REPLY AWL

The December issue of Reader's Digest has an article called Home Not Alone, originally published in Today's Parent. It was written by a man whose wife and himself work at home. He talks about what life is like for him, and says that he likes working at home. This article was the coolest. I work at home, and I hope to continue doing that. The Lord didn't intend to have people commuting for long periods of time everyday like they do now. It's a nice feeling, being able to follow your own schedule. The author's children were five and three when he and his wife decided to work at home. I would think it would be a little less easy for people whose children were a bit older. You would have to be sure to explain that just because you are home during the day doesn't mean you and the kids can play all day. You still have certain things you have to get done at certain times.

The December 1 issue of Maclean's has an article about Ian Tyson. It talks about his new CD and the fact he's destroyed his vocal cords. I have twelve of his records. I enjoy his music. It's kind of sad to think his vocal cords are shot.

The December 8 issue of Maclean's has an article entitled "The Economy Excuse." It talks about how people are using the economic crisis to get out of things like holiday plans. If people really don't want to do something, they should just be straight with people. It's also good that people are being more frugal in this way.

REPLY AWL

In the November 3 issue of Maclean's, there is an article about wildculture, the harvesting of foods that grow in the wild. This is neat. I haven't tried much wild food. I've had some wild game. I've had caribou chops, and I think I've had moose and seal. I used to eat wild game to celebrate Canada Day. 

 In the November 10 issue of Maclean's, there is an article about how indoor clotheslines are becoming more popular. People aren't just buying drying racks, there buying big, metal indoor clotheslines. This is good. It is good to dry your clothes on a clothesline. I plan to move into an apartment eventually and I want to dry my clothes on an indoor clothesline. 

 The November 24 issue of Maclean's was the annual university rankings issue. In the cover package they had an article written by a freshman university student (Is This Heaven?) in which he talks about how much he loves university. He cites reasons such as the lack of social pressures, the accepting nature of the students, the maturity level of the students, the fast pace of teaching, and the freedom. I quite agree. I enjoyed college. Nobody cares much about the way you act (not that there was much of that at my high school, either), professors can teach subjects better in one semester than high school teachers can in two years, people just accept who you are and just associate with whomever they want to instead of constantly bugging others that they need to change something about themselves, and you have freedom. They don't make you go to class, if you're late you can just sneak into class without having to get a late slip and you can go to the washroom whenever you want. 

 In the November issue of Chatelaine, former talk show host Gill Deacon wrote an article about alternative menstrual products, such as organic tampons, cloth pads and the menstrual cup. This is super cool. With all the coverage of the green movement that's been in the media over the past few years, I have not heard anything about this. I hope to see more media coverage of this in the future. Alternative menstral products can be purchased from a

THE EDUCATION OF ROBERT NIFKIN

by Daniel Pinkwater. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

This book is killer.

This book is (sort of) written in the form of a college essay. Robert Nifkin is a fifteen-year old boy starting high school in Chicago in 1957. He finds school boring and generally horrible, so he starts skipping.

This book is full of humour throughout. Also, it breaks into little sections. You'll read a few chapters and think, "That seems like a good place to stop," then pick up the book another time shortly thereafter.

There are some things in this book I don't agree with, but keep following this blog and you'll learn about those.

THE TICKET 2003-2008

Last night was the final episode of the Bbc arts and entertainment program The Ticket.

I first discovered The Ticket in the summer of 2007 via Cbc overnight. The ticket was a relief from Etalk Daily and Entertainment Tonight. Instead of being about the celebrities themselves, it would focus on the movies and albums. The show would feature a broad range of stories about a broad range of topics, from Hollywood movies to Russian art exhibits to Asian musicians to African circus performers.

Happily, the news of The Ticket's cancellation is not entirely bad. It will be replaced by a new daily program called The Strand. I hope The Strand will continue The Ticket's legacy.

BON COP, BAD COP

Cbc Television, Sunday October 19, 2008, 8:00 p.m.

Bon Cop, Bad Cop is a film about a French police officer and an English police officer who end up working together because the body of a murder victim is found lying on both sides of the Quebec-Ontario border. As they investigate, the officers discover that a serial killer is murdering hockey players and executives. Part of the movie was in French, so I couldn't really understand it, but what I understood was pretty good.

Highlights include Rick Mercer as a French-hating sports talk-show host, and the guy who played Jack Angel on This Is Wonderland as the English cop's supervisor. The key to watching Bon Cop, Bad Cop is not to take it at all seriously. Just sit back and be entertained.


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DEGRASSI: the next generation: episode review

The main plot of last night's episode of Degrassi: the next generation revolved around Jane joining the boy's football team. For a show that was founded on the alleged principle of being realistic, I have never heard of anything like this happening. The usual conflicts arise over the boys not wanting a girl on their team. Jane thinks she'll quit, but after being told she is the hero of the female student body, makes a stirring speech in the boy's change room during the pep talk. Incidentally, the usual conflicts also arise over differences between boys and girls, particularly when she has to go into the boy's change room to get her shoulder pads. In Europe, they have unisex change rooms, so I don't see why that stuff has to be such a big deal.

Here is the speech I would have made, had I appeared in the plot at the time of the pep talk:

"Look, boys, this school hasn't won a football trophy in it's entire history. Jane is your only chance, so suck it up, go out there on the field and try your very best. Also, don't make a big deal about the fact that she will be in here during the pep talk. In Europe, they have unisex change rooms, so I don't see why it should be a big deal."

Also, at one point, one of the players named Danny pushes Jane into a locker. How could he?

