What is a Quafaie?


Quafaie (pronounced: kwa FAY) are fantasy creatures that exist in the fantasy writing of Hugh Kemeny, and are created by him. They are primarily in Hugh Kemeny’s Black Phoenix short stories...

To learn more, read this post: What is a Quafaie?

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Daily Inspiration

Laughter relaxes, and relaxation is spiritual.
- Osho
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Thu 24 Jan 2013 


Why should ht ewise man be anxious over a small portion of this world? Is the mighty se ever agitated by the movements of the little fish?
- Bhartrihari
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Fri 25 Jan 2013

Friday, January 25, 2013

Daily Factoid

 For Auld Lang Syne
In honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns, born today in 1759, whip up some Scottish tatties 'n' neeps: Mix mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed turnips (neeps) in equal parts and flavor with butter, salt, and pepper.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Fri 25 Jan 2013

Science Fiction can be a Doorway to History and Society

Recently I have been watching Doctor Who since the first episode (from 1963), and have found it interesting how many episodes they have going back in time to some historical events, such as:
Marco Polo
The Aztecs (15th Century)
The Reign of Terror (French Revolution)
The Romans (Nero & Burning of Rome)
The Crusade (12th century Palestine, during the time of the Third Crusade)
The Time Meddler (1066 South England - Viking raids)
The Myth Makers (Trojan War)
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (Prior to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, France, 1572)
The Gunfighters (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral)

That's all from the first 3 series (at least all that I have watched).

I had thought about this post after watching "The Massacure of St. Bartholomew's Eve" since it was an event I had not heard of. However, it was watching "The Gunfighters" that made me decide to post this, since it reminded me of the Star Trek episode: "Spectre of the Gun" which was also a take on the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.


Daily Inspiration

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
- Matsuo Basho
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Tue 22 Jan 2013 


A controlled mind brings happiness.
- The Dhammapada
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Wed 23 Jan 2013

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Daily Factoid

 Birth Verse
By her who in this month is born, 
No gem save garnets should be worn.
They will insure her constancy,
True friendship, and difelity.
- Tiffany and Company, 1870
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Wed 23 Jan 2013


Housework Helper
To clean the toilet while you're outon errands, pour 1/4 cup of bleach into the bowl before you leave the house (keep the bathroom door closed if you have pets). Flush when you return home.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Thu 24 Jan 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013

Daily Factoid

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
- Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist (1929-68)
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Mon 21 Jan 2013



A Better Bird
Before cooking a turkey, mix a blend of herbs and spices with mayonnaise and insert it under the skin on both sides of the breastbone, as you would butter. The oils will penetrate the bird, resulting in a flavorful, tender, juicy meat.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Tue 22 Jan 2013

Daily Inspiration

. . . true nonviolence is impossible without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Mon 21 Jan 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Daily Inspiration

When a man possesses in his being the notion of Gad, that is the mircale of miracles.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Sat/Sun 19/20 Jan 2013

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Daily Factoid

Tea Thyme
For a sore throat, add a teaspoon of dried thyme to a cup of boiling water. Sweeten with honey and flavor with peppermint, to tast. Strain, if desirred. Then, drink up!
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Fri 18 Jan 2013



Friday night's dream on the Saturday told.
Is sure to come true be it never so old.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Sat/Sun 19/20 Jan 2013

Daily Inspiration

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.
- Kahlil Gibran
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Thu 17 Jan 2013 


 Concentration means wholeness, unity, equilibrium. All our members and faculties . . . must work in harmony, in tranquility, and balance.
- Paramananda
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Fri 18 Jan 2013

Friday, January 18, 2013

Daily Factiods

Shape a 'Scape
If your yard is covered with snow, sculpt iy into landscape designs. Molded snow can be used to model possible new features, such as shifted garden bed linesor additional trees and shrubs.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Wed 16 Jan 2013



Poor Richard's Advice
How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them!
- Bengamin Fraklin, Poork Richard's Almanack, 1743
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Thu 17 Jan 2013

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Daily Inspiration

If you want to maintain soundness of mind and lie the right kind of life, you must observe morality. This is fundamental.
- Swami Satprakashananda
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Wed 16 Jan 2013


Today's Tarot
1) Card of the day (the important aspects of the day ahead)
2) Attend to this (personal issues that will require attention)
3) What to look out for (feelings, desires or reactions that could arise)


Daily Factoid

Historic Happenings
On this day in 1994, the temperature in Kapuskasing, Ontario, plunged to -45 F, causing car tires to contract and fall off their rims.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Tue 15 Jan 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Daily Inspiration

The way to do is to be.
- Lao-Tzu
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Mon 14 Jan 2013 


If you cannot hold even the mind and body you use, how can you expect to cling to other things and hold them?
- Nyogen Senzaki
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Tue 15 Jan 2013

Daily Factoid

Fast Fowl
A chicken can run up to 9 miles per hour. That's faster than the first roller coaster on New York's Coney Island, which was built in 1884 and traveled at 6 mph.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Sat/Sun 12/13 Jan 2013 


