexander Mackenzie needed to win just four more seats, with 65 left to contend. The final province we’ll look at today is Quebec, the other Canada. While it’s 65 seats were far fewer than Ontario’s 88, they were also more than the remaining five provinces combined. Elections were won and lost in Quebec. Usually, anyway. But with the Liberals needing just four more seats the outcome looked certain. Sir John A. Macdonald would need to essentially sweep the province in order to be re-elected nationally. Sweep the province he did … not. He did respectably, capturing, between his Conservatives (17) and Liberal-Conservatives (12), 29 seats, along with two Independent Conservatives for a total of 31, but even this left him three short of his rival Alexander Mackenzie’s 34 Quebec seats. There would be no threepeat. Once again, although by a narrow margin, the popular vote went the Liberal Party’s way, capturing 34.8% of the vote. Sir John A.’s coalition was behind this with 32.5% (17.6% Conservatives and 14.9% Liberal-Conservatives) and another 2.9% for the Independent Conservative candidates. Unknown rounded out the field with an impressive 27.5%. Canada had just elected its first Liberal government. That gives us Canada’s 3rd Parliament. For the first time, Sir John A. Macdonald would be sitting on the side of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, while Alexander Mackenzie, who will forever forego the Sir typically given to early Canadian Prime Ministers, formed the government. His Liberal Party had won 129 seats across the nation, along with five Independent Liberals. This was well more than enough to form a majority government. Across the aisle, Sir John A. Macdonald’s Conservatives had just 39 seats, and his Liberal-Conservatives an even fewer 26, for a total of 65, adding to this a further three Independent Conservative MPs. Rounding out the total to 206 were four Independents. The Liberals had captured 39.49% of the vote nationally, comfortably ahead of the Conservative coalition’s 30.11% (17.74% Conservative and 12.37% Liberal-Conservative). Of our independents, 2.01% voted for Liberal allies, 0.73% for Conservative allies, and 3.21% for true Independents. The unfortunately unavoidable Unknown vote percentage was a staggering 23.98%. Only Manitoba, with just four seats, had sort of voted with John A. Macdonald’s former government side. Every other province had sided with the Liberals. Quebec and British Columbia were now 3-0 and 2-0, respectively, in backing the winning side, and were joined in their perfection by Prince Edward Island at 1-0. Ontario and Nova Scotia both moved up to 2-1, while Manitoba fell to 1-1. New Brunswick, while still in the rear, had at least at last backed the winning horse, bringing their record to 1-2. The 1874 Canadian Federal Election was at a close, and now Canada’s 3rd Parliament would try to run the country. I hope you have enjoyed this province-by-province recount of the election of Canada’s third Parliament. My source throughout has been Wikipedia, which as you may know can be problematical at times. Nevertheless, I feel certain that the overall gist is accurate even if some numbers may be slightly off. I have tried to keep it as non-partisan as I possibly can, and I hope any comments - which will all be accepted with great gratitude and appreciation - will attempt to do the same. As always, please hit Like and Subscribe if you did enjoy today’s offering. You can even hit Notifications if you’d like to - you know - be notified about the election of future past Canadian Parliaments. Lastly, and always … Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
Ok, that was the lamest format ever. As a Canadian, I would be ashamed to call myself a “world champion” having only played a single game (or even, having played only two games and finishing 1-1).
You dance with the rules they give you. Put them in the first round to have them destroy Japan 47-0? Or realise that without United States no one can really compete against Canada? Although 6-1 is a real game. Still a bit of a laugher at the end, but some work was taken to get there.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Of course, by the semis I don’t really mean the semis, because even once they get through this round to the finals there is still Canada waiting in the real final. But the Europeans in the crowd at the time knew what I mean. It was Austria versus Switzerland to start the action on February 2nd. Once again poor ice was a serious factor, and with the two teams tied at one apiece at the end of the second period, both teams considered abandoning the match to continue at a later date. However, given that conditions were not foreseen to improve, they elected to play the third, wherein Albert Geromini scored to give Switzerland a trip to the finals and a guaranteed medal. The victory was largely attributed to the Swiss’s larger size adjusting to the soft ice better than did the swifter Austrians. Next up was Germany against Poland. They played evenly through the first period, but two goals from Gustav Jaenecke in the second period sent Germany through 3-1. Now it was time to get serious about the medals. But we’re going to have to get serious about the medals awhile later, because first we’ve got the fourth place game between Austria and Poland on February 5th. Now, normally we would not expect to see a fourth place game, but in this instance the fourth place game is also the bronze medal game for the European Championships. So, I guess a medal is on the line here after all. However, it won’t be in front of the French. The ice at Chamonix has been bad and worse and getting worst. So, it’s off to Vienna we go, giving the Austrian team a perhaps unfair advantage against their Polish competitors. Unfair or no, advantage or no, after a three day rest they meet on the Vienna ice for a final result that sees two third period goals give Austria a shutout victory and a European bronze. Canada was there to watch, but the Germans and Swiss are on their way to Berlin for the European final and the World mini-final. So, three cities in three countries for this world championships. My, how cosmopolitan we’re becoming. Four days later, it’s February 9th and we’re finally in Berlin for the mini-final. Germany versus Switzerland, with being a ceremonial sacrificial lamb to the Canadians waiting for the winner. And it’s on artificial ice, so no holes to twist or break an ankle to be found. Nevertheless, the Swiss complain anyway that the artificial lighting in the enclosed rink is hard on their eyes. Regardless of that, it’s a close match all the way through, with Switzerland garnering a 1-0 first period lead on a goal by Albert Geromini that is only answered by Gustav Jaenecke’s tally in the second. Finally, in the third period, Erich Römer scores to give Germany the win and Switzerland a consolation bronze. February 10th: CANADA LOSES! CANADA LOSES! In Vienna three days before the Grand Final and two before Germany’s mini-final win over Switzerland. Still, a loss is a loss, and even though this was just an exhibition, Canada’s 1-0 loss to fourth-place Austria is the first time any team representing Canada has ever lost to European skaters. Do I sense an upset? Are the Canadians overconfident? A bit cocky, perhaps? And perhaps they are, for it is Germany’s Rudi Ball - we’ll definitely be talking about him in a later video - who opens the scoring in front of 8,000 screaming German fans. The upset is … short lived. And when German scoring ace Jaenecke goes down with a broken collarbone, the dream is over. Canada’s Toronto CCMs waltz away with two goals in each period and earn the gold convincingly, with Alexander Park’s two goals leading the way. Did I say convincingly? Well, perhaps I did and perhaps it was, but in comparison to the double digit poundings the Canadians had given all other European squads in the three previous world championships, this was a sign that perhaps the gap was closing. And another World Championships is complete. Competitively it was a rousing success. The biggest whitewash of the tournament was Poland’s 5-0 win over Japan, and even Canada was not able to assert its dominance with the sheer brutality they had in years past, as their lone game was a mere 6-1 win over Germany. So, competitively, a success. But the limitations of natural ice were on display for all to see. Better will have to be done. Well, that’s it for 1930, and boy, it was fun! Can’t wait until the Olympics in 1932 for the next one. In fact, I so can’t wait that we’re not going to wait. We’re going to make this an annual thing. See you next year in Poland. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please hit the Like button. Also, please remember to Subscribe and hit Notifications. Also, any comments you have will be appreciated. Be well. Be healthy. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Why has there been a difference between the public's and the professional's view of the two on the court? The answer seems obvious. Caitlin Clark is a white woman from Iowa and Angel Reese is a black woman from Maryland. Also, in this black-driven sport, Ms Clark is the first white woman to be making an impact in the league. How could the white United Statesian public not love her? The problem with this narrative is that it ignores Diana Taurasi, a white woman of whom it can be argued that she has had the best career of any currently active WNBA player. Angel Reese, on the other hand, is not only a black woman, but the narrative is that she appears to be an angry black woman. Damn near an uppity black woman! Given this comparison, how could white United States not choose Ms Clark over Ms Reese? I don't actually fault them for their choice. Identification politics is a complicated issue. What I do fault some - not all - of Ms Clark's proponents for is the vitriol of their antagonism for Angel Reese. I have seen so many commenters - whom you know have watched little if any WNBA before this year - claim that the WNBA has gone 'woke' by positioning Angel Reese ahead of Caitlin Clark. There was outrage that Ms Clark did not make the Olympic team for this summer's Paris Games. I don't recall seeing the same for Ms Reese's absence from that team. United States won the Gold at these Games, but there was criticism nevertheless that the Gold Medal match victory over France was so close (67-66) because Ms Clark was not playing. Well, neither was Angel Reese. Maybe she should have been there, too. Now, I myself in no way claim to be an expert on basketball, let alone the WNBA. I can't even make a judgement as to whom is the better player between Ms Clark and Ms Reese based on what I've seen, because the things that I have seen are clips cherry picked to make a point. That means I have to base my opinion on three possible sources. The first two conflict. The public says that Caitlin Clark is the superior, while the professionals within the league laud Angel Reese. Whose opinions should I value higher? Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go with the experts on this one. But there is one other source of information. Basketball, like seemingly all sports these days, has gone the way of analytics. There is now a metric called Win Shares. For this year's WNBA, the current leader in Win Shares is A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces with 7.0. Angel Reese is way down at 15th with 2.6 Win Shares. Caitlin Clark has 1.2 Win Shares. Basketball-Reference only lists the top 20, so I can't tell you where Ms Clark stands within the league. I can, though, tell you where she stands in Win Shares on her team. Fourth. First on the Indiana Fever is last year's Rookie of the Year, Aliyah Boston, with 2.6 Win Shares. Ms Boston has a whole season under her belt more than has Ms Clark, but in reality the age difference between the two is just one month. For comparison's sake, Ms Reese's 2.6 Win Shares stands her first on the Chicago Sky. There are methodological issues with the Win Shares metric. I am aware of these. I just don't know what they are. Nor would I understand them if I did. What I do know is that Win Shares is the best non-subjective measurement available today. Does it need to be tweaked? Probably. Does it need to be scrapped altogether and replaced? Possibly. But it is what we have for the present. Plus, the metric's results for Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are not close. Were it 2.6 to 2.5 or 1.3 to 1.2, the flaws in the metric would allow us to call it a tie. But 2.6 to 1.2 is a big gap, a gap big enough that I'm willing to say that it represents a real difference between the two. Caitlin Clark, of course, is just 22 years old, so she has plenty of time to grow into her game. But guess what, Angel Reese is also just 22, and a younger 22 at that. As it stands now, if the idea of having a team in the WNBA is to win games, then I would select Angel Reese over Caitlin Clark. If, however, the goal of having a team in the WNBA is to sell tickets, then I think I might be inclined to select Ms Clark over Ms Reese. It's a business, after all. Isn't it?
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] The Montreal HC had a fairly balanced attack, with Alexander Kingan leading the way with five goals in their seven games. That’s fairly impressive, although it’s actually a low total for the era. Perhaps this is because of the 35 goals scored overall that season, nearly half (17) of them are unaccounted for in the records. So Mr. Kingan’s leading total, if he indeed did actually have the leading total, is more than just a trifle misleading. Still, it is what we know, so it is what we have. In goal, once again, the HC’s Tom Paton led the way with a 1.00 goals against average (11 goals unaccounted for). We can, however, confirm that Mr. Paton had the only shutout of the challenge season. The Montreal HC had the stars, and they had the wins, with a perfect 8-0 record (adding in their forfeit victory over Quebec HC and discounting their exhibition loss to the Montreal Crescents). Could anyone dislodge them from their throne in future seasons? Time would tell. That is the tale of the 1891 season of hockey as played by the AHAC. My source throughout has been the season’s page on Wikipedia. Take a look there if you’d like to learn a bit more. I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of hockey history. If you have, please hit Like and Subscribe. I will also be describing more of these future past seasons, so hit Notifications if you are interested in what is to come. Lastly, of course, any comments you may have will be greatly appreciated. Be well. Be safe. And be happy.
