Olympics, Viagra, Comments

So now Olympic athletes may be using Viagra to enhance their performance outside of the bedroom. But I have nothing pressing to say about the article.

Usually I'm all about avoiding the user comments on the news at cbc.ca. Typically they are filled with some kind of weird moral outrage or uninformed ranting, etc. This time, when I was there, all of the visible comments were of the comical one line variety:

neverend wrote:
Posted 2008/06/27at 3:30 PM ET

looks like runners will no longer win races by a nose.....


Chris wrote:
Posted 2008/06/27at 3:31 PM ET

Check out the Google ads on the right! ->

Chris wrote:
Posted 2008/06/27at 3:30 PM ET

I can see runners taking Viagra to shave a few inches off their time...

PunkahJr wrote:
Posted 2008/06/27at 3:36 PM ET

Hands off my baton!
Mikethespike wrote:
Posted 2008/06/27at 4:06 PM ET

It couldn't be good for swimmers in the Iron-Man event. Their rudder would drag in the weeds.


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Approaching Canada Day

I've been away recently (Ottawa, Toronto, Saratoga Springs NY) for meetings and Dave Matthews Band concerts - a real mixed bag of activities. I'm sure pictures will follow soon, but for now, let us prepare for the long weekend (or long weekend interrupted by work on Monday for others) and Canada's very special day by perusing the Polls On Canada.


The polls have revealed that we Canadians revere Pierre Trudeau, the maple leaf, and the Canadarm with universal gusto. I have to agree and am pleased to see it.

The article includes the top picks for Canada's defining person, event, place, symbol and accomplishment and a little about the breakdown of responses by region.


Happy early Canada Day!

Crisis In BC

On Wednesday, in the House of Commons, members of Parliament formally apologised for the Canadian Government's part in establishing and funding Indian Residential Schools. It was a historic event that most people in my office took the time to watch happen live on CPAC.

But more importantly, this news item came out on the same day. The cold, wet Spring we've been suffering through is threatening our pot crops! If the weather doesn't perk up soon, the price we'll pay for product will increase - and that's just not cool. In the Far West, we're not interested in paying what the saps to the East and South do. Let's start stockpiling!

Cuts Like A Knife

First CBC starts allowing comments on their news site and now they are scrapping a Saturday night Holy Canadian tradition. I've always been an ardent supporter of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but they are really starting to piss me off.

As of now, CBC has decided to stop using Canada's "second national anthem" during Hockey Night in Canada. It's true, they're really doing this. The iconic "dunt- da-dunt- da-dunt" that accompanies our most hallowed television broadcasts will not be heard again.

"CBC has announced the corporation is moving in a "new direction.""

What are they going to do? Use some old Rush song? Try and attract new viewers with a rocking techno vibe? We're talking about Hockey Night in Canada for crying out loud! It's an institution in this country! The unmistakable song they are axing is instantly recognizable and provokes many unique memories and emotions for each person who hears it. Maybe (perhaps sadly) more so than O Canada does. Remember those CBC montages of people on the street singing the song for the camera? And I've heard many NHL players refer to Hockey Night in Canada and its theme song from their childhood memories. There is a reason for that.


Will massive protest change CBC's mind?

No, this is not inconsequential. Yes, it is important. This is a part of our culture.

"Hockey Night in Canada is a television broadcast of National Hockey League games in Canada, produced by CBC Sports. Hockey Night consistently remains one of the highest-rated programs on Canadian television. It is also the world's oldest sports-related television program still on the air." -Wikipedia

Even during the 2004-2005 NHL lockout where no games were played, "CBC replaced Hockey Night in Canada with a triple-feature of movies...However, as a reminder to viewers that Saturday night was supposed to be Hockey Night, Ron MacLean hosted the movies from various hockey venues throughout Canada, under the title Movie Night in Canada. Ron would mention some facts about the film and talk hockey during the commercial breaks. The venues were usually those of CHL teams." (also from Wikipedia)

This show is so much a part of our blood, that even when there is no hockey being played, we still need our Hockey Night in Canada.

Please CBC, don't take away our aural fixation.






CBC's Article (the bastards!)

The best song you can name: How better to get Canadians to stand and sing than with an anthem about hockey?

Endangered Tribes

One of the last "uncontacted" tribes in the world was recently photographed.

Brazil's National Indian Foundation, known as Funai, spotted members of the group during flights over the far western Amazon jungle near the Peruvian border.

The people were sighted in an Ethno-Environmental Protected Area along the Envira River in flights over remote Acre state.

Funai said it photographed "strong and healthy" warriors, six huts and a large planted area. But it was not known to which tribe they belonged, officials said.

It makes me very happy that there are still untouched indigenous people and that modern humans haven't stamped out the last of the wilderness quite yet. I love this one blurry picture; the warriors' colour, their reaction to the overflight...I hope we don't end up encroaching on their lives.



Article and more pictures at Survival International

More at canada.com

Pencil Creatures

Check out these beasts made of pencils on the Wired site. They are very interesting; one of the posted comments is, "Wow... I am fascinated and repelled by this." And each piece can take the artist, Maestre, up to two months to complete!

