An Environment of No’s

As taken from my Master’s Thesis. Escalation of Commitment…or committing to a “failing” course of action:

Antarctica's Underground Sphere-Cathedral - BLDGBLOG

“In many respects the South Pole at the turn of the 20th century was an environment of no’s.  There was no point of reference.  There was no large geographical landmark announcing, “here I am”.  There was no large hole in the ground staked with a massive pole obtrusion or place name.  There was no marker.  There was no obvious tell tale sign that an objective had been reached.  There was no support for life. There was nothing there but wind: a wind so cold and bitter that it was life sucking. It was as if the wind gods had found a place on earth to vent their anger unabated.  A howling, deafening non – prevailing wind with snow and blizzard and drift that was constant only in its relentless power.  A non-prevailing confused and chaotic maelstrom because there was no direction here – except north.  There was no warm southwesterly, steady westerly or an easterly.  Everywhere one turned one was facing north.  There was only the bitter north wind.  And coming from all directions!

And there was nothing at the South Pole except a frigid, blinding white desert plain projecting a desolate and frighteningly yet awesome picture of nature – at its best and at its worst: a lifeless, broad, flat, monotonous stretch of frozen landscape that stretched as far as the eye could see – in every direction.  In the summer months there was 24 hours of sunshine but with it came an incessant blinding glare.  In the wintertime an eternal darkness fell over the land like a veil of silence in death:  a darkness that was made all the more eerie and dangerous with temperatures dropping off the bottom of the Fahrenheit scale.  And everywhere one looked it was always the same.  There were no distinctions.  Only wind and drift and snow and ice.  An ice that was so pervasive, it was everywhere. Ice – in crystallized air. Ice – in frozen breath. Ice – in frozen sweat.  The south polar plateau was an icy land that was both hypnotically breathtaking as it was nomadically restless.  Ice that was over a mile thick.  Ice that permeated and smothered every secret that the land may hold.  Ice that moved.  Ice that scorched a path across a barren landscape. Ice that was so relentless and unwavering in its slow glaciated crawl across the south polar plateau toward the Trans-Antarctica Mountains.  Ice that fell in precipitous icefalls: down expansive glaciers that were bordered by mountains over 15,000 feet in height.  Towering granite peaks, like sentinels, these mountains protected a high frozen polar ice prairie that was home to a non descript geographical point of the earth that was the frozen underbelly of the world.  The South Pole was indeed cold and inhospitable. It was a terrible place.

SwissEduc - Glaciers online - Axel Heiberg | Glacier ...

 

And on this land of ice and snow, on this south polar plateau some 10,000 feet above sea level, tales unfolded in an historical context of polar exploration that have since become the source of legend and myth.  Legendary tales of survival, of leadership, of endurance, of courage, of success, of heart rendering self-sacrifice, of depression, of defeat: of men, of dogs, of ponies, of unremitting hunger, of disease, of death.  It is a place of storied heroism, of foolishness, of fickle and fate, of obstinacy and ignorance, of mental breakdown and stupidity.  It is a place of friendship, of camaraderie, of jealousy, and spite.  It is a place of majestic peaks, of icy crags, of hidden crevasses, of bottomless chasms, of pressure ridges, of untold beauty and horrific dangers and suffering.  It is the vast polar plateau, the Beardmore and Axel Heiberg glaciers, the expansive Ross Ice Shelf, The Devil’s Ballroom, McMurdo Sound, the Western Mountains, Katabatic wind, Terror and Erebus, the Bay of Whales.  It is the playground of killer whales, the home of the Emperor and Adele penguin, the Weddell seal, Skuas and the Antarctic petrel.

For some men the South Pole symbolized gentlemanly fulfillment. The Antarctic environment entrapped them into an addiction of exploration and an escalating sense of superhuman accomplishment.  It instilled a sense of unbridled commitment and fulfillment to a cause that was of intellectual importance and of spiritual poetry and propriety.  Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of Robert Falcon Scott’s men and author of one of the best south polar chronicles written “The Worst Journey in the World” (Cherry-Garrard, 1930) described south polar exploration this way: “Exploration is the physical expression of the Intellectual Passion”(Cherry-Garrard, 1930, page 577). Perhaps it was for men brought up on Victorian values. Victorian men who were intellectually nurtured on Browning, Tennyson, Dickens and Darwin, or influenced by Jowett (Hibbert, 1987).  But for many of these men there was also that adolescent like fearlessness and ignorance of the horrific dangers, subtleties and paradox that was the Antarctic.  Reading their stories, their fearlessness and bravado somehow undermined the intellectual passion and poetic romanticism.  For the Antarctic may be in one instant a beautiful thought provoking place.  But in the next it heralds a terrible, frozen death.  Its death knell is both unsuspecting and indistinguishable, but death nevertheless.   For the Antarctic environment knows no glory.  It knows no sense of gentlemanly conduct.  It has no sense of fair play or understanding of intellectual pursuits or passion.  When all is said and done, the Antarctic is not a positive place at all. It is a place of no’s”

