Author Archives: Matt Simpson

Irish Grasshopper

Spring is in the air, can you feel it? The sun is out! I’m not cold! I’ve seen a robin! I’ve seen a few insects! Oh, and most importantly today is a great day because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, hence the Irish Grasshopper title.

While this photograph is far from the best technical shot I have ever taken, I am using it this year to celebrate the season, and the day! Enjoy.

St. Patrick’s Day fact from National Geographic:

In the United States, it’s customary to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. But in Ireland the color was long considered to be unlucky, says Bridget Haggerty, author of The Traditional Irish Wedding and the Irish Culture and Customs Web site.

As Haggerty explains, Irish folklore holds that green is the favorite color of the Good People (the proper name for faeries). They are likely to steal people, especially children, who wear too much of the color.

Grandmother

This week I would like to write a poem to pay homage to my Grandmother who sadly passed away last week after a long and eventful life. Now I have not written poetry in years, so I only hope I would not offend her with my lack of elegance. I only recently discovered that she was in fact a poet laureate, and a published poet.

My grandmother was a caring woman,
a wife, a mother, a friend.

With days of patience, and miles calm,
she carried with her until her end.

These traits live on through her family now,
through her children’s children, down the line.

For these gifts we give thanks, and remember you,
as our grandmother for all of time.
– Matt Simpson

We love you Grandma, may you rest in peace.

Ms. Valentine

While I realize it was Valentines Day last week I still wanted to post my image of the week, which I was previously unable to do simply because I ran out of time before being away for the long weekend.

Ms. Valentine, who is more accurately referred to as Mrs. Simpson is the my sweet wife Karla. Due to unfortunate circumstances we were not able to spend Valentines Day together this year, but instead we celebrated with a nice dinner at our favourite Kingston restaurant on Monday.

A Solution to Earth’s Overpopulation

It is no secret that we have an over population problem here on Earth, in fact by 2050 based on the current rate of growth the expected human population on Earth will be well over 9 billion. It is also a fact that the way in which we live now is entirely unsustainable in every imaginable way, and based on what I see between our insistent need to “have” (me not excluded) and in some cases complete disregard for our planet, we are truly asking Mother Nature to grant us unimaginable devastation or worst.

I have a thought that may at first sound odd, but ponder this:

Homo Sapiens Minimus, This is Ed

Homo Sapiens Minimus, This is Ed

Meet “Homo Sapiens Minimus” a genetically modified homo sapiens sapiens (human) who is a 1/10th scale model of our current selves. Could we genetically modify humanity to simply reproduce smaller versions of ourselves; therefore, requiring less space, less resources and ultimately lesser of a foot print?

There are definitely going to be some harsh critics of such an out-of-the-box solution to our troubles. To interject before they can begin, I have come up with solutions to the top 5 concerns:

  1. What will we do with all of our current houses? They will be way too big if we are 1/10th our current size.

    True, modifications would need to be made to current houses, but think about it this way… all current houses could be then turned into apartment buildings; providing affordable housing for everyone. Any new houses built will obviously be much smaller, roughly the size of flats currently being built in England.

  2. How will I get to work? My current commute is already over an hour.

    Ah yes, the commute. Well my friend, in the future when we are all 1/10th the size everyone will fly to work in [currently] miniature airplanes! You see the reason we all do not all fly to work now is simply because we are too heavy to economically transport ourselves through the air due to Earth’s gravity; moving 7KG through the air is significantly simpler.

  3. Won’t my pet eat me when I am small?

    Depending on the type of pet you have, yes, there is a chance that your entire family may be eaten by Mr. Boots, whom you’ve loved for all these years. That is a sacrifice we as homo sapiens minimus will have to make.

  4. Will we not become less intelligent when our brains are 1/10th the size?

    No, we will be 1/10th scale in every way, which makes this argument irrelevant. Besides, are 1/10th scale model trains less intelligent than full size trains? No, we will just be smaller and not toot as loud.