Flavor to Savor
To give sugar a subtle vanilla flavor, bury chunks of a vanilla bean in the sweetener and let sit for 1 to 2 weeks. Use the flavored sugar in custards, ice cream, pastries, and sauces. 
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Mon 14 Jan 2013

Monday, January 14, 2013

Question and Answer

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Daily Inspiration

They must change often, who would be constant in happpiness.
- Confucius
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Fri 11 Jan 2013


If you are perfectly pure and practice faithfully, your mind can finally be made a searchlight of infinite power. There is no limit to its scope.
- Swami Vivekananda
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Sat/Sun 12/13 Jan 2013

Daily Factiod

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
- Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. president (1884-1972)
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Thu 10 Jan 2013


How to Find Your Perfect Mate
Place a snail in a pan of cornmeal. The tracks it makes will spell your true love's initials.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Fri 11 Jan 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Daily Inspiration

Yo know when to stop, to know when you can get no further by your own action, this is the right beginning!
- Chuang Tzu
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Wed 9 Jan 2013


The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Thu 10 Jan 2013

Saturday, January 12, 2013

A Little 'Brittas Empire' Cancels Nude Swim...



Today was to be the first PanFest Nude Swim Fundraiser for 2013.

I say "was to be" because the event didn't happen as the pool was closed for sanitation reasons.

It is unfortunate, but it reminded me of a British comedy show from the 1990s that I have been watching with a housemate.

The show is "The Brittas Empire", and is about "Gordon Brittas [played by Chris Barrie], the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittas_Empire)
In the series, Brittas annoys everyone to the point that no one ever shows up to the leisure centre.... of if they do there's a high probability that they may die in some freak accident: (Gordon Brittas: "Since I have been manager, I am proud to say there have only been twenty-three deaths. And not one of them was a staff member." (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101054/quotes) - exact episode unknown, but I believe it was series 2)

Included in part of the incompetence of Gordon Brittas and some of the rest of the team at Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre is that parts of the centre gets closed for various reasons... including the pool a few times for "sanitary reasons" - such as rats swimming in the pool, Dolphin Day has a shark instead of a dolphin, public spreading communicable diseases - just to name a few.

So, when I heard that the pool for today's nude swim was closed for sanitary reasons (I actually overheard just before I left that someone had thrown-up in the pool), my mind went to The Brittas Empire and realized that sometimes life imitates art.

For those who've never seen The Brittas Empire, I give you a video excerpt; it is my housemate's favourite scene as we get to see Tim Whistler (played by Russell Porter) in next to nothing. Tim and Gavin (mentioned in the clip) are a gay couple.



Daily Factiod

Dinosaur King
The dinosaur Cryolophosaurus had a curled crest on its skull that resembled the pompadour worn by Elvis Presley (Born on this day in 1935).
In fact, paleontologists nicknamed the dinosaur "Elvisaurus."
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Tue 8 Jan 2013


From the Kitchen Cupboard
Loosen soot inside your stone or brick chimney by tossing a handful of salt into the fireplace while a fire is burning. 
(Do not use with metal chimneys.)
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Wed 9 Jan 2013

Daily Inspiration

The most important thing is for each of us to have some freedom in our heart, some stability in our heart, some peace in our heart. Only then will we be able to relieve the suffering around us.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Mon 7 Jan 2013


Constantly a man should reflect and ask himself, "What good thing have I done this day? The setting sun will carry with it a portion of my life."
- Sarngadhara Paddhati
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Tue 8 Jan 2013

Daily Factoid

Chalk Talk
On Epiphany, it's traditional to bless a home by using chalk to write the number of the new year over the front door, with the initials of the three Wise Men (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar) in the middle:
20CMB13
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Sat/Sun 5/6 Jan 2013


If January could, 
he would be a summer month.
- J. T. Bent, The Cyclades, 1885
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Mon 7 Jan 2013

Friday, January 11, 2013

Daily Inspiration

You are responsible, not only to your children, but to the rest of humanity.
- Krishnamurti
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Fri 4 Jan 2013


What you are is what you have been, and what you will be is what you do now.
- Buddha
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Sat/Sun 5/6 Jan 2013

Daily Factoids

Wish Upon a Star
Watch for the Quadrantid meteor shower now (after midnight is best).
If you say "money be the week's out" three times before a shooting star disappears, your wish will come true.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Thu 3 Jan 2013


To Be Exact
If you see these measures in an old cookbook, use their modern equivalents:

  • Dash = 1/8 teaspoon
  • Pinch = 1/2 dash, or 1/16 teaspoon
  • Smidgen = 1/2 pinch, or 1/32 teaspoon

- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Fri 4 Jan 2013

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Naked Yoga News

The second story I woke up to today was the yoga instructor from last night's Naked Yoga class being interviewed on CBC Radio Edmonton.