Robs Webstek: McMurdo Sound

SJ…Out

A favorite band of mine:

 

 

A Cold Day In Paradise

Another excerpt from a book I am working on. All based on true facts.


It was a cold December day in Hawaii. Who would have thought? A cold day in the tropics seemed to be an oxymoron of tropical life but it was the truth. The temperature dropped to an unusual, unseasonable, unprecedented and unreasonable fifty five degree Fahrenheit. It stayed that way for a week as a cold front stalled and then passed through the Hawaiian chain. It was a sight to behold to see so many Hawaiian locals wearing parkas while the touristos on Waikiki tried as they might to stay warm. They failed. They couldn’t keep warm and none of the hotels had central heating.

Waikiki was deserted. Kalakaua Avenue was deserted. Kapiolani Beach Park was deserted, Ala Moana outdoor shopping mall was deserted. Everything was deserted. Quiet, silent desertion. The relatively new Hilton Hawaiian Village complex was shuttered: awaiting the tropical blizzard that was sure to come with this cold snap perhaps. This was not a problem for me as I was used to this: fifty five degree Fahrenheit was nothing but a cool early spring temperature. It was the first day to wear shorts up in the great white north – even though this was December in Waikiki.

I had been here for almost six months. Acclimatized, I was becoming used to a very nice routine. I did have a job for a time at the Waikikian Reef Hotel as a bus boy. I decided shortly after our first sail to Kauai that I needed to sustain this lifestyle. I did have enough bucks in traveler’s cheques but for me that was not enough. Being frugal – not cheap – frugal, I was determined to support myself throughout this adventure and not to depend or lean on anyone. Unlike Keith, who after many, many months still hadn’t found work. His wife Peggy and Katie their daughter were still slugging it out at the clubhouse kitchen all the while that Keith held his own court on the upper deck. By this time I had many friends and acquaintances so I avoided Keith like a tropical storm.

Having a job here did not come without risks. I was Canadian after all. I did not have a green card or landed immigrant status. If I was caught out working here illegally I could be deported. That would not be good considering the adventure I was about to embark upon. Nevertheless I did my best. The Canadian social insurance number was nine digits long, similar to the US’ except the order. Canada’s was 123-456-789 whereas the American social security number was 123-45-6789. All I had to do was use my own number and change the order as in 123-45-6789. Coupled that with an American home address that I took from a recent relationship I had had with a gal from Boston and voila. Before you could say Johnny Paycheck I had a job.

All was right with my world. I had a job and was making money supporting myself. I had made a few friends – some Aussies, some Kiwis, some Americans – and had an on again off again relationship with an Aussie girl named Pauline. I still missed Nina. Nigel continued to avoid me as if I was Pele’s husband Ku.[1] He kept to himself or kept company with his Brit friends. To my surprise, he took a job in September delivering a large yacht to Vancouver. He linked up with the Dutch owner who was not comfortable returning to Vancouver without an experienced mariner. Lucky for me Nigel fit the bill.

“I should be back the end of November.” He announced one day. “While I am gone try to paint the Akaru-Hime’s hull.” and that was it. Goodbye and good riddance.

The tropical lifestyle catering to the tourists was exciting. Washing dishes and clearing tables was not but hey, I was young fellow without responsibilities. I was living on a sailboat berthed at the affluent Ala Moana Yacht Club. My living room was Waikiki and my backyard was the never-ending, limitless expanse of the Pacific Ocean and the other Hawaiian Islands. Life was indeed good and fruitful. I was living the dream.

“Thank you Lord for thinking about me…” I prayed from time to time. I was forever grateful and never let Him think otherwise…every single day that I lived there.

