How to use this Page

NOTE TO SELF: AVOID FOX NEWS DUE TO GROSS INSENSITIVITY

Sometimes the ignorance of some news media makes me gasp in "what-were-they-thinking" mode. In this particular case, it's Fox News that has gone out on a limb to show its dumbness for lack of a better word in their assessment of the Canadian presence in Afghanistan.

Last week once again when Canadians were mourning the loss of four more soldiers, Fox News and more specifically, one Greg Gutfeld (who is this guy anyway and when did he seep out of the wood work?) who hosts some type of TV talk show, decided that it would be oh-so-much-fun to make fun of the Canadian military.

The five-minute segment, which aired recently on Fox News late-night program "Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld" and later posted on YouTube.com, features American panelists suggesting Canadian soldiers need time off for "manicures and pedicures."

The item aired after Gen. Andrew Leslie, the Canadian Forces Chief of Land Staff, told a Senate committee the military would need a one-year break from operations after the mission in Afghanistan winds down in 2011.

"The Canadian military wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white capri pants," Gutfeld said with a sneer. Another panelist Doug Benson said he was unaware Canadian troops were on the ground in Afghanistan.

"I didn't even know they were in the war. I thought that's where you go if you don't want to fight - you go chill in Canada," he said.

As a Canadian I'm disgusted with what they probably pass off as satire but in effect, is gross stupidity and far from amusing. There is a fine line between satire and insult and in this case, it has been crossed and then some. I do not, nor would I now for sure, subscribe to Fox News.

The show should be re-named, "Red Face with Shame."

Shame on Fox News! Canadians are NOT at all amused!

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/03/22/8847666-sun.html

Online www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJn5XlbSFk

Add a Comment

NOTE TO SELF: THIS MAN WAS ELECTED TO SERVE HIS CONSTITUENTS?


"It is time that the dyslexia industry was killed off and we recognised that there are well-known methods for teaching everybody to read and write."
Graham Stringer MP


Nobody said that politicians had to be smart to get elected. Case in point, a British Labor Member of Parliment who commented in an online column that dyslexia was a myth perpetrated by educators to cover up poor teaching.

I'm sure those who are in education must have been in shock to read this statement.

The politician, one Graham Stringer, described the condition as "cruel fiction" and should be consigned to the "dustbin of history." Furthermore, he says he believes that many children can't read or write because - well - merely the wrong teaching methods are used.

Silly teachers! All those years of university to acquire knowledge and know-how to pass on to young, fertile minds only to hear from a non-teacher that they have been using the wrong methods. It's so...logical! Were that only the case...

Responding to the politician's conclusion, Charity Dyslexia Action said that dyslexia was real to the six million people in the UK who were affected by the condition.

In the column, which appeared in the Manchester Confidential, Stringer opined that millions of pounds were wasted on specialist teaching for what he labeled, a "false" condition. He also wrote that children should instead be taught to read and write by using a system called, synthetic phonics.

And the politico knows this...how?

"To label children as dyslexic because they're confused by poor teaching methods is wicked.
If dyslexia really existed then countries as diverse as Nicaragua and South Korea would not have been able to achieve literacy rates of nearly 100%. There can be no rational reason why this 'brain disorder' is of epidemic proportions in Britain but does not appear in South Korea or Nicaragua."

Financial considerations appear to be a factor in his statements. He wrote that "currently, 35,500 students receive disability allowances for dyslexia at an annual cost of £78.4m."

Furthermore, certified dyslexics get longer in exams.

Makes sense to me. If you have trouble reading/understanding the question, it takes longer to write an answer!

Read the rest of Stringer's beliefs and reader's comments and reactions related to the story, here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7828121.stm

Add a Comment

Hey rgz,Go2girl Martha just brought this video to our attention. We are chatting about it at the forum now. Regardless of your political leaning, feel free to join us and rant! And if you can't see th... Read the rest of this post

Add a Comment

NOTE TO SELF: ONE GENERATION PLANTS THE TREES; ANOTHER GETS THE SHADE


Seems at times that there is a plethora of negative reports and stories focusing on errant youth. It's therefore refreshing to come across a "feel good" story that gives one hope for the future of mankind. It's the kind of story that makes you smile.

Young Jack Davis, aged 11, was perturbed upon learning that Florida restos throw out food due to legal restraints should anyone eating the food become ill or develop food poisoning, since he felt it could be recycled and given to homeless people. He had visited a homeless shelter on school field trips and worried about people going hungry.

Jack's idea was to pass a law that would give restaurant owners' some protection from lawsuits. He got his dad to float the idea to some Florida legislators.

It now seems certain that Jack's idea will become a law.

"If you take away the reason restaurants will not give food -- they will," he said. "And it's kind of it's a win-win situation 'cause the restaurants get to do something good."

