I'm Right, You're Left

I have joined an online conservative community with the hope of understanding conservatives better. I think it’s only fair to listen to both sides to better understand why people have a particular line of thought. The online forums (discussions) have been interesting to say the least. People usually start a topic by posting a news article that will usher responses of agreement or disagreement in unison. If anyone disagrees (for usually leaning left) they are targeted for rebuttal and often insulted. I’ve already been on the receiving end of this.

The generalizations are overwhelming and issues are extremely black and white. You’re either with us or against us is the mantra. Conservatives are good and Liberals are bad. Bush is good and the media is bad for making Bush look bad. There is no grey area.

A few people have offered straight answers without resorting to name calling. I appreciate the open mindedness of those who are willing to listen and discuss. It has definitely given me a new perspective on things.

Hoher Kasten Geocache

Last Saturday afternoon we went hiking and found the Hoher Kasten Geocache. The weather was foggy in St. Gallen and Weinfelden, so we made a point of going above the fog line. What a view!

The Da Vinci Code

I just finished The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and I don’t recall ever finishing a book so quickly. It is no wonder that the book topped the New York Times Best Seller List and will soon be made into a movie.

I won’t say much about the plot (that’s for you to read and discover), but what bothered me about the book was the fuzzy line between fact and fiction. Of course the story is fiction, but I’m talking about the claims that Brown makes about actual historical events and figures such as the crusades, Da Vinci, Pope, Newton, Jesus and others. Brown claims that 99% of his historical references are true but many web sites claim the opposite. So what is one to believe? A non historian like myself is left stranded knowing that some of what he writes is true. But how much?

The book is a lot of fun, but you just need to pretend that Da Vinci and Newton were not real people.

A Short History Of Nearly Everything

I recently finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The book is a simple introduction to both the classical and modern sciences and covers topics such as cosmology, quantum mechanics, relativity, evolution, and nearly everything else. What made this book so interesting was that Bryson is not a scientist. He’s a writer (and a good one to say the least) and this clearly works in his favour. Bryson covers each topic with the history of the men and women involved and their often humerous or tragic ending in the pursuit of science. At times I had to put the book down to ponder what I had just read. At other times I was laughing too hard to continue.

Bryson’s book won him an Aventis Science Book Prize for Scientific Writing (2004) and he was the first nonscientist ever to win. Bryson donated the £10,000 prize (which was matched by the Aventis Foundation) to the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity. Way to go Bill!

No matter who you are, this book will definitely offer you moments of, “Wow! I didn’t know that!” Go buy it and enjoy.

German Cup

What a fun night! Last night I was with Bryan at the Canada vs Switzerland hockey match for the German Cup. We had front row seats but unfortunately couldn’t see much through the dirty plexiglass. No matter. It was a fun game, we had some good laughs, and there were many other Canadian fans. Canada scratched by with a win after a shootout.

This morning I visited the optometrist and confirmed that I’m due for glasses. I last had my eyes checked three years ago and was told that I’d likely need glasses in my 30s. I thought this meant sometime in my 30s and not when I am 30! No matter, this news was of no surprise or bad news and I’m looking forward to having sharp vision again. Perhaps I’ll go for laser eye surgery in a few years, if possible.

After this news I called my health insurance to find out if they would subsedize the cost of the glasses. With the basic insurance, I was told, they would pay CHF 200.- on the condition that the prescription was completed by an eye doctor and not an optometrist. They also noted that the cost of such a doctor visit would cost more than CHF 200.-, so it would probably not be in my best interest to visit the eye doctor or to make the claim. I then asked if my "Zusatzversicherung" (an optional complimentary insurance) would cover the costs and was told that this insurance wasn’t valid since I had cancelled it. This is true, but their policy only allowed the cancellation to take effect in 2005 (2 months from now). They finally conceeded that I would receive the CHF 200.- subsidy. If I actually get the money remains open.

[Update: I received the money. :)]

In university I learned about a statistical tool called the “correlation coefficient", which is a measure of relationship between two sets of data. Without getting into the messy statistics, take a look at this link that shows and discusses the correlation between voter IQ and the candidate they voted for. You can also click on the thumbnail to see the summary. It’s a good thing that Bush wants to improve education.