The restaurant work was interesting, especially the afternoon shift until two in the morning. That was when all of the action and fun took place. There was a lounge adjacent to the restaurant’s kitchen. Along with the restaurant I had to service that lounge as well as an underground beach bar named Davey Jones’ Locker – hauling ice and clean dishes and condiments to and from the kitchen and dishwashing area to these outstations. I liked to think of my working space as my culinary “Headquarters.” I became familiar with most of the staff – mainly women servers and hookers who frequented the place. One of them, named Cindy, took a shine to me but in a plutonic manner. She was at least fifteen years my senior. She would often tease me playfully accusing me of being an imposter.

“If you’re from Boston Jimmy then I am an Eskimo.” She would say to me.

An Eskimo Pie I thought.

“You don’t have the accent, the drawl honey. C’mon, where ya from Jimmy? Canada I think…eh?

She laughed.

“Boston Cindy. Really, I am. I have a refined accent. The Queen’s English don’t ya know.”

She was right of course.

“Yeah right.” she would tease, raise her right eyebrow then throw a kiss my way.

I loved Cindy.

Davey Jones’s Locker was situated next to and below the hotel’s beach pool. There, behind the bar in the dark, musty and very smoky underworld lounge that was decked out in nautical piratical décor, was a large magnified window that stretched the entire breadth of the bar. Here the patrons could watch as the bathers frolicked around in the water of the swimming pool above the bar. Those swimmers that were in the know, especially the woman, would swim down and underwater to the pool side of the window and present themselves as playful teasers to the bar’s patrons. It was good exotic fun.

I had one weird moment while working there. An older man, a Hawaiian, came up to me one evening while I was having my break in the restaurant. He was a large man, as most Hawaiian men are. His face was weathered, his hands calloused and huge. He had a full head of black curly hair that was streaked with gray that bespoke of his age. His features reflected a friendly disposition in a face that was almost cherubic but characterized by years of hard living.

“I have been watching you young man.” He said to me out of the blue.

“Oh?” Was all I could say to him. Why? I thought to myself.

“Yes…yes. I see a great deal of pain through your eyes, as if you have experienced many dark things that you should not have had to witness…at this stage of your life. Yes, many bad things.” He shook his head. “Your facial lines and features tell me many things. You appear much older and much wiser than you would seem to be for a man of your age.

“You do?… I do?… Really? I said.

“I only wish you good things…very good things”

“But I’m only twenty two.” I said.

Not hearing me, he smiled, and then continued. “Soon you will meet Kanaloa, and He’e and other water dwellers. He and they will bring you good luck and help you navigate and cross the great water. But first you must see Kane, and test yourself through him. You will prevail as I see you embraced with Amakua who will wipe away your tears”

Whaaat the Fuuuck? I thought.

He left as abruptly as he showed himself to me.

I shook the vision of him off of my brain cells. That…he…was creepy. Who was Kanaloa? Amakua? And He’..he’..he…eh? I chuckled to myself as then a cold, tingling shiver went up and down my spine. I shuddered…uncontrollably. I will have to ask Cindy

“Pay him no heed Jimmy. He comes in here often and is often drunk. His name is  Kukani but we call him Koo-Koo. He is harmless.”

“But who or what is a Kanaloa, an Amakua, or a Kane Cindy?”

“Beats me Jimmy. Hawaiian folklore perhaps…don’t worry about it.”

But I did. I could not dismiss what he said to me. His visitation left an uneasy feeling in me. Thankfully…in time, I forgot the incident and carried on with my Hawaiian life.

[1] The warrior god and husband of Pele goddess of fire and brimstone.


Check out my other books by clicking on the links at the top of the page.

A very big Hawaiian with a beautiful voice. He died too young.

SJ…Out

Our Happy Home in Memphis Saskatchewan

The end of snow. So says the UN and climate change advocates.

Ooops.

Mt. Norquay (Banff Alberta) set for earliest opening day in 95 year history

Mt. Norquay snow makers, Arnaud Bourdon, left, and Mike “Radar” Rae walk near a large snow gun before the opening day of the 2019 season at Mt. Norquay. RMO FILE PHOTO

You will not hear about that on the CBC.

Meanwhile, global warming hits Saskatchewan on Friday – -27 C.

More records fall as temperatures stay well below normal across Saskatchewan


Why I don’t watch the MSM:

Joe Biden is the biggest beneficiary of a biased media that seemingly will do anything to protect the Democratic Party. If the media covered Biden honestly, he most likely wouldn’t be the Democratic nominee. To put it simply, he doesn’t have what it takes to be president.

