The Maple Leaf Forever

Blogger Red Tory had a bit to say about the Australian comedy troupe that drove up to the front doors of the APEC conference in a black sedan flying a Canadian flag. See? That is why you sew it on your backpack.

Oh To Be A Poseur No More

Contributor honshui let loose the blogs of war and scolded me for being,

"a "blog martyr" a la ALW, manufacturing attacks on yourself so that you can pose on the cross of folksy self-righteousness and smear all others who do not share your world views in the proces."

Thusly shamed, I thought I would let the fine readership of this middling blog see how the pros do it. Consider yourself edified.


The Londoner: London's Community Newspaper : Publisher's Blog

Comic Book Cover Art from Batman (# 273)

I know, I know, picking on comic book covers is easy, and seems to infuriate honshui. He thinks I should be more high-brow and smrter. Hah.

Anyway, this one still makes me squirm. Funny the things you find when you move. And to me, the funny part is the title, The Bank Shot That Baffled Batman. Such an old-school title to put on a cover that features the Bat about to be gang-raped by the cast of Dr. Schivago, who have brought along the world's biggest Bat plug to seal the deal.

Comics That Made Me Feel Funny, Part 2

Over at the Invincible Super-Blog Chris had this question about Showcase Presents Wonder Woman:


"Why are all these stories about Wonder Woman shrinking?"



That got me to thinking about the one Wonder Woman comic I have in my collection, #210. Guess what happens in this book?

Yup.





Update

In the comments, honshui opines that

Given the reputation comic book guys have as having difficulty with strong confident women, and an ability to have a mature adult relationship with a woman who is not on a comic book or magazine page, a plot line whereby a powerful independent woman is shrunk to powerlessness is likely a popular one.

You mean guys like this?

In that case, the observation may be valid. Of course, that dude could be cosplaying with this girl...

The Written Word--A Lost Art

Over at the blog hosted by the Canadian Cynic, I got into a disagreement with ALW from the Wurdick blog.

I think that this mini spat encapsulates the trouble people have with the internet, and with working in a milieu that consists only of the written word. Without careful consideration of word choice and placement, confusion and acrimony are sure to follow. Allow me to illustrate...

The Canadian Cynic wrote about blogging anonymously, and the threats, condemnation and abuse he has received for exercising this privilege.

ALW responded with: "Oh and I've had a slew of physical threats over the years from some of your delightful left-wing colleagues, CC, so I don't think the right has a monopoly on would-be thuggery."

ALW has states he has been the victim of physical threats. We all accept that this is unacceptable in our Canadian society.

Commenter Ti-Guy responds with "I'd like see you back that up, ALW.".

ALW responds with : "Re: threats - just go peruse any of the comments sections in any of my posts on my blog about Matthew Good."

Now I know this seems pissy to the three of you who read this blog, but there is a point here. ALW has made a specific accusation, has been asked to verify this accusation, and has responded with a request for the reader to do the research. Simple enough for anyone to follow, no? Well, no.

I bothered to waste 10 minutes on Aaron's blog looking at all the comments on his Matthew Good posts. As I wrote : "Wow, one goofball Matthew Good fan threatens to throw something at you and suddenly everyone on the left is too blame. You have a hard knock life."

One threat. Lots of insults, but only one threat. So Aaron responds with:

"And one goofball wingut Blogging Tory does it and suddenly everyone who votes Conservative is to blame? A little even-handedness here, maybe?"

Aside from the strawman argument of the one Blogging Tory, I fail to see how asking for Aaron to tell the truth shows a lack of even-handedness. And yes, I am being sarcastic.

On we go...I respond with "Alw, you asked us to peruse your blog and see all the threats in the comments about your Matthew Good posts. I found one (1) fan who seemed more pissed off at Western students in general (and law students in particular) than he was in any political stance. If you have instances of threats to you concerning your stance on Mr. Good, and they come from a left wing / progressive point of view, then do share."

Simple enough again. Please verify your claim that you have been threatened on your blog, as it pertains to your posts about Mr. Good.