I am speaking, of course, about forgiving myself. If I truly want to find contentment within my own heart, then I need to find a way to forgive myself for the many mistakes, lapses, and outright stupidities I have made during my life. This will not be easy. I am a man often harshly critical in my assessment of self after the fact, even long after the fact. If cursing at faces on the computer screen is unhealthy, then cursing one's self for events years and decades in the past passes the border to the pathological. It's a difficult task, though, but I think I'm on the right track. If I am correct that forgiving and forgiveness build on themselves, then perhaps my constant 'I forgive you' mantra will some day make it possible for me to say it to myself, "I forgive you." I close with a few photos taken during yesterday's On the Buses mini-event to Namha-ri. I realise that a couple of you find these bus stop photos amusing and enjoy mocking them with 'likes' accordingly, but I ask you this: "What new thing did you do yesterday? What new place did you visit? What new sight did you see?" Mock me in good fun if you will, but please also credit me for getting out there to be mocked. Selfie at Cheongcheon Elementary School Geonneo Bus Stop View of the Geumho River East from Namha-ri Bridge over the Geumho River Field Golf in Namha-ri Namha 2 Ri(Hayang Way) Bus Stop
Dear Editor(s), Where can I purchase or download the style guide or decryption key for the titles of your excellent RU-vid videos? I feel I may be missing out on levels of meaning by not knowing how to parse things like “WARNING 23”, and “[Untitled]” followed by something that looks very much like a title. Thank you. Signed, a recent but regular devotee.
Well, dear anonymous commenter, the title given here is is the title I have given to the post long after the fact. Originally, it was posted without a title. The Warnings are because of an overly long mass email I sent out back in 2002. I added the WARNING label to prepare people for an extensive lead. My second such mass email was equally long, so I added the same WARNING. After that, it became a thing for those 2002 posts of yore, and has since become part of my schtick. Other titles I will have to decrypt for you on a case-by-case basis.
We had faculty advisors? I thought that article seemed very well written and well researched. It was of practical value and “behind-the-scenes” interest to its target audience. Showed more depth of composition than I remember having in first year (or have even now). Good call by your faculty advisor.
@@Acnoth That's actually what I'm contemplating at the moment. Im corresponding with a tour operator who has a group flying in from Xian. I've read others who had an ok time using Diamox and also read others acclimatizing via train. I'd hate to get off the plane at 12k ft and go through anguish with altitude sickness. 50/50 right now if I want to include Tibet or rethink itinerary to spend more time acclimatizing through train travel.
@@roundingcorners Personally, and I understand I have no idea of your schedule, I would recommend this. Take the train from Xi'an (it's a wonderful city, too, with more than just the Terra Cotta Warriors) to Xining and spend 24 hours to acclimatise. I stayed at the San Want Hotel Xining. They even offered (at no extra charge) a late checkout since I had arrived late and they knew I was heading to Tibet late the next day. I took that next day to explore a bit of the city, and had a great time. But that's just the prelude. The train from Xining to Lhasa was fantastic. I had my nose pressed to the window almost the whole time, watching as we passed through snow-covered mountains in the middle of summer. At a couple of stops, we were able to get out to stretch our legs. It was a definite highlight.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Now, I had planned all of this trip very carefully. I knew from our itinerary that I was to arrive at this hotel on the evening of the 5th and that we would depart on the morning of the 8th. This was thus the only time on the trip that I would have the opportunity to get my laundry done. This was perfectly planned, as laundering now would give me enough intimates to get me back to South Korea. I, almost the first thing I did, took my underwear and shorts down to the front desk and asked about laundering services. “No problem,” they exclaimed happily. “Just so long as there’s no socks or underwear.” What!? I can easily double up on shorts and jeans and shirts and whatnot, but I would prefer not to have to force my underwear into double duty. So, with hanging head, I returned to my room in disappointment. The next morning this was a question I raised with the guide, to be informed that it wasn’t that the hotel was just being cantankerously unhelpful; it’s a cultural thing in Tibet that meant that no hotel (with Tibetan standards; I can’t speak to Chinese-run hotels in Lhasa) would be washing socks or underwear. This mollified me somewhat, and after dinner of our second day my undies got hand washed in the bathroom sink. The hotel room was nice enough. Nothing special, although the shower was just a capsule that had me colliding with the walls whenever I turned around. Still, it was a shower with hot water and the toilet was an actual toilet with modern plumbing. No complaints from me. I woke up the next morning and went down for the included breakfast buffet and made my way to the lobby to meet my group. We eventually gathered together and it was just four of us plus the guide. I was worried about the Bob Marley shirt I was wearing, wondering if it might be thought disrespectful at the monasteries. I was told not to worry, that it was my shorts and sandals that were disrespectful. I was ordered to change and down I came with jeans and running shoes (and socks!). Jamrang, our guide, was Tibetan and would be our nursemaid for the six days. One thing he told us right at the start was something that was also on our information sheet about the tour: There was to be no political discussion about Tibet’s political situation with China whatsoever. None! The group now consisted of me and Doru, plus Yang and Linc from Toronto. Yang is a Chinese-Canadian woman born in China and Linc is her twelve-year-old son born in Canada. Nice people. We left the hotel and picked up three others who were staying at a different hotel. These were Danny (a German-speaking Slovenian living in Hong Kong by way of Belgium), Yang (his wife, a native of mainland China now also living in Hong Kong), and their eight-year-old daughter Patricia. These three were not actually part of our group, but were joining our group for the day because they had missed the first day of their tour and were making it up. Indeed, they had already been to Everest Base Camp and had the brilliant pictures to prove it. Also, as for our group, we were missing six members who were to be a day late themselves. Because of our missing members, we reversed the itineraries for Days 1 and 2, and today we started off to Drepung Monastery. When we got there, Tenzeng (the guide (as it turns out, Jamrang is his Chinese name that he is required to use by law to be an officially licensed tour guide; Tenzeng is his Tibetan name that he much prefers)) gave us time to use the toilet at the base of the monastery, since the toilets to be found above were of much poorer quality. He had in fact told us back at the hotel that we should not have high expectations of the toilets we were to encounter outside of the hotel. We were forewarned, and the wise among us were carrying a supply of tissue for times of need. He was right about this toilet. The men’s side was five slots of waist-high cement separating the patrons from each other. No doors were to be spotted, although at least you did have to round a bend to get to them from the outside. The receptacle was a communal cement trench running perpendicular to the waist-high dividers. A photo, not too close, has been provided for more edification. I will not say much about this place, simply because you can learn so much more about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drepung_Monastery. Upon starting up the monastery, we first stopped at an incense burner. Tenzeng took a bag of incense and told us that it was traditional to offer a prayer upon entering such a monastery, but that it was against the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism to pray for one’s self. So, as he offered the incense, he wanted us to all offer a prayer according to those tenets. I am, if anything, extremely receptive to other cultures, and so I prayed unselfishly for the other members of my group and not for me. I prayed that they would have good weather when they reached Everest Base Camp. We slowly climbed the many stairs of Drepung Monastery. Now, for four of us, this was our first full day bearing the full brunt of Tibetan altitude. The key to the day was pacing. I was doing okay. I would climb a set of stairs and notice some shortness of breath, so I would just rest for a minute or two before going on. Other than that, I was feeling no ill effects. Doing quite well, actually. Doru, at age 77, paced himself well, and climbed with us for the most part. Yang was doing okay as well, but she was concerned about Linc. Linc wasn’t complaining, but his condition was such that it was a concern to both his mother and to Tenzeng. He, much more so than Doru or me, was holding us back. But not by much, as Tenzeng proved to be a very informative and very interesting guide, and so at every stop he could give a lengthy explanation of the significance of what we were seeing. Danny, who turned out to be a very pleasant travel companion, had already visited other sites with another guide, and he expressed to me our good fortune to have such a willing guide as was Tenzeng. There are, unfortunately, reasons why I cannot say much more than this about Tenzeng’s guiding, with such reasons being something I cannot discuss in this forum. We also found a new fun exciting activity at Drepung Monastery. I mentioned in the previous paragraph that Doru “paced himself well, and climbed with us for the most part.” Our new fun exciting activity, which was a game we got to play for the entire six days, was called, “Where is Doru?” Sometimes it was even called, “Where the hell is Doru?” That became another slowing point, as we were constantly waiting as Tenzeng hunted down Doru. At one point, here at Drepung, we even had to send out a search party for the man, only for him to join us by an entirely different route. Then we had to send out a search party (me) to find the original search party. Such a fun game. One interesting aspect of the tour near the top of the monastery was its depiction of sky burials. This was one of the few places where we were allowed to take photos while inside the building. Sky burials are the most common of the five types of handling dead bodies in Tibetan Buddhism. The five types are: Sky, Earth, Water, Fire, and Stupa. I won’t go into them all here, but a sky burial involves the body being taken to a mountain site, whereat it is dismembered and left for the birds. Until recent times, it was possible for tourists to observe this process. It was not considered disrespectful to do this, as Tibetan culture considers it an important part of one’s education of one’s place in the universe to observe the practice. I would have been horrified, and fascinated, to witness a sky burial. Tourist witnesses are no longer permitted, however, because of too many harshly critical reviews submitted to travel sites on the Internet. We got to a rest area near the top of the monastery to get some drinks. I asked for toilet facilities and discovered that Tenzeng had lied to us. This toilet, while still of the same design as the one below, was much cleaner and less odiferous. It was like a palace toilet in comparison. We had just one more building complex left for the monastery, in front of which we posed for a group photo. But we did not go in. Linc’s condition was getting increasingly worrisome, and since the problem with going up is that eventually there will be a going down part as well, we decided here to forego this final aspect and make our way back to our minivan. There was not too much opposition to the idea, and once we got to the minivan Tenzeng took us to an authentic Tibetan restaurant he knew well. Done was our first site on the tour. That’s it for today’s description of my trip to Tibet. It was a wonderful journey, and I thank you for coming along with me here for the tale. If you have gotten this far, please feel free to hit Like and Subscribe and Notifications, and all that self-promotional jive that I hate so much, but seems to be necessary. Any comments you may have will always be appreciated. Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] It is reported that ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' has an autobiographical aspect for Kurt Vonnegut. If so, I wonder who he is within the book. Is he Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist so all-pervasive to the story that it is tempting to view the narration as him telling the story in the third person? Or is he our narrator, the occasional 'I' within the book, whom Mr. Vonnegut styles as himself? Or is Kurt Vonnegut both the narrator and Billy Pilgrim? Are the narrator and Billy Pilgrim even different characters, with the one - take your pick which - an attempt to disassociate himself from the other? The narrator is certainly the more respectable character, a survivor of Dresden who is equally successful to his counterpart in later life, but without the PTSD of Billy Pilgrim and, we assume, without Billy Pilgrim's extreme incompetence and incomprehension during the war. Is the narrator Kurt Vonnegut, or is he who Kurt Vonnegut wishes he could be? Is Billy Pilgrim Kurt Vonnegut, or is he who Kurt Vonnegut fears he might be? The unnamed narrator gets the first-person voice, but it is Billy Pilgrim whom the story is about. Thus understood, not as a novel about the bombing of Dresden, but as a sketch of the PTSD that that bombing caused, ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' reads as an entirely different book. The possible survivor's guilt, the escapes into fantasy to cope, and the innocent triggers that accelerate Billy Pilgrim's delusion, are all too possible. Or so I believe. I have been lucky in my life. I have experienced nothing that might lead me towards any of these things. For that, I am extremely grateful, and so to understand PTSD and its manifestations I have to read about it from others. In ''Slaughterhouse-Five'', Mr. Vonnegut has used his experiences to share what these are like. He does so skillfully and well, making this, while not a great story about the horrors of the bombing of Dresden (he covers the why of this, actually, in the first chapter), a great book instead about the horrors of PTSD. I am glad to have read it. I just wish, right from his introduction to us, before even his capture by the Germans, that Billy Pilgrim wasn't such a wuss. ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' by Kurt Vonnegut
A very entertaining and well-reasoned post. I also appreciate being introduced to some concepts involved in the world of sports betting - I will do research to better understand. It reminded me of a similar situation when I returned to post-retirement part-time work. My new office was on the 2nd floor, after 15 years of walking up to the third floor every single day. I did not keep close count of my errors, but it was well into double digits. The worst times were when my intense concentration on “don’t go to the third floor” was broken by meeting someone in the stairwell and them rudely saying hello and maybe even starting a conversation, thereby leading to me switching back to auto-pilot during the exchange of niceties. Thus, I then either (a) followed them up to the third floor and then said “oops - bye” when I saw the wrong hallway, or (b) said goodbye as they went to the second floor whilst I continued up, only to say hello again when they saw me back on the second floor soon after. Good times.
