The 100 Most Livable Cities in Canada

London Isn't One of Them 
   In late November, The Globe and Mail produced a ranking related to "Canada's Most Livable Cities." Among the cities deemed to be desirable places to live, London is not found. One of the rules about rankings is that if one is not mentioned, or does poorly, it is best not to call attention to it. I have not read anything in the local press about the "100 Most Livable Cities," but that makes sense since London is not one of them and it is better not to call our attention to the fact that London is a less desirable place to reside than Winnipeg. Far less, since Winnipeg is No.3 and London, as I mentioned, is not on the list.
   Those cities which did show up on the list have been busy bragging about it. Since news about the great cities in which to live is scarce hereabouts, I will call your attention to the accolades from elsewhere. 

Middlesex Centre

   Here is part of the puffery from close by:

"Middlesex Centre, Ontario, November 27, 2023 – The Municipality of Middlesex Centre has been named one of Canada’s Most Livable Cities for 2023 by The Globe and Mail.

Coming in at number 89 out of the 439 cities included, Middlesex Centre was the only community in the London-Middlesex area to rank in the top 100.

“We are thrilled to be recognized among Canada’s most livable cities,” says Mayor Aina DeViet. “As residents, we know that Middlesex Centre is a wonderful place to call home, and I’m proud that we are being acknowledged alongside so many beautiful areas of the country.”

The Globe and Mail considered 43 variables in 10 categories when developing the rankings. The categories – economy, housing, demographics, health care, safety, education, community, amenities, transportation and climate – were selected as they reflect what people consider important when relocating to a new community. 

Middlesex Centre ranked in the top 30 cities across the country for community, economy, and education."

   If, like me, you did not realize there were 100 cities in Canada (let alone, 'livable' ones) you may be wondering what a 'city' is. According to the G&M, there are over 8,000 of them and data were collected from the 439 Canadian cities with a population of over 10,000. London is 139.

Lambton Shores

   How Lambton did you will see from this graphic:

Where Lambton is located you will learn from this map:

Burlington

   Here is the bragging from Burlington: 

"We already knew this, and  now the rest of Canada does too: Burlington is the top livable city in Ontario, and ranks fifth in Canada, according to a new study published by the Globe and Mail."

   They helpfully list the other nice places to live in Ontario. London is not mentioned:

Ottawa, 24

Pickering, 26.                                          

Oakville, 29

Vaughan, 33

Hamilton, 39

Guelph, 41

Tecumseh, 47

Lincoln, 48

Markham, 50

Norwich, 54

Wellesley, 55

Waterloo, 56

Woolwich, 59

Toronto, 64

Mapleton, 70

Centre Wellington, 76

Whitchurch-Stouffville, 79

North Perth, 81

Newmarket, 83

Whitby, 85

Kingston, 86

Middlesex Centre, 89

King, 90

LaSalle, 92

Lambton Shores, 93

Niagara Falls, 99

Halton Hills, 100

Victoria

   I have saved for the bottom, the top livable city in Canada and it pointed out how careful the G&M was in undertaking such an assessment:

"Victoria has clinched the coveted title of the most livable city in Canada, according to a comprehensive ranking conducted by The Globe and Mail.

Other Vancouver Island communities also garnered notable recognition for the nation’s top 100, proving that it wasn’t solely the capital city making waves in the rankings.

In a meticulous evaluation encompassing 439 cities nationwide, The Globe and Mail scrutinized various criteria ranging from economy, housing, and healthcare to education and climate."

