tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63599742009-09-21T12:34:14.744-06:00Oi! Thump!A second attempt at a blog about... things. Punk Rock, Edmonton, Politics, Punk Rock Politics in Edmonton, Archaeology, Sports, RPGing, plus whatever elses pings off my brain when I'm in a writing mood. Elsewhere I am known as "Chunklets."Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.comBlogger455125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-88661599470436911902009-03-13T14:07:00.002-06:002009-03-13T14:24:38.246-06:00Hail and Farewell, Sort OfWell, as I'm sure you've noticed, there's not been a lot of thumping going on over here lately. In fact, there hasn't been any thumping for almost exactly a year. And it is my sad duty to inform you that this post will probably be the last bit of thumping done here.So that's the bad news, maybe. The good news, maybe, is that I have another blog. I've been over there Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-83651067108835432532008-03-08T18:14:00.002-07:002008-03-08T18:20:27.949-07:00Incestuous Little Bastards, Aren't They!From an article in The Guardian:Brodie did his PhD in political science at the University of Calgary under Ted Morton, an American-born former academic and activist and known as the dean of the "Calgary school", an intellectual movement that has remade Canadian conservatism along American-lines.Yeah, that's this Ted Morton. Hat-Tip to The Galloping Beaver.Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-40110873034428143232008-03-05T13:25:00.002-07:002008-03-05T13:31:35.730-07:00Submitted with SadnessDungeons and Dragons creator dies Gary Gygax, co-creator of the first role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, has died at the age of 69.If you totalled up the number of hours I've spent playing D&D, and some of its offshoots, sin I began as a wee sprout in Junior Hight School, it would probably total something like a year of my life.R.I.P., and Thank You, to Gary Gygax, Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-61622911035508677952008-03-04T18:03:00.004-07:002008-03-08T18:20:52.640-07:00Random Thoughts on the Events of YesterdayInsert Obvious Caption HereThe size of the Tory majority was greater than I'd thought it would be.The size of the voter turnout was smaller than expected. These two points may be related.The Wildrose Alliance Party got deservedly shut out.Craig Chandler did not get elected.Rachel Notley did, so virtue, in that small regard, triumphed.The Tories may now Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-21730667095404804612008-03-03T12:56:00.003-07:002008-03-03T13:13:35.688-07:00'Tis Election Day!So, we're straggling off to the polls today through the remnants of a late-winter/early-spring snowfall. Well, in all likelihood, something less than 50% of registered voters are doing that. It's provincial election day here, and this time, there's actually some interest in what the results are going to be! The Tories will be ecstatic if their majority grows, or at least Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-15749012763773908462008-02-05T13:27:00.000-07:002008-02-05T13:41:13.452-07:00A Provincial Election. We Haz It.Alberta premier calls electionJason Markusoff and Archie McLean, edmontonjournal.comPublished: Monday, February 04EDMONTON - And they're off - and they're all in favour of ending health-care premiums.Conservative Leader Ed Stelmach formally announced a March 3 election this afternoon, hours after his government's throne speech said the Tories would eliminate Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-57791645192051595702008-01-29T16:10:00.000-07:002008-01-29T16:27:57.071-07:00R.I.P.So, we lost a good one last week: Ex-Alberta NDP leader diesBy Jim Macdonald, THE CANADIAN PRESSEDMONTON - Pam Barrett was a firecracker of Alberta politics who fought for the little guy, never backed away from a scrap and became a respected opponent of her political foes. The former leader of the Alberta New Democrats died in hospital Monday night after a two-year battle with cancer. She Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-45276688115607489032008-01-29T11:25:00.000-07:002008-01-29T11:38:42.396-07:00Insert Bitching About The Weather Here!Yes, it is cold here (our little thermometer bottomed out this morning, so at the warmest it was -40). Edmonton Transit, to their eternal credit, has broken out the cold-weather protocols - increased frequency of busses, express routes stopping where they usually don't, etc. However, it's gonna be nasty around here for the next few days. At least the windBazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-12318432487981553922008-01-18T14:13:00.000-07:002008-01-18T14:38:57.161-07:00Friday Archaeology BloggingInteractive EditionGentle readers, I am need of your aid. I've been working on a little project related to Greek mythology, and in the course of it I came across this image:Click the image for a truly gigantic version.The provenance of the piece is unknown, although it originally decorated the base of a statue of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, and probably dates to Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-42556726258493196392008-01-18T14:04:00.000-07:002008-01-18T14:08:04.920-07:00Click!!Click here - you know you want to! (Friday Archaeology Blogging will be along shortly)Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-23064533953157284222008-01-11T14:50:00.000-07:002008-01-11T15:56:30.191-07:00Friday Archaeology BloggingClose to Home EditionFirst off, Happy New Year to everyone!Now, down to business! We've had archaeological happenings right here in Edmonton over the past few days! The city is in the midst of extending the LRT (that's the subway, in case anyone's wondering, although the current stretch is above ground) into the south side of Edmonton, and the other day the Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-73670628082194750242007-12-22T15:53:00.000-07:002007-12-22T16:02:39.994-07:00Holiday Hiatus!Blogging is likely to be rare around here until about New Year's Day, at which point normal service will be resumed! In the meantime, Buon Natale to all!Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-11032698104610917722007-12-19T18:09:00.000-07:002007-12-19T18:19:00.430-07:00The World's Smallest Violin Plays Just For Craig ChandlerRejected Tory candidate declares Independent runLast Updated: Monday, December 17, 2007 | 12:42 PM MT CBC News Rejected provincial Tory candidate Craig Chandler announced Monday he will run as an Independent in Calgary-Egmont.Probably inevitable. Chandler, in fact, is bringing along a few of his fellow fundamentalist travellers to run in Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-9063818821936449712007-12-15T14:53:00.000-07:002007-12-16T16:42:58.618-07:00Friday Archaeology BloggingArrrrrrrrrrrrrh, Matey EditionPirate of the Caribbean’s ship is discoveredJames Bone in New York The discovery of Captain Kidd's 300-year-old ship in the Caribbean could provide final proof that the Scottish privateer did not deserve to be hanged as a pirate and his rotting body left on public view. The wreck of the fabled Quedagh Merchant has been located in 10ft Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-45891326287552036192007-12-14T15:42:00.000-07:002007-12-14T15:48:28.521-07:00Sad NewsWriter Pratchett has Alzheimer'sBy SIMON NEVILLETHE best-selling fantasy author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.I have been a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's books ever since the first time I read one of them (it was Hogfather, for the record). Pratchett is, in my humble opinion, funnier than Douglas Adams (for one thing, he's not as Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-50019654085193691092007-12-13T16:20:00.000-07:002007-12-13T16:36:32.907-07:00Lame Moments in Sports Nos. 17-10286 baseball players singled out as having taken performance-enhancing drugs (warning: link opens a PDF). 86!!!! Now, this is, of course, not as horrendous a thing, as, say, this horrendous thing, but it's still a bit of a shock, and baseball fans have got to be a pretty angry bunch today. Two current Blue Jays were mentioned: Troy Glaus (this suprised nobody -Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-7212408026437717142007-12-07T14:45:00.000-07:002007-12-07T15:56:47.199-07:00Friday Archaeology BloggingNo Romans This Time EditionArchaeologists dig up 4300-year-old cityFrom correspondents in BeijingDecember 04, 2007 05:56pmCHINESE archaeologists have dug up what is believed to be a 4300-year-old city that could be the capital of China's oldest dynasty, state press said today.The ancient city was believed to be part of the Liangzhu culture dated back to neolithic times Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-9986826687900720542007-12-05T16:12:00.000-07:002007-12-05T16:17:47.669-07:00It Is To WeepQ: What's worse than an ignoramus?A: A stubborn ignoramus.From the Huffington Post, via The Woodshed.Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-12609784071003208542007-12-04T16:08:00.000-07:002007-12-04T16:31:04.009-07:00Provincial Tory Leader in Smart Political Move ShockerTories veto candidate's nominationCalling himself a 'martyr' for the cause, social conservative weighs next moveKATHERINE O'NEILL December 3, 2007EDMONTON -- An outspoken social conservative has been denied a chance to run for the Alberta Progressive Conservative party, as the country's oldest reigning political dynasty readies for a tough Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-83392020679609737942007-12-01T16:04:00.000-07:002007-12-01T16:16:09.853-07:00Worse and Worse...Dziekanski still alive by the time medical help arrived: RCMPLast Updated: Saturday, December 1, 2007 | 2:38 PM ET CBC News The RCMP and the Richmond B.C. fire department appear to be offering conflicting accounts as to whether Robert Dziekanski was already dead by the time medical help arrived.Given everything that has happened so far, I'm going to believe the fire department Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-80953245413471268762007-11-30T11:07:00.000-07:002007-11-30T17:44:11.119-07:00Friday Archaeology BloggingPre-Roman Italy EditionSo, I thought today that I'd babble on about some of the peoples inhabiting Italy prior to the Roman domination. There were quite a number, many of them ethnically or linguistically related to the Romans, and some of them definitely not. Here's a small sample, working roughly from the South of the peninsula to the North. I've provided only veryBazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-54737845364857864152007-11-28T17:44:00.000-07:002007-11-28T18:11:09.336-07:00Fun With U.S. College FootballI'm not the biggest fan of college football, although a brief inhabitation of Ypsilanti, Michigan, during the 1990s (reason: there was a girl) means that I keep a bit an eye on the fate of the University of Michigan Wolverines. However, this fall there have been a number of laugh-out-loud incidents in the collegiate gridiron game south of the border. Allow me to Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-72479021910961765332007-11-24T16:00:00.000-07:002007-11-24T16:08:13.937-07:00Australia Punts Bush SupporterAustralia sweeps Rudd into power Australia's opposition Labor Party under Kevin Rudd has won a sweeping general election victory, removing PM John Howard after an 11-year term. Mr Rudd said Australia had "looked to the future" and that he would be "a prime minister for all Australians". Correspondents say key changes will be the start of a troop pullout from Iraq Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-40106606340113485932007-11-24T15:40:00.000-07:002007-11-24T15:56:29.320-07:00Friday Archaeology BloggingSlightly Less Late Edition.Some time ago, we did a post on the discovery of Lupercale, the cave wherein the ancient Romans believed that Romulus and Remus had been nursed by a she-wolf. Well, we finally have pictures!As you can see, the mosaic decorations in the cave are extremely elaborate, as would befit a place with that type of ritual significance. However, wait aBazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359974.post-25526250285374644912007-11-22T17:17:00.000-07:002007-12-04T16:32:19.305-07:00Hmmm... This Could Become An Election IssueSo, the good people of Calgary-Egmont have gone ahead and nominated Craig Chandler as Tory candidate in the upcoming provincial election. However, hang on a sec':Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach says Tory party officials will review the nomination of a candidate who was sanctioned by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for hateful remarks about gays.I bet Bazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899088339561116155noreply@blogger.com0