Monday, March 20th

1 - The world was not enough... and neither was the moon. No, nobody's trying to impress their sweetheart, but NASA and Google have teamed up to bring the world Google Mars, the internet's first geographical map of the red planet. You can have a look at it by accessing the link above, and begin making your plans for galactic domination (one planet at a time - cue 'Darth Vader Breathing' sound clip).

2 - It's been a long time since the last sign of the Apocalypse, but here's the latest one: City Employee Sues Himself

3 - Making up for lost time. Here's the next sign: Hell's Angels Sue Disney

4 - It must have been a really slow news day at the Edmonton Sun. Columnist Graham Hicks recently devoted a third of a column to things you will never hear in Saskatchewan. Among my personal favorites are "sorry, I don't know where you could find a VLT", "it's just over that hill", and "could I please be served in French". You can access the whole thing by clicking on Graham's name. I think I would add 'no I don't have a relative who lives in Calgary' to the list.

5 - Edmonton people are laughing all the way to the win column after the Oilers last game against the Calgary Flames. For those of you who weren't there, Chris Pronger broke his stick in overtime, then both Calgary defenseman stepped on the pieces and fell over, which allowed Shawn Horcoff to walk in, fan on his shot, and watch the puck trickle through Kipper's legs. That goal was even worse then the one ABHE gave up to Fuerza when they allowed a three-on-0 while killing a penalty. I feel bad for Calgary, but it's nice to see Edmonton finally get a bounce. Edmonton never gets a break (except for that time when Ryan Smyth broke his leg, and Ethan Moreau broke his foot) so they were long overdue. Then to make matter's worse, Calgary, with former Flyer wonder-boy Brian Boucher, got blown out 9-4 on Saturday by Nashville. So much for resting Kipper down the stretch. When it rains, it pours.

6 - Meanwhile, across the pond, a London department store has decided the best way to catch shoplifters is to keep a squadron (is that what they're called?) of police officers close by. With that in mind Selfridges of London has converted old office space into ten new police cells. According to an article in the National Post, the new cells will allow police to deal with suspects sooner, and ease pressure on London's Marylebone Police Station.

7 - I'm not sure if you'll be able to look at this article or not. Here's the meat if you can't:

'Canadian's priorities are shifting away from the office towards a more balanced personal life, according to a nationwide survey released Wednesday.

According to the survey, conducted by Workopolis, an online job search site, family has become more important to Canadians than their careers, reversing the priorities they held five years ago when a persons' career took the top spot.'

Surprising? Not when you consider what's happened over the past few years. 9/11, Iraq, New Orleans, the Tsunami. Society is starting to realize that some things are irreplaceable, and family is one of them. Hollywood is also influencing this trend somewhat. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are having kids, or adopting them. In a decade or so the effects of their influential example will have trickled down to the general population, which means... being a mom will be chic. Remember, you heard it here first.

8 - There's no joy in Ottawa right now, as the mighty Gliebermans are ready to walk away from the Ottawa Renegades, leaving the struggling CFL franchise ownerless, save for minority owner Bill Smith, who hasn't exactly been a shining example of a good business partner. I for one have no sympathy for the 'Gades. They created there own problems by dumping big time money on Kerry Joseph and Kyries Herbert. And now according to this article the rest of the CFL may have to pick up the tab for Ottawa's bad decisions. If the Renegades are losing money they should start dumping talent, like teams in every other professional sports league in the world do. Fortunately later on Glieberman reassured everyone in Ottawa that he's in for the long haul. Good, now if Ottawa fans want a CFL team maybe they should go out and support it. A season-ticket base of 2000 is not going to cut it. Of course, it's hard to support a losing team when there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

9 - The World Baseball Classic Final will feature two teams with a combined total of two major league baseball players. Cuba vs Japan. Go figure.

