Or is it the United States Customary System?
The USA (mostly) keeps the old British Imperial system, I assume, because the American KING put it in the Constitution. 🙂
And the Constitution is sacred.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Category: government
delayed in Nepal
We’d planned to start trekking the Manasul Circuit (11 days) on Nov. 4th at latest.
Unfortunately government offices are closed for 3 days due to National holidays in Nepal.
Even the dogs are off work.
The city is lit up like Christmas in Canada.
So … our new start date is Nov 7th.
We’re doing the lightest, fastest trek allowed under Nepali law. Two hikers, one guide. Total cost is about $500ea.
The big news in Nepal is the upcoming election:
As the country goes to the polls on November 19, tussles among contesting political parties and election candidates could pose a bigger security threat than underground outfits or poll-opposing parties in the central Tarai, police have said. …
We’ll likely still be in the mountains during the election.
China and India …
China and India sounded a new optimistic tone in their relationship … as they signed an agreement to boost meetings between their militaries to avoid any repeat of this year’s tense standoff along their disputed Himalayan border.
The accord followed a meeting in Beijing between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also had trade ties on the agenda as India seeks to gain greater access to Chinese markets and readjust a trade balance tilted heavily toward China. …
a song for Syria
Ellie Goulding’s “I Know You Care.”
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
It’s highly unlikely that dropping bombs on these people will HELP the kids.
Donate to Save The Children or another charity working with Syrian refugees.
the most DANGEROUS drugs
Economist – A new study suggests alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack
related – Influential and successful marijuana users
I’m thinking of quitting. Alcohol, that is.
Dear Gun Nuts …
A great opinion piece by Matt Bors:
… After every mass shooting—which is essentially all the time these days—gun rights advocates drag out the “more guns = more safer” argument. And yet: we’re still not safe!
Despite having almost one gun for every man, woman, and child in the nation, peak safety has yet to be reached. …
If you take the positions of the NRA and add them up, you can see how the world would look if the gun lobby got everything it wants: Every American would have easy access to assault weapons, gun dealers would not be required to check the criminal record and mental health history of someone before selling them a gun, the capacity of gun magazines could be near-infinite, and it would be illegal for a city to stop people from carrying guns in public. This would be a country where you could literally buy an AR-15 at Walmart, immediately put on full tactical gear worn by SWAT teams, and stroll into a school for your parent-teacher conference with another fully armed adult….
read more – Dear Gun Nuts
related – My Gun Stance
12 worst mass shootings in U.S. history
Maddow – Half the deadliest shootings in U.S. history happened in past six years
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I expect about 4 / year over the next couple of years.
Gundamentalists will — somehow — deny each and every one. They are not thinking rationally.
Tommy Douglas rolls over in grave
Tommy Douglas … (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian social-democratic politician and Baptist minister.
… Saskatchewan CCF’s leader and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. His government was the first democratic socialist government in North America, and it introduced the continent’s first single-payer, universal health care program. …
He’s much celebrated in Canada, in 2004 voted “Greatest Canadian” by viewers in one online vote.
Arriving Saskatoon early on a Sunday morning, I saw this tribute.
Nearby was this homeless man.
Tommy would be displeased. 😦
Saskatoon is a boom town right now. With a very low unemployment rate.
Rick McCharles 