Recording Devices at Airports and Border Crossings

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has announced that they are installing 'listening equipment' to record conversations in airports and at border crossings. A lot of people are upset by this. They don't want anyone to hear what they are saying to their friend or spouse. On the other hand, I think it's just a return to 'the good old days' -- which were never as good as people like to think. I believe that this is merely a return to the small town way of watching your neighbours -- albeit with electronic devices instead of the town busybody telling everyone what you were saying.

In the first decade of the 20th century, about 85% of Canada's population was rural or lived in small towns or villages. In 2000, about 85% of Canadians were living in cities.

There is an anonymity in cities that does not exist in small towns. I do know this for a fact. The village where I was born had a population of about 150 people. Nothing escaped the eagle eyes of the village residents. My mother told me a story about having been at a church meeting, and walking home from it with her best friend's older brother -- who was just home from university. Between the time they left the church and the time they arrived at my grandmother's house (about a five minute walk -- ten if you're lollygagging), two people phoned my grandmother to tell her that my mother was walking with a man.

Privacy is a concept that really took hold in the late 20th century. Prior to that, everyone knew everyone else's business in their village, or on their block. Why do you think Samuel Pepys’ diary was written in a cipher? It was certainly true when we moved to an Ottawa suburb. Everyone knew everyone else on our street (it probably helped that they all had kids about the same age) and what was going on in their lives.

But, when you live in an apartment building, you might know your neighbours -- but, then again, you might not. I now live in a suburb of a southern Ontario city and have been here for four years. I know my neighbours on one side, but not on the other. I know the ladies in the houses across the street, but not the people who live behind me.

So listening in on our conversations is just another blast from the past -- with the CBSA playing the role of busybody / tattletale. Just like the days of old, they will be running to the authorities with information about who said what to whom and, again like the days of old, the people who are careless in their conversations will be in hot water.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose.

Cuts to the Federal Civil Service

While I can understand Harper’s desire to cut federal expenditures by making massive cuts to the Federal Civil Service, I don’t think most Canadians have grasped what it will mean to them in real terms.

First, the wait times for services will increase dramatically. You think the service is slow now? Just wait until it takes twice as long to get the same service because only half the people will be doing the work.

Second, our lives will become less safe. Services that we have always taken for granted – like inspections of food providers – will be pretty much a thing of the past. Remember the listeria outbreak in 2008? People died, right? Well, we better get used to it, because dramatic cuts are being planned across the board and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will not be exempt. From what I’ve heard, these companies that package meat, as well as other foods, will be more self-regulating. If I wasn’t allergic to legumes, I would turn vegetarian.

Third, the unemployment rates will rise in all the areas that have government departments. Remember the decentralisation programs of the 1970s? There are departments all across Canada now. Yes, Ottawa will be hard hit, but so will other areas. Many of these people will not be able to find work in their fields.

Fourth, we are going to lose many of the brilliant minds who provide services and information to public – for free. I’m thinking specifically of NRC, Health and Welfare, and the Transportation Safety Board. These are people who have spent their lives working in one area. Other countries are begging for people in these fields, and more than willing to pay relocation costs. Once these people are gone, there will be no turning back. Sure, there will be people to replace them eventually, and I believe that they will have to be replaced, but the new people (as enthusiastic and hard working as their predecessors) won’t have the same level of expertise. It will take at least a work generation (about 30-40 years) to get back to the level we were at before Harper’s cuts were put into effect.

I understand that many Canadians believe that Federal Civil Servants are a lazy bunch, but I have seen them at work, putting in long hours of unpaid overtime to try to make Canada a better place. Many of them take courses on their own time and their own dime in order to up their qualifications. Sure, like any other company, there are problems who sneak in under the radar, but they are dealt with – just like they are dealt with in the private sector.

I truly believe that, when Canadians realise what has been done to the services they are accustomed to, they are going to scream bloody murder. But it will be too late.

Michel de Nostredame

After last week's post, I was contemplating the universe and remembered the original post by the man who referred to Nostradamus' predictions.


What most people seem to forget is that Michel de Nostredame (which he latinised to Nostradamus) was, first and foremost, an apothecary. That would be a chemist in British terms, a pharmacist in the Canadian lexicon, and a druggist in the American vocabulary. As I read through the jams and jellies section of the book, I was amused by how much sugar was required ... until I recalled that sugar was only available through apothecaries in France in the 16th century.


Nostradamus' book, Traité des fardemens et confitures, was published in 1555 -- although the prologue was dated 1552. It was revised and reprinted about once a year for a number of years. 


Now, it turns out that someone else has already translated the book into English and published it in 1996. You can find it on Amazon, The Elixirs of Nostradamus: Nostradamus' Original Recipes for Elixirs, Scented Water, Beauty Potions, and Sweetmeats, by Knut Boeser.

Here is a version that a friend translated a number of years ago ...

Nostradamus - Quince Jelly Recipe

To make a jelly of quinces, of great beauty, bounty, flavour, and excellence, suitable for presentation to royalty, and which can be preserved for a long time.

Take as many quinces as you like, as long as they are well ripened and yellow. Cut them into quarters without peeling. (Some peel them, but the peel improves the fragrance.) Cut each quince into five or six pieces and remove the seeds, for it will set well without them. After cutting them, put them in a basin full of water for, once they have been chopped or cut, they will soon turn black if they are not placed in water.

Once they have been chopped, set them in a large quantity of water, and heat until the water is almost bubbling.

When they are well cooked, spoon out the contents of the pot into a thick, new cloth, & squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. [In other words, strain out the solid bits, leaving as much of the liquid as possible. ed.]

Take this liquid and, if there are six pounds of liquid, take one and a half pounds of Madeira sugar and add it into the mixture. Then let it boil on coals at medium heat until you see that it reduces significantly.

Put it by a small fire, but take care that it doesn't burn the sides, which would give a bad colour to the jelly.

To test whether the jelly is done, take a spatula, or a spoon, and put a dab of the jelly on a flat surface. When it has cooled, if the drop stays rounded, then it is done. Take it from the fire, and wait until the scum forms over the top. While is still quite warm, put it in containers of wood or glass. If you wish to write something on the box, you can do so.

The colour [of the jelly] will be so diaphanous that it will resemble an oriental ruby, will have such excellent colour, and even better flavour, that it can be given to the sick & will make them better.

Source: Traité des fardemens et confitures