Since the sounds of the two “pronunciations” are so different, and since I know absolutely zero about Korean language of any form (written, spoken, or otherwise), of course I must ask: did you ever discover why two such different ways of saying the name of the place? I wondered if it is like living in part of the now-renamed city of Miramichi, but calling it Newcastle because that was its name in the good old days.
I suspect that it is the correct pronunciation, and that I - the foreigner - am wrong. There are other rare occasions when the 'p' is pronounced as an 'm' and where the 'r' is pronounced as an 'n.' I tend to deal with these by pretending they don't exist, since they hurt my brain. The 'T' being pronounced as a 'C' I have no explanation for.
@@Acnoth 12:04 I ask this knowing I know nothing that qualifies me to ask it, but: if you zoom in on the blue sign at the time stamp above, it looks like your Tap-ri pronunciation is correct for… something.
@@johnwm3047 That is the correct transliteration of the Hangeul using the Revised Romanization method. Transliteration and pronunciation do not, however, always follow absolutely.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] This leg should have been simple as well. Just walk outside to the bus stop and take Bus 32 a total of 13 stops back south to my destination. Or Bus 6. Or 133. Or 134. Or Bus 135. I had a selection to choose from. Why was I going back south to Tap-ri Station if to get to Uiseong Station I had ridden north? Because only two trains each way stop at Tap-ri Station, and neither of the northbound trains suited my schedule, so I could only look longingly at that station as the train chugged through on its way to Uiseong. Oh well. It was another hot day here so I was grateful that this bus stop was not only shaded, but actually enclosed and air conditioned. This was a good thing, because rural buses arrive only intermittently. In fact, it looked as if my bathroom break at Uiseong Station meant that I had missed my bus. No matter. There was no hurry. I sat down in the cool of the bus stop and waited patiently. The electronic signage indicated that the next Bus 32 wouldn't arrive until 1:10 p.m., and the other alternatives not until after that. This meant a wait of about an hour. Okay. I could do it. 1:10 p.m. came and 1:10 p.m. went. Still no bus, and now not even any indication that one might possibly be on its way. I waited another 30 minutes until 1:40 before finally giving up and hunting down a taxi. I saw a few but these either didn't see me or didn't care to see me. I had decided that if another half hour went by and I was not on my way to Tap-ri, then I would abandon the event. Perhaps not to be attempted again later. Perhaps even, given how difficult it was proving to get to each location, maybe it was time to scrap Hayang Train Adventures and the Tour de Gyeongsangbuk completely. I had left the bus stop at 1:40. At 2:10 I was going to head over to Uiseong Station and figure out how to get back to Hayang. Then, despair in my heart, I waved to a taxi across the intersection turning left. Miraculously, his right blinker immediately turned on and, when the light changed, he pulled over and picked me up. It's about a ₩20,000 fare from Uiseong to Tap-ri, so I expressed my destination before I got in. After all, he might not want to travel so far. There was some hesitation, caused by communication issues, but ultimately he agreed to take me to Tap-ri Station, and I learned that Tap-ri is locally mispronounced as Cam-ni. For those who doubt that this is a mispronunciation, and who can read Hangeul, I ask how you would pronounce 탑리. My driver was a good one, driving fast but safely. The fare came to just shy of ₩20,000, with no tip. I actually, despite my known issues with tipping culture, wanted to give this guy a tip, as I thought he deserved it by his performance, but he gave me no opportunity to do so. I was out of the cab and looking at Tap-ri Station. Well, I was here. Two hours later than expected, but I was here. What was I going to do about it? The first thing was to take a photo. The second was to walk 20 minutes to a coffee shop I had found on Naver Maps. I had actually seen one closer, but it had no nearby alternatives should it be closed or similarly unavailable to me. Plus, Ari Cafe, my chosen destination, had a restaurant nearby where I would sup after my coffee was complete. As it turned out, despite the discomfort of the heat, the walk to Ari was actually quite pleasant, nodding as I did in friendly fashion to the oldsters who looked at me in some amaze. The head barista at Ari turned out to have good English, so she asked if I lived nearby. When I answered that I was living in Hayang, she exclaimed that her assistant is a student in Hayang, at Catholic University of Daegu. I, of course, answered that I am a professor at that university, after which the assistant barista hid from me for the rest of my stay. Which was not overlong. I drank my coffee and read my book a bit, by which time it was already 4:00 p.m. Remember, because of those rural bus issues, I had gotten to Tap-ri a full two hours later than expected. It was time to think about dinner and getting home. How exactly I would do that latter, given the bus situation, I did not know. The restaurant chosen was a galbi joint. It was a huge place, and when I entered I was the only customer. I was worried that they might still be closed for their afternoon break. If they were, and I am by no means convinced they were not, they seated me anyway, making me take off my sandals first. Given my foot issues, this was likely a mistake, but what they don't know …. I placed my meat order, along with a beer, and was very gratified with the sides as they came out. Overall, the meat and the meal were good, so I was satisfied with all but the service. For this last, the overall vibe of the place was as if they resented my being there. I left no tip, which is as is customary in South Korea, but for that service I would have left no tip behind even if that were the expectation. Here it gets uninteresting. I usually try to see some sights when I am on these expeditions of mine, but the two-hours-late arrival and the oppressivity of the heat made me not in the mood. Also, from what I had noticed thus far, aside from the castle-like Tap-ri Station itself, there were no sights to be seen. Naver Maps, my old standby, bade me walk back to the station and from there take a train to Uiseong, where I would transfer to an intercity bus (with dependable schedule) back to Daegu, followed by two local buses to Hayang. Simple? Maybe not, but at least there were no Uiseong-gun local buses in the equation. Naver Maps, however, by the time I got to the station, had changed its tune. Now it wanted me to wait an hour for a train south to Yeongcheon Station, from whence I would get Bus 555 direct to Hayang. This was ideal! I cheerfully - gratefully! - waited my hour in the air-conditioned Waiting Room, dozed intermittently on the train to Yeongcheon, and was soon enough on the 555 to home. The Tap-ri Station Hayang Train Adventures event was at a close. Was it a success? No. Too many obstacles for too little reward. No hidden gems were discovered. So it was a failure? Neither that, either. Exploration is about finding new places and scoping them out. Which I did. It may not have been exciting, or even particularly interesting, but do it I did. Check out Tap-ri Station and its immediate neighbourhood I did. So I will revise my initial answer. Was it a success? Definitely! I close with the photos I took on the Tap-ri Station Hayang Train Adventures event. Tap-ri Station Uiseong Station Uiseong Station Bus Stop Tap-ri Station II Church in Tap-ri Cafe Ari Cafe Ari II Egg Tart, Hot Americano, and Lemonade Dwaejichon Sutbul Galbi Modeum Galbi and Sides Tap-ri Station III CU Yeongcheon Station Branch Yeongcheon Nonghyup Bus Stop
Ha! That was written 22 years ago. I wouldn't be quite so rude were I writing it today. I decided to leave it in, though. For fidelity to the original.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Then it was back on the bus and onward to Panmunjeom itself, complete with a US soldier now acting as our tour guide. There was also another no-photos policy in effect as we passed through the tank traps and mine fields to Checkpoint Charlie and were actually in the JSA. Personally, I think given the ease of access to this route and with modern surveillance and satellite capabilities, that a no-photos policy is rather silly, but for some reason I didn't think that this was the best time to point out that observation. The big thing about the visit into Panmunjeom is the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) Building. It's a nothing building, actually just a small blue shack lacking any significant amenities. But it is the only place where official talks between North and South Korea take place in person, although the two buildings on either side are used for ancillary discussions. The border runs right down the middle of these buildings and the conference table at centre. Step around that table and you're in North Korea. So I did. There were two South Korean guards/soldiers in the room when we entered, both standing at ROK Ready in front of the exit to North Korea (ROK = Republic of Korea, but is pronounced as 'rock'). I asked our guide about this posture, and was informed that it is actually a taekwondo position that these guys hold for 40-minute shifts, and that the sunglasses are to present a more intimidating mien to the North Koreans. Conceivably, these guys loosen out of these positions as soon as we tourists leave the building (although I doubt it) but the guards staring down the corridors between the buildings would not have that luxury. They stand at ROK Ready immediately behind the buildings, with only one-half of their body exposed to the North Korean side. We were told that this was to present less of a target to the North Koreans, and to make it a simple half-step to the side and to safety should an incident occur. Anyway, one of these guards was called to stand at ROK Ready by the United Nations flag so that we could take photos with him. I'm not sure if we were allowed to take photos with the other guy, but I did anyway and nobody tried to stop me, so I assume it was okay. We were told to not try to talk to them or otherwise interfere with them in any way, and we were under strict instructions not to walk behind them, particularly the one with his back to the door into North Korea. Looming down over the MAC Building on the North Korean side is Panmun-gak. There was a North Korean guard/soldier periodically standing on the steps of this building, but unfortunately my camera doesn't have zoom (or at least I haven't figured out yet how to use it) so I couldn't get a good photo of him. He was the only North Korean guard/soldier we saw. Panmun-gak is little more than a facade, having an impressive front but being little more than eight feet in depth. When the South Koreans constructed Freedom House a number of years after Panmun-gak was erected, Freedom House became the tallest building in Panmunjeom. The North Korean response was to add an extra floor to Panmun-gak, thereby making it once again the tallest building in the JSA. This is pretty much the standard game of one-upmanship in the area, just like the flag in Kijong-dong is taller and larger than the flag in Taesong-dong. At the time of the armistice in 1953 there was actually one village in what was to become the DMZ that actually survived the war. This was Taesong-dong, and it was located on the South Korean side. It was allowed to stay in existence, but quid pro quo insisted that the North Koreans be permitted their village in the DMZ as well. As a result, Kijong-dong was constructed directly opposite Taesong-dong. Kijong-dong is commonly referred to by the South as Propaganda Village, probably because of the incessant blaring of messages like "Kim Jong Il is a god-like leader of his people," and also because no one actually lives in the village. A number of people are bussed in every day but we were told that their purpose is to work maintenance on the buildings and to appear in our photos. Unfortunately, it was overcast and rainy last weekend, so my photos of Kijong-dong are pretty uninspiring. Nevertheless, I have attached one for your uninspiration. "Soldier of Fortune" magazine has offered a US$1,000,000 reward to any person who captures a square foot of the large flag you don't see in this photo, even though it is among the five largest flags in the world. (Like I said; it was overcast.) We weren't allowed to visit Taesong-dong out of respect for the villagers' privacy. This is a real-life working village, but the villagers are required to be in the village a minimum of 240 nights per year, and to be indoors at 11:00 p.m. each night. There is a nightly door check at each home to ensure that this is followed. You have to be born here to live here or to have married a man who was born here. Women born in Taesong-dong who marry outside of the village are required to leave the village. Guests are allowed, but only under certain regulations of which I am not aware. The men of the village have complained that these restrictions do not allow them enough time to get to Seoul or elsewhere to do any meaningful courting to persuade a woman to come live under these restrictions. As a result, many young men move from Taesong-dong (only movement into the village is restricted) and the population is diminishing, and we were told that the gene pool is becoming rather shallow (sort of like Zealand). The incentive for living there is that it is completely tax-free, and that the average acreage farmed is more than triple than is the norm for the rest of South Korea. The average South Korean farm is just five acres large, but the average Taesong-dong farm is 17 acres. Now for my disclaimer. Information is very carefully disseminated on this tour, and while I believe the bulk of what I was told, I would be being naive if I did not believe that the South Koreans and Americans do not have their own propaganda machines working for them as well. Therefore, while I pretty much accept most of what I was told and have written in this e-mail, all of it must be understood as having been presented from the South Korean and American propaganda perspective. Have fun comrades, Mark Scud - A genuine Scud missile from the War Memorial. I couldn't fit this attachment into my last e-mail. ROK Ready at the Border II - The building on the right is the MAC Building. The concrete strip connecting the two buildings is the border. MAC Building - The United Nations flag is supposedly on the border, but it looks to me to be a bit on the North Korean side of the table. A possible South Korean land grab? ROK Ready in North Korea - He's on the North Korean side of the table and the door behind him is the escape route from capitalism. Me at ROK Ready in North Korea II - This is me in North Korea. I'm actually about 1-1/2 feet in front of the guy and not at his side like the other guard had been when we entered. I wanted no possible confusion that I might be trying to walk behind him. Panmun-gak II - The grey buildings are North Korean and the blue buildings are United Nations. There's a North Korean guard/soldier at the top of the steps of Panmun-gak in this photo. Kudos to you if you can see him. North Korea Guard Tower - The white stakes at the foot of the hill are placed along the border. Kijong-dong - Somewhere over the tree line is the village of Kijong-dong and one of the largest flags in the world, but I can't see them in this photo either. We were able to just barely see them through the mist while we were there, but it appears that my camera wasn't equal to this task. That’s it for my twelfth week in South Korea. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please hit the Like button. Also, please remember to Subscribe and hit Notifications. Any comments you may have will always be appreciated. Be well. Be healthy. And be happy.