That’s precisely why many in the media and Big Tech have worked to protect him. Facebook and Twitter have suppressed or censored information damaging to Biden’s candidacy; much of the media has downplayed negative news stories about him and refused to ask him tough questions, all while pushing dubious, anonymously sourced hit jobs on President Trump.


And the corruption continues as the Liberals avoid a non confidence vote and suppress future ethic oriented investigative committees demanded by the opposition. How? Through NDP support.

Nice government we have here in Canada, where the elected party can get away with everything. Canadian dictatorship. Change the electoral process in this country.


Public Health Agency orders a rush delivery of 50 MILLION syringes

Canadian public health official announces the purchase of 50M syringes.  Day campers in Victoria and across the country are ecstatic on hearing the news:

“No way man. Yes way.’ one was heard to say.

KNOX – The real face of poverty isn’t always the one we ...

But, but, but what about the virus?? What virus?

Justin Trudeau is using taxpayer money to fund Canada’s version of the Southern Poverty Law Center (US Left Leaning Racist Org) and other busy-bodies to paint his political enemies as racist extremists.

Through the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Trudeau Liberals are giving grants to a series of online tattle tales and professional scolds in order to monitor private citizens for “wrongthink” and systemic racism.

Meanwhile, the latest Liberal job posting comes up in Ottawa. “We are looking for a story teller,” says a government official. “Along the lines of the Brother’s Grimm.”

And at the bottom of the application written in bold letters” “Anglos need not apply. Only indigenous, Blacks and Francos.”


And here I thought grass cutting was resigned to the Navy!

The Federal government is searching for vendors to create a national database of private lawn equipment.

The request for a proposal for a “Canadian Inventory Surveys of Lawn, Garden and Other Small Mobile Outdoor Power” was posted on October 16, 2020, to the BuyandSell.GC.ca Public Works website.

The selected vendor must “conduct surveys throughout Canada to collect information on the inventory and usage of lawn, garden, and other small mobile outdoor power equipment” on behalf of Environment Canada. The RFP (Request for Proposal) closes November 30, 2020.

As Canada’s firearms community is well aware, a government inventory often precedes a government ban and there is a recent North America-wide trend to ban gas-powered lawn equipment under the auspices of both environmental and noise concerns.

I kid you not.


And technology will benefit humanity:

Apparently there’s been a provincial election in BC. Polls closed an hour ago or thereabouts but in this hyper technological, super advanced world, nobody will know the results for weeks.

Bring back  the good ole days when we knew the Federal results after the Ontario erection polls closed at 8pm on erection day and we were still voting in Victoria, BC.

And had hits like this:

SJ…..Out

Summer In The City

The Fifteenth Hottest Third Tuesday In July Since Records Began (Last August)….wow.

I just had my third largest “dump” in all of my history on this planet

I see CO2……..really. That invisible odourless gas Greta?

Yup.

I see dead people too.

See the source image

So do I. Every time I see some guy or gal tell me the earth will end in 11 years if we do not address climate change…NOW!

Well, It’s that time of year again — summer — when the weather/climate charlatans try to scare us into believing that because we are having the annual heat wave, global warming is real and the world will surely end by next summer (by which time you’ll have forgotten last summer).

I love this. Paris heat wave is proof positive that global warming climate change is real. Paris is a heat sink, a heat island. As is Toronto, Chicago, Tacoma, Atlanta, LA. they say that temps hit 40 for the first time in years. Well, wait a minute. I did a pilgrimage last summer from Vezelay France to St Jean Pied de Port – 900 kilometers in total over 45 days. On August 3rd 2018, in a small town called Premerly the temps hits 44 degrees. So there.

AOC wants to ban all jetliners with her Green New Deal. Yeah, that should work.

AOC’s favourite tune.

Oh and the temps hit 42 degrees yesterday in Toronto. Wow. On further inspection, 42 was the humidex temp. What it felt like because T.O is located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, one of the 5 great lakes, a relatively large body of water. Of course humidity, due to water vapour not CO2, will be high. The actual temperature in T.O was 29 Celsius.

