Evil is to Stay Silent and Accept Status Quo

Fear mongering (or scaremongering or scare tactics) is the use of fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end. The feared object or subject is sometimes exaggerated, and the pattern of fear mongering is usually one of repetition, in order to continuously reinforce the intended effects of this tactic, sometimes in the form of a vicious circle.
(from Wikipedia)

There will be provincial elections in Alberta on May 5th, and it seems it will be
an interesting one.
The party that has been in power since August 30th, 1971 is not doing well this time. The polls are saying that they are behind other parties, and that they need a miracle in order to win again.
Someone might ask what has happened so that there is a condition for possible change.
It seems that good people of Alberta have realized, after so many decades, that
something was wrong and that people who have been ruling them are not people who are competent anymore to rule them.
Someone might ask how you can be competent to "rule". Alberta is a land of free, and democracy enables people in power to serve, not to rule.
But in Alberta it is different.

Rulers
The ruling class has been ruling for a very long time. More than 4 decades now. 

And of course, they don't want to lose power. When you ask them why they do what they do, their answer is:"I like doing it". And then if you think that they really enjoy working on something useful not only for themselves but also for everyone else's benefit, you are actually wrong. They "love it" only because they love power.
And they won't give it up easily.
As they are losing grounds even in the strongholds of their ideology, as good,
hardworking people of Alberta want better future for their children, they are using proven methods of fear mongering to tell us to vote for their buddies again.
They have been telling us that they are smart and competent and that we shouldn't use our brains. They are the establishment and they deserve to rule us.
They will tell us what to do and we must follow them.

Geniuses

They believe that they guide us, that they create jobs, that they lead all of us and that we are sheep. THEY CREATE JOBS. ONLY THEY ARE JOBS CREATORS. They are God given entities who are economics geniuses. Only THEY can give us prosperity. So that we have to vote for same people who mismanaged this great country.
Because, they and people that they want us to vote for, are all 'buddies'. They all belong to this exclusive club, "old boys club". They are the elite and they deserve to tell us how to think. They are "business men".
And they really believe in that. They believe that they are superior to everyone, especially to those who think differently.
Math is tough for us.

(Some of) Economics geniuses

Simpletons

There is no shortage of simpletons in Alberta whose minds are warped by this belief system. We have been electing them, for years. They populate the board rooms of all important business and all of the organizations on the right. They watch Fox News and believe it. They have little understanding or curiosity about the world outside their insular communities. They are proud of their ignorance and anti-intellectualism. They simplify everything. They prefer drinking beer and watching hockey to reading a book. And when they get into power—they already control the Parliament, the corporate world, most of the media and the economy machine—and they have this binary vision of good (business) and evil (anything that takes care of people and nature and doesn't make profit) and their myopic self-adulation has caused severe trouble for this beautiful land and its hard working people.

None of these simpletons ask the seminal questions as to why the people of Alberta don't want their rulers to rule them anymore, or better to say, why the people of Alberta are fighting back.
These "businessmen" and some of local MPs propagate these twisted, totally
one-sided distortions of economic "ethics" and prosperity.
Everyone who wants change, who wants something different, becomes an evil-
doer, becomes a destroyer of the economy.
Evildoers are all who think with their heads and are sensitive human beings.

Evil

Our rulers insist that anyone else on the helm of this wonderful province is going to destroy it. Their inability to self-reflect allows them to deny the fact that their ruling buddies have failed to bring prosperity to Albertans, except to their own kind.

When I think about Evil, it is not what they've done that is Evil, not even their
fear mongering. 
The only Evil would be to stay silent and accept status quo.

International Speech Contest - Tips to organize it

A month ago I organized an International Speech Contest for Area D25. This contest enabled toastmaster members to compete in two categories, International Speech, and Evalutions.

Volunteers and participants

It was quite similar to the fall contest that I wrote about. It was definitely “easier” to run it though, as all of us had more experience under our belt.

Guests and participants

I found the biggest challenge to be - everyone being a volunteer. People are always busy with their lives, everyone has different schedules, and even hardcore toastmasters sometimes cannot help.

But, all volunteers who helped definitely enabled this event to happen, and everything that was accomplished was another example that the biggest power is power of people. I would never be able to organize such an event without help of others.

Our multiple winner

The contest was a success, and more than that, it was a fun event in which all of us offered our time to each other.