This is not to ”find fault” nor to suggest that I actually am sure of what I’m talking about, but rather to share what I think I may have learned: those plants shown in the pictures of a “musk melon” field appear to perhaps be lotus plants. It was the water that got me curious enough to explore further, since I thought probably melons don’t do well in a flooded field.
You are probably correct, dear anonymous reader, and they do grow lotus here as food, which adds strength to your argument. But I thought part of the point of musk melons was that they grow in swampy areas. But, I fear I must agree, it is a lotus field I was looking at. Partially explains why I got 8/35 on my Grade 12 Botany test.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] The 16 delegates to that initial 1857 convention represented the following clubs, all situated in either Brooklyn or New York (they were separate cities back then), or very closely nearby. These clubs were as follows: Knickerbockers, Gotham, Eagle, Empire, Putnam, Baltic, Excelsior, Atlantic, Harmony, Harlem, Union, Eckford, Bedford, Nassau, Continental, and Olympic. As the season started, only 14 teams ultimately ended up registering for the season, and of these one team, the Newark Adriatics,* did not actually play an official league (association) game. The standard of play at the time was possibly a challenge system, rather than an actual league structure, but if so the challenges of the day seem to have escaped modern notice. Instead, we have to rely on the traditional (to us) won-loss system. Using this as our determiner, the clear winner of the league (association) were the Brooklyn Atlantics, with a 7-1-1 record made even more impressive by a +119 run differential. Only five other teams managed a positive run differential that year, with the next highest being a mere +36. Unfortunately, game data does not exist in sufficient amounts to give you day-to-days scores and opponents. The only other team that I can ascertain played a tie that season were the Brooklyn Continentals, but there were six teams with a .500 won/loss percentage that would not have been affected by a tie. For these, I am going to assume no ties, despite not having any real evidence to do so. In second place were the New York Empires and the New York Eagles (see note below), with equal 5-5 records. Behind them, at 4-2, were the powerful New York Gothams. By today’s standards, that .600 winning percentage would put the Gothams ahead of the Empires and Eagles at .500, but until 1883 the standards of the time were that number of wins counted more than winning percentage. It actually made sense at a time when a team might play just two or three games over a summer. The Gothams were a powerful squad, ranked by some as the champion of 1856 on the basis of their 4-1-1 record overall and 1-1-1 record - with better run differential - against the second-best New York Eagles. That same source considers them champions of 1857 as well. Why? Because they split their two games against the Brooklyn Atlantics. These two games I do have scores for. The first game, played on the Atlantics’ home Capitoline Grounds, saw the Gothams crushed 11-41. Hosting the second game on New Jersey’s fabled Elysian Fields, the Gothams this time triumphed 24-19, giving them a run differential against the Atlantics of -25. And, according to this source, the national championship. If this does not make sense to you, I don’t blame you, but it is true according to the rules of challenge play, where only the winner of the final game matters, no matter how horrid the results prior may have been. So we have a controversy. Were the New York Gothams or the Brooklyn Atlantics national champions? I suspect that the rules of the day would have given that fictional national championship to the Gothams, but I am willing to retroactively hand the title to the Atlantics based on their far superior league play. Behind the Gothams came the 3-2 Morrisania Unions and after them were the New York Knickerbockers (baseball’s first team) and New York Putnams, both at 2-2. Behind them, also with two wins, were the Brooklyn Eckfords at 2-5. The Eckfords were clearly also-rans, but at least they played seven games. Behind them come the bottom feeders. The New York Baltics and New York Harlems both finished at 1-1, although the Baltics did somehow manage a +36 run differential, as seen above, second best in the association. The Brooklyn Excelsiors and Brooklyn Continentals also each managed just one apiece, although the Excelsiors lost two and the Continentals lost three and tied one. If ties counted, that would have given the Continentals 1.5 wins and leapfrogs them ahead of the other one-win clubs, but in baseball, then as now, ties do not count in the standings. Bringing up the rear were the 0-3 Brooklyn Nassaus, with an association-worst -58 run differential. The Newark Adriatics, the only out-of-New York State club registered to play in 1857, as mentioned earlier, did not compete in any official contests. And that was 1857. A very limited number of games constituted a season back then. After all, these men all had jobs, often a six-day work week, meaning playing opportunities when all could come together were few. Nevertheless, even with the early constraints on competition, a very loose idea of a champion existed. So loose was this idea in 1857 that we don’t really know who was that champion. Some sources say it was the New York Gothams and others attest that it was the Brooklyn Atlantics. I tend to agree with the case for the Atlantics, even though I am probably wrong. Such was the confusion of baseball and the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. *Naming conventions at the time were very different, and much more relaxed and informal, than they are today. The team I have called the Newark Adriatics may well have been known at the time as the Newark Adriatics, or as the Adriatics of Newark. They also may have been known simply as the Adriatics or as the Newarks. In most cases, for simplicity’s sake, I will use modern naming conventions. That is all for the 1857 season of the National Association of Base Ball Players. I hope you have enjoyed this very early look at the standings, such as they were, of the play of the day. Unfortunately, individual statistics for the players are not readily available, as they too would be of interest. Please hit Like and Subscribe if you have found this video to be to your liking. There is also the Notifications button so you can be informed of when I discuss future past seasons. Any comments you may have will be gratefully accepted. And, as always … Be well, Be healthy. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] We’ll next move east from British Columbia to our other new province. Manitoba had an even smaller representation in Parliament than British Columbia, with just four seats. Once again, the majority of these were captured by John A. Macdonald and the Conservative Party, and again it was with the help of the Liberal-Conservative Party, along with one member sitting as an Independent Conservative. This gave the Prime Minister three of Manitoba’s four seats, and the Liberal Party just one. Once again, vote totals seem questionable. The Liberals are said to have won 35.6% of the vote and the Conservatives 29.7%. Meanwhile, the Independent Conservative candidate managed a sizable 19.8% of the provincial vote from his one riding, and as in British Columbia, the Liberal-Conservative Party seemingly managed to win a seat without garnering a single vote. One assumes their vote totals are included with those of the Conservative Party, but then it becomes a mystery as to why the Conservative total is so low. It seems best to just ignore the matter altogether for now. New Brunswick had sizably voted Liberal back in 1867, a bit of a critique against Confederation. Despite that, Confederation was a fact and they had to live with it. The Prime Minister once again found that many voters in this province were against him, though. But not by as much. In 1867, the Conservative / Liberal-Conservative coalition captured just three of New Brunswick’s 15 seats. This time around, they pushed it all the way up to five (two Conservative and three Liberal-Conservative) out of 16. There was also one Independent whose caucusing was his own. This left the Liberals with ten seats, nine outright and one MP listed as an Independent Liberal. Once again, the Province of New Brunswick seemed to have rejected John A. Macdonald and the idea of a Dominion of Canada. Our vote totals make more sense here than we have seen previously for this election, with the Liberals gaining 46.8% of the popular vote, followed by Unknown at 26.9%. The Conservative / Liberal-Conservative coalition managed 26.2% of the vote, 8.4% and 17.8% respectively, and the two Independent victors do not have any vote totals recorded. Obviously, they did receive some votes in order to be elected, unless they each managed to win by acclamation, but at least these numbers are more realistic overall than we found out west. There is only one more small province left to discuss. Nova Scotia had gone hard-core anti-Confederation five years earlier, but those sentiments had been soothed by John A. Macdonald’s political acumen. Even Joseph Howe had been won over and was part of the government. So complete was the turnaround that the Conservative / Liberal-Conservative coalition, held to just one Nova Scotia seat in 1867, now took a majority. Yes, the Liberal Party was the leading individual party with eight of the province’s 21 seats, but the Conservative Party had seven seats, and the Liberal-Conservative Party had won six, giving the Prime Minister a total of 13. With regard to the popular vote, the Liberals led with 28.1% of the vote, but it mattered little against the Conservative’s 23.5% and the Liberal-Conservative’s 19.8% (43.3% combined). The Conservative coalition was just too much for the Liberal Party to beat. We’ve looked at five provinces, and right now the Conservatives / Liberal-Conservatives are holding 61of 112 seats, with two Independents identifying as Conservatives. Across the aisle, the Liberals have 46 seats, with one Independent identifying as Liberal. So it’s 61 to 46, with two Independents leaning Conservative and one leaning Liberal, and two more undeclared Independents. There remain 88 seats left to discuss, however, all in Ontario. Both parties still have the chance to form a majority, but they have their work cut out for them. John A. Macdonald had a lead of 15 over Edward Blake and the Liberal Party as we look at Ontario, a province that his coalition won by 16 seats five years previous. This time it was different. This time it was the Liberal Party that held sway in the province, capturing 48 of those final 88 seats, along with one seat going to another Independent Liberal. That brings the Liberal total across the nation to just 94, plus two Independents who are known to be sympathetic. Not enough. The Conservative Party captured 26 seats in Ontario and could add a further 12 seats from the Liberal-Conservative Party. In addition, there was a single seat won by the semi-fictional Conservative Labour Party, which officially recognised John A. Macdonald as party chief. This all gave John A. Macdonald 39 seats in Ontario for a national total of 100. Not enough. 101 seats were needed to form a majority. But there were six Independents. Two, just mentioned, were likely to caucus with the Liberals. Another two were uncertain as to their sympathies. A final two were known to be likely to caucus with the Conservative / Liberal-Conservative coalition. That was 102 seats, just enough to give Macdonald a slim minority government. The Conservative Party had won again, but the Liberals were nipping at their heels. The popular vote totals for Ontario are interesting, though. Despite winning the province, the Liberal Party managed just 35.3% of Ontario’s votes. The Conservatives were behind them with 25.9%, but when added to the Liberal-Conservatives’ 11.9%, the coalition surpassed the Liberals with 37.8% of all Ontario votes. Independent Liberals had 1.7% and Conservative Labour 0.9%, so perhaps that will bring Ontario’s final vote totals to Conservatives-38.7%, Liberals-37.0%. That gives us the entirety of the Dominion of Canada’s 2nd Parliament. Once again, John A. Macdonald was the Prime Minister, but this time only with a minority government propped up by conservative Independents. Overall, the Conservatives had 62 seats and the Liberal-Conservatives had 39, in addition to a single Conservative Labour, for a total of 100. Across the aisle was the Liberal Party with 94 seats. That left six Independents, two each of Independent Conservative and Independent Liberal, and two straight-up Independent, bringing our total to 200 seats in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Macdonald would have to govern carefully. National vote totals confirm these results. Once again, the Liberals received the most votes, with 34.72% of the national total. This, however, remained behind the Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives, and Conservative Labour, with 39.11% (25.76% + 12.90% + 0.45% = 39.11%). Filling out the chart, Independent Conservatives got 0.70%, Independent Liberals had 1.64%, and Independents were also at 1.64%. The Liberals had made great strides since five years ago in 1867, but they would remain Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition until at least the next election. Quebec now has a 2-0 record at picking the government, and are joined in this perfection - albeit at 1-0 - by British Columbia and Manitoba. Ontario, surprisingly, given their voting power, has fallen to 1-1, where they are joined by Nova Scotia, rising from the opposite direction. Bringing up the rear is my home province of New Brunswick at 0-2, the only province at this point to have not collectively backed the winner. I hope you have enjoyed this province-by-province recount of the election of Canada’s second Parliament. My source throughout has been Wikipedia, which as you may know can be problematical at times. Nevertheless, I feel certain that the overall gist is accurate even if some numbers may be slightly off. I have tried to keep it as non-partisan as I possibly can, and I hope any comments - which will all be accepted with great gratitude and appreciation - will attempt to do the same. As always, please hit Like and Subscribe if you did enjoy today’s offering. You can even hit Notifications if you’d like to - you know - be notified about the election of future past Canadian Parliaments. Lastly, and always … Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
