in Politically Incorrect |

Will You Be Allowed to Vote?

Tomorrow is the Canadian federal election. I already voted, early. Tonight I’m wondering, in this new democracy where people are allowed to make one choice only, call it coerced, whatever word you like. Will this be our last election?

First, I thought about future elections requiring a vaccine passport. Only those who have been vaccinated several times (with “the vaccine” not all those other vaccines, they just don’t count now) will be allowed to vote. But, then, why not take it a step farther and get rid of the political parties and candidates. Just admit Canada is no longer a democracy but a dictatorship. So, elections will be a thing of the past. I really don’t think it matters which party gets in. They have all become a blob, all the same, doing the same, acting the same. The faces and the words and promises are irrelevant. Their actions are the same.

I think it is a short step to removing the rest of the rights and freedoms people have from where we have come now with the so called pandemic as an excuse. Privacy is flying out the window pretty quickly. I could not imagine having my medical records made public, demanded even, by someone as proof of my being allowed to enter a restaurant, or any kind of public place.

Now I don’t want to write or think more about it. Too much. If this were a science fiction story no one would believe it.

Rockhounds in Ontario and Canada

A rockhound is an amateur geologist or collector of rocks, minerals and gemstones. It’s not always about the value or selling them. Not for me. I like the history of rocks. Such ancient things, far older than even the oldest of trees. Eroded by time and the elements (mostly water) found on and under land, sea and space, small enough to fit into a pocket or far too massive to consider moving at all. How can anyone not find even the most common rock a bit interesting.

There is some difference between being an ordinary rock collector and someone who actually knows whether the rock they just picked up (because it looks interesting) is a gem, mineral, or just another rock. I’m the ordinary rock type of beachcomber, streetcomber, forestcomber, (even though only one of those is a considered a real word at this time).

I like rocks, sometimes I carry one home in my pocket. It’s a casual hobby. But, I couldn’t say for sure whether the rocks I keep are anything but an interesting looking rock. I did study geology in high school, so I know (remember) a little about how rocks are formed.

Ontario (I live in Ontario) with links found for the other Canadian provinces afterwards.

Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club
The Niagara Peninsula Geological Society – St Catharines
Barrie Gem and Mineral Club (Currently inactive).
The Gem and Mineral Club of Scarborough – Toronto

The British Columbia Lapidary Society
Victoria Lapidary and Mineral Society
Ripple Rock and Gem Mineral Club – Campbell River
Port Moody Rock and Gem Club

Alberta Federation of Rock Clubs 
Southern Alberta Rockhounds Association
Edmonton Tumblewood Lapidary Club
Calgary Rock and Lapidary Club

Prairie Rock and Gem Society – Regina, Saskatchewan

Montreal Gem and Mineral Club Quebec

The Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies
Mineralogical Association of Canada 
Gem and Mineral Federation of Canada

Do you know all of these, what they are or even more about each of them? They are all connected to rocks in some way. Not on this list was rock piling or stacking. I’ve seen people turn them into bridges which continue to stand without anything but friction and gravity keeping them together. Also, Inukshuks, traditionally used for navigation and communication in northern Canada.

  • lapidary
  • tumbling
  • carving
  • sculpture
  • architecture
  • fossils
  • geology
  • paleontology
  • prospecting

List from: Virtual Museum of the History of Mineralogy

Making Much of a Dent

I don’t think anyone volunteers to be forgettable, or forgotten. Maybe in some fictional story, but fiction doesn’t count.

But, just like we can’t know everything or meet and know every person (even just those alive while we are) we are going to be forgotten. It’s not something to make anyone feel particularly happy but, the good thing is, you won’t be here to know about it.

I do think we are reincarnated. But, that isn’t the same as remembering who you were. If you are reincarnated a dozen times do you really want to remember all of them and if you do, what would you do about it anyway? Time has gone. You have to move along with time or get left behind in it. Which is being forgotten all over again.

No matter how famous or infamous you are, nothing is permanent. Certainly not anything living. You could debate the definition of living. Is a gas living? Possibly. But, is that the same gas which was here billions of years ago. Similar, not the exact same and does gas have something which makes it alive? Something like a brain to feel and make decisions? Do we, as human beings, even know what passes for a brain of some kind among other living things? Jellyfish (I have heard on a science show) do not have brains. Yet, I’d say they are alive, living things. Maybe they do have a brain, its just not something we understand as a brain.

Science is amazing but we really know and understand almost nothing. The most true thing about anything is realizing how little you really know about anything once you start learning about it. Things look so much simpler from the outside when you really don’t know much about them at all.

That’s how we are all forgotten. No one really knows that much about any of us and we just aren’t that important enough in time and space to make much of a dent.

Micro Cars

There are small cars and then there are micro cars. Not so easy to find in Ontario. You would have better luck in Europe and Asia than North America. Some of the cars have only 3 wheels. One of my favourites is the BMW Isetta. It opens from the front, where the engine hood would be in most cars, the front door is to enter the car with the Isetta. I’ve seen a couple of others which are the same.

I’d like to drive one. Not for long trips but nice for a road trip, a day trip. A simple vehicle for simple jaunts to get groceries and all those little around town, or city, things.

Micro North – Located in Coldwater, Ontario.

Mad Science with Robots

Have you ever seen fights of engineering with remote controlled robots? There are TV shows like Robot Wars and Battle Bots. Robot Wars talks more about the engineering and construction of the robots.

Understanding how the height, or complete flatness being low to the ground works. Figuring out whether a swinging blade of some kind works to fend off other bots. Or, something to help reset it when it gets tipped over in the fight. How to keep it mobile when other bots slash at its tires.

There is a lot of science in building a robot, especially one designed to fight other robots.

People who build and battle robots in Ontario.

Bot Brawl – Ontario robot fighting league. Planning to have events in 2021.(Old site, Bot Brawl and a Facebook link).

Robot Riots – Toronto based robot fight club, but the site seems abandoned since 2005.

I found this image on a free wallpaper site but I don’t know who the original artist is. Of course, this is not practical for actual robot fighting. This looks fabulous as an image but would not work well against remote controlled robots so carefully and cleverly engineered for combat. Cosmetic, not so well with function.