The cities on a rainy island did well:

1. Victoria

7. Saanich

10. Oak Bay

25. Colwood

32. Parksville

40. Central Saanich

63. Nanaimo

78. Sidney

   Although such city rankings are typically not noted by those cities which did poorly in them, or were not even mentioned, they do attract the attention of those looking for a desirable place to live. This is from India:

"The 20 Best Liveable Cities For Newbie In Canada," by Aryan Adarsh, Dec.7, 2023:

Victoria, British Columbia 

Winnipeg, Manitoba

North Vancouver, British Columbia 

Saanich, British Columbia 

Wellesley, Ontario 

Burlington, Ontario 

Regina, Saskatchewan 

Delta, British Columbia 

Maple Ridge, British Columbia 

West Vancouver, British Columbia 

Oak Bay, British Columbia 

Abbotsford, British Columbia 

Colwood, British Columbia 

Norwich, Ontario

Parksville, British Columbia 

Fort St. John, British Columbia 

Port Coquitlam, British Columbia 

Middlesex Centre, Ontario 

Coldstream, British Columbia 

The Source: "Canada's Most Livable Cities," Mahima Singh & Chen Wang, The Globe and Mail, Nov. 25, 2023.

The Bonus:

   Those of you who are curious about other livable cities around the world should see the Economist, which published (with a slightly different spelling), "The World's Most Liveable Cities," on June 21, 2023. Here is a bit from it and there are a couple of Canadian cities listed, but not London. 

Beyond the Palewall (4)

 

["Beyond the Palewall" is the title of this series because "Beyond the Paywall" is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale for you. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 
   The name above is found on the list of those running for President of the United States. As the title of the article I will now point you to indicates, his politics are rather complex so I will simply offer you the inside information about the state of his Toyota minivan. I mainly know of him as the guy who was doing good work trying to keep the rivers clean. Apparently he doesn't care so much about the condition of his van and is now more worried about various conspiracies.
   After arriving at his mansion in Brentwood, which sounds exquisite and in which he lives with his actress wife, the reporter of this article is taken for a van ride which is described quite well: "The Mind-Bending Politics of RFK Jr.'s Spoiler Campaign: He's a Conservative. He's a Liberal. And He Could Turn the Presidential Race Upside Down," Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine, in the "Intelligencer", Nov. 22, 2023.

   "Bobby, as he’s known to friends, walked through the French doors dressed for his morning hike in blue jeans, a black hoodie, Keens, and an unfriendly expression. He said little as he led his three enormous canines to the van, though I don’t know what he could have said that would have prepared me for the sight of the thing. That the dog car survived a nuclear war maybe, or, even more frightening, the chicken-pox vaccine.

   Rearview mirror smashed to bits, seat belts chewed off, cushions gnawed open, filth and dog hair covering every surface. The death machine smells so bad I thought I might pass out after about 15 seconds riding shotgun, and that was before the candidate hung a sharp left and sped off toward the trailhead, the dogs barking and toppling over in the area of the car that theoretically should contain back seats but instead holds a wooden bench. “Shut up, you idiots!” he told the dogs. At least I think he was talking to them. He swung the vehicle around to park on the side of the road, released the hounds, and started his ascent."

Why I Don't Get Anything Done

   From the article I also learned about Amaryllis Fox Kennedy who is his campaign manager and daughter-in-law. Of course I had to remind myself of what 'amaryllis" means and will save you the trouble: "In the Victorian language of flowers, amaryllis means "love, beauty, and determination", and can also represent hope and achievement." (Among botanists there is some confusion about the Amaryllis and it is perhaps fortunate for Mrs. Kennedy that she was not named Hippeastrum.)

   Naturally, I then needed to know more about the bearer of that name who was born as Amaryllis Damerell Thornber and learned that she is a former CIA officer and author as well. Her mother's also intriguing name is Lafarge Damerell and she is a retired English actress. I was about to look her up, but instead noticed the name of her billionaire husband. He is Steven Rales, who among other activities, produces films such as Wes Anderson's, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Fortunately I was able to exercise a bit of discipline and not investigate further, either the flowers or the people mentioned above. 