10 - Speaking of curveballs, a student union in Nova Scotia has convinced Mount St. Vincent University to ditch the website they've been using to stifle plagerism. The web site, www.turnitin.com, is used by over 4000 universities across Canada, and keeps a database of previous essays which professeurs can use to compare to the ones on their desk. The students at MSVU felt they were being taken advantage of (turnitin.com costs money to use), and, to quote student union president Chantal Brushett, "when a student passes in a paper to the professor, they should have the peace of mind that that is as far as it's going to go." Read about it here. I'm sure there are other ways to detect plagerism, and I don't even know if this is the best way, but it looks like the student union wants to have their cake and eat it to, and they are. I would much rather see the website in use though. Students with nothing to hide shouldn't be wary of this. I also can't understand how using a search engine that doesn't store the essays in a database will do the job. If their not stored how can they be compared with other works? I must be missing something here.

11 - Even though PM Harper and David Emerson have been cleared by the Ethics Commisioner the NDP has "vowed to introduce a floor crossing bill" as soon as parliament resumes. As distasteful as floor-crossing is I hope the bill fails, otherwise MP's will be handcuffed by their parties. Floor-crossing was invented so MP's would be free to vote with their consciounce. Of course, there's nothing wrong with sitting as an independent a la David Kilgour. But if this goes through then you'll just see MP's leave their parties to sit as independents, while voting against their former party at every turn. Basically they'd be a member of a different party in everything but name. So the only way this bill will really do what it's intended is to say MP's cannot leave their party... ever. I don't think that is in anyone's best interest.

12 - Saskatchewan is quickly becoming curling's version of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Last Brier Title: 1979, and counting. Not good for a curling hotbed.

Man on Fire

Thursday, March 9th

1 - Today is Christmas for hockey fans. Best deadline day deal so far: Dwayne Roloson to Edmonton for a 1st round pick. Minnesota just got a first round pick for what was essentially their back-up goalie. Doug Risebrough should hop in a car, drive to the most remote part of Minnesota, and have a good, long, laugh.

2 - Ever wonder what possesses normally pacified Europeans to riot during a soccer game? Most people think they just take their sports way to seriously, but most people have no idea how seriously. I stumbled upon this article a few nights ago. It's about the Houston 1836's a team in the MLS, North America's top pro soccer league. 1836's, not a name that rolls off the tongue, but that wasn't what they were going for. The owners wanted to pay tribute to a great American historical event, the Battle of the Alamo. Unfortunately, this didn't go over well with many people, who felt 1836's was a loaded name. The funny thing is that it's normal for soccer teams to have a meaningful name. Take, for example, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa, two giants of Israeli club soccer mentioned in the article. They're both named after the Maccabean Rebels, you know, the ones in the Apocrypha (1 and 2 Maccabees). Compare the 1836's with the Winnipeg Jets (named after 'The Golden Jet' Bobby Hull) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (named by the daughter of the founder, who thought Penguins were cute) whose names mean very little. And I won't even mention the Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Wild, and Nashville Predators. North American team names are all about marketing, which flies in the face of European soccer, where everything carries some sort of meaning to it: the name, the logo, the name of the official fan club, even team colors. One might wonder why Celtic F.C. and the Glasgow Rangers of Scotland have a history of violence, until you realize that Celtic's fans and players are all Catholic, while the Rangers are all Protestant. Or take West Ham United and Millwall of England. Their hostility dates back to 1926 and a general strike. The shipbuilders of the Royal Docks (West Ham supporters) went on strike while shipbuilders and dock workers in Surry and Millwall continued to work (petty?), thus cutting the legs out from under the workers at Royal. Or how about Ajax-Amsterdam, one of the top three clubs in Dutch soccer. Their supporters call themselves 'Super-Joden' or 'Super Jews', a tradition that dates back to pre-W.W.II times. Why? To pay tribute to the clubs earlier players and supporters, who were almost all Jewish. Loaded language, anyone? Then there's AEK Athens, a club that was founded by Greek refugees who were driven out of Turkey in the early 1920's. Think there's a bit of animosity when they play a Turkish team? Think other Greek teams accept them as one of their own? Kind of makes Labor Day at Taylor Field look like child's play:

'So why do we hate the Bombers again?'

'Cause Troy Westwood called us banjo pickin' inbreds, that's why!'

