Monthly Archives: January 2002

The morning of 02/01/05

Saturday, January 5, 2002

I am very dehydrated… I usually drink a lot of water, but I guess in the last grocery run the store was out (and yes I know there are easier and more sensible ways to get water), so I'm stuck drinking Rachel's Cokes. Coke contains processed sugars that my body isn't used to any more and drinking coke makes me quite ill, so I have not drank much. In addition, I find the high sodium dehydrates me even more! I actually had dreams last night about drinking water.

Soda and simily high-sugar products should be made illegal for those under the age of 13. If beer can be illegal for those under 21, then I don't think it's unreasonable to put similar restrictions on soda and candy. Think how different America would be if it didn't addict its youth to processed sugar?

About half the people who send me books attach little notes; I thought this one was especially funny.

Oh yeah! The first beer I'm going to make is going to be something basic I think, but after that, this book is going to come in very handy!

…And until the beer is brewed (two? three weeks?) I'll have to focus on more traditional cooking, right?

I'm really enjoying this book — it's very simple and very pure.

We are going back to the land after all — thank you! (My mother saw that we got these books and offered us some of her own as well).

This book is just stunning. It's literally an encyclopedia. It takes pretty much every single plant that grows in North America and tells you every way that every tribe used it. This book is essential for anyone living on the land here. You can never go wrong with too many cookbooks! Thank you! I don't do a lot of recreational reading — most of what I read is very functional. These two books are pure self-indulgance. This I'm very much looking forward to as well — The Nearings are who inspired many of the 60s/70s-era back to the land kids.

It's funny how no matter how much we try and be ourselves, how much we repeat our parents lives. Before I was born, my mother was the host of a television business show (Venture on CBC) and my father owned a number of computer companies that developed among other things community tools (for example, he built the infrastructure that co-ordinated Medicare in BC). When I was about five, he got a “back-to-the-land” bug and bought a whole pile of land to farm and we suddenly switched from being an urban tech company to a family struggling to keep an organic farm running.

Oh, I have a couple more pictures I think I can share here:


My sister gave me this coffee table she painted for Christmas — As you can see, the character is modded; Stretched ears, filed teeth, big labret, ear piercings, and even multiple hands. I actually took this picture of my knee damage yesterday… It looks pretty much the same today, just a little bigger and a little darker — I'm taking that as a good sign though, as it points it out as a “normal” bruise. I'm now 99% sure I just someone nailed my knee a second time and somehow didn't notice.


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Religious Advice

Friday, January 4, 2002

The following message just came to me, and since it's not an uncommon question, I'm going to include it here. Please keep in mind that I'm not a lawyer, so if you want a fully qualified answer, you'll need to pay more dearly for it (specialized civil liberties lawyers probably don't come cheap).

I have read in the past that a toung ring has many religious significance, but unfortunately I am unable to produce anything in writing right now. My husbands job is demanding written proof that indeed there is a special meaning to his toung ring. I have been searching the web and have come up empty handed. Please, if there is anything that you can do to help me I need something ASAP! Thank you anything you can do.

Yesenia in Colorado

This was my response:

On a historical level, tongue piercings are very rare. As far as a permanent piercing, they first popped up in turn of the century (as in early 1900s) sideshows, but never really became common until the 1990s, and are now one of the most common piercings. There are cultures (notably in South/Central America, and in South East Asia) that practised temporary tongue piercing as a religious ritual, often as a part of bloodletting ceremonies.

That said, you're asking me for an excuse — you're asking me to help your husband lie — it's not as if he was raised as an Aztec priest (although if he is of Aztec descent, you might be able to make a strong case). Spiritual meaning isn't something that you look up on the internet to circumvent the law. If your husband's “toung ring” is spiritual enough that he is unable to remove it to work, he would know it, and should be able to explain it on some level. If not, then no amount of paperwork will add this spirituality.

I can't see any way that in this situation you are going to be able to justify your husband's tongue piercing as a religious act.

That said, there may be other ways to protect his piercing. First, let me suggest that he offer them a compromise, and buy jewelry to make the piercing less obvious — for example, acrylic retainer jewelry, no-c-um balls, or even just a purple barbell. Make it clear to them that the piercing is important to him, but that he understands their concerns and is willing to try and find a solution that keeps everyone happy. This is quite likely a far simpler route than a legal battle.

Unfortunately because you're living in the United States you have far less rights to freely express yourself than in most other Western countries (if you were living in Europe or Canada I'd be able to give you more pleasant advice since most other countries hold rights of self-expression as fundamental), but another alternative would be actually looking closely at the company's dress code laws when he first got the piercing — they may well actually say nothing about piercings. Because it could be argued that the piercing is permanent and can not be removed without losing the piercing (tongue piercings can close in an hour on some people, even ones they've had for a long time), if he was hired (or pierced) while the dress code allowed him to have his tongue pierced, he might be able to make the case that it was a deciding factor in taking the job (and be “grandfathered” in).

Finally I should mention that there are groups in the US fighting for your rights — if this actually escalates, you should get in touch with biker's rights advocates, as they face very similar discriminatory actions.

Good luck…

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Who's bad?

Friday, January 4, 2002



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Cool

Thursday, January 3, 2002
  1. Today's Lottario numbers are 6 6 6
  2. The Toronto Police asked local businesses to not allow people wearing Hell's Angels colours in for service. The Toronto mayor replied to them “I think the Hell's Angels are despicable, but these people have rights, and I have a job to protect their freedoms. I'm not here to tell people what to wear.”

Seriously, thank god I live in one of the few countries in the world that actually sees dressing the way you want as a right… and not only that, but a right when you reach the age of sixteen. That's right — if you have, for example, a piercing that has meaning to you, you can not be fired for it here, nor can you be expelled for it (not that it'll stop some people from trying).

And thank god I live in a country where you can do pretty much whatever you want on the street as long as it isn't hurting anyone else (Ob. ModProm in-joke).

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Not Good?

Thursday, January 3, 2002

So I'd thought my knee was feeling better… That said, I noticed about an hour ago that it was a bit sore again, so I took a closer look at it. Right below the knee is a large swollen lump that rises probably about a quarter to a half an inch, and is about two inches across. I don't know how it got there… I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation? It sure hurts a lot.

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