When Jack's bill started gaining momentum, he was suddenly big news in Miami.

"When I go to school, people were chanting my name because they saw me on the cover of the Miami Herald," Jack said. "Over the whole day, they were asking me what does the law say. And in some of my classes they clapped as I walked in. If you think there's a problem in the world," he said, "you don't wait for other people to fix it. You have to try to fix it yourself."

Amen to that!

See a photo of Jack here: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/PersonOfWeek/story?id=4123327&page=1

Add a Comment

NOTE TO SELF: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS, ANYWAY?


Speaking of un-Christmas-like actions... The spirit of the holiday appears to be lacking in the city of Zhuhai, a city of 1.3 million people located in southern China, where deputy-mayor, Chen Ying has banned Christmas trees. Included in the ban are no trees allowed in shopping malls, restaurants, malls, grocery stores and other entertainment venues since the feeling is that they post a fire hazard. No Christmas trees and no "flammable decorations" either and those that do fall into this category had to be removed "immediately."

So...like...what type of decorations are deemed "flammable" and which are "non-flammable" one wonders? Is there some type of Christmas tree and decoration police that go around checking out flame-a-bility?

"Those that fail to rectify the situation will be subject to legal measures like suspension or closure," Mr Chen said.

I mean - imagine having a knock on the door, opening them to the Christmas cops and having your Christmas tree AND decorations judged whether they can stay or have to be taken down. It's just so...un-Christmas like!

The crackdown on Christmas trees was part of a three-month campaign to boost fire-prevention standards that started this week in Zhuhai, directly across from the Chinese gambling haven of Macau.

The Zhuhai ban came on the same day that President Hu Jintao "reached out" to religious believers in China where commercial Christmas trappings have become increasingly ostentatious in recent years.

The manager of a Zhuhai karaoke bar ordered a Christmas tree last week and was not happy with the new regulation.

"I paid 3,000 yuan (about $400), so who can I sue for damages now?" he said.

Bah...humbug!

Add a Comment

NOTE TO SELF: WHEN IS CHRISTMAS NOT CHRISTMAS? WHEN IT'S NOT "PC"


Once again as has occurred in the past, Christmas has become a politically un-acceptable word.

The latest is a move by an Ottawa, Canada, elementary school's attempt to remove the word "Christmas" from the song, "Silver Bells" in their annual Christmas concert

Gimme a break!

The move has ignited a controversy that has spread across the country and probably across North America and beyond. Instead, "Frosty the Snowman" replaced "Silver Bells" sung by Grade 2 and Grade 3 students attending Elmdale Public School.

"It was a choice by the choir," said Ottawa-Carleton District School Board spokeswoman Sharlene Hunter. "The teachers are visibly and emotionally upset and don't feel they can conduct that song to the best of their ability."

Elmdale has been inundated with telephone calls and emails after the story broke about teachers at the school changing the word Christmas and replacing it with "festive" in the Christmas carol, "Silver Bells." As in: "silver bells...silver bells...it's festive time in the city..."

Ridiculous!

It's akin to the story where Australian Santas were told not to use the traditional "ho-ho-ho" laugh and use "ha-ha-ha" instead, since it was deemed offensive to women.

It makes one wonder which songs will be deemed un-politically correct in the future. Will radio stations have to bleep out unacceptable words?

"It's beginning to look a lot like festive... Everywhere you go..." or "We wish you a merry festive..."

And a Merry Christmas...um - Festive - whatever, to you too!

Add a Comment

I'm reading Resolute by Martin Sandler about the doomed Franklin expedition (and the mysterious reappearance of one of his ships ten years later found abandoned and floating in the Arctic) and was struck by this description of 19th century whaling captain William Scoresby:

From an early age he was fascinating with science, particularly physical geography, magnetism, and the natural history of the polar regions. Every winter, between whaling voyages, he devoted himself to studying science and philosophy. When he returned to sea he found time, when not pursuing whales, to add to his scientific knowledge. On one of his first voyages he made important observations on the nature of snow and ice crystals. On another, employing a brass water-sampling bottle that he had invented (dubbed a 'marine diver'), Scoresby established for the first time that the water on the ocean floor was warmer than at the surface.

Sandler goes on to detail Scoresby's interest in the Northwest Passage and why the Admiralty should have listened to him as he traveled more than 60 thousand miles in the Arctic in the course of 17 whaling voyages. He is largely just an obscure footnote in history today but his last name struck a huge chord with me.

William Scoresby = Lee Scoresby. Two seconds googling Philip Pullman and Scoresby scored this from an old interview:

How do you come up with the characters’ names?

