h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

today's exam was good, still one to go, but it'll be alright. got my confidence back now which is all good. i just wrote and wrote and wrote some more, until all the time had been eaten up by my pen on the paper.

just two days now until the end of exams, the end of the year, the start of the "holidays," and GUY FAWKES. i'm just a wee bit excited - never has a year felt soooo looooooong

hmm, I'd start to worry when they start feeling sooooo short

Very Good -
Guy Fawkes? Please expalin to an uninformed Canuck.
Summer vacation seems a long ways away for me. Heck so does any vacation.

tried to blow up the houses of parliment in London, and with it king
james the first. 1605 (or so my diary says)

Nov 5th is an excuse for big fireworks parties, similar to 4th july, but much, much colder & with a far more sinister background - it commorates the death of a revolutionary, and seems to have become an event in order to remind people what happens when you mess with the gov. to this end dummies of guy fawkes are thrown on the bonfires!

sorry, thats my bit of socio-political analyeses. mostly we get to buy fireworks & make stuff go bang!

Glad the exam was good Span, much luck with the next one!

H&K
Z

Interesting
Thanks for the info.
Now I'll need to find out why this Commonwealth Shin Dig is not celebrated here in Canada.

Maybe we should have a FLQ day, or Lasagna Day.....

There's an editorial waiting to happen.

On lasagna day would you get to blow it up. Or make a huge lasagna effigy and bung it on a bonfire? Sounds great! How about we make it a worldwide holiday, I've got nothing on Saturday 13th November, is that OK with everyone else?

I think to counter Zed's point I would say it commerorates (sp?)
a victory for democracy over violent extremists..

Has there ever really been a victory of democracy over violent extremists....

Given that discription July 4th should be a wake. And how should we feel about what's going on in East T right now.....

Hey did you folks here that the UN has told the US to put up the cash they owe or get out, deadline being the end of the year.

cheers

Actually . . . . .
Lasagna was the code name of one of the leaders of the Mohawk Warriors that barricaded an area outside a town in Qubec. The warriors were helping the local reserve fend off the town building a Golf course on an Indian Burial Ground. The troops were called in and the whole thing was very nasty. One of the enduring images of the Oka Crisis is Lasagna standing toe to toe with a Soldier in some sort of stare down.
He passed away this past week.

cheers

Thats why I said lasagna and not lasagne (isn't that the new car from Renault, sorry my mistake thats Laguna).

Now I'm Confused.

What about me?

this lasagna guy sounds a bit like te whiti, although he was totally into non-violence. the siege of parihaka was on nov 5th too, which i found out yesterday and found a bit spooky. i don't know enough about parihaka yet to explain it well but basically it was a peaceful resistance to the british colonisers in nz (no offence to any brits out there) and te whiti used a lot of tactics used decades later by gandhi. it never used to get talked about much here (there still isn't much talk about history that isn't foreign really) but tim finn (who was in crowded house for a while - does this ring any bells) wrote a song about it. and we don't burn guys anymore in nz, although i'm not sure why (although i'm glad).

span

Te Whiti Day eh?
Lasagna Day.
Sounds like a winning combination.
Of course here is another thought.
I assume (sorry about making you an a**, Its a title I'm fine with)
they are both aboriginal. First Nations people.
I continue to find it encouraging how growing anti euro-centralism is leading to the uncovering and recognition of these types of stories.
Here is another question ,
I heard a story this week.
Australia preparing for public recognition of the role of Aboriginals.
but I only captured a portion of it
Is this tied in with the big referendum this weekend?
Canada has contradictory stances on their First Nations.
Sounds like Cdn Legislation is progressive in comparison to Australia's in this matter. (no offense)
Where does NZ rate on the scale with its First Nations.
cheers

oh i just had an exam on this stuff - see you guys have a case called R v Sparrow which means that in considering stuff in regards to land and resources indigenous concerns should be upheld unless there is a conservation reason not to. people are trying to get it followed here (in fact it kind-of was in a case about whales, but it hasn't really been since).

basically the treaty of waitangi (te tiriti o waitangi) was signed in 1840, and the two versions (maori and english) are quite different in terms of what they mean. until 1993 the treaty was largely ignored by the courts and Parliament anyway, although there was some progression in the eighties, corresponding with a maori renaissance. there are pockets of good progressive things happening but much of the country, particularly in the provinces, are quite redneck and conservative, because there is very little education about new zealand history in schools and most new zealanders don't even know what the treaty says (although it is supposed to be the founding document of nz and is actually quite short).

there was a lot of assimilation of maori until the eighties, but no one ever really talks about that. i'm in no way an expert, and what i've learnt has only been over the past four years. i learnt basically nothing at school, and what i have learnt since has largely been through treaty workshops held at conferences i've been at. although they teach you quite a bit about it at law school too i've found, which is surprising. most law students hate it, because they've never learnt any of it before and they feel like they're being accused (because they're predominantly white and from predominantly white schools) which they're not, but when you're encountering these issues for the first time it's easy to feel like people are trying to make you feel guilty.

beware, i could go on and on about this
span

Very interesting,

Right now there has been a huge supreme court case here that has launched the whole issue into ths spot light. Seems one of the First Treaties Signed in Canada with the Micmac along the East Coast has had a ruling. The courts Read the agreement, minutes of meetings (next to impossible to deal with the actual wording because negotiators left out items because the idigenouse weren't literate in some cases), and a variety of supporting documents. In the recent Marshal Decision the courts now state that Micmac have the inherent right to hunt, fish and gather year round. Not a problem normally.

But with the crashed Cod fishery Lobster is now the only money maker out there. Once the Marshal ruling was handed out, Natives took to the waters with traps. Out of normal season. So the **it hit the fan, and the issue is heating up.

As a note, an interesting read on a nation back tracking on their first nations acknowledgement is the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Released by the Canadian Government in 95, 96. Very interesting, very comprehensive, and very ignored. Any international help would be appreciated.

As an additional note give Dead Dog Cafe a Hit off CBC, and you can hear Fire Side Friendly Bear read a selection.

cheers