Adventures in University and the great outdoors.

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And you are the one who'll decide where to go ..."
- Dr. Seuss



Great Adventures
Chic Chocs 2002 X-C Skiing Trip Report

Chic Chocs 2003 Telemark Trip Report

Patagonia Cycling Trip 2004 (Posted by Nick and Andrew)

European Cycling Trip 2005

----------
Bio
Who: Benjamin Heumann

Where: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

Why: Graduate School

Major Malfunctions: Snow, Telemark Skiing, Snoeshowing, monkeys, Winter Camping, Back Country Skiing, Hiking, Cycling, monkeys, Sea Kayaking, and Rivers (river monkeys).

e-mail:benjamin.heumann [at] mail.mcgill.ca

Current Reading:The Star Diaries Lem
Books of Note (Recently Read):
The Futurological Congress, Lem
Before Mao, Patrick Lescot
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Plot Against America, Phillip Roth
The Great Shark Hunt Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, R.I.P.
Stranger in a Strange LandRobert A. Heilein
Give War A Chance PJ O'Rourke
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Animal Farm
Reefer Madness
Cadillac Desert
Ender's Game (again)
Kingdom of Fear
------------


Links
School
Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre
Homepage

Other Internet Readings
McGill
The Sardonic Subversive (Matthew)
Redneck With Books (Evan)
Dithie
Former McGill GIS Lecturer, Matt Stevenson
Oriana aka O-town

Michigan
Common Monkey Flower (Murph)
Esther
Ann Arbor is Overrated
Arbor Update

The Pros and The Like
Crooked Timber
Live From the Third Rail
Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity
The Drug War Rant The Agitator
Geography Links
Map Room
Geography in the News
Canadian Geographic
Ski Maps!
Flight Maps
EU Pipeline Maps
Money Maps
Ancient Rome Maps
Ancient Greece
Recent Earthquakes
Atlas of the Biosphere
McGill Geography Undergraduate Society


Current Terror Alert(!?):

"When you think of how many kids died drinking alcohol, I feel I've saved millions of lives," -Tommy Chong

 
CREATING ANOTHER COLUMBINE:
I clearly remember the first day of the school year following Columbine. We were filed into the gym to the start of school assembly. Our principal stood in front of the entire school body in the gym. He gave the usual welcome back Bulldawgs for a new school year. Then he gave a speech bullying will not be tolerated.
At this time, there were many calls from educators and politicians to crack down on bullying to prevent another school shooting. Somehow (actually, not surprisingly) school administrators and politicians have lost track of punishing the bullies and are now punishing everyone who is involved in a physical dispute. They call is zero tolerance. I call it brainless Nazis practices SS techniques for the coming of the next dark age. Mitch Albom describes one student's situation.
So if a student is picked on by a bully s/he can't fight back. If the student tells, most likely s/he will not only feel crummy for being a snitch, but will get picked on more. S/he becomes more and more frustrated and her/his life becomes more and more miserable. One day he/she has had enough. They grab a weapon, a fist, a knife, or even a gun, and they take actions into their own hands because it is the only way to make it stop.

For more on Zero Tolerance, check out Zero Intelligence.


Monkeys invaded Ben's brain at 9:42 AM