Some just appear. As soon as Lyra came to my mind, I knew what she was called. Others I have to make up. Lee Scoresby, for instance: the Lee part comes from the actor Lee Van Cleef, who appeared in the "Dollar" films with Clint Eastwood, because I thought my Lee would look like him, and the Scoresby comes from William Scoresby, who was a real Arctic explorer.

While I'm delighted to know that Lee Scoresby was based on someone real (and the casting of Sam Elliot in the movie when Pullman envisioned Lee Van Cleef is really inspired), it is most interesting to me that Pullman is reader of Arctic exploration. When I interviewed Geraldine McCaughrean for Endicott Studio, she also showed a long interest in polar explorers, many of whom are still widely celebrated in England. I doubt that many (if any) American children would have a clue who Lee Scoresby is based on, or even care, but I'm becoming more curious as to why we don't know more about these men (both the successes and failures). Americans embrace frontier heroes and myths and base many of our modern myths upon that cowboy image (I'm all over this when writing about the bush pilots). Well weren't the polar explorers just another version of those same idealized versions of man versus nature?

Why don't we consider them cold weather cowboys? A combination of heroics and science - seems like a better model then gunfighters to me (and I write that as a huge fan of westerns).

[Post pic of a young William Scoresby.]

Add a Comment

I have been reading David Crane's Scott of the Antarctic and as conflicted as I am about his expeditions (why did so many mistakes have to be made in the name of British manhood?), I find some of Crane's conclusions about the lingering impact of Robert Scott's life to be fascinating. So much of what we know about that fateful doomed voyage to the Pole is due to the letters and journals that the dead explorers left behind. And I wonder if anyone other than British explorers of that age would have thought to write so much - to detail so much of what they hoped and feared and tried to do. Even the last words of Lawrence Oates are written down by Scott. He never thought, "I will remember and tell others about this man" instead he took the time - at 30 below zero in some sad little tent - to write down how Oates chose to meet his fate:

"He did not - would not - give up hope till the very end. He was a brave soul. This was the end. He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning - yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said 'I am just going outside and may be some time.' He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since."

And yet what Oates said - and more importantly what Scott wrote down that Oates said - is now burned into layers not only of British memory but US memory (to a lesser extent) as well. And yet all of it could have been lost - if the relief party had not chosen to go in search of Scott (leaving another part of the expedition in a perilous situation which they might not have survived). Charles Wright later wrote about their decision to go after Scott - even though they were all certain he and his group were dead - was critical. "The first object of the expedition had been the Pole. If some record was not found, their success or failure would forever remain uncertain. Was it due not only to the men and their relatives but also to the expedition, to ascertain their fate if possible?"

The Pole, the Pole - always about finding proof of how far Scott and his men got, if they made it, if they defeated the weather and terrain long enough to get to that magical somewhere, somehow. And they weren't even first - but they got there, they recorded it, they flew the flag for a moment and they brought it back. "Send a small piece of the Union Jack to the King," Scott wrote to his wife as he lay dying. Even in the end, thinking of his country and how proud they should be.

But as Crane acknowledges in his narrative, all of that myth about Scott's noble quest would have lost if Wright and the relief party had not found the bodies. (Only three of them were found - Oates's body was never recovered, nor was Edgar Evans who died several days earlier of unknown causes and was buried by Scott and the others.) Crane writes:

"...one only has to try to think of an Antarctic history without Scott's last letters and diaries - of a history, that is, without the image of a fluttering black flag at the Pole, without the collapse of Edgar Evans, without Oates's death, without the drama of the last tent or the thirty-five pounds of rock samples or the Christian courage of Wilson and Bowers - to recognise the unarguable truth of Cherry's dictum. For all the scientific acheivements of the expedition - the eight volumes of zoology, the three volumes of meteoroloy, the geology, physics, cartography - it is the men and not what they did that matters, and nowhere can they be seen so clearly for what they were as in these last days of their lives."

The written record they left behind defined them beyond all acheivements - beyond the many samples of rock they brought back, beyond the measurements, beyond even the Pole itself. The record of who they were and tried to be until the very end is what made this particular myth so great that it remains strong a century later.

It is fascinating to me that it is not really their actions so much as their words that have made them heroes. And really, they immortalized themselves. If Scott had just written that Oates walked away to die quietly and allow the rest of the group a chance at survival (by moving faster without him), would he still hold the same stature? Do we need that last immortal line, the masterful way in which Scott wrote about his decision, in order to see him in such a heroic light?

They made themselves heroes in a way, and in such a strange way. I'm sure they thought they would live forever if they reached the Pole first; instead they gained immortality by being second and writing about it and then dying for their effort. I'm not sure if I should be inspired by this, or disheartened by it; by the great loss for such little gain. But I am mesmerized by who they saw themselves to be, and by how so many others have seen them ever since.

Add a Comment