Sensitivity Readers
   By now you are used to being warned before watching or reading just about anything. I warned you about all of this in a post with the title, "Warning" and my coverage of this subject is bordering on the tiresome. Still, the following example serves to illustrate how silly this sensitivity stuff now is. "Sensitivity Readers", for those of you who do not do any reading, are those people who are hired by publishers to make sure you don't read anything offensive. As an aside, one has to wonder about such employees, many of whom must already be on long term disability. 
   Behind a paywall one finds this article: "Slouching Toward Sensitivity: Content Warning: This Essay Contains Obscenities, Slurs, Sex, Bullying, Child Abuse, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Murder, Suicide, Religion, Culture, Opinions, Politics, Language and Academe," Janet Burroway, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 28, 2023.
   The author of the article is also the author of a textbook intended for university students, a book which she has successfully revised a few times over the last decade. I can't say I know the author, but I can say that it is highly unlikely that you will meet anyone more agreeable. Over the years she has acquiesced to many editorial suggestions and accepted advice to include examples that are sufficiently representative of diverse views coming from all sorts of people. Just getting all of that into one sentence, illustrates how difficult sensitivity editing can be. Since she writes about writing, it is best to have her tell you about the process.

"Unusually, this time around my publisher asked for no refreshing of my ideas, no major swaths of rewriting, only that I conform to the new sensibility. I was asked to change the binary “he/she,” for example, and to substitute they as a neutral nonbinary, or to refashion the sentence so that the plural made sense. The latter was often easy. The former not so much.

   My instructions suggested that even if I was positing a hypothetical stage scene, I should not designate an actor as male or female. I was asked not to say “pregnant woman” since trans men can sometimes give birth. I was asked to substitute “home” where I had said “house,” on the grounds that some people don’t have houses. (What of those who have a house but no home?) I was to add “or caregiver” to every mention of mother, father, or parents. “Heroine” and “hero” are out. “God” should not be referenced, since different people have different gods, or none. Likewise, “Him” should not be capitalized. Noah’s Ark should not be mentioned, since non-Bible-savvy students might not know the story. “First year” must be used instead of the sexist “freshman.” “Foreign” and “foreigners” are offensive in any context. “Nerd,” “tribal,” “naïve,” “’hood,” “ugliness,” and “race” should not be said. Don’t mention shame, straitjacket, suicide, Donald Trump, or Kevin Spacey!"

  I said she was agreeable and acquiescent and she was: "To virtually all of these admonitions, even when I thought them misguided or silly, I agreed. My own prose was not after all sacred. But when it came to the imaginative prose of other writers, trouble began."

   To provide examples of good and probably bad prose she did due diligence to make sure to fulfill the diversity quotient, but that wasn't enough since the examples chosen could not get by the sensitivity readers. She explains it:

   "The problems began with a short paragraph — one that had already been in the book for a couple of editions — from, as it happened, a white male author. Scott Russell Sanders, in a lovely memoir piece about his boyhood, “Coming from the Country,” records how his family moved north from Tennessee when he was “not quite six” and “still a two-legged smudge.”

  “The kids in Ohio took one listen to my Tennessee accent and decided I was a hick. … hillbilly, ridge runner, clodhopper, and hayseed.”

   This passage was flagged by the “development editor” (read: sensitivity reader) with the admonition that “these are derogatory terms Southern readers may feel strongly about.”

  “Yes,” I said; that was the point: “The terms are ugly and unfair, and no matter where we actually come from, we identify with the boy from Tennessee. No reader could miss this.”

  The sensitivity reader did. As I indicated, Ms. Burroway is generally sympathetic with many of the 'liberal' goals of the new censors, but even she has to conclude that while, "The strictures of the left are more tentative and more benign. They are strictures, nevertheless."

ON Nomenclature

   As you will know, whenever one of the titles in MM contains the prefix "ON", you realize you are in for a tough slog about a serious topic (see, for example, "ON Worms" and "ON Barfing.) You will also know that I have been consistently critical of the "Naming Warriors" who want to change most of the names we know, if the name belongs to someone they don't like. Bird names are now at the top of their lists.
   Such simple virtue signalling is really rather complex and the good news is that those involved are likely to be engaged in this endeavour for a very long time. Unfortunately that will keep them from doing anything really important, but at least they won't be meddling with other unimportant symbolic gestures which accomplish very little and create a lot of unnecessary hostility.
   There are thousands of names to be changed and the sorting out of 'bad' names is complicated. For example, what if a bad person was only bad part of the time and then turned good, or vice versa. Aung San Suu Kyi won a Nobel Prize, but now some want it revoked. She has a bug named after her (Cretopiesma suukyiae), what is one to do?

