Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Friday, December 18, 2009

A Very Canadian Sense of Unity

by anderson

On a mild note this Friday,  I felt compelled to pass along an adorable quote I just read.

Last weekend, Edmonton, Alberta, hit a double low-temperature mark: coldest temperature in North America, and coldest temperature ever recorded in Edmonton (apologies if this was already mentioned here).  Experienced only to -38C, and knowing how that hurts, I still could not fathom what -46 freaking degrees Celsius would feel like.

Certainly, it is not good.

Nonetheless, the Winter Light festival pressed forth, emboldened by a magnificent hoar frost.  A gathering formed, and Canadians, in a bond of utter frigidity, gathered together and shared the moment:

it was that it's 'too cold' cold. We were so surprised that people came out and were cold with us."

Ahh, feel the sharing. Maybe not the warmth of the sharing, mind you, but you can feel the sharing.



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2 comments:

  1. BJ BjornsonDecember 18, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    The -46C was only the coldest temperature recorded for that particular day. I'm not certain what the coldest ever temperature for Edmonton actually is, but for most Canadian Prairie cities, it usually is around the -55C mark.
    I am myself doubly amused by this story since we're having an incredibly unseasonable warm period here today and into the weekend, as in at least 30 degrees above normal (so like, right around freezing), which makes us pretty much the warmest place in Canada outside of the Vancouver/Victoria area.

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  2. geoffDecember 18, 2009 at 9:26 AM

    My oldest brother did his phd at U of Alberta, it's in Edmonton, & told me once that walking to school in the winter his eyes would freeze shut from the cold & wind chill. My only top to that was one of many of my Arctic stories such as never using a shovel to get a vehicle out on the road after a blizzard. It was always a saw as the snow had frozen so hard shovelling was ... .
    Also, just for fun, a very short video of a blizzard in Iqaluit NU, where Finance Ministers will be meeting this coming February. Incidentally Iqaluit has wimpy blizzards for real excitement you need to head into the high Arctic - Iqloolik, Cam Bay, Gjoa ... . In Iqaluit you can see your hand in front of your face
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esOa-w53e8o&feature=player_embedded

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