You just can’t trust that Mephistopheles

This just in: show your students clips from the opera Faust, and you’re a lesbian and a satanist. Oh, and those are bad things, so you’ll be suspended. Apparently my constantly sinking expectations of the Culture War still fail to keep pace with reality.

Update: It wasn’t even the opera itself the kids were watching — it was soprano Joan Sutherland explaining the plot to three hand puppets! Good grief…

* * * * *

Today was the worst day of winter cycling I can remember (and I biked in Ottawa during the 1998 ice storm). A bunch of snow fell yesterday evening, an overnight thaw turned it all to slush, and then a wicked cold front swept in with gusts up to 90 km/h and turned it all to sheets of ice. I had to stop and stand by the side of the road to let gusts pass by so I wouldn’t get thrown under a bus, and even then I was fighting to keep my balance. At least I didn’t have to drive — CBC reports two 60 (!) car highway pile-ups and at least 5 fatalities. Still, the snow removal crews here are highly efficient; things should be fine tomorrow.

Update: The road crews are not moving quite as fast as I’d first thought, but all the main roads are more or less ice free now.