  5. Will homo sapiens minimus play basket ball? I love bascket ball?

    As stated in concern #3, homo sapiens minimus will have to make certain sacrifices to make certain gains; unfortunately basket ball will no longer be played. Think of this as an opportunity to invent new games, ones that perhaps we don’t currently miss, only because we have not yet thought of them.

So these may not actually be the top 5 concerns of people who are concerned about miniaturization, but it did provide some comic relief none-the-less.

Old Man River

Lazing down the misty river before dusk atop a Scudamore punt, face pointing to the West wishing but if for only a moment you would feel the warmth of mother sun on this cool late November afternoon. The fog chills your shoulders until you shiver, but the majestic site of St John’s keeps your keen eyes drawn and your sense of wonder engaged. What beauty came from such dark times you think to yourself as you take a moment to ponder the million thoughts that have passed by here over the ages.

Imminently Pure

I believe that there is something oddly soothing about fire and water co-existing in such a beautiful way. This image is very intense, and powerful to me, bringing up thoughts of good & evil / yin & yang / man & woman / life & death, and beyond.

One of things I love to capture as an amateur photographer is stark contrasts, so I am pleased to share this with you, enjoy.

Warm Memories

Completely by accident I appear to be keeping with my Cuba honeymoon vacation theme for the image of the week.

This weeks image is titled Warm Memories for two reasons; obviously the first being the fact that this was my honeymoon, but the second because it is currently -28°C with the wind chill factor outside today, and recalling this memory of when it was warm (actually about 62° warmer than the current temperature outside) is getting me through this cold snap which is apparently not supposed to end for another 4 days.

Cuba At Peace

While my wife and I were visiting Havana, Cuba during our honeymoon in 2006 I happened to snap this shot while traveling through a small village. It is a simple photograph of a slender Cuban man sitting peacefully in the shade on a beaten up park bench.

I suppose to me this image symbolizes the shadow that US President John F. Kennedy cast on Cuba in 1962, and the struggles that Cuban citizens have had to endure while they wait peacefully and patiently for the attack on their economic resources to cease.

A Real Christmas Vacation

Christmas is and has pretty much always been a hectic and chaotic event in the Simpson house. My wife and I usually have only a few days to complete the full “Christmas rounds” (i.e. father’s, in-laws, extended family in-laws, mother’s, extended family, etc) 450 kilometres away and then head home to head back to work. Not this year!

My wife and I had just moved into a wonderful new house this past summer (no not this house, but that’s a story for another time) and invited our full “Christmas rounds” guests our way for the holidays.

We had originally planned to have everyone down at the same time, like a good old fashioned Griswold family Christmas, but it didn’t work out quite that way as some had to work, some had travel arrangement problems, and some were well, tired.

Never-the-less we ended up hosting and enjoying a very nice Christmas, and got to see much of our family in the comfort our own home, which is one of the best Christmas presents we could have received.

Open Letter to Rogers

I am a Rogers customer and have been for 4 years now. I have been anticipating Apple’s iPhone launch in Canada for well over a year, and I even held out on buying a hacked iPhone from the States, because I wanted to buy an “official” one from you guys to celebrate the Canadian launch. Heck, I was even going to wait in a line to buy one… that is until last week.

To my incredible surprise and disappointment, your iPhone plan pricing is in my opinion a complete joke that not only does not benefit me the customer, but also does not benefit your share holders. You are hindering your own long-term success with Apple, by trying to capitalize on your short-term monopoly. I believe your iPhone plans are undermining what Apple is trying to do in the cell phone industry, and I would be surprised if Apple just let you do it.

I just wanted to let someone at Rogers know (even though a human will probably never read this) that I hope you enjoy the 100 iPhones Apple has sent you for your big launch (joke re: Apple sanctioning Rogers), and that the GPS feature is not attractive enough for me now (because of your plan pricing) to not buy a hacked 1st generation iPhone from the net.

Disappointed Customer,
Matt Simpson