Faggot use to mean a bundle of sticks

I woke up this morning to 3 interesting stories on CBC Radio Edmonton. This post if about the first story.

Last week ISMSS (Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services: http://www.ismss.ualberta.ca/index.htm  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iSMSS) with the University of Alberta posted a video as part of their NoHomophobes campaign to end the use of homophobic language.

In that week the video (below) has gone viral and been mentioned in places as far as the UK and New Zealand. Please watch and share.




Links to associated news articles I found in just googling for the video:


ISMSS's NoHomophobes campaign also uses a website: http://www.nohomophobes.com to illustrate the prevalence of the use of the words Faggot, No Homo, So Gay, and Dyke in twitter posts. As of me writing this, the numbers for today are:
Faggot 8230. No Homo 2772, So Gay 2441, Dyke 900 - from just before I wrote "As of me writing this...."
I will now write the numbers as I see them when I get to adding them to the post: Faggot 8287, No Homo 2808, So Gay 2470, Dyke 917. (Note that was about 4 minutes from when I wrote the first numbers on a piece of paper and the last number just now.)



Personally I have been lucky and only had homophobic words thrown in my face once (that I recall). In the moment it hurt, and was a shock, but I ignored it in the moment because I had to.

It was when I was student teaching in a school for students with behavioural problems. I was escorting a student from the gym, where he'd got into an argument with another student and was told to leave before it got too violent. I was about 1-2 m behind the student - keeping a distance so he would not lash out at me, but close enough to show authority. When he stopped midway down the hall, and I didn't (slowed down though), he yelled a few obscenities at me, including the word faggot. Before he had finished saying all he had to say, and it wasn't all that long, 3 other adults had appeared from nearby classrooms to help with the situation.
I took what he said to me as not something directed specifically at me, but more at 'someone' - me being the someone.
He was informed, a day or two later, to apologize to me. As I recall, there wasn't much (if any) of an apology. Mind you I left the school about 2 weeks later due to other circumstances (namely that what the University wanted to see me do I couldn't do in that school .... proper unit planning and assessment techniques).



Daily Inspiration

He is a real teacher who not only instructs others, but practices the same instructions himself.
- Hindu Proverb
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Wed 2 Jan 2013


Passion holds up the bottom of the universe and genius paints up its roof.
- Chang Ch'ao
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Thu 3 Jan 2013

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Daily Factoids

January 1 is the official birthday of all Thoroughbred racehorses born in the Northern Hemisphere.
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Tue 1 Jan 2013

In the house, on the road, at the store, or in the field, [my old friend] always has a cheery word and a sweet smile, as if he thought no ill of anyone' or if he does, he knows how to keep it to himself.
- The Old Farmer's Almanac, 1884
- The Old Farmer's Everyday Almanac Calendar; Wed 2 Jan 2013


- From: http://did-you-kno.tumblr.com/post/40158208996/source
True fact! There was one found earlier this week (Jan 5: http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/01/05/provincial-rat-catcher-heading-to-calgary-after-roof-rat-found-in-new-brighton-garage) in Calgary

Naked Yoga 2

Sorry no picture for this one. Just the follow up to last post.

There were 15 guys at the naked yoga, and I realized I haven't done yoga, or properly exercised, or stretched, in a while.

I think I'll be feeling it tomorrow..... good thing I don't have much planned.


By the time I got to the yoga studio, after trying to find parking, and not seeing the door right away, I ended up with a spot near the front. So, although I saw a number of the guys, I didn't take much of a look (besides from previous experience, last year, the looking happens more before or after, not during).

Naked Yoga




Last year a men only Naked Yoga was introduced to Edmonton. I attended the first set of 8 week sessions. Today is the start of another 8 week session. I missed a couple others that were offered in
2012 - one in May was co-ed, if I recall, and one in the fall was men only one was offered (I believe).

Tonight is once again a men only naked yoga.
Possibly more (another post) after the yoga.



Pictures are from: 
  • http://tru-test.blogspot.ca/2012/08/naked-yoga-would-you.html (top left) 
  • http://www.evolutionaryeros.com/newsgaydot.shtml (rest of top)
  • http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/photos/gallery+nude+yoga/6442604302/gallery.html (bottom - this was a photo shoot before / during the May 2012 naked yoga in Edmonton)

2013

As some of you may have noticed I haven't been posting here for about a week.
Between having a cold/virus going around, and family visiting, and trying to catch up on personal projects, I have let my daily inspirational postings slip.

I am going to start to get back into the routine of posting the inspirational sayings, and hopefully more, as it is a new year, and new adventures await :)

Daily Inspiration

Spiritual success comes by understanding the mystery of life; and by looking on all things cheerfully and courageously, realizing that events proceed according to a beautiful devine plan.
- Paramahansa Yogananda
Wisdom of The East daily calendar; Tue 1 Jan 2013


No one reaches a high position without daring.
- Pubilius Syrus
inspire daily calendar Mon 31 Dec 2012