"Hobson's Choice"

Your humble scribe hadn't heard the phrase "Hobson's Choice" for awhile until the other day in a Wall Street Journal article.  (Germany now has one, as far as bailing out Greece is concerned.  But I digress.)  A Hobson's Choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered.  Because a person may, of course, refuse to take that option, the choice really becomes "take it or leave it".  The phrase is said to have originated with Thomas Hobson (1544-1631), a livery stable owner in Cambridge, England.  To rotate the use of his horses he offered the choice of either taking the horse in the stall nearest the door - or none at all.  Apparently he had some 40 horses - a wide choice - when in fact there was only one choice.  A Hobson's Choice is to be distinguished, gentle reader, from a "Morton's Fork" wherein the choices offered yield equivalent (often undesirable) results - more widely known as a Catch-22.

The Twin Butte General Store

Located halfway between venerable Waterton Lakes National Park and Pincher Creek (the "Jewel of the West") lies the hamlet of Twin Butte, Alberta, population: a couple of dozen lucky souls...and home of the Twin Butte General Store and Mexican Restaurant.  Overlooking the Rocky Mountains just off to the west, patrons can sup outdoors during the summer or head indoors the rest of the year.  The cozy, euphemistically speaking, restaurant/bar is a favorite meeting place of the locals after a long day farmin' or ranchin' or fishin' or huntin'.  The specialities of the house are Mexican dishes, bison burgers and pizza - with salads and all the accoutrements, of course.  The clientele of hippies and cowboys, intellectuals and good 'ole boys, youngsters and oldsters, combined with live entertainment (check their website for the schedule) adds up to an eclectic dining experience if there ever was one.  Nice folks, cold beer, and an interesting store/post office next door (so you can take home a souvenir toque) complete the picture.  Ya'll come by now!

Atheists Are Good People Too

Many people here in the bible belt believe that religious people are inherently "good" and atheists are inherently "bad".  Well, I'm here to tell ya, it ain't so.  (We already know that all religious folks aren't good - pedophile priests and philandering televangelists being prime examples, right?)  But what about those atheists?  If they don't believe in The Big Guy, they must believe in...The Dark Side.  Wow, that's a total swing of the pendulum - let's go back to the center for a moment.  In fact, I've found that not only are atheists not evil, they are often very good people.  They pay their taxes, raise nice families, don't cheat on their wives, volunteer at Boy Scouts, vote in every election, sing their national anthem, keep their yards tidy, pick up after their dogs, and flip a buck to panhandlers just as often as anyone else.  You see, it is not whether a person is "religious"or not, but how we live our lives every day.  Respect for others - including not forcing our particular beliefs down their throats - is paramount.  In other words, atheists just believe in people instead of ... you know.  The Golden Rule is our creed.  So, don't worry that I haven't been "saved".  I'm not evil, so I'm not going to Hell - even if there is one.  I'm not a mass murderer, a pedophile or a cheat - I'm just an atheist.

Bugs On Your Windshield

(Or wind "screen" for our international readers.)  March 21st?  Easter?  Spring lambs?  The first April shower?  No, negatory, nein, forget it!  The first and only dependable sign of Spring to this incisive observer of the natural world is - bugs on your windshield!  Thus "out here" the Official First Day of Spring 2010 was April 16th.  (I know I sound a bit like the old native soothsayer who could predict how harsh the winter was going to be by observing how much wood the white man was chopping up but - hey, I can't help it if I was born with supernatural powers.)  The "spring snowstorm" three days prior, so-called because it occurred after March 21st, is an unfortunate misnomer.  "Winter's last blast" would be a more accurate description.  At any rate, we'll soon be sick and tired of squeegeeing the bug guts off our windshield every time we gas up, but for now "I'm lovin' it".  By the by, doesn't a screen by definition allow air to pass through it?