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[CONTINURED FROM DESCRIPTION] Group A was back with two more games on Day Two. France first upset Great Britain 3-2 with a three-goal second, and Belgium shocked the world by actually winning a game, likewise defeating Hungary with a three-goal second period. Group B saw Poland introduce itself to the international hockey world with an even more surprising 2-2 draw with Sweden. This new era of parity is getting out of hand! Meanwhile, Group C, after an unnecessary two games on Day One, was lounging on the slopes waiting for an excuse to get back on the ice for its deciding game. Only two games on Day Three, with one each in Groups A and B. France started things off needing a single point against Belgium to advance to the Final Round. Instead, they managed just a single goal. Belgium surged to a 2-0 first period lead, maintained it through a scoreless middle frame and then held on for a 3-1 final. They were now tied with France for the lead. Hungary was done, and had been since the day before, but Great Britain still had a legitimate shot because of their earlier convincing win over Belgium. A brief moment for the pictured Jacques Lacarriere, who was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, where he was later joined by his son, Philippe Lacarriere. Indeed, so respected was the elder Lacarriere, that the winner of the Match des Champions, a former prestigious hockey tournament held from 2007 to 2017, received the Trophee Jacques-Lacarriere for their victory. Over in Group B, it was Czechoslovakia against Poland. Poland still had a puncher’s chance if they could beat the Czechoslovakians by three or more. But after two even periods, it was Czechoslovakia who got the final goal to win 3-2, sending both teams home. The pictured Tadeusz Adamowski of Poland was Swiss born of prominent Polish musicians who had already emigrated to the United States. After graduating from Harvard, he was sent to Poland on behalf of General Motors and there became a member of the Polish national team. He then later survived World War Two as a German prisoner-of-war before finally at war’s end reaching American lines and eventually returning to the US. Day Four brought with it the final game of Group A. Actually, everyone rested for Valentine’s Day, and Group C was still seemingly on an extended vacation, but today was the day for Great Britain to try to make it to the Final Round. They had just Hungary to beat to do so, and managed to do so unconvincingly, riding a lone first period goal to a 1-0 final. So long Belgium. So long France. The tiebreaker went to Great Britain on goal difference, so to the Final Round they go. Which brings us to February 16th and the long-delayed return of Group C. Remember, they had played two games back on Day One, which was the 11th, but hadn’t been heard from since. I have no real answer as to why the delay, but it is possible, given the multi-sports duties of many Winter Olympics athletes of the day, that this final game was delayed so that some players could compete in their individual sports. No other reasonable explanation springs to mind. And it doesn’t matter, because here we are. Switzerland versus Germany. Win or go home. And, for Switzerland, a tie will put them through on goals scored. Unless it’s a scoreless tie, in which case it will literally come down to a coin toss between them and Austria. But that option is quickly removed, as Switzerland scored in the first to destroy Austria’s chances. Germany now needed two goals to surpass the Swiss for first, but found themselves shut out and fallen to the tune of 1-0. Switzerland is through! Now came February 17th and the beast had entered the room. But, maybe not. This had been a fairly close tournament so far. The closest thing there had been to a blowout was just 7-3, which is hardly a rout. Maybe parity had truly become a thing. Ha ha! Just kidding. Canada, represented by the Toronto Varsity Blues, promptly blew the doors off of Sweden 11-0. Switzerland, meanwhile, pulled off an upset against Great Britain, fighting to a scoreless tie after one before then putting them away with a 4-0 final. The pictured Bibi Torriani later gave the Athlete’s Oath when the Winter Olympics returned to St. Moritz in 1948. Also, since 2015, the IIHF has awarded the Torriani Award to the player with the best career from a non-elite hockey nation. For Great Britain, the pictured Victor Tait, born in Winnipeg, Canada, fought in both World Wars One and Two, earning military honours from the United Kingdom, Egypt, and the United States. Of lesser consequence, but of more relevance to this our tale, he later went on to serve as the President of the British Ice Hockey Association from 1958 to 1971. As for this tournament, all three of the non-Canadian teams barely squeaked into the Final Round, but Canada had already shown that their bye was not undeserved. February 18th: Two more games, and this time it was Great Britain who got offered up to the slaughter, falling to Canada 14-0. In the other game, Sweden bounced back from their previous loss and pasted Switzerland 4-0 with three goals in the third to salt it away. Canada was now assured of a medal and Great Britain could not win the Gold. But everything else was still available. Although, admittedly, with the Swiss still to play Canada, things were not looking great for them. February 19th: The last day of the tournament, and still plenty to play for. The British started things off needing a win over Sweden to stay alive. Even then, they needed to win by at least four to have a chance in the tiebreakers. Win by four they didn’t, falling 3-1 to the Swedes. Oh well. Sweden now needed help from Switzerland to enter a three-team tiebreaker for the Gold. No such help was forthcoming, as Canada, as always, was just too powerful. The Swiss actually kept it close for awhile, trailing just 2-0 after the first, but after that the floodgates opened all the way to a 13-0 final. Canada had its third straight Gold, Sweden had the Silver, which was their first medal, and Switzerland had captured the Bronze, also their first trip to the podium. And that was it. Canada played just three games and racked up 38 goals while allowing none. Once again, complete dominance. No other team even managed a positive goal difference. And it would have been worse without the bye. Dave Trottier led the way with 12 goals and 15 points. This Ontarian moved from the Olympics to an 11-season career in the NHL, mostly with the Montreal Maroons, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1935. During this career, he scored 121 goals and 234 points in his 446 games before retiring after the 1938-39 season. So, the next Winter Olympics will be in Lake Placid in 1932. 1932! That’s four years away. How depressing. I don’t want to wait that long, so let’s do this again two years from now in 1930. Now that’s an idea. See you there. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please hit the Like button. Also, please remember to Subscribe and hit Notifications. Lastly, any comments you have will be appreciated. Be well. Be healthy. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] That is the tale of the 1890 season of hockey as played by the AHAC. My source throughout has been the season’s page on Wikipedia. Take a look there if you’d like to learn a bit more. I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of hockey history. If you have, please hit Like and Subscribe. I will also be describing more of these future past seasons, so hit Notifications if you are interested in what is to come. Lastly, of course, any comments you may have will be greatly appreciated. Be well. Be safe. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Made it I had, but not quite all the way to the Sunrise Hand. Not yet. I first wanted to sit down with a coffee and a book at a cafe overlooking the East Sea. I chose the fortuitously named East Sea Coffee, only to discover that it was closed. This pissed me off. True, it was a bit of an ugly day, but I hate businesses that don't commit to their scheduled hours just because traffic is slow. I had seen that East Sea Coffee closes on Mondays, but this was a Tuesday. Why the REDACTED was it closed? And what if everything else around Sunrise Square is closed? I'd be screwed. I would have wasted a lot of travel time. Essentially, the entire day. For now, I crossed the street to look at the sea, turned around and saw Red Bean Coffee, next door to East Sea Coffee across an alley, and very much open. I stayed there for an hour plus, and as far as I know I was the only customer (I was on the third floor so I can't be sure) the entire time. But it was open. I tip my hat. Coffee finished, I enjoyed a pleasant walk along the coast towards the Sunrise Hand. I turned a corner, and it was there in the distance. As I approached closer, I saw that a small crowd had also risked the probability of rain and were at a square for photo opportunities. I didn't try it myself, but one of the more popular activities was trying to catch a photo of a seagull grabbing a French fry from an outstretched hand. I didn't see this managed successfully, but I applaud the effort. It's not for me, though. I did ask a couple of seagull photographers to take a photo of me and the Sunrise Hand. They agreed enthusiastically, taking a total of ten photos. They encouraged me to a few different poses, at least. That was nice. A small bit of a disappointment was that it was low tide. Promotional photos I have seen indicate that the Hand looks more dramatic at high tide. Oh well. I did enjoy the seagulls perched on each finger, though. There was one thing left to do. Dinner. There was an interesting Seashell Museum I would have liked to have seen, but time was a factor. I wanted to be sure to be back in Hayang that night. Plus, it had started to rain sufficiently enough for me to open my umbrella. No wrath-of-Theit downpour or anything, but enough to get you wet. I wanted some raw sliced fish, what is called sashimi, but a barrier arose. That barrier is my near complete illiteracy in Korean. I couldn't determine, even with Naver's help, which restaurant to choose. And, with the rain, I wanted to choose quickly. Ultimately, I ended up at a place specialising in snow crab. Not a bad consolation prize. I got the red snow crab ramyeon and was delighted when it came out. The mechanics of getting to the crab meat was defeating me, though. Luckily, my problems were spotted and a lovely young waitress came over and did the job for me. Great service. They also offered me a fork, which I embarrassedly accepted but did not use, and a bowl of free rice, which I did decline. Finally, after a thoroughly enjoyable, if challenging, repast, I went to pay. I noticed that they had forgotten to include my can of Sprite in the bill, but when I pointed this out was told that it was 'service.' 'Service' is Konglish for on-the-house. I was very pleased, both with the meal and the overall service. Dinner complete, it was time to go home. Naver directed me to a bus stop to catch the 9000. It was still to be 37 stops, despite me getting on two stops after where I had disembarked. It also had me getting off earlier, even though it was still Bus 306 to which I would be transferring. The driver was a curt one, but at one point I thought we had bonded. I was in the front seat passenger side, so I had a perfect view. As we were going through the town at roughly midpoint, after still another harrowing trip along the coastline roads, a car in front of us started to parallel park, bringing us to a halt. No problem at all with this, as it's part of the perils of driving through a one-road town on the one road, but the parking driver, once he got in his spot, changed his mind and decided he didn't like it and proceeded to pull out in front of the bus. I had bought into the breakneck speed of the driver by then, and I couldn't help myself. I exploded, "Oh, you dumb, stupid …" The driver, who throughout the ride had been using grunts and oaths to express his opinion of car drivers everywhere, looked over at me and agreed, in English, "Stupid." Our bonding didn't last long, though. Once we reached the airport, I started putting my things together for the transfer. Too late. I looked up and the bus was already flying past the stop before mine. I hurriedly pressed for the bus to stop at the next stop, as at his speed we would be upon it quickly. Instead, he misunderstood, and started cursing. He thought that I had been frantically trying to get off at the stop we had just passed, so he pulled over at the next stop and I got off. But the next stop was not my next stop. The 9000 is an express that skips several in between stops, meaning I now had to walk the rest of the way to Namgu Public Health Center bus stop, my designated transfer point. This Health Center bus stop, by the way, is enclosed and advertises itself as dust free. My 306 Bus was only a minute away, so I was quickly aboard and heading to the Pohang Intercity Bus Terminal. Now it was just a matter of getting a ticket to Hayang. That used to be an easy task. Now, though, a lot of bus terminals have done away