Another funny article reports that web site traffic for the Department of Citizen and Immigration Canada shot up by a factor of six after the announcement of Bush’s win.

[Update: Apparently this IQ vs voter thing is a hoax.]

I didn’t think this could happen. After converting Iraq into a petridish for terrorists, lossing explosives, finding no WMDs, lying about Saddam’s connection to 9/11 (which many Republicans believe), alienating the world, dividing the country, and finally human rights violations, how could he possilby be elected? I just don’t understand it!!?

Diana Krall

Last night I saw Diana Krall in concert at the Kongresshaus in Zurich. We had premium second row seats that gave us a great view of the band and her. The first half of the show was dry and Diana had difficulty connecting with her audience. She seemed grumpy and expressed it in her playing. By midpoint of the show she had finally relaxed, started smiling, making jokes, and was interacting with the audience. In summary it was a good show, despite her ugly dress. I normally wouldn’t dwell on somebody’s clothes, but this dress was really bad!

Oh Canada!

My girlfriend and I just arrived back from a lovely two-week holiday in Ontario, Canada. The company, weather, and fall colours could simply not have been better.

We arrived on 2 October and spent the first two nights with my brother’s family in Carp, Ontario. We rested, hiked, and enjoyed the company of Nadia, Colleen, Aidan, and Peter.

On the 4th we jumped into the rental car and made our way to Kawigamog Lake in Muskoka. The drive took us through the heart of Ontario including the southern part of Algonquin National Park. The indescive weather switched between rain and sun and provided a gorgeous backdrop to the fall colours.

At Kawigamog Lake was our cottage that we had rented for the following four nights. We had more perfect weather for hiking, canoeing, some swimming, and sight seeing. We even caught ourselves whispering at times due to the overwhelming peace and silence.

On the 8th we packed the car and headed north to Sudbury. The weather wasn’t so great, but that didn’t stop us from making a stop in Killarney for Fish & Chips and a short walk to the Killarney Lighthouse. We arrived later that afternoon at my parent’s home for the Thanksgiving weekend.

The weekend consisted of a visit to Science North, Bell Park, geocaching, photography and the Cup & Saucer Trail on Manitoulin Island. I was left speechless by the island colours. I had never seen them so intense before.

On the 12th we left Sudbury and returned to Ottawa for the final few days of our trip. We stayed again with my brother’s family and spent the time shopping, hiking, visiting friends, and playing with Nadia and Aidan.

The trip left me with great memories and a small yearning to return. It was difficult leaving but not difficult to return to Switzerland.

Photos are online!

Can Bush Win?

The US Election scares me. Can Bush actually win a second term? How is this possible for somebody who mislead the country into war? Yes, mislead. Can you remember the marketing campaign that Iraq had stockpiles of WMDs? Surprise! There were no WMDs (just as the weapon inspectors had asserted) and Bush has now a new justification for the war: Humanitarian grounds and Saddam’s capacity for building WMDs. Sounds like doublethink to me, and roughly 50% of American voters don’t seem to care.

Regardless if Bush acted on the best available intelligence and regardless of how flawed it was, this war was started on his watch and therefore he is accountable. That alone (plus much, much more) is enough reason that he must go.

Summer 2004

I was thinking of what a great summer it has been. In April I made a trip to Louisiana for the New Orleans Jazz Festival, in May I went to Canada for a wedding, in June I turned 30 and celebrated with a number of friends and coworkers, in July I took a week off and cycled the Swiss Aarau Route (325km) and visited London and saw two musicals, in August I visited a client in South Africa for two weeks and went for a balloon ride in eastern Switzerland, and today I returned from a hiking weekend in the Graubünden kanton of Switzerland.

The hike was long, painful, but fun. The weather could not have cooperated better and the company was great. The downside was a twisted foot that I’m still being reminded of when I walk. I’m questioning if low-cut trekkers are suitable for this type of hiking. Today we were all in too much pain to bother returning to the mountains, so we opted for a day at the beach instead.

This Is A Lie

With political books or movies there is opposition waiting to smear and discredit the author and message. The accusations are returned and then returned again. This is politics.