And watch the goal post move right before your eyes...Aaron writes

"I'm sorry I don't carry around a camera/recorder all the time. Do you know how many times over the course of the last ten years I have been physically threatened on campus by overzealous left-wingers? At least a dozen. I've been told I should be dragged out into the street and shot, that if I was lying in a ditch and someone walked by they'd finish me off, and that I and those who think like me should be rounded up and either exported or jailed. But you're right. I guess that somehow proves that all conservatives make death threats..."

Followed by "I don't see why you're painting me as a whiner when I wasn't the one who brought up threats in the first place. I was only trying to point out it's not just the poor old truth seekers on the left who are subject to abuse."

I weep for the e-mail culture we have fostered. A culture in which highly educated people can misconstrue and misread the English language. Such is the dilemma of the written word.

So here you go Aaron. Your point was that you were attacked on your blog, attacked by the left over posts you made regarding Matthew Good. Present your argument and it will be posted right here on the front page.

Aaron was kind enough to respond, so as promised, here is his comment...

Ok, I have to say up front again, I don’t think there’s any fundamental disagreement here.

The original point I was trying to make - and I only made this in response to the allegation by CC that “right-wingers threaten me” and the implication that this only happens to lefties. So I simply pointed out that I have been threatened with physical violence - sometimes verbal, sometimes in print, and yes, sometimes via email (years ago when I wrote a column at the U of Waterloo) and twice by telephone during federal elections when I was a campaign manager. These were personal, specific threats directed at me as a person. (Since I don’t have a record of many of these events, how, when called out, am I supposed to prove it? The Matt Good post reference was the only thing I could find in print online)

In spite of this, unlike CC or ti-guy, I don’t burden “the Left” generally and broadly as somehow inculcating a tendency towards violence. If anything, I think there are two kinds of mindsets that tend towards violence, or at least threatening it: people who are totalitarian, who can either be of the communist (left) or fascist (right) variety (coming from where I stand, I don’t really make much distinction between these two - they’re both authoritarian philosophies, which I oppose). The other type are just people with short fuses - i.e., its not a threat made out of some ideological disagreement, just out of frustration or anger or annoyance with someone else’s argument. Where most people will make a snide remark or post a comment (like here on blogs), some people just get so pissed off they have flashes of violent thoughts. The only difference between these people and everyone else is that they verbalize it or put it in print, while most people keep it inside and cool off before it ever escapes their from their mouth or keyboard. We all get angry, at least once and awhile. But this type of person who resorts to violence just has little or no self-control.

And to go back right to the beginning, why is it that when Ann Coulter says something nutty or offensive about the Left, I, as someone who happens to share some views with Coulter (perhaps she’s not a good example - I don’t think I share very many of them), am somehow to blame, or it’s implied that my silence is approval of what she says? Could it not possibly be that I just haven’t heard the statement, or disapprove of it but simply don’t have the time to rush into print to condemn it? No one has time to condemn everything they dislike in the world (and why would they want to waste their time if they did? It’s like saying that because Hitler was a vegetarian, and vegetarians are also vegetarians, somehow the latter are morally culpable for the other views Hitler holds. Surely this is nonsense.

Simply put: I don’t approve of violent threats coming from anybody, and my failure to condemn every single one is not evidence that I approve of them. When asked directly “do you approve of this”, if I answer “yes” - then you can accuse me of being an ‘enabler’, as ti-guy says, or at least morally complicit.

Keeping The Spirit Alive

I am so pleased to see that Andy Roddick is a student of tennis history. How else does one explain his 1-14 record against Roger Federer? Simply put, he is putting on a tribute to one of the greats from the past. Vitas Gerulaitis. Vitas had a legendary record of failure against Bjorn Borg, but never let it dampen his spirit. As he once famously said, "...let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row!" Of course, that may have been the cocaine talking.

Hang in there Andy, only three matches to go!

Free Pay-Per-View This Saturday

Stay home, crack a beer, and watch men punch each other.

