[NON BLOG] I'm Not Alone

From Katrina Onstad’s article "Quality of Mercer" in the October 2004 issue of Toronto Life, page 62:

[Rick] Mercer is not jaded about Toronto. "This weather isn’t so bad. What’s everyone complaining about? " he crows through the smog. "I’ve never lived in a big city in my life. I come here and I get excited by the subway. I call it the magic train. " He always tries to stand in the front car so he can watch the tunnels.

[NON BLOG] Counterfactual Threats Assessment Group report

I met up with schizmatic for the Counterfactual Threats Assessment Group, late. I misjudged the number of westbound streetcars on a Sunday afternoon, I’m afraid. Due to prior commitments, we were the only two in attendance.

A variety of topics were discussed, at the Yonge-Wellesley Starbucks and later when we convened for supper and drinks at Mullins. These included the complete wrongness of Putin’s proposed solution to Russia’s 21st-century problems, the prospects of a Brazilian century in the South Atlantic region, the question (first raised by schizmatic on soc.history.what-if) of what it would take for the Islamic world’s religious faith to collapse as thoroughly as Christianity in Europe and many European offshoots, ways in which the Western state from its medieval origins did more to penetrate the village community than its Islamic, Hindu, and Sinic counterparts, Bush’s mismanagement of Iraq (starting with his lack of commitment to the mission of the hapless Marines sent to take Fallujah), and good and bad villains in Star Trek (the Romulans and Borg are cool, not so the over-the-top Klingons).

The most interesting discussion occurred late in the evening when we discussed the consequences of the Fourth Crusade being averted and the Eastern Roman Empire surviving into the modern era, gradually assimilating the Serbs and Bulgars to its west and regaining most of Asia Minor to its east once the Mongols devastated the Islamic world. Conceivably, an intact Byzantium with a thriving Hellenic culture could jumpstart Western humanism while avoiding the divisive effects of Latin Christendom’s Reformation. If Byzantine diplomats were also clever enough, they might well have been able to establish a three-sided trading network in the Mediterranean, acting as intermediaries for the transfer of the emergent scientific knowledge of Latin Christendom to the Arab world and prospering as the western terminus of Eurasian trade routes. The effects on Russia would also be interesting, since without the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Turks the immediate rationale for the formation of an autonomous Russian Orthodox Church would not exist.

The next Counterfactual Threats Analysis Group meeting will take place at 1 o’clock this coming Sunday, in the Yonge-Wellesley Starbucks. All are invited.

[NON BLOG] Belonging to the Working Poor

Wednesday, I nicked the skin above my nail on my right index finger with an exacto knife as I opened some boxes of books. I kept it cleaned and bandaged, but by today it had managed to become infected, red and inflamed. On my supervisor's advice, I filled out an incident report and went to a nearby walk-in clinic, where, after a perfunctory examination, I was given a prescription for antibiotic pills and cream to fill at a nearby PharmaSave, where I had to acknowledge that, no, for the first time in my life I'm not covered under any health plan (my father's at work or my own at university).

While waiting in the PharmaSave, I realized that I now belong to that class of people known as the working poor. My income, I'm afraid, places me squarely in this category. I'm not depressed by this; in fact, I'm rather excited at the thought of belonging to any socioeconomic class apart from "dependent" in my own right. Of course, the search for positions with hgiher income will accelerate. (london_calling, what's the address of that website with jobs in charities?)

I'm certainly no Barbara Ehrenreich. I just thought it an interesting thing to mention.