Dog On A Root

- jim Young 1993/0621/20080227/20130227 It’s funny how many things we accept without question. Like the theory that no two snowflakes are alike. Whoever said there are no two snowflakes alike? We've heard it since we were children and were taught it was an absolute truth until we no longer questioned the reasoning behind it. I think there is a very good possibility that there are, somewhere out there, two snowflakes that are alike. Not 100% identical maybe, but very much alike. After all they do have some things in common. They all have 6 points (although that is another “truth” that I might challenge at a different time) they are all made of crystallized water, etc. Who has examined so many snowflakes that they can categorically state there are no two alike? Did this person take a cross section percentage of snowflakes in the same manner that Neilsen determines TV ratings to arrive at this conclusion? Did he examine a determined number of snowflakes and does he conti...

- jim Young 19920221/20080302/20200122 Does anyone need to be reminded that it's income tax time? Each year at this time I have to ponder the original purpose of income tax in Canada as a temporary measure to help finance World War II. As far as I know, World War II is over and has been for some time. Did we really go into debt that much? It's kind of like the introduction to dog licenses to compensate farmers for livestock lost to packs of wild dogs. The road to hell is, in fact, paved with good intentions. As I sit down at my computer (which I hope to be able to write off this year) to prepare my claims for my tax auditor, I cannot resist the urge to play with some of my computer's fancy features. My graph program for instance, paints a very clear picture of where my money goes. My boss has an incredible ability to look at columns and columns of numbers and be able to make some sense of it. Charts and graphs, however are the only real way to put things into pers...

- jim Young 20080307/20200121 “Religion is like a pair of shoes.....Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes.” -George Carlin You’ve seen them. Emails abound that complain about taking the Lord’s Prayer out of our schools. This is often done under the guise that we seem to be letting the minorities dictate our new policies. One remedy seems to be to allow the students of different religious faiths to leave the room while Christian religious prayers are being held. I remember when I was in High School we had a Jehovah’s Witness that was excused from the classroom for morning exercises each day while the rest of the class stood for O’ Canada and then recited the Lord’s Prayer. I felt sorry for her. I can only imagine the embarrassment that she must have endured having been singled out so. Isn’t this segregation? Is this what we really want for our children? I didn’t agree with her religious beliefs at the time – but I always held a great degree of ...

- jim Young 20000924/20010121 Nobody let on that he saw nothing, for then he would not be fit for his post, or else he was a fool. Never before had the Emperor’s clothes been so successful!  ‘But he hasn’t anything on’ said a little child. ‘Oh listen to the innocent,’ said his father. And what the child had said was whispered from one person to the other. ‘He has nothing on – a child says he has nothing on!’ ‘But he has nothing on!!’ cried all the people at last. - Hans Christian Anderson, from The Emperor’s New Clothes I remember the first time the boy child used the word “fuck” in front of his mother and I. His mother freaked and demanded that the boy child be put down. I could see by the expression on the boy child's face that he had just discovered a very powerful and valuable tool. He was in grade one and had heard the word used by his friends. Not realizing the significance or meaning of the word, the boy child had used it in a very innocent and casual manner. It ...

- jim Young (191112) When someone says, “He’s a good guy once you get to know him,” what they’re really saying is “He’s an asshole, but you’ll get used to it.” - anon When Don Cherry referred to immigrants as “you people” , suggesting they should be wearing a poppy in support of the  “these guys”  that “paid for your way of life”  what he was overlooking was “these guys” were actually defending the way of life that allows the “you people” as well as every other Canadian to choose if they would like to wear a poppy or not. Let’s be honest here. Not every Canadian, whether immigrant or natural born, wear poppies in support of veterans. “These guys” paid for every one of us to choose which causes we would like to support. Or not. However it should also be remembered that “these guys” also paid for Don Cherry’s right to voice his opinion; at least as Don Cherry if not a spokesman for Sportsnet. Afterall, “these guys” likewise paid for Sportsnet’s right to de...

- jim Young 191106 “In my home, Christmas and its decorations do not diminish the memory of our vets, it enhances them. Christmas and its decorations do not disrespect the memory of our vets, it honours them.” - jim Young I would like to know who started the notion that it is disrespectful to decorate for Christmas before Remembrance Day. This was not something I remember growing up with and it seems to be a recent concept. I suspect it evolved from those people who are annoyed that stores start displaying Christmas decorations even before Hallowe’en. Here’s a little known secret. The reality is EVERY business only sells their Christmas decorations during one brief time of the year. It begins when the majority of their customers START buying them and ends when the majority of their customers STOP buying them. How do they determine when this time is? Their computerized cash register receipts tell them so. If the public quits buying them early in the season, the stores...

- jim Young 20191025 It's Hallowe'en,  the lamp is lit, And 'round the fire,  we children sit, 'Til sister Susie says "Hushhhhhh!" What's that peeking 'round the kitchen door? What's that creeping ‘cross the bedroom floor? What's that screeching like it’s throat is sore? It's a GOBLIN! - anon I remember sitting in the darkened living room in Gramma Young’s house in Stroud on Hallowe’en night singing this song with my 3 sisters. By the end of the first verse, I was so terrified that I would not dare venture into the dining room without the protection of one of my older sisters by my side, her hand held tightly in mine. "What's that screeching like it's throat is sore?" That was the fun of Hallowe’en - scaring ourselves silly. It was scarier than the wooden roller coaster at the CNE. The darkness of night had already arrived when Dad got home from work to help us carve the pumpkin. Lit with a candle a...