with ticket agents and solely use kiosks. Pohang Terminal had plenty of kiosks, but still did have one woman working a ticket booth. I approached her and asked for the next bus to Jilryang. I was surprised to discover that it wouldn't be leaving until 7:00 p.m., two hours away. Somehow I had missed the bus Naver had forecast for me. I recalibrated, hoping for something sooner, but nothing came up that was significantly better. I had a two-hour wait ahead of me. Why was I going to Jilryang instead of Hayang? Because the next bus to Hayang was four hours away at 9:00. I waited my requisite two hours, and rode the hour to Jilryang, where I had to walk to a nearby bus stop to catch a city bus to Hayang. Naver was saying to catch the Jillyang1 bus and later transfer to the 840, thereby avoiding the long detour in and out of Daegu University. The Approaching Buses screen, however, did not show the Jillyang1 at all and had the 840 just three minutes away. Not wanting to risk a long wait for the undependable Jillyang1, I decided to tough out the detour to Daegu University and take the simple way home. It took another 45 minutes, but eventually I was in front of the CU, regaling a buddy of my adventure. Another successful, even though tiring, Tour de Gyeongsangbuk event was at a close. I close with the several photos I took, or had taken for me, of the Pohang Tour de Gyeongsangbuk. Intercity Bus Terminal Bus Stop North in Pohang Hyundai Steel Bus Stop Daeno 1 Ri Bus Stop East Sea from the Bus Stop View South along the Coast View North along the Coast East Sea Coffee (Closed) Red Bean Coffee Seagull on the East Sea Coast View from the Red Bean Coffee Third Floor Red Bean Coffee Hot Americano Fishing the East Sea A Stream Meets the East Sea Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand in the Distance Square at Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand II Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me II Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me III Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me IV Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me V Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me VI Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me VII Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me VIII Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me IX Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand and Me X People in Square at Pohang's Giant Sunrise Hand Unlit New Millennium Flame New Millennium Memorial Hall E-mart 24 Pohang Homigot Branch Badarang Snow Crab Restaurant Sides before Dinner Red Snow Crab Ramyeon The Damage Done Haemajigwangjang(Myeonminhoegwan) Bus Stop Namgu Public Health Center Bus Stop Intercity Bus Terminal Bus Stop South in Pohang Pohang Bus Terminal Gimbap Nara Jinryang Bus Terminal Jillyang Post Office Geonneo Bus Stop
I will show my ignorance of such things by asking two questions: 1. Does showing a government ID to the pharmacist necessarily mean that health information will be shared with the government, or be made any easier for them to access should they choose to do so? 2. I presume that South Korea has a private medical system, but how do your concerns translate to a country with a (mostly) public health system like Canada, where a government-issued health card must be presented for many health services? Granted, this does not usually apply in the same way (if at all) for pharmacies as it does for doctors and hospitals. But I am still curious to know your thoughts…
1) I truly do not know. But I am confident that I am not alone in my concerns. 2) In a public system like Canada, I do realise that my health information is passed along so that Blue Cross and whatever are accurately apprised. In the Canada case, though, I remain confident that the health services personnel do not report back to government bureaucracy, and from there potentially to possible employers. It's a matter of trust. I know enough of the Canadian system to trust it. I know too little of the South Korean system to trust it completely.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] A brief word about the conductor for my car. You can actually see her in the photo I took of the train itself. She is standing next to the train as the first person above the sign. Even zoomed in, she is difficult to see. She was absolutely terrified of me at first. When I approached, she immediately went into panic mode. I showed her my ticket and my passport and my Tibet Travel Permit, with her reaction being to scurry away to get someone else. When that person verified that I was well documented, I was allowed to board, with her apologising and saying repeatedly that her English was not good. No kidding. But I am a tolerant man. For the first half of the journey she would jump every time our paths crossed, which was somewhat often. Eventually, she calmed down, but only after I got an English-capable speaker (there were two besides me in my car) to say, “Don’t be scared. I’m a good guy.” I found out later that she is just 16 years old. That is way too young for such responsibility. It was theorised by one of the English capable that she was likely nepotised to her job. I liked her. As mentioned, I slept through three sites, waking up at our two stops but otherwise getting through the night without much incident. Those of you who know me know that this is not a simple matter. I have insomnia at the best of times, and I had been worried - as I had also been the train before - that the thin mattress and narrow bed and claustrophobic confines might prove insurmountable to me. I did fine. I got up to use the facilities a couple of times, which proved to be a minor problem. As I mentioned before, the sit-down toilet was in the soft sleeper area. On this train, unlike the train before, the door between the hard and soft sleepers was locked overnight. No matter. A bit of judicious pounding got me through, and then a few minutes later a bit more judicious pounding got me back. Problem solved. I woke up. It was still dark, but you could see that early dawn was upon us. I slid open the bottom of the curtain and peered out my window. Mountains! We were in mountains. I hastily grabbed my phone/camera and took some photos. It took me a while to figure out how to counter the reflection, but I do believe I got a few good shots. I was ecstatic. Part of the reason I was on this trip was that I felt that I had never seen mountains, and here I was amidst some snow-covereds. True, I had climbed Mt. Katahdin in Maine several years ago, but that peaks at a lower altitude than Mexico City. I had also seen the coastal mountains visible from Vancouver Airport, but that hardly counts either. Now, here I was, and for the rest of the ride I was pretty much glued to a window. I mentioned Golmud above, as well as my snoring bottom bunk bunkmate. He got off the train in Golmud and was not replaced. This was fantastic, as it meant that we now had a spare bunk on which to store our excess gear. It was fantastic, but not so much for me. Some of the other people in my cabin were travelling as part of a group of about 10-12. Now, with the additional space, my cabin became the congregating spot for the group, crowding and pushing me aside to an extent. Not that they were rude or aggressive or unfriendly - those photos of me and the other passengers were at their initiative, and one of them gifted me with the packaged birds’ feet -; they were none of these things. It’s just that the extra space for them ultimately turned out to be a reduction in space for me. Bad luck, but not really a big deal. We continued along, climbing as we went. I took particular interest in the Qinghai-Tibet Highway that paralleled our route. Even through the night, there was a steady stream of trucks, and the occasional personal vehicle, making their way at altitude. My hat is off to these truckers. This is long lonely highway at altitudes often reaching over 4000 metres, and we were approaching a pass at/near the Qinghai/Tibet border that would bring us - and them - to slightly over 5000 metres. I tried to take photos of this highway, but I’m not sure I have done them justice. Also, there were yaks. A yak is closely related to the cow. Indeed, they are of the same genus. Cows are [Bos taurus] and yaks are [Bos grunniens]. These were domesticated yaks, although herdsmen were few and far between, as were settlements of any sort. I was later informed that many yak herdsmen are still nomadic even today, and I did see the occasional portable yurt near (or distant) the tracks. I even saw one herd of yaks being watched by a Tibetan mastiff, although whether it was actually doing so as its job à la a sheepdog may just be my fancy. It certainly looked that way, though. I was also informed that all the yaks I was to see on this trip were domesticated. Even though we traveled through what I considered to be pretty rugged country, it was actually fairly civilised in comparison to what I would have seen had I traveled further west in Tibet to where I might have seen much larger and much more aggressive yaks fending for themselves on the mountains in the real Tibetan wild. I mentioned the pass above 5000 metres. That is the Tanggula Pass, which comes with its own train station at 5068 metres in altitude. This is the highest train station in the world. This station is a fraud. It is technically a train station in that there is a station there and that trains could stop there. But they don’t. The station is unmanned and trains do not stop there. Indeed, the train did not even slow down, which is why my photos of the station are rather piecemeal. Still, as we passed by, I knew that I was now more than five kilometres above sea level. There are conflicting reports as to whether Tanggula Station is in Qinghai or in Tibet. Actually, all of the reports say it is in Tibet, while saying that the actual town of Tanggula is in Qinghai. And, when I type in the coordinates on Google Earth, every set of coordinates (they differ) has the station in Qinghai. Nevertheless, the final three of today’s photos are definitely in Amdo County, Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Province. I was in Tibet! That’s it for today’s description of my trip to Tibet. It was a wonderful journey, and I thank you for coming along with me here for the tale. If you have gotten this far, please feel free to hit Like and Subscribe and Notifications, and all that self-promotional jive that I hate so much, but seems to be necessary. Any comments you may have will always be appreciated. Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] From Sinpung we ventured to Sinchon, a bar district of some note. First, we went to the Nori, known to all as The Bar, despite the fact that the bar that actually is The Bar is on the second floor and the Nori is in the basement. M was a bit concerned that he may have been beer-patricked here but he ultimately encountered no trouble getting service. From the Nori we went to Mike's Cabin, where X established himself at the foosball table before making a moderately successful attempt to chat up the drunk Korean hottie on the dance floor. Then it was on to Morrison Hotel where L, acting on a joke from Janghanpyeong, requested the "Theme from Titanic" by Celine Dion. When it came on, W promptly punched L in the nuts, causing much levity as L rolled around on the floor in pain. Later, however, W was blocking the TV such that the Korean guy at the bar could not watch the soccer game being played. When asked, W promptly moved, only to discover that two minutes later the guy was not watching the game but was up playing darts. Half an hour later, the same guy asked L to move out of the way of his view of the match. L, not at this time knowing of the incident with W, politely moved out of the way but looked up at the screen to realise that the score was 4-0 in penalty time. W at this point elected to regale the guy with the opinion that he was an idiot, an opinion L corrected with, “W, he's not an idiot. He's an asshole." But, with the ill feeling engendered, we left, only to realise later that no one had actually paid the bill. (X has assured us that he will do so.) From there we went to Itaewon for more drinks, but at this point things become blurry. Samgyeopsal in Sinpung III - N, X, G, L, W, M, G Floored in Sinpung II - L, M, G After Party in Sincheon VI - G, M, W, G, HX, L, X, W, N Dancing Up a Storm at After Party in Sincheon II X Dancing with the Mike's Cabin Hottie at the Sincheon After Party III That’s it for the fourth event of Seoul at Random. We hope you enjoyed this recollection of our past glories. If you did, please Like this video and hit Notifications for the playlist. And, as always, feel free to Subscribe. Any comments you might have will always be appreciated. Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] I went to the War Memorial Museum of Korea last weekend. This is a massive museum, even though it consists of just three floors. The upper two of these floors are devoted to the Korean War, with the first floor devoted to Korea's military history prior to that. The English language descriptions were a bit lacking, but fortunately an extra 2000 Won rented me a handset that verbally described most of the exhibits. A mere five hours later and I was done. I had actually been there once before with Anny, and while I saw more this time around I think that seeing the museum with a Korean was preferable, simply for the emotional evocation of many of the displays. The walk-through diorama of Korean refugee life during the Korean War was particularly moving to Anny, and I think that helped my appreciation of the exhibit. I'm fundamentally a peace-nik, but after my time here in South Korea I'm beginning to reconsider some of my assumptions. The standard of life in South Korea is much higher than that of North Korea, so I begin to think that just maybe the military defence of South Korea was and is justified. I now have good friends over here, and it is unpleasant to imagine them living in the poverty of the north. Which makes me wonder if it wasn't best for South Korea that the Korean War ended as it did. I've read that as recently as 30 years ago South Korea's economy was comparable to the worst of Africa's economies, but now South Korea's economy is definitely capable of standing on its own. Well, what was South Korea's recipe and why doesn't every impoverished nation follow their example? I suspect that the reason lies in the fact that the war was never actually won or lost by either side. As a result, it behoves the United States to help make South Korea an economically viable nation, simply for its propaganda value in comparison to North Korea. For its propaganda value is tremendous. I'm not giving the credit for South Korea's economic success to the States - ultimately it is the South Koreans themselves who have to take credit for that - but it seems striking that this nation could go from abject poverty to wealth in just one generation. Of course, I cannot support this hypothesis at all, and I'm probably way off base, but it's something that causes me to wonder. About a month ago I was taking the subway home from supper in Apgujeong, a posh district south of the Han River. It was that night that I first got hit by a virulent stomach flu, so all I wanted to do was get home without being physically ill inside a crowded subway. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to anyone, so of course it was on this trip that a Korean man decided that he would be friendly and talk to the foreigner, as I was standing on a fairly crowded subway thinking happy thoughts for the last three stops. I was very polite and talked with him, explaining that I was from Canada and that I was enjoying my time in Korea and that Koreans are very friendly and have treated me very well. He said that Koreans liked Canadians because we had helped them during the Korean War. I then mentioned that I had two uncles who had fought in the war, at which point he instantly stuck out his hand and said "Thank you." Kind of makes our involvement seem worthwhile. I definitely felt proud to be a Canadian at that point. I also went to another palace - this one called Gyeonghuigung. Unlike the other palace I went to, this one has not yet been refurbished. This allowed for a close look at the place, but the most interesting thing about it were the people practising tae-kwando (or tai-chi, or something) on the front step. At first I thought they were statues, and I only realised they were real people when I saw the hair of one of them move in the breeze. I've included a few photos. Have fun, Mark Turtle Ship Top - The Japanese won the land battles during their 1592 invasion, but their supply lines were destroyed by the Korean Navy's turtle ships. These ships were enclosed and had spiked roofs, making them all but impossible to board. They were extremely effective weapons for the time. Canada Display - Canada had the fourth largest Allied fighting force for the Korean War, behind only South Korea, United States, and United Kingdom. Canada Memorial II - This is a model of the Canadian Korean War Memorial that stands somewhere here in Seoul. I'll have to visit it before I leave. Me and Jet - A Phantom fighter/bomber. Me and M.A.S.H Helicopter - The same type as used to ferry the wounded on "M.A.S.H." Interestingly, I tried to describe "M.A.S.H" to Anny, and she didn't really see the humour in a comedy about the Korean War. I didn't push the topic. Gwanggaetto Statue - A statue commemorating Emperor Gwanggaetto, erected in 414 AD. The backdrop is a 'Flying Fortress,' B52 bomber. Sungjeongjeon Hall III - These people were about as absolutely motionless as I think it is possible to be, and the positions don't strike me as particularly comfortable. Check out the woman who is bent over double with her arms stretched out backwards. Public Urinal - {Don't worry. It's clean.} This was at Gyeonghuigung. The door on the left is for women, the door on the right for men, and I don't think I would have the nerve to use the middle. That’s it for my eleventh week in South Korea. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please hit the Like button. Also, please remember to Subscribe and hit Notifications. As always, any comments you have will be appreciated. Be well. Be healthy. And be happy.
Point of order: 33-0 is not a walk in the park. That is a sugar-fuelled frenzy at an amusement park! Also: there needs to be a new sport called Monocle Hockey - - normal hockey, but everybody wears a monocle (and a neck-tie, of course), with 2 minute penalties for anyone who drops their monocle (so in theory the ice could be empty of players on occasion).
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Next up is Quebec. Again, it is fitting that we start with the two Canadas as we view the making of Canada’s first Parliament. Quebec, with 65 seats, when added to Ontario’s 82, left just 34 seats for the two Maritime provinces to compete for as an afterthought. The parties were the same, and the results were the same, at least in terms of an overall Conservative / Liberal-Conservative victory. John A. Macdonald’s Conservative Party won 36 seats for an outright majority of Quebec’s seats, to which total were added 11 seats from John A. Macdonald’s Liberal-Conservative Party. A total of 47. The Liberal Party was held to just 17. This brought the overall totals to 69 for the Conservatives, 50 for the Liberals, and 27 for the Liberal-Conservatives. This, of course, in truth gave John A. Macdonald’s Conservative Party 96 seats, enough for an overall majority even before the remaining two provinces were considered. It wouldn’t be the last time. If you have noticed that this total of 64 seats does not match Quebec’s allotment of 65, this is because rioting at the polling stations in the Kamouraska riding forced cancellation of the vote. Kamouraska would not be represented until an 1869 by-election. The Conservative Party had captured 28.5% of Quebec’s votes and the Liberal-Conservative Party managed 12.3%, giving a total of 40.8%. Despite winning proportionately fewer seats, the Liberal Party actually captured a greater percentage of Quebec’s votes than they had in Ontario, managing 25.2%. Once again, this left a considerable 34.0% of votes unaccounted for. The Unknown option is reportedly given 34.1% of Quebec’s votes, although there must be a rounding error somewhere, as this works up to a total of 100.1% of Quebec’s voting numbers. Once again, I remind you that Canada’s elections were still then far from an exact science. We may now know that the election is essentially over, but the voters at the time didn’t necessarily have this information, so let’s continue east to New Brunswick, and its 15 seats. This time John A. Macdonald’s Liberal-Conservative Party was stronger than John A. Macdonald’s Conservative Party, capturing two entire seats to the latter’s sole victory. For a total of three, much overshadowed by George Brown’s Liberal Party’s capture of 12 of New Brunswick’s allotment. A nice total, bringing the Liberal count up to 62, still much behind the Conservative’s 99 (70+29). Looking at the voting in New Brunswick in entirety, the Liberals captured 49.5% of the votes, almost enough for an absolute majority. The Conservative Party actually has no vote percentage listed, but the Liberal-Conservatives make up for that with 11.1%. John Brown’s Liberals even managed to outvote the Unknown juggernaut, which still nevertheless managed 39.3% of votes cast overall, but no seats. The last of Canada’s provinces to be discussed today is Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is an interesting case. The Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives did even worse here than in New Brunswick, but still managed to outshine the Liberal Party. This was because of one man, Joseph Howe, a newspaper editor from Halifax. He headed his own regional party, which turned out to be incredibly successful. The name of his party? The Anti-Confederation Party. That was their name and that was their platform, arguing against Confederation that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, along with future entrants such as Prince Edward Island and even possibly Newfoundland, would have little sway against the combined populations of Ontario and Quebec. The Nova Scotia populace agreed, with Joseph Howe and the Anti-Confederationists capturing 18 out of a possible 19 seats. The only exception was Father of Confederation Charles Tupper’s hinterland Cumberland riding, which went his way by 97 votes, out of 2,639 votes cast. Overall, the Anti-Confederationists captured 58.2% of the vote, followed by a combined total of 17.3% for the Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives. The Liberal Party’s opportunity to gain seats in Nova Scotia at the Conservative Party’s expense was hindered by the fact that they ran no candidates in the province and thus captured zero votes. One suspects that any potential Liberal candidates instead ran for the Anti-Confederation Party. To close out Nove Scotia’s voting, the previously unstoppable Unknown machine was held to 24.4% of Nova Scotia’s votes. That is it. There were only four provinces voting in 1867, and the two former Canadas showed that they were the power of this the third Canada iteration. The Liberal Party, while not quite anti-Confederation, were nonetheless the vote of choice for those who opposed the birth of this new nation slash colony. They were defeated in Ontario and Quebec, but did respectably. Not respectably enough, though, as even if they had swept the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which in a way was nearly possible, they still could have not have defeated John A. Macdonald’s Conservative - Liberal-Conservative coalition. Still, with anti-Confederation, or near enough, winning 30 of 34 seats in the Maritimes, surely those two provinces would be allowed to opt out of the Canada plan. Not so. Even Nova Scotia, which explicitly voted against Confederation, could not escape. The British North America Act had stated that there would be a new Canada, and a new Canada there would be. The end results in this Canada’s first Parliament were Conservatives with 71 seats, and Liberal-Conservatives with 29, for a combined total of 100. Behind them came the Liberals with 62 seats and the Anti-Confederationists with 18. Kamouraska remained vacant, leaving the House absent one seat. The overall vote counts generally accurately reflected Parliament’s makeup. The Conservative - Liberal-Conservative tandem managed 34.81% of the vote, 23.73% and 11.08% respectively. Behind them were the Liberals at 22.67%. Of course, Unknown racked up 33.56% of the vote, but managed zero seats. The Anti-Confederation Party, confined to just one province, and a small one at that, still captured a very respectable 7.92% of the Canadian vote. I hope you have enjoyed this province-by-province recount of the election of Canada’s first Parliament. My source throughout has been Wikipedia, which as you may know can be problematical at times. Nevertheless, I feel certain that the overall gist is accurate even if some numbers may be slightly off. I have tried to keep it as non-partisan as I possibly can, and I hope any comments - which will all be accepted with great gratitude and appreciation - will attempt to do the same. As always, please hit Like and Subscribe if you did enjoy today’s offering. You can even hit Notifications if you’d like to - you know - be notified about the election of future past Canadian Parliaments. Lastly, and always … Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
Group A had just the one game for Day Three, which resulted in a humdrum 33-0 shellacking by Canada over Switzerland. Just another walk in the park for the Canadians. Harry Watson scored 13 goals against the Swiss in this game, just as he had against the Czechoslovakians two games before. He was easily the best player on the best team in the tournament, and could have surely gone on to play in the NHL. Instead, he elected to forego that option and went into business. This still did not keep him from being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. Group B managed two closer contests: Great Britain managed only a 16-goal margin in their 19-3 victory over Belgium. Meanwhile, the United States embarrassed hosts France 22-0. These results meant that the United States and Great Britain were both in the Final Round and that Belgium and France had nothing left to play for but position and pride. So far, eight games had been played and only one had had a winning margin of under ten goals. So much for drama. Day Four also had just one game for Group A, and with Canada safely through, perhaps there would be some drama. Not much as it turned out, as Sweden rode a 5-1 first period lead home to a 9-3 victory over Czechoslovakia. This meant that Sweden was now through and Czechoslovakia was going home. It also meant the Swiss were eliminated as well. Group B played both its last games today, and with it France squeaked out a 7-5 victory over Belgium. Finally, a close game, even tied 3-3 after the first with France holding onto a 6-4 lead after two. Goalie Paul Van den Broeck, seen here, won a Bronze Medal in the Four-man Bobsleigh at these same Olympics. In the other game, a match with real consequences for the Final Round since the points would be held over, the United States reasserted North American dominance with an 11-0 shutout. The last day of the First Round was an essentially meaningless Group A game between Czechoslovakia and Switzerland. Still, gotta play it. Might as well win it. And there is such a thing as pride. Or at least the Czechoslovakians thought so, skating away with an 11-2 victory before going home. The Final Round began with Canada and the United States already having an