'Isn't his mother from Saskatchewan?'

So here's the moral of the story. If you happen to be traveling around Europe, and someone asks you who your favorite 'football' team is, tell them you don't have one. Your favorite soccer team tells a stranger way more about you than you may want them to know.

P.S.

M.O.F. does not condone soccer riots, or consider any of the above evidence as an acceptable excuse for starting a riot. I just wanted you to know what gives.

3 - Speaking of soccer, here's an article that quotes a guy who thinks soccer riots start because soccer is a violent sport.

Quote: "And unlike Dr. Galea, who refers to soccer as a 'gentleman's game', Dr. Russell says soccer is violent. 'The players get into vicious tackles,' Russell observes. 'Fist fights are rare, but they kick and trip each other instead.'

I wonder what Dr. Russell would think of Todd Bertuzzi?

4 - This is an interesting article by the editor of the Danish newspaper who originally published 'The Cartoons' that have everyone so worked up. Here's a snippet:

"Critics of my decision to publish 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten have not minced their words. They say that freedom of expression does not mean insulting people's religious feelings. And besides, they add, the media censor themselves every day.

I agree that the freedom to publish things doesn't mean you publish everything. Jyllands-Posten would not publish pornographic images or graphic details of dead bodies. So we are not fundamentalists in our support for freedom of expression.

But the cartoon story is different.

The above-cited examples have to do with exercising restraint because of ethical standards and taste; call it editing. By contrast, I commissioned the cartoons in response to several incidents of self-censorship in Europe caused by widening fears of intimidation in dealing with issues related to Islam. And I still believe that this is a topic that Europeans must confront, challenging moderate Muslims to speak out."

5 - And the pendulum swings the other way.

A student paper at the U of S gets in on the freedom of speech act. I can't believe anyone could be this careless, much less a publisher and editor. One thing is fore sure; the people who run 'The Sheaf' won't be getting jobs in the newspaper business anytime soon.

6 - Okay, I really have no idea what to think about this:

--Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, criticized the West for insulting Islam's prophet, complaining in a video broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus "are not sacred anymore."--

And

--"The Prophet Mohammed, prayers be upon him, and Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, are not sacred anymore, while Semites and the Holocaust and homosexuality have become sacred."--

I've never heard a radical Muslim refer to Jesus as 'Christ' before. Come to think of it, I've never heard a moderate Muslim call him 'Christ' either. Is al-Zawahri trying to find some sympathizers among the 'religious right'? Maybe he's thinking 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.'

7 - So now David Emerson's floor crossing is going to be investigated. Good. As far as I know there was nothing illegal about it (it was still a low blow) and this will prove it. Then everyone can stop whining and complaining about MP's crossing the floor. I won't even talk about it anymore. Unfortunately, Harper seems loathe to cooperate. The Prime Minister has a point. Politicians from all parties think Shapiro is in over his head. However, as former NDP leader Ed Broadbent noted, there has got to be a better way to get rid of him than this.

8 - I was having a chat with Captain Kirk the other day. He was showing me a few news sources he likes to check up on, and in the process we found a story about a website that was sold for six hundred million dollars ($600 000 000). It's a site for women called iVillage, so click here and see what a six hundred million dollar website looks like. You want to know what else you could buy for six hundred million? Two years ago you could have bought the Boston Red Sox and had enough money left over to purchase the Expos.

9 - In all fairness, I should end off by noting that Wayne Gretzky is, by all accounts, innocent of any wrong doing as far as the gambling conflict goes. The New Jersey State Police Department on the other hand, has some explaining to do.

Cheers

M.O.F.

Friday, March 3rd

1 - Almost one month since the last post. I've been busy the last few weeks. To quote Emerick: 'I went to the concession to buy a goal for Team Canada. They were out.'

