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You’re not getting all your vitamins without a weekly dose of Glee. Catch up ninja style

Dubai disaster? Saw that one coming

by Matt Herron

For those that haven’t been paying attention to the news, Dubai imploded financially and the Dow tanked with it. Ironically enough, those man-made islands can’t keep their economy afloat.

This does not come as a surprise to me. I remember learning about Dubai for the first time in my Concepts of Culture class about a year ago. The article (which I tossed out as soon as the class ended) explained how Dubai was trying to bring all the world’s cultures together in an orgy of luxury and sell it as entertainment at Dubai World.

The world’s cultures are mixing. How good for multiculturalism! In class discussion, this was gravy for Canadians. It justified their cultural ideals. All I could think about was how Dubai World was going to fail as a business.

So, the recent news that the government of Dubai took over Dubai World and that they need to delay payments on $60 Billion in debt came as a relief instead of a surprise. A relief because, while I do not claim expertise in economic or financial matters, logic tells me that an industry relying heavily on tourism and consumer spending to make profit is bound to fail at a time when the world’s economy is stumbling.

But Dubai was a gamble to begin with. As Timothy Middleton points out, emerging markets like Dubai are “just as wild as they have always been.” They have even less of a chance to succeed when they are steeped in extravagance. Signs point to catastrophe when the worlds tallest sky scraper is built by imported wage-slave construction workers.

People may be attracted to extravagance, but the novelty quickly wears off. Any industry that doesn’t have a solid base will eventually sink. And this one was quite literally built on water.

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Observations from your local weatherman

by Matt Herron

I haven’t seen sunlight in a week. This seems to happen every year in Hamilton. In late Autumn the sun takes shelter behind a grey curtain of clouds for days on end. The last leaves fall from the trees and I begrudgingly add extra layers under my jacket to insulate my adventures into the dreariness.

Then, suddenly, the cloud cover will part and the sun will emerge, and although it is irredeemably cold, it is reassuring because the change has run it’s course. The sun is shining again and everything is right in the world.

Sometimes it doesn’t happen until the first snow. Those days are brilliant. Glistening white virgin snow covers the streets and the world looks like it has just been born. Winter, at last.

Not yet, though. Some things just can’t be rushed, and the weather is one of them. The sun is still hiding, the temperature is still dropping, the snow has not fallen. Winter is later than usual this year. In the meantime, we are stuck in the fog of limbo.

Your body can be read like the weather if you know what signs to look for. Unlike the seasons, though, the cycle is not predetermined. Some people get stuck in limbo for years at a time before their sun returns. Others, tragically, never do.

It has taken me a long time to learn to read the weather signs of my body. Multiple sports-related injuries has made me more sensitive to nerve pain and muscle soreness. Once I learned how to react (read: exercise), the injured area became an accurate barometer of my health.

The weather may be out of our control, but your health is not. You can learn to read the signs of your body and react accordingly. You may get stuck in the rain a few times before you figure it out, but with a little experimentation you will learn when to bring your umbrella. It’s a learning curve.

Not everyone learns, though. Some people smoke themselves to emphysema. Others eat themselves to obesity. That’s like pissing into the wind.

Once you learn to read the signs, you can work with the weather instead of against it. That piss smell will go away eventually.

Are you stuck in a dreary spell, like the weather here? Perhaps it is best to wait it out. On the other hand, maybe it’s time to rip open the cloud cover and yank the sun back into the sky. It’s up to you.

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