Yes, it is hot Virginia. It is summer. It is supposed to be hot. We have heat waves. Hot air incoming, not from Ottawa, but from weather patterns from the gulf of Mexico. If it was cool, you would have everyone complaining about the shitty summer. And in the winter, we have………..oooooo……………wait for it………….The Polar Vortex. My legs are shaking. No Virginia. It is winter. It is supposed to be cold. But now -10 is the new -30 due to the wind chill. Climate Change.

Love this headline:

Democracy Must be Suspended to Fight Climate Change. In Canada we have an elected dictatorship, so we’re already there Virginia. And as there is no debate on this I feel Democracy in this country has already been flushed down the heat sink.

How can anyone believe this shyte:

image

I don’t know what or who is scarier. Her or that picture.

Bill Nigh?;

Beware of false prophets.

You just wait. This 16 year old girl from Sweden will win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Laughing stock. This pic is an insult to Dante’s Divine Comedy. It is no laughing matter though. Indoctrination…you bet. No wonder climate suicides are on the rise. Blasphemous.

I do not know about you but I love summer. I love sitting out back with a cool one enjoying the sweltering heat, especially when a cool breeze pops up out of nowhere. Heaven. I remember my parents sitting in their cool basement back in the summer of the 1950s / 60s sucking back a Pilsner, while dragging away on their Buckinghams, or Camels. It was a summer heat wave. Love it.

To all of those guys out there:

Why MARRY?

You have two choices in life:
You can stay single and be miserable,
or get married and wish you were dead.
__________

Another great song from the 60s:Monday…and don’t believe this shyte.

https://youtu.be/rts7Qdew3HE

Or this. Remember?

 

 

SJ………………………..Out

 

Lisa-Lisah

HELP!……………………Pure Arrogance:

Lisa Helps, current Mayor of Victoria, is going to run again. Why? To save the planet from ourselves, that’s why.  We have to get rid of these hard lefties. They’re so damn righteous and arrogant!

Today’s headline in our city’s daily rag: Weird looking bird comes in from the cold. What, it never gets cold here guys. Plus 8C Are you kidding me? Now this is cold Victorians!

Image result for Really Cold PeopleAlso just in from Victoria, BC. Long awaited replacement for the iconic but really, really ugly Blue Bridge, which used to be black, and full of controversy in getting built. New bridge will have a blue hue at night with fish friendly accent lights! Ooooooo! How do they know that? But will the bridge work. “Don’t know,” a city official said. The steel used on this bridge was manu-fractured in China. The steel failed the quality assurance test twice. “Not too worry…move on” another city official remarked. “No story here.” I for one will avoid that bridge at all costs and if I do have to cross it I will say a prayer to the bridge gods before I go over it. Remember the Ellice Street Bridge disaster Victoria of 1895. “Yes  but when that sucker goes down the fishies will be able to see it coming down so it will not hurt the fishies and we’ll be able to find it, the bridge span that is, under water due to those lights…..Geesh, and we elected these guys and gals!

This just in: The UN IPCC states categorically that 2017 was the hottest year on record. Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and others nod in total agreement. Even Oprah agrees:

Image result for pics of oprah and weinstein

See, even that perv Harv agrees with Oprah! Hey, the UN is all-inclusive isn’t it?

Oxymoron statement of the week: Going on a vacation in North Korea.  It was a wonderful experience. What surprised you the most one tourist was asked. “Oh, the hats of course.”

Slide 14 of 22: <p>“We were allowed to meet ‘locals’ on set occasions (co-op farms, a school and so on) and it was probably all staged. I found it weird thinking that often just out of sight there could be a prison camp: some are the size of entire counties and close to Pyongyang but when you’re in a tour group you follow a very set route. When you’re in hotels at night you’re not allowed to leave.”</p>“Yeah, and its all-inclusive.” another tourist remarked. “And the food is to die for:”

Image result for poor pics of north korea

This just in: A form of that same (Ontario) ideologically based sex-ed called SOGI 123, is being rolled out in BC. The SOGI curriculum, among other things, teaches that gender is fluid and not determined through biological sex – Says who? Just like in Ontario….to eight year old kids for heaven’s sake!  We have to rid ourselves of this progressiveness and soon before all of our values are undermined and destroyed by this hard-core ideology being pushed down the throats of our children in our schools. C’mon teachers, get back to our core teaching values, as in the new math:

1 + 1 = 11…..;or…..2 + 2 = 22  C’mon now.

 

Song for the day:

Sad Lisa

Have a terrific Thursday:

 

SJ………………………………………Out