Similar to my post about Fall Contest, I want to share some things that might help in the future organization of similar events:

1. Start planning early, late January, early February.
1. I had the contest as an agenda item on our Area Council Meeting that was held on February 4th.
2. Book the meeting location even earlier. Leverage the same location that was used for previous contests.
1. I asked Rob to help us with the booking, and he was super effective with it.
3. Make decision about the contest date and place early as well. Consult about it with couple of closest club presidents.
4. On the area council meeting, “design” details for the contest. Assign each club with contest tasks. This is of course done in collaborative way with the clubs. By doing this, all necessary items and tasks will be covered, and everyone will know who is accountable and responsible for what.
5. Example of contest tasks list
6. Everyone who is helping with the contest updates the list
7. Task each club to provide a judge.
1. This helped tremendously as I remember that judges recruitment was quite a nightmare.
2. This meant that clubs were responsible for that
3. Let the clubs know that a member can be a judge if he/she has completed 3 speeches. In our case, one of judges didn’t have this requirement, and couldn’t judge the contest
8. Recruit a chief judge
1. I asked one and only Mr.Wang Yip to help us out. This was quite exciting as this was going to be his first contest to be a chief judge
2. I also should’ve recruit a chief judge backup
3. I wanted to have someone who would be doing it for the first time, so that they can have more benefit
9. Recruit a test speaker early. Sometimes the test speaker is called “model speaker”.
10. Recruit actually 2 test speakers, so that you have a backup.
1. That’s exactly what I should have done. I only got 1 test speaker who cancelled 2 days before the contest. I was lucky enough to find a replacement very quickly.
11. Visit clubs before the contest and during the visit propagate the contest and talk about it. Encourage the club members to help and to participate. The key here is to visit before the contest, so timing is essential here.
12. Get an agenda template from your club archive, as clubs have similar contest, so their agendas can be reusable
13. Have 2 people print the agenda, so there is a backup
14. Have 2 people get snacks and water
15. Have “Thank You” cards for judges (instead of gift cards that were always given in the past)
1. We changed this at the area council meeting as the cost was getting higher
16. Bend the rules so that you can have a better contest
17. I won’t say how I bent the rules, but let me assure you it was harmless, and elevated quality of our contest
18. Have name labels prepared so that it is easier to prepare certificates (you only have to attach it). This was also a “new item” that we came up on the area council meeting
19. Be ready for a location (room) change - and that includes some impromptu work (suddenly things are different)
1. Rob told me that we would have to change the room on the day of contest. Nothing really happened, but this (location) was now different from information we shared with everyone. This could have been mitigated by an e-mail sent to the participants.
20. Once you have everything in place, just go and have fun

I live in a harsh climate, but...

I live in a beautiful part of the world that is sometimes not that beautiful. Actually, it can be very "shitty" at times.
I didn't feel it before, but now, I guess I feel it as I am getting older?

It gets shitty when it becomes dark, when days become short and when it gets cold. And all of this happens when winter arrives. There is very little sunlight, and sun is hovering so low on horizon, that you always think it will be gone in next 10 minutes.
It gets very cold, temperatures drop to -25 C, -30 C, and everything looks and feels vacant, slow and frozen. As life stopped. It gets quiet, and it gets even more quiet.
It is dark for more then 16, 17 hours per day. It is bright between 9 AM and 4 PM. It is a bit warmer only between noon and 3 PM.
All of this lasts for a very long time - from mid October until mid April, in many instances even longer. It can snow at any time of year. Well, it is not that dark during summer months.......

Running in November 2014 

But then....when it warms up in December, or January, or February, when we get -5 C (and yes, that's really warm!), thanks to Chinooks, and sometimes we get +5 C, or even +10 C, then we have our "summer". It feels almost "hot" during these warm spells.
Snow starts to melt, and then freezes overnight. And then, of course, it doesn't stay warm too long, it gets cold again and everything gets frozen, and icy.

And then, it starts snowing again. More snow, more ice, more darkness.

So, it gets shitty.

However, I still find ways to have fun :)

One thing that I do even more, during these "shitty times", is running. I just go running. And I run a lot.
That's one way how I get my sun exposure during these long winter months. That's how I get my cardio exercise as well.
It is also a good test of character. When there is a snow blizzard outside, when there is a severe windchill, when it is super cold.....it is not easy to go outside and go running. Trust me I know that.
It's very hard to make that first step to go outside.
It is also hard during first 8-10 minutes, until body is warmed up and starts functioning better. It is even harder if there is a head wind.

Obviously, in a big picture, none if this is really "hard". It is just weather and elements, and running. It is not a problem. And I am quite lucky and privileged that I can do it, that I can go running.
Even on - 20 C.
I remember different times, 20 years ago, when I was not able to go running at all. Comparing to that situation, this kind of "problem", or difficulty, is not a problem at all. But that is part of some other story.

Here, I wanted to describe how it feels and looks like during long Alberta winters, and what is this one pleasant activity that helps me to go through it.
Best thing would be to try it by yourself. Go out, spend time outdoors, no matter what nature is doing on that day. Make your muscles happy, make them work. Breath with full lung capacity. Listen your heart beats. Listen your steps and crunchy snow. Listen and absorb nature's way of connecting.

My goal is to run as much as possible during long Alberta winters. To keep consistent and enjoy it.

There is nothing better then being completely alone on trails, after new snow, trying to bulldoze your way through deep snow. When hip flexors complain, and when lungs work overtime, and when heart is in a red zone.

But then I know I am alive. I am using my own power and I am a bit closer to our ancestors.