  On the other hand, bugs aren't particularly flattering so perhaps it fits. The Australian Death Adder is named for the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Hawke, (Acanthophis hawkei). Is that because he was a slimy snake of a person or because he was a conservationist? (the latter.) As you will see, in the list below, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, have beetles named after them. Is that because they were bad guys or good? (surprisingly, the latter.) Could detestable critters we don't like, be given the name of people we dislike? I could go on.

   Instead, I will provide a brief list compiled from very long lists of things with names. All kinds of things are named for all kinds of people. There are musicians, politicians, artists, athletes and authors and men and women who have their names on many types of organisms. The sorting out of all these names will not be easy. Here are just a few samples of people who may be good or bad, or both, for you to scrutinize. 

Earl Scruggs
Acanthobunocephalus scruggsi 
Catfish
Named after Earl Scruggs, a prominent American banjo player known for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, also known as "Scruggs style", which is characteristic of bluegrass music. The name of the species also makes an allusion to the common name given to aspredinid species in general (banjo catfishes), and the remarkable resemblance of the new species with this musical instrument.
[If you are wondering if any other player of blue grass music had something named after him, the answer is "YES". Doc Watson has a Beetle named after him: Anillinus docwatsoni.]

Mick Jagger (note - Canadian content)
Aegrotocatellus jaggeri
Trilobite
Aegrotocatellus is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida, which existed in what is now Nunavut, Canada. It was named by Adrain and Edgecombe in 1995, and the type species is Aegrotocatellus jaggeri, a species named after British musician Mick Jagger.
[There is also a sea snail named after him - Anomphalus jaggerius - and Keith Richards has his own trilobite as well: Perirehaedulus richardsi.]

George W. Bush
Agathidium bushi 
Beetle
This beetle was named by Quentin D. Wheeler, and President Bush was pleased with the gesture, even calling Wheeler to thank him for the honor. Because of the problematic public image of Bush and his cabinet, and the fact that this is a slime-mold beetle which feeds on decaying fungi, some interpreted the naming to be intended as an insult; however, Wheeler clarified that this species, as well as A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi, were meant as homages: "We admire these leaders as fellow citizens who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy rather than accepting the expedient or popular". Co-author Kelly Miller said "We intended the names to be honorific... We were two conservatives in academia working together (which is not common). It was early in the Iraq war period, and we were both in favor of intervention there... And finally, we love our beetles! We wouldn't name a new species after someone we didn't like.
[ Cheney - Agathidium cheneyi. Rumsfeld - Agathidium rumsfeldi ]

John Updike
Agrilus updikei 
Beetle
A species of jewel beetle that mimics flies, "named in honor of the late writer John Updike. Although Updike published sparingly on Neotropical beetles (1963), his use of metaphors, widely admired by critics, recommends this honor because, in a sense, a species which mimics another is a kind of metaphor for the mimicked species and benefits by being confused for its model by uncritical predators."

Lionel Messi

Acanthogonatus messii
Spider

"In honor of Lionel Andrés Messi, an Argentine professional footballer and one of the greatest players of all times, unique winner of seven (now eight) Ballons d’or."

                                            Some Women

Carole King

Anacroneuria carole
Stonefly

The species name [...] honors singer, songwriter, environmental advocate, Carole King in recognition of the music career, a pearl by any standard." (This species belongs to the family Perlidae)

Joni Mitchell (note - Canadian content)
Cortinarius jonimitchelliae

Mushroom

"The epithet is in honor of the Canadian singersongwriter Joni Mitchell. She has written many songs for the protection of nature. Her most famous album "Blue" suits well for the color of this species"

Dolly Parton
Dollyphyton 
Fossil

A fossil genus from the Ordovician of Tennessee, USA. "The generic name is in honor of Dolly Parton, whose Dollywood resort is near Douglas Dam" (where the fossils were found)

Joan Didion
‘Ganaspidium didionae 
Wasp
The wasp's range includes deserts of the American Southwest, setting of several of Didion's works.

