Hindrance or Help?

            Finding a weekly topic to blog about is often difficult, but I’m finding this week to be a particular challenge. This is because I know that I’m going to end up talking about the exact subject I don’t want to, no matter how hard I try to avoid it. So, I’m just going to save myself the effort and dive right into it.

            I’m sad to say that I’m not surprised by the results of the US election. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. Electoral systems may have started out decent, with good intent, but they weren’t designed for the world we live in today. Back when the US was founded, the population was around 2.5 million. It’s far easier to convey information to that many people, and to take a vote on their opinions, than it is with the 127 times that population of today.

            Yet, the problem runs deeper than that. Beyond being outdated, the system has become tainted – turned into a manipulative game to see who can influence the voters the most. As I was watching part of the election, the commentators kept talking about all the research and strategies that go into “flipping” key voting regions. It’s more than just that – it’s a psychological game to suppress voters who favor the opposite side, either by convincing them that they don’t have a chance, or by convincing them that their win is assured so they needn’t bother voting.

            This is all made possible by the vast amount of information we have – studies of previous voting trends, psychology, and the certainty that most people will vote for the same party, no matter what. Yet, we still consider this a democracy.

            In my opinion, it isn’t. It’s like the professional level of the game Starcraft. This is a war strategy game that has been taken to a whole new level. The people who play it are amazing – they develop strategies, perfect them, then pit them against each other. They time themselves and their routines, figuring out the most efficient ways to spend their resources and build an army to outdo their opponents. They must constantly balance between micro (controlling their units) and macro (managing their base and producing their army) because if one falters, they lose. The players are so fast and need such precision that someone hitting a key one second late can cost them the war.

            At that level of game play, I no longer call it a game. I’ll accept it as an e-sport, but a game is played for fun and I don’t see the amount of training needed to play that game at high-level as fun. Just as a democracy where the candidates have to put on a show to manipulate voters, rather than earning them based on what they plan to do for the country, is no longer a democracy.

            Every election I’ve seen has become something that should be illegal – it becomes a contest to see which candidate can do a better job of dragging the other through the mud. In the end, that’s all that matters. Who are the people more afraid of having in charge of the country?

            With this election, it should have been obvious. It was obvious, as far as anyone could tell. That is, perhaps, why almost half the people registered to vote didn’t. They thought it was a sure thing, so they weren’t needed.

            Here in Canada, we’re pushing for electoral reform to fix this very problem – to make votes actually count in elections. To take away the numbers game of winning certain constituencies to win the election. To bring back democracy.

            The problem in the US right now is that what’s done is done. All the world can do is wait and hope. We can hope that some of the electorates will vote against their party. Failing that, we can hope for impeachment. Or we can hope that the new president was putting on a show and really isn’t as horrible as he seems – although this, unfortunately, will not put an end to the rash of bigotry his campaign has deemed acceptable.

            It may seem like it’s not my place, being Canadian, to criticize US politics – but the problems have reached us here, too. The results of this election are not limited to the US. The world is at a critical place right now and needs strong, responsible leadership from all the leading countries. Will the US help or hinder in the coming years?

            We can only hope for help.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Making the Best of It

            Today brought a relaxing end to a busy weekend that could have been a lot worse. Looking back at it, it’s really hard to believe that – in spite of unexpected problems – Colleen and I took everything that happened in stride.

            Saturday was the day of the Royal Medieval Faire, one of the events we’ve been selling our chainmaille at since we started Ringcrafts. For me, it was a 16 hour work day, starting with a 5am alarm so we could get to the park in time to set up our tent, table and wares.

            The weather was looking rather iffy, and we fully expected it to be raining when we arrived. To our delight, it wasn’t (two years ago we had to set up in the rain – it was awful). In fact, the day was looking far better than we expected.

            Little did we know, the rain had adjusted its schedule to visit us later. The festival was going very well and was in full swing when the deluge hit. The rain poured down. Luckily, our tent held out – as it has in the rain before – with only one spot dripping inside. Thankfully not on top of anything (or anyone – since people came in to get out of the rain). The bad weather didn’t last too long and we were able to relax a stop fretting about how long the tent could withstand the onslaught.

            Next came the wind. Not too bad, at first, but getting worse. It got to a point where we had to take down parts of our display that kept blowing over. It was frustrating, but that’s just part of outdoor shows (one of the reasons we do so few of them). Besides, it was close to the end of the day.

            Then came the clean-up. We’re fairly efficient at packing up usually, but being outside always throws in snags to slow us down. Firstly, there’s taking down the tent added to everything else and this time around it was a disheartening task – because of when the rain came, it was still wet, meaning we’d have to set up the tent again (soon) so it could dry out properly. Next, there was the wind that started blowing over displays the moment the chainmaille wasn’t weighing it down. Then we had our newest problem – the wind flipped our tent right over, breaking one of its joints.

            Well, there wasn’t anything we could do about it, so we just kept packing up – although it slowed us down even more. It ended up being a day where we the first to arrive to set up and the last to leave. Still, it could have been worse. We could have had to set up in the rain and had it falling and windy all day. The tent could have flipped during the festival instead of after. The day’s sales were good, in spite of the weather, and we even traded some products with another vendor.

            So, we went home in high spirits without fretting about all the problems that had happened. After all, there was nothing we could do about them.

And today turned out to be a sunny day, so in spite of how tired and sore we were, we put up the tent first thing in the morning to dry – using a bandage to hold together the broken part. Then, since it just happened to be there and with the weather so nice, we decided to spend the afternoon just relaxing and hanging out in the tent with my sister-in-law, all of us working on various writing and art projects (there was also this orange fuzzy caterpillar climbing all over the tent that provided ample entertainment). It felt like a mini vacation.

            So, in spite of all the troubles, we went with the flow and everything turned out fine in the end. It makes me wonder why anyone ever bothers getting upset by anything. The past can’t be changed, after all, so all you can do is make the best of it.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

That Time Change Thing

            I woke up this morning and had no idea what time it was. Why? Because technology. Almost every single timepiece in my house has an internet connection and, therefore, automatically updates when the time changes. This was wonderful, except that I never know for certain if they've actually changed. So, my wife and I had to seek out the microwave clock to discover if our time had actually changed (it had).

            Really, though, what’s the point of daylight saving time in this day and age? I understand it had its uses in the past, but now all it serves to do is confuse and annoy people while creating more car collisions because of how tired everyone is. More than half the world doesn't even use it anymore, so it messes up how different time zones sync up.

            If the change holds any importance, we should just split the difference and permanently shift all the clocks by 30 minutes and leave them there in the middle. Problems all solved. The world will be a better place.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.