I've been thinking about this cycle since reading Al Franken's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them". In his book he directly accuses (with references and examples) a handful of conservatives of being liars. Since then, I have found numerous web sites dedicated to discrediting him and his work. The same behaviour can be found with leftist Michael Moore (Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, Stupid White Men, Fahrenheit 9/11, etc.) and Bjørn Lomborg (The Skeptical Environmentalist), and so on.

I find it difficult to take sides when any claim of truth is followed by accusations of incompentence and cluelessness. So what is truth, I asked myself? To my surprise I found the following dictionary definition:

truth ( P ) Pronunciation Key (trth)
n. pl. truths (trthz, trths)

1. Conformity to fact or actuality.
2. A statement proven to be or accepted as true.
3. Sincerity; integrity.
4. Fidelity to an original or standard.
5. 
   
1. Reality; actuality.
2. often Truth That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.

I couldn't believe what I read. The factuality of a statement can be false, but truthful if accepted as being true, by definition! So telling the truth is a matter of being charasmatic, persuasive, and deceitful, even if what is said is factual.

This isn't anything new. Politics has always been about pursuading the masses for a vote. However, I never expected the behaviour of accepted lying to be defined as truth!

Swiss and AA Suck

A few months ago I purchased an economy-class ticket to New Orleans with American Airlines. I'm a music fan and wanted to attend the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival. It was a great festival, I met some cool people, and I hope to attend again some year.

The choice of flying with American Airlines was partially due to cost but mostly due to the Travelclub partnership with Swiss. Travelclub is your basic loyalty and rewards program where customers can accumulate points and later spend them on rewards such as a free flight.

After returning from New Orleans, I completed the points claim form and had it rejected. After a telephone call to Travelclub I learned that I flew in a booking class that did not qualify for points. I was confused. Didn't economy count?

Apparently American Airlines has numerous booking classes and I happened to be in a class that did not qualify. This wasn't clear when I booked the flight: My online agent Ebookers.ch only notified me that I was flying in economy. Had I been in class A, B, C, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q (only if sold outside Europe), R, S, V, W, Y, or X I would have been eligible for the points. I flew class O.

I'm disappointed with Swiss, American Airlines, and Ebookers for obscurring this information. American Airlines has a complicated booking system (23+ classes?!) that only came to light after I got screwed. In the end, I missed the fine print and I'm not surprised. I'm certain it's somebody's job to do this.

Language Barriers

Moving to Switzerland has been challenging. "…just there [in Europe] it’s a little different." said Vincent to Jules on their way to a job in Pulp Fiction.

The differences are too numerous to mention, but likely the biggest challenge to a migrant is the language. Switzerland has four official languages, three are widely spoken, and one is local to Switzerland. Swissgerman is the language of eastern Switzerland and is spoken by roughly 64% of the population. There are many dialect flavours and the Swiss pride themselves on being able to tell where a person is from by the way they say hello or "Gruezi".

The dialect is difficult, so difficult that even native German speakers can’t understand it. However, with pratice, time, and some understanding of normal (high) German, I can now understand about 70% of what is spoken depending on the context, who is speaking, and how loud the music is.

Swissgerman isn’t really required to live here. It’s rare that I meet somebody who can’t speak English, and even a rarer that they can’t speak high German. So conversing with the individual isn’t a problem unless we simply have nothing to talk about.

It’s with groups that I’m screwed. I don’t want nor expect everyone to switch to English or high German for me. It just won’t happen because it’s not natural for them to speak to each other in these languages. What does happen is that conversation flies over me, I understand the odd sentence without context, and look lost when people break out in laughter. The challenge is not to look bored. My helpless face will sometimes buy a translation, but by then the joke is already long past.

It’s an inevitable part of living here that will only subside once I master the language, and that will only come about by submersing myself in such situations where Swissgerman will be spoken. I realize this isn’t anybody’s fault, but will this take another 3.5 years?

Painful Lesson

Today after four years I visited the dentist. I never feared the scraper and light in my youth. Visits were a mere formality to hear that everything was in good working order. In my 30 years I only had one cavity and oral surgery to remove my four wisdom teeth.

Perhaps my over confidence for dental hygiene caught up with me. Today I learned that a root canal is required on one of my teeth. This didn’t come as a shock, but rather as disappointment for procrastinating. Four years! It was neglect that caused this. No other reason. Now I have to go through the procedure and pay through the nose. There is a lesson here somewhere.