[There is also a wasp named for Shakira - Aleiodes shakirae]

Sources: 
   I stumbled upon a source which provided all of this information and was the stimulus for this post. See if you can find it. I will say, that none of the material in the list of people was created by me and there is a source for it. 

Biking About (No.3)

 

   On May 1, 2023 in a post labelled, "Biking About" there is a picture of the odometer on my bike and the number displayed is 4575.  In it, i indicated I would provide a tally in the fall and it is pictured above. I stopped riding around Nov.15, so during that six month period I rode about 1435K or around 890 miles. Serious cyclists will make fun of that total, but, as is the case with most things, I am not too serious about cycling. In my defence I will note that I rode mainly on nice, sunny, warm days of which there are not many in southern Ontario. There will be even fewer in the next six months and I will not be joining those riding on fat tires through the falling snow in the darkness. 

The Bonus:
   While looking for my earlier post, I found that I had done another one with the title, "Biking About," which illustrates my lack of creativity. But in it I did offer some observations about how cycling may affect sexual activity. 

Post Script:
   You have learned little from this post, but at least I have provided for myself some record of one of my activities. If I had wanted to impress you I could have offered my drinking statistics, but fortunately I didn't keep track of them. For persevering I will now provide a picture of "Octo Man" who is associated with MM. It is the only known photo of him taken during this century and it was done by accident. In attempting to take a picture of the Thames River along which the cyclist often rode, he didn't realize the phone was pointing in the wrong direction. Here is that first and last 'selfie', which, one hopes, only a few loyal readers of MM will notice. 

Beyond the Palewall (3)

 

["Beyond the Palewall" is the title of this series because "Beyond the Paywall" is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale for you. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

                                        News From the Art World

Intolerance Outside the MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE
   There is some irony left in L.A. where the Museum of Tolerance is located and where fights occurred outside the Museum recently because of what was going on inside. You will find a few articles about it in early November. For example:
"Inside the Museum of Tolerance's Screening of Hamas Attack Footage," Josh Rottenberg, L.A. Times, Nov. 8, 2023.
"Demonstrators Brawl Outside LA's Museum of Tolerance After Screening of Hamas Attack Video," Associated Press, Nov.9, 2023.
The website of the Museum of Tolerance is here.
Now, on to a museum that is really tolerant.

Serrano's Piss Christ

The Upcoming Brawl in Barcelona - THE MUSEUM OF PROHIBITED ART
   The Museum of Prohibited Art is a brand new one in Barcelona and, while I welcome it, it is highly likely that others will not. During a time when everyone is highly sensitive and just about anything displayed is offensive to someone, you have to admire the chutzpah of Tatxo Benet, a wealthy Catalan, who is opening a museum dedicated to nothing but showing offensive artworks which have already been censored and previously prohibited. Skirmishes outside this museum are predicted. Apart from controversial sexual and political items there are also religious ones, although it is also predicted that one religion will be treated lightly and there probably aren't any of those cartoons on display. Some titillating headlines:
"Is This the Most Offensive Museum in the World," James Badcock, The Telegraph, Oct.24, 2023. The question:
"Who would dare to open a museum of censored art in these puritanical times, when barely a day passes without news of a work being withdrawn after offending sensibilities or due to the creator's "problematic" persuasions?"
The answer:
"Tatxo Benet, a Catalan art collector, has no such qualms as he prepares to open the doors of his Museu de l'Art Prohibit in Barcelona tomorrow."

"A New Museum of Prohibited Art Shows How Censorship Evolved: When One Person's Art is Another Person's Insult," The Economist, Nov.3, 2023.

"Christ crucified on a fighter jet. Ronald McDonald on the cross. The Madonna in traditional guise, reaching under her robe between her legs. At the new Museum of Prohibited Art in Barcelona, it is not hard to detect a common theme."

Many objects in the museum focus on religion, but not all. Mockery of macho politicians has a way of bringing out the censors, too. Here is Andy Warhol’s Mao Zedong, there a painting of Emiliano Zapata naked on horseback, wearing a pink sombrero and high heels. (The revolutionary Mexican leader’s descendants threatened, preposterously, to sue the artist, Fabián Cháirez, for defamation.) The museum’s main criterion is that works were banned or censored in some way. Tatxo Benet, a journalist-turned-businessman, founded the museum and collected the art."