Also, this episode has a subplot (act surprised.) Darcy tells Peter that she is going off to Kenya the next day for four months, which is about how long the 90210 spin-off should last. Peter is very surprised by this news. After Darcy leaves, he ends up having sex with Mia, who now somehow is a model. This means she is now a model, a member of the Spirit Squad, involved in the student council, and a full-time student, and oh yeah, she also has a kid to raise. Be careful, Mia, you don't want Isabella to get taken away ... again.

IIf you are a girl who has played on a boys football team, or are a teen mom model, leave your comments in the comment area.

SELF-PROMOTION

In an efert to get more hits, I have listed this blog with some blog submission sites. In fairness to them, here are a couple of their Url's.


http://www.blogdigger.com
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/news_media

SHADOW PEOPLE: inside history's most notorious secret societies

by John Lawrence Reynolds. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2006.

This book does a lot of the usual things books that "debunk conspiracies" do, such as ignoring evidence and making fun of people.

Oh, and nice job attacking Bill Cooper when he's dead and can't defend himself.

CKWS AND CHEX'S NEW SCHEDULE

Around this time of year, I like to monitor the TV stations to see what schedule changes have taken place. Lately I have been monitoring Ckws Kingston and Chex Peterborough.

The schedule is the same as last season in many ways, but with a couple noticeable changes. The programming on both stations is pretty much the same except for local news.

Instead of The Price Is Right at 11:00, both stations now have The People's Court. This is a good change. You can already see The Price Is Right on many other channels, whereas People's Court is not as readily available in Canada.

At 4:00, both stations now have reruns of Becker and Scrubs. Personally, this is better than the home makeover show they used to have on at this time.

During the 7:00 hour, both stations now have Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy, which Cbc recently acquired the rights to. This replaces the sitcom reruns previously in that slot.

Other than that, there really haven't been any other major changes. If anyone would like to talk about past Ckws/Chex programming, email me at
alexhorton55@gmail.com

I'M WITH YOU, LESLIE

Leslie Houston has been fired from the Manitoba Liberal party officially due to remarks made on an old blog. She said the U.S. government knew about 9/11 and Israeli business people didn't come to work in the World Trade Centre that day, both of which statements have evidence. Head of the Manitoba Liberal party Sharon Carstairs said there was no place for conspiracy theories in the Liberal party, then in typical liberal fashion said the party believed in tolerance. Yeah, Sharon, and you sure tolerate people that have views different from those officially held.

AMONG THE AFGHANS

by Arthur Bonner Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1986.

Journalist Bonner tells about his trips to Afghanistan in 1985 and 1986, during which he spent time with the Mojaheden to learn about their side of the Russia-Afghanistan conflict.

Though this book is very dated, it can teach us lessons about the present conflict in Afghanistan. What I took from this book was that Afghanistan basically consists of a bunch of different tribes who have not entirely gotten over their ancient quarrels, and who also have a unique culture unto themselves. Therefore, I think the best thing we could do for that country is, ultimately, to have all foreign government involvement stop there and leave the Afghans to themselves.

Also, on a slightly lighter note, this book puts things into perspective in a different way. As Bonner talks about his various health problems and hardships in Afghanistan, you find yourself thinking, "Gee, I think I have problems!"

I wish Christians had one tenth the dedication of the Mojaheden.

WHAT WBCQ MEANS TO ME

I first started listening to Wbcq in the summer of 1999. I had listened a few times before while dxing but it was July of 1999 when I first started listening to it regularly. I was Dxing one Saturday afternoon and came across Tom and Deryl doing a Christmas in July show with all these funny sketches. I knew that, if this was the kind of programming this new Wbcq was broadcasting, I wanted to keep listening to it. I tuned in later and heard "Big Steve Cole’s Different Kind Of Oldies show."

At the time, I had just completed grade 10 at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario. It was the kind of place where nobody cared about anything important, only the latest sports scores and fluff news. I am not exaggerating when I say Wbcq saved me mentally. I couldn’t imagine what returning to school would have been like if I hadn’t known Wbcq existed.

In Wbcq’s programmers, I found people who cared about world issues. Through shows like "American Viewpoint", "The Jeff Davis Show", "Hour of the Time", "The Right Perspective", "The Hal Turner Show", and others, I got many perspectives and opinions that, especially living in Canada and being in the days before I had learned to use the internet, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. I should also add to this list one of the first, if not the first episodes of "Allan Wiener Worldwide" that helped me form a large part of my opinion about drugs.

Through shows like "Uncle Ed’s Musical Memories", "Amos ‘n' Andy", "Marion’s Attic", "Fred Flintstone’s Music Show", "Idio Audio", "The Album Zone", "The Pab Sungenez Project", "The RMF Show", "Pan Global Wireless", "The Lumpy Gravy Radio Show", "867-5309", and various things that Michael Ketter did, I was exposed to music, comedy and entertainment that both amused and educated me.

In hosts like the above-mentioned Tim Tron, Larry and Jane and Michael Ketter, I discovered interesting people who cared about more than just their day-to-day lives. I also really enjoyed "Allan Wiener Worldwide", the adventures of a guy in small-town northern Maine trying (and succeeding) to run a radio station.

I also want to give a special mention to Johnny Lightning and "Radio New York International." JL’s show is certainly a combination of all the attributes mentioned above. Johnny particularly helped me make sense of the world in those years when I was going to the School For The Blind.

Happy anniversary Wbcq. I certainly hope you’ll stay on the air for years to come with the same admirable free speech policy. Though the quality of the general programming has varied over the years depending on the clients you have at any given time, I’ve always found something interesting to listen to week after week.

Sincerely,
Alex Horton

WELCOME TO THE ALEX HORTON BLOG

Welcome to the Alex Horton blog. This will be a blog featuring a variety of topics. If you check this blog, you will find a number of things: book reviews, comments on news, maybe even a recipe. Check back often, you never know what you'll find.