advantage, since their previous victories over Sweden and Great Britain respectively counted forward. As a result, these two first-place teams started the round by playing against the other Group’s second-place team. Obvious. Equally obvious is that the talent differential hadn’t somehow magically disappeared. Canada dispatched Great Britain 19-2 and the United States destroyed Sweden 20-0. The more things stay the same the more things stay exactly the same. The problem with round robin Groups is that you can’t be sure that you’re going to have a legitimate Bronze Medal match, let alone an actual Gold Medal game. The good thing about a four-team round robin where two of the teams are clearly inferior means that you can be pretty darn sure what two teams will be fighting for the Bronze. Welcome to Great Britain versus Sweden. I hope you brought popcorn. But you won’t need it, because we finally have a good game with real stakes on the line. Sweden jumps out to a 1-0 lead after one and holds onto it through the second to lead 3-2 entering the third period. Then Great Britain strikes twice with no answer from the Swedes and the Bronze Medal goes Great Britain’s way 4-3. Which brings us to an actual Gold Medal game between Canada and the United States. Gold and Silver four years ago and Gold and Silver again this time around. Just in what order? There was suspense early, with the score at 2-1 at the end of the first, but then Canada scored three in the second to make it 5-1 en route to a 6-1 final and the Gold Medal. The United States goes home with the Silver yet again, and Europe has a lot of catching up to do. The Chamonix Olympics are over and Canada has waltzed away with its second consecutive championship. They weren’t even pushed that hard this time by the United States. A truly dominant performance, outscoring their opposition 110-3 in their five games. The United States, good as they truly were, only - only! - outscored their opposition by 73 to 6. Harry Watson led the way for Canada, with 37 goals and 9 assists for 46 points. Just a bit of a good tournament for him. As said, he never did turn pro, but his linemate Hooley Smith did so. Smith had a long 17-year career in the NHL, garnering 200 goals and 426 points along with 1056 penalty minutes. He won the Stanley Cup twice, once with the Ottawa Senators in 1927 and again with the Montreal Maroons in 1935. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972. And remember, Harry Watson was the good one. This tournament is over, but leap years happen every four years and so do the World Championships. See you then. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please hit the Like button. Also, please remember to Subscribe and hit Notifications. Also, any comments you have will be appreciated. Be well. Be healthy. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] And that was the 1889 AHAC season, or the 1888-89 season if you, like Wikipedia, want to count the exhibition games and its one December contest. The challenge format had accomplished its task of adding an out-of-Montreal team to the fray, with a total of one team from one non-Montreal city, from in-province, contesting a grand total of one game towards the championship. That one game, however, had been a grand sum of 25% of the four games played, so that was surely something to crow about. Sarcasm aside, your narrator considers 1889’s challenge format to have been a disaster in comparison to the league format of 1888. Whether or not the Association will have seen it the same way will have to wait until the 1890 season. Player totals unfortunately include the exhibition games played outside of official championship play. As regards the championship, Montreal HC played four games, the Crystals two, and Quebec and the Victorias one apiece. This undoubtedly gave the HC players an advantage in the counting stats. Including the exhibition games, as does Wikipedia, the Montreal Hockey Club played seven games, with Archie McNaughton playing in five of them and scoring seven goals, enough to lead all comers. In goal, Tom Paton once again posted the best numbers, with a 1.17 goals against average in his five games in net. Tom Arnton of the Montreal Victorias is credited with the season’s sole shutout despite the Victorias not managing a shutout in either exhibition or challenge play. Mr. Paton, on the other hand, is not credited with a shutout despite his Montreal HC shutting out the Crystals in their second challenge tilt. Lastly, no mention is made of Quebec goalie Archie Laurie’s 8-0 shutout of the Halifax Chebuctos in ‘unofficial’ exhibition play. As you can see, available individual player statistics from the 1889 AHAC season are beyond suspect. That is the tale of the 1889 season of hockey as played by the AHAC. My source throughout has been the season’s page on Wikipedia. Take a look there if you’d like to learn a bit more. I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of hockey history. If you have, please hit Like and Subscribe. I will also be describing more of these future past seasons, so hit Notifications if you are interested in what is to come. Lastly, of course, any comments you may have will be greatly appreciated. Be well. Be safe. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] The Shanghai Chi Chen Boutique Hotel was in many ways more of a hostel than a proper hotel. This hotel in Xining was a full-on hotel. The desk clerk had excellent English and, as a courtesy, explained that my check out time had been moved from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. as a result both of my late arrival (it was about 11:30 p.m. now) and because they knew (guessed, I assume) that I wouldn’t be leaving Xining until the 9:30 p.m. train to Lhasa the next day. Very nice, and, as you can see from my photo, the hotel room was much more than the bed I had been given in Shanghai. Plus, as they must have known that I was only in Xining to get acclimatised to altitude, they helped me out with this by putting me on the 21st floor. The next day arrived. I went to the desk and asked how to get to KouFu Jie Food Alley, which was supposedly in walking distance, only to be told that it no longer existed. Disappointment, but I had an alternative. And, as it turned out, Mojia Market Street did still exist. The floor guy even took me out and directed the taxi driver where I wanted to go. Great service. I went to the street and found a building housing several different open restaurants. Kind of like a food court really, but with many more lamb kebabs. I made my order after much observation and went to watch it being prepared. Whilst standing there, a young woman asked if I needed help, but I assured her I was okay and complimented her on her English. I then got my food and went to find an empty spot at a table. Another young woman moved things aside and I sat down, and was soon joined by the same helpful lady from before. It turned out the two were together. Fortuitous coincidence. The initial lady (in the pink in the pictures) was visiting, from Xi’an, her university friend from Xining. The four of us (the Xi’an woman’s mother joined us) had a pleasant lunch together and shared contact information. Quite enjoyable. I then made my way back to the hotel where I had a quick nap before checking out. (I had had some altitude concerns of a probable psychosomatic nature the night before, but felt great now.) After checking out, I left my bags at the front desk and wandered about the neighbourhood, sticking close to the hotel. Nothing too spectacular at this point, although when I was in the cross-the-street grocery store to buy snacks for the train, I did get growled at for trying to take a picture of a live sturgeon in a tank. I guess not everyone is friendly everywhere. I also had some Chinese noodles, which I love, but these had a flavour that was a bit off to me and thus were a bit of a disappointment. Oh well. You can’t win all the time. That said, the lamb kebabs earlier were fantastic! I was just about done with Xining. That’s it for today’s description of my trip to Tibet. It was a wonderful journey, and I thank you for coming along with me here for the tale. If you have gotten this far, please feel free to hit Like and Subscribe and Notifications, and all that self-promotional jive that I hate so much, but seems to be necessary. Any comments you may have will always be appreciated. Be safe. Be well. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] That's the supporting cast, along with Mr. Scott, who is more than a supporting character but not quite a lead. These leads are Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy, in that order. The three actors play their roles extremely well. William Shatner gets a lot of heat for what some think is a stilted vocal style. Well, he managed to be the lead or major character on three successful TV shows; he must have been doing something right. Leonard Nimoy is absolutely perfect as the emotionless, taciturn Mr. Spock. There is nothing I can add about this character or Mr. Nimoy's portrayal. DeForest Kelley is the crotchedy Dr. McCoy. His character is the only one of the three that doesn't arrive fully formed. Early episodes have his antagonistic relationship with Mr. Spock go overboard. In "The Galileo Seven," for example, his questioning of Mr. Spock's command goes beyond mere crotchediness all the way past insubordination to a possibly court-martialable offense. Indeed, in a later fan fiction, (written, however, by a writer for the show, so it has a certain credibility), one of the characters, but not Dr. McCoy, on the Galileo Seven shuttlecraft is brought to court martial. Who brought this charge? Not our Mr. Spock, but instead the calmly professional chief engineer, Mr. Scott. Go, Scotty! Nevertheless, despite these early hiccups regarding Dr. McCoy, by season's end his angry antagonism for Mr. Spock has become a friendly rivalry. In the season's final episode, "Operation: Annihilate," McCoy pleads with Capt. Kirk that Kirk not tell Mr. Spock that he (McCoy) had called Spock "the finest First Officer in the fleet." To this, Spock, gifted with his alien Vulcan hearing, turns around and answers, "Why, thank you, Doctor," to McCoy's embarrassed chagrin and Kirk's barely smothered amusement. The trinity has reached full fruition. The characters are all there, with the exception of Mr. Chekov, by the end of Season One. The trinity has reached a perfect triangle of interaction. The supporting cast is strong, and Mr. Scott is there to step in whenever the trinity needs him. [Star Trek: The Original Series], which had started Season One so weakly, is now a more than solid show. Will the writing stay so good for future episodes? Season Two will tell, but a high bar has been set. "Balance of Terror" and "The City on the Edge of Forever" will be very hard to top. I add here a photo of interest to me, and the cover of my DVD set for [Star Trek: The Original Series] Season One. The Former Burger King [Star Trek. The Original Series] Season One
Great work Mark. This really brought hockey history into perspective. Who knew USA was a hockey superpower during the inaugural world championship? Maybe the Miracle on Ice wasn’t so miraculous after all, eh?
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] I’d like to report that everything from there went smoothly. I cannot. First, I left that huge decorative hand fan in the back seat of my taxi, along with a lovely painting gifted me by Barker’s wife. The hand fan I didn’t care about, but losing that painting had me wanting to chase after the taxi. Once again, my chowderheadedness had cost me. Then it was time for Beijing’s airport. I was used to Seoul’s remarkable Seoul/Incheon International Airport. It is amazingly easy to navigate. Oh, you can’t read Hangeul? No worries, here is a plentitude of signage in Latin (English), Chinese, and Japanese scripts. Now, Beijing Airport had international signage as well, but it was by no means adequate. I looked at my ticket. I looked at the Departures board. I looked at my ticket again. I had absolutely no idea if I was even in the right terminal. After a long look, I finally realised that I needed to be in Terminal Two. Fortunately, the walk from Terminal One to Two is not a long one. Even more fortunately, I had arrived at the airport ridiculously early, as I am prone to do. As a result, I had far more than enough time to get where I needed to be. I got to Terminal Two and had not been there long before I realised I needed to be in Terminal One. Back I went and this time, after still more head scratching, I found my check-in counter. From here, I can indeed finally report that all went smoothly. In all fairness to Beijing Airport’s inadequate foreign-language signage, I have a suspicion that their Chinese-language signage was also inadequate. Just a suspicion, though, as my three months in the country had limited my Mandarin skills to ‘ni hao’ and ‘xie xie.’ ‘Hello’ and ‘thank you.’ And that was only to speak. I could read Chinese script not at all. I flew back to South Korea without incident. It was Friday, so I went to Itaewon that night as if I’d never been away. Monday morning, settled into my new apartment over the weekend, I went back to work. Three months of vacation were over. That’s it for my ninth, and final, tale about life in Beijing. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please hit the Like button. Also, I have plenty of other playlists for your enjoyment, so hit Subscribe and Notifications to discover more about them. Lastly, any comments you have will be appreciated. Be well. Be healthy. And be happy.
[CONTINUED FROM DESCRIPTION] Gyeongil Daejeongmun 2 Bus Stop Me Ya Coffee Cream Cheese Bagel and Hot Americano Hanoi Pho & Asia Pho Bo Chin-Su Vietnamese Chili Sauce Pickled Soya Bean Sauce Sign Rock for Buho-2-ri Stone House II Sign Rock for Buho-1-ri Negative Space Kissing Statue in front of Candy Warehouse
