Lord Brawl's New Writeups

Great Migration (thing)

2011-07-29T15:42:55Z

In Canada (Upper Canada and Lower Canada before the Union Act of 1841), the "Great Migration" was a period of accelerated immigration. In the early 1800s, innovations of the Industrial Revolution began to automate many of the jobs that employed the lower classes. Starting around the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the jobless and hungry were lured to travel to the "New World" from Great Britain and Ireland. This was partly facilitated by England's hunger for lumber -- ships brought timber from the New World, and carried immigrants on the return trip to Canada. By 1830, almost 30,000 people annually were arriving in the Canadas, mostly via QuÃ©bec City. By 1851, almost 700,000 immigrants had passed through QuÃ©bec City from ports in England, Ireland, and Scotland with some 60% of those arriving from Irish ports. This influx changed the language and cultural balance of the Canadas from predominantly French to British.

Grosse Ãle tragedy

When a terrible outbreak…

August 18, 2011 (fiction)

2010-10-28T01:48:27Z

Eduardo led his three-man assessment team forward into a new stretch of the Mina San JosÃ©, unseen by anyone from the surface since the world-famous mining accident slightly over a year before. Now that the last rubble had been cleared from this part of loop six, it was up to Eduardo and his team to ensure that it was safe for engineering teams to proceed to the next part of the ramp.

He was only about a dozen paces forward when he stumbled over something. He shone his light down, and his stomach clenched. Slowly he played his light up from the body at his feet, and forward down the ramp. More bodies. He knew without counting that there would be 33 of them in all. Behind him there was a sudden, sharp sound, like someone snapping a stick, followed by a sodden thud.

Almost against his will, he turned his head to look at Florencio as the latter man stepped up beside him. "I'm sorry, Eduardo," Florencio said, placing his hands on Eduardo's shoulders.

The subsequent August 2011…

GammaGirl (fiction)

2010-02-27T12:31:56Z

GammaGirl, Issue 51

Cover: Artist's discretion

Inside front cover: Ad space

Page One

A full-page panel (with space for book title and artist credits superimposed). Just before dawn. The Gammacar, seen through the closed gate of a cyclone fence topped with barbed wire, has just emerged from a cornfield. The last row of corn stalks is under the Gammacar's wheels. The Gammacar's headlights illuminate a sign which we can't read from our perspective (we're behind the sign).

Page Two

Inset, upper left: Closeup of the Gammacar's grille: The Gammacar's emblem badge snaps aside (CLACK!) to reveal a weapon port.

Containing panel, full page width: View from inside the Gammacar as a red beam flashes in an arc to cut open the gate's hinges. (Dust refracts the light so we see a "slice" effect as the beam cuts.) Now we can read the sign, which says "Quarantine zone. Keep out. By order DoE,…

February 7, 2010 (fiction)

2010-02-07T22:43:03Z

For kamamer, who posted this link on his Facebook page. Here you go, Karl:

We met at Halloween. You wore a Jar-Jar Binks face mask and a viking helmet. I was a Tic Tac Toe game. "Meesa takin' Paul Lynde for the block," you said, touching my navel. It scored you points because it was a better line than all the "Xs and Os" stuff I'd been hearing. I still have a picture from that party -- of our off sides, to be sure, but I see the glow of new love, anyway.

On our very next date we played chess. You went all-out with no thought to defense, your only strategy to rush your pawns in for conversion to Queens. I knew right then we'd make a great team -- my brains and your ... enthusiasm!

…

August 22, 2009 (log)

2009-08-22T04:19:34Z

The Royal Canadian Geographic Society today announced that Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island, has been reclassified as a "provincoid".

"It never really made sense that such a small place was treated like a real province, like Alberta or the Nation of Quebec." said Chief Classifier Mildred "Muddy" Waters. "The population at 136,000 people is less than 3% of the city of Toronto. The city of Vancouver has twice as many Members of Parliament." In fact, Vancouver has 8 MPs versus 4 MPs from PEI, for those keeping score at home.

Waters said that the recent decision to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet instead of a full planet showed the way. "Clearly size really does matter, cosmologically speaking" she said. "Now we have 9 provinces and three territories, it's numerically pleasing." She adds that the term "provincoid" was chosen over the alternative designation "dwarf province" due to…

August 21, 2009 (log)

2009-08-22T03:54:35Z

Today, disgruntled Ottawa Senators right winger Dany Heatley held a 10 minute press teleconference to address his request to be traded away from the Ottawa Senators, and his subsequent refusal to accept the Edmonton Oilers as an acceptable destination. During the call Heatley stuck to his core messages while giving the inkstained wretches very little to chew on. He expressed no animosity toward either city or the fans in those locations, suggesting instead that his major complaint is that his "role was diminished" in Ottawa without elaborating on what that might mean.

Fans are left to imagine what might really be going on in Heater's mind, and what we might have heard had Dany quaffed a couple of wobbly pops beforehand, found a few extra minutes to speak....

Q: Dany, what makes you feel entitled to preferential treatment by coach Clouston?

Heatley: Entitled? Talent! I'm the superstar, and who is he? Coach Clueless. Some guy…