This this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on Spike TV, watch as Dan Henderson seeks to unify mixed martial arts light heavyweight championship.

This should be a great bout as Henderson is a fantastic athlete, and his opponent, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, is a living cartoon character--larger-than-life, with the skills to back up his swagger.

Don't be fooled by the old "human cock-fighting" meme. These are professional athletes fighting under rules designed to keep them fighting. And don't worry, if you have ever watched football, boxing, or hockey, then you have seen as much violence, if not more, than you can with the UFC. And in this sport, one lucky punch can end it in seconds, which will help you to get through some of the ungodly dull lay-and-pray bouts. Oooh, it's technical!

A new luddite approach to family "adventure" vacations

Prior to our vacation departure two weeks ago, I encountered a difficult decision. We were off to see some famous American sights and in the process do some hiking and some mountain biking. For most outdoor enthusiasts whose lives are pretty much focussed on their own experience, this type of trip is fairly simple; their best stuff comes with them and if space is tight, the wife and kids can live without some of their stuff. This inevitably leads to classic scenes in the mountains.

Mountainbiking -- the "dad" resplendent as a peacock in his biking ensemble and featherweight $10K bike sits fuming at the junction of trails as his "family", wife and kids, chug along on the $100 Schwinn bikes that also serve as boat anchors in their finest cotton clothing. Add to the fact that "dad" chose one of the "extreme" trails and the "kids" have one, maybe two, operational gears and you have a miserable situation all round. The usual solution is that mom and the kids agree that dad is a selfish dick and opt for shopping in town while dad faces his surprisingly large limitations as a serious mountain biker.

Hiking -- There is "dad" with the latest in lightweight ergodyamic gear with a camel back. He has $300 boots that fit to perfection and NASA fabric clothing. The wife and kids carry "back to school" backpacks with clothing and gear that were the "bomb" in 1964. The kids boots are hand me downs and dad sprung for a small bottle of water each. Off they go on a $25km epic. By 2km the kids are using everything in their arsenal to derail the hike or at least, limit how far the death march will take them. By 5km their water is gone and there is dad giving his high volume lecture on the need to moderate water intake. What is lost on dad is that moderation is much easier with a 3 litre camel back than with a 500 ml bottle. Mom and the kids come up with a plan for next year where they go to disney land and Dad can go get eaten by a mountain lion if the lion can stomach him.

So with these stereotypes in mind I looked at the family equipment and I made a decision using a "rawlsian" min-max rule. My equipment could not be too far better from the worst piece of equipment in the family. So for bikes, I could take my lightweight dream of a bike with clipless pedals and a gear that practically climbs the hill for you, or I could take my commuter bike (written about in a post earlier this year) which ranks well with the Canadian Tire Schwinns. For hiking, everyone got a camelback and thanks to a weird pricing policy at sportchek, whereby camelback packs are considered clothing, the sale prices were ridiculously low. Same idea for hiking footwear; if the kids only have running shoes, then I only have running shoes. Oh, and one other principle was put in place -- the fittest and strongest carries all the stuff in a big pack. So all food, coats, sunscreen and so on went in one big pack leaving the kids to carry their water and maybe a hat.

All of these strategies made the family experience better. When we looked at what hike and what distance to hike, the heavy pack and not so great footwear aided in making decisions that were better for the group. 25km maybe attractive with ultra-lightweight stuff but not so much with a sherpa like load. With the commuter bike, even the flatter sightseeing and intermediate slickrock trails of moab were an adventure.

So did I do everything that I wanted to do on the trip? Of course not, but I did do a lot of other great things and I did them with the people who I care about the most. My kids seem to have enjoyed the hiking and biking enought that now they want to do more. And as they get older and stronger while I get older and weaker, we will have a period of time where we can do the more adventurous stuff. Eventually I hope that when I am the slow and weaker one, my kids will opt for their commuter bike and carry my stuff.

The important thing to remember is that the hikes and bike routes will always be there. Time with your kids is pretty fleeting and nothing makes you realize that quicker than having one of them become a teenager.