The website of the Museu de l'Art Prohibit is here, if you dare to look.

Post Script: 

   Although I suppose one can always find in art a bit of politics, today the latter subject is harder to avoid. I mentioned recently that I visited the Vancouver Art Gallery and among the exhibits is "Conceptions of White" which you can view until Feb. 2, 2024. Curious about the reaction to it, I learned that on social media there were some (probably white) who were not happy with it. Among the regular media I have not found much, but will include the references here to help you decide if you want to go to Vancouver. 

   The VAG description of "Conceptions of White" is found here. 

It includes a YouTube presentation by the curators, found here. (13:50)

An article by Lindsay Shepherd is here. "SHEPHERD: An Inside Look at the Vancouver Gallery's Anti-White Exhibit, True North, Nov. 8, 2023. 

(You may remember her for getting in trouble for showing a bit from a TVO program including Jordan Peterson at WLU.)   

There is another in Georgia Strait: "VAG'S Conceptions of White Takes an Uncompromising Swing at a World That Seriously Needs to Change," Mike Usinger, Sept. 7, 2023.

Signs of the Times

     

   I remember years ago, when our conversations were richer, that someone realized we were talking about real estate. Horror of horrors! That was many years ago, before Trump, so I have no idea what we went on to discuss. It could have been about some medical malady, since our conversations may not have been as rich as I remember.

  Whether we are richer now than we were then involves philosophical and economic issues which I am not prepared to deal with, so we will stick with real estate. That subject came up again recently and it never really disappeared from the salons of which I am a member. In this instance, it appears that a short piece about a local property had been overlooked (or perhaps avoided) by the participants, all of whom were homeowners.

What Goes Up

   I will provide here some information which indicates simply, that in this case the property value went down. That is a scenario difficult to imagine, particularly for property owners, who think they perhaps should have taken the opportunity to invest in the more stable option, crypto-currency. 

   Among aspiring homeowners, schadenfreude did not achieve full force since the house that had fallen in value, was still far too expensive for them. As I said, whether we are richer now than we once were is a matter for debate, but perhaps we would all be better off if a house was considered as a place in which to live, rather than in which to invest.

Source:
   "This London House Dropped $300,000K in Less Than 2 Months: Sharp Rise in Interest Rates Punishing Owners Who Bought in Early 2022," Andrew Lupton, CBC News, Nov. 9, 2023.

Address Label Apocalypse

    I am not especially generous, but at the end of the year a few donations are made. The organizations that receive the modest amounts appear to be grateful since they are in constant contact and, about this time of year, some of them send me cards and sheets of address labels. They also apparently alert other charitable associations and let them know of my generosity and they in turn send me packets of cards and, yes, sheets of address labels. I have many address labels and I am sure you do as well.

   I am also sure that, like me, you probably don't write many letters that go in envelopes, for which, admittedly, it is nice to have ready-made address labels. I suspect, however, that there is an inverse ratio here and that there are far more address labels being produced than letters written. Far more. 

  I do admit to using some of them, the few without bunnies or angels, without contributing to the charitable organization that provided them. I feel only mildly guilty about this and even less so if they are from a charity to which I haven't given any money. This means those charities that send out address labels to those who haven't donated to them, may be losing money, unless people feel more guilty than I. 
   The question is, "Is it still a good idea for charities to pay for address labels and send them to us to raise money?" I suppose it is or they wouldn't be doing it. On the other hand, the fact that so many of them use the same tactic makes one think that they are not overly creative in coming up with new fund raising ideas. Or, they all may be paying for advice from the same consulting firms which also can't come up with anything new and think that snail mail is still the preferred form of communication. 

   There is an additional problem with address labels, unlike some of the other items we are sent to make us feel guilty and goad us into giving, and that is there is no other use for them since very few other people have our name and live at our address, so many of them surely end up in the garbage.