Letter to Braemar #2

As announced on The Warehouse:

05.27.08
A message from DMB:
Keyboardist Butch Taylor has decided to leave Dave Matthews Band. We are saddened by this sudden news but he has our full support. He’s given so much to us and our audience through the years and he will be missed.

Spage responds:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Why does it have to be my favourite member whose name is not Dave Matthews?? Why??? Noooooooooooooooooo!!! Boyd should leave instead!!

Everest Records

Yes, it holds the record for being "the highest point on the Earth's surface, 8,850 metres above sea level", but two other records were also broken yesterday.

"A record 75 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest in a single day...breaking a record previously set in 2002, when 63 people reached the summit." and "a veteran Nepali mountain guide, Apa Sherpa, reached the summit for a record 18th time."

Over 200 people have lost their lives attempting to scale Everest since the first successful climb in 1953, but did you know that "many of the bodies of those who've died on Everest still line the trails and camp sides [sic], mummified in the dry, cold air"? It must be a chilling reminder of how dangerous your trek is when passing by these fallen predecessors.

Orphan Feet

Today I found out that British Columbia is getting an international reputation for having a coast that collects severed right feet. Four have washed up on our shores in the past year, although there is no confirmation yet if the latest foot is a righty or lefty. And all four were still in shoes. It is kinda strange.



Quote in Image by: Mitch Hedberg

Not Squids

In other aquatic animal news, tragedy struck the Calgary Zoo on Sunday when 34 healthy Cownose Stingrays died for reasons that are yet to be known. The stingrays were a part of an interactive display and went from healthy to dead in a single day. The water in the rays' tank was tested and seemed normal, and now necropsies will be conducted to determine what happened to them.

"An early investigation into the deaths indicates possible toxins in the water rather than a problem with the food or the water itself, said Herron.

"There are a number of household chemicals that could do this," said Herron. "You don't want to speculate, but people do strange things sometimes.""

If someone purposely poisoned these rays... Even the possibility is upsetting.

Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni

Wired has some great pictures of a colossal squid's (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) dissection here. It was a pretty big deal; a few weeks ago there were articles out about the upcoming dissection, the colossal squid is the largest invertebrate ever caught, and "an international team of scientists was flown to New Zealand to assist in the examination of this unique find". If you check out all the images there is accompanying text on each page.

1969 v. 2008

I recently watched this video titled NASA's New Spaceship: Video animation of how we'll get back to the Moon by 2018!

It was remarkably familiar. The video demonstrates the exact same method used in the first moon landing: pod atop a single phallic rocket, lunar lander, living pod, slingshot to earth, and capsule landing under three red and white parachutes.

In 1961 JFK surprised NASA and publicly told them to go to the moon within 10 years. And now, with all that we've learned about space travel and rapid advances in technology, it takes even longer to achieve? Using the same basic spacecraft design? I'll concede that I'm no rocket scientist, but still, it was baffling.

In related information... as you are probably aware, our beloved shuttles will be completely retired by 2010. What really irks me is that there will be a 5 year gap between when the shuttles are no longer flying and the when the new space vehicles will be in use. Call me old fashioned, but I would like to see an increase in space exploration, not a five year hiatus.

Driving v. Starvation

This is an interesting dilemma; given that biofuels reduce our reliance on traditional fuel but at the same time spurs hunger worldwide by inflating the cost of food, what will we decide is more important to address? (Perhaps the answer is both.)

It reminds me of a Walrus feature about how our obsession with outlawing trans fats means that we're killing elephants in other parts of the world...or something like that. Wookiee'll know. (update 01.05.08 - here is the Walrus article I referred to; we are killing wild elephants in Borneo.)

Anyway, the part of the article that I need to comment on is this:

"Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, said: "World agriculture can both feed and fuel the globe.""

Obviously this guy is motivated by his job to say this, so I have to ask; when did we have enough agriculture to "feed and fuel the globe"? For as long as I can remember there have been pleas for help to feed impoverished people around the world. Hasn't Hartwig ever seen those television ads showing the emaciated families covered in flies? This is not a new problem and to say that today, with less grain, corn, or soybeans available than a few years ago that there is plenty to go around? It's just not credible, and I can't let it pass.

Year 3

Today is the third anniversary of my first post and much has evolved since then.


Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis
(All things change, and we change with them)

-Alexander Pope

Satire v. Boobies

On a Venezuelan TV channel, the 11 a.m. time slot used to belong to The Simpsons. But they have decided that the show is inappropriate for children. So what will they replace it with? Baywatch Hawaii. Of course.

"The regulatory agency didn't say which elements of the program were deemed offensive, but said showing the animated cartoon series at that hour could violate national regulations prohibiting "messages that go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents.""

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that given the choice between a show that focusses primarily on social commentary and another about running on beaches in bathing suits, that it's the latter that would "go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents." Besides, The Simpsons makes a mockery of America, how can we not promote that around the globe?

Maybe that's just me.