2 - Cartoon riots, eh. Maybe free speech and freedom of the press means nothing to you, but to an ex-reporter I find it somewhat intriguing. When three Canadian media outlets and one university newspaper published the controversial cartoons depicting Muhammad they touched off a debate regarding the right to dissent and the responsibilities of free speech. The media outlets felt the cartoons were news, and since they were news reporters, they felt an obligation to bring their readers the news, no matter how offensive. Critics noted that publishing the cartoons could lead to even worse violence. I realize that this is a very simple summary of the entire debate (I'm banking on you guys having a little bit of knowledge regarding current events). From there columnists began dissecting the idea of multiculturalism, respect for other religions, and the responsibility that comes with freedom. This is a slippery slope, because in a multicultural society, not everyone plays by the same rules. What if my religion requires me to kill you because of your lifestyle, in order for me to be faithful to its teachings? It could happen. Keep an eye on the battle brewing between gay-rights groups and Islam, because politically correct Canada seems to have a stake in seeing both those groups succeed, even though the Koran says they can't co-exist. It's happened in The Netherlands, where gays have slowly began to leave the country because of Islamic hostility. This is the fundamental flaw of multiculturalism, and this is why the Canadian values of tolerance, respect and openness can never be achieved completely. There is no gray area here. Only black and white, and a sheet of paper can't be completely black and completely white at the same time. I don't claim to be prophetic or anything, but it wouldn't surprise me to see similar disagreements in the near future.

3 - Here's some articles that deal with freedom of speech, the right to dissent, multiculturalism, etc. I found them interesting: Yahoo, National Post, CBC, The Economist, The Globe and Mail, (I know you can't see the whole Globe article, but the first few lines are interesting). Thanks to Dave Mader for pointing out those last two articles.

4 - Now that Canada has lost it's Gold Medal in men's hockey we can let the second guessing begin. The general consensus seems to be that (a) Canada's defense was slow, (b) we had too many players taking dumb penalties, (c) there were too many distractions, (d) our power play sucked, and (e) we never came together as a team. I think Canada's team was way to slow as a whole, defense and forwards. A player with above-average speed in the NHL has below average speed in the Olympics, because all the players who were slower than they were stayed home. Case in point, Adam Foote, Jay Bouwmeester, and Robyn Regehr all struggled to keep up. I don't think the intensity was there either. Canada had nothing to prove coming into this tournament. On the other hand, the Swedes, Russians, and Slovaks were busting chops waiting to play. The Swedes were under tremendous pressure from their own countryman, something similar to what Canada had to play through in 1998 and 2002. The Slovaks wanted to prove they actually belonged among the elite group of hockey nations, and the Russians brought a bunch of young kids who had nothing to lose and everything to gain. That makes for a bad combo. The lawsuit against Bertuzzi, and the investigation into Gretzky's gambling ring affiliations didn't help either.

5 - It's no wonder Canada couln't score goals. Look who their coaches were: Pat Quinn, Jacque Martin, and Ken Hitchcock. Those guys specialize in winning 1-0 and 2-1 games. This is where Canada's anemic power play really killed them.

6 - I thought these two items were interesting: Rich at Heart and Money Really Can Buy Happiness

The second article kind of irked me. Money can't buy happiness all the time, otherwise you wouldn't see so many pro-athletes and Hollywood superstars in drug rehab. Can it buy happiness some of the time? Temporarily, maybe. Superficial happiness perhaps. I think this writers definition of happiness, and what real happiness really is, are different things. Hollywood superstars do drugs because they aren't content. I don't think you can separate contentment from happiness. Somebody smart once said everyone is created with a God-shaped hole in their heart. If that hole is filled, it won't matter how many landmines you have to walk past to get your water. Fame can fill that hole almost perfectly. Success can fill that hole almost perfectly, and yes, money can fill that hole almost perfectly... almost. Wealthy people can always say to themselves, 'when I get that new car, then I'll be happy,' or 'I just need to get that promotion, then I'll be happy'. But the new car and the new promotion are never what they're cracked up to be, and that's where fame, success, and money fail to plug the God shaped hole.

P.S. The reason why Paris Hilton always seems to be smiling and blissfully distant from the trials of the real world is because she's an airhead.

7 - From 'The Family Guy':

Peter: There's a message in my Alphabits. It says 'Oooooo.'
Brian: Those are Cheerios.

M.O.F.