The best revenge

...is the kind served up in a blog.

To hell with the legal channels for retribution for eBay sales gone bad. Blog it!!

Public Idiot No. 1A

I give you His Worship, Mayor David Miller of Toronto.

In a rare moment of agreement with Royson James of the Toronto Star (a.k.a. The Red Star of Toronto) I can see that the Mayor fiddled (pedalled, actually) while Toronto burned...burned by ATU Loc. 113 as well as by the heat of the day. He was pedalling around on a photo-op to kick off Bike Week in Toronto. So imagine if you will, a bunch of smiling and waving politicians on their bikes...along with all the event's participants...getting a police escort (on their bikes, of course) through the heart of downtown...while tens of thousands of highly pissed-off commuters watched in sweaty disbelief.

And people wonder how the French Revolution got started...

The Mayor's biggest crime is that he knew for weeks that this issue was brewing and he did nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Made a couple of pro-forma statements to the newsies about how the Union should get back to work. *yawn*

Dave: spend a little less time on your hair and a little more time actually running the city. Stop pandering to all the NIMBY granola crunchie waterfront condo and co-op owners who think the Island Airport is the spawn of Satan. John Tory has done a better job addressing the concerns of Torontonians in recent crises than you have.

Oh, and by the way...its not just Toronto residents who got burned in that little transit fiasco...lots of us might work here but we don't live here. In case you think that doesn't matter, think again, Goldilocks.

Public Idiot No. 1

I give you Bob Kinnear: President of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113. Catalyst and rabid supporter of the wildcat transit strike on Monday.

Is it a coincidence that he kept up his stream of vitriol and hyperbole...appearing to "stand up to The Man" when he's up for re-election this year?

I think not.

Bob, do us all a favour: take a hike. Preferably a long one. Personally, I hope you keep defying the rulings of the Labour Board. I'd like nothing better than to see your unionista ass in Jail.

From the mind (and blog) of Robert Fulghum

I've been a fan of his for many years. My loyal readership (all 3 of you) know that he's one of my links.

Unreciprocated, of course, but I'm okay with that. He has a lot going on.

This tale from his online journal illustrates something we should all remember: try to have a little bit of fun every day.

I give you the tale, "Players".

Enjoy

I was going to blog yesterday

I really was. Honest.

But it was too *&^%$#<~! hot. Hot. Sweltering. In freakin' MAY! It hit 34C. That's not including the humidex.

And, just to add to the joy, the Toronto Transit Commission's maintenance workers decided to protest some shift changes by walking off the job at around oh-dark thirty Monday AM. The Drivers and other Operators, not wishing to cross their picket lines, were unable to work.

So the whole damn TTC was shut down.

On the hottest day of the year so far.

On a Monday morning.

Did I mention that it was hot?

Technorati Tag: Life

A funny thing happened on the way to a comment

I was responding to a comment made by Outburst on my recent post regarding the issue of "Intelligent Design" being forced upon schools in the US. I realized that my comment was approaching dtrini-like proportions, so I thought I'd post it instead.

Outburst's comment was that Intelligent Design isn't science, so it shouldn't be taught in a science class.

My response:

"Agreed. A philosophy/sociology class is a far better venue for that kind of discussion.

May that sort of foolishness never happen here.

Of course, this is the same province where a kid scoring full marks on an oral French test (language, you perverts!) can lose 35% of his mark because he can't remember the "signs" that they've been teaching the kids. Yes, signs. As in, some kind of twisted sign language. Like a Hawaiian dance, or First Nations signing.

WTF???

Apparently this little gem was proposed by some folk singer (maybe its a CanCon requirement?) and the leftie morons who run the school boards are just eating this shit up.

I know this much: If I tried to flap my arms around while attempting to make myself understood in Montreal, I'd be banneed from the City for life! Rome? Well, that would be another story entirely.

(Um, what point was I trying to make with all this?)"

This is why I like Jay Ingram...

The article speaks for itself. I've added relevant links for those who wish to dig further.

Intelligent design a difficult foe
For many, evolution theory hard to grasp
May 20, 2006. 01:00 AM
JAY INGRAM


Scientists are absolutely correct to argue that intelligent design — the claim that a designer, not evolution, created life on Earth — is not science and does not belong in science classrooms. But it might come as a surprise to many of them that simply saying so isn't enough.

First, to understand why intelligent design isn't science, you do have to know something about what science is.

Scientists constantly test their theories, trying to poke holes in them. They perform observations and/or experiments to do that. If their preconceptions are not supported by what they see, detect or calculate, they are discarded.

Darwin's theory of evolution has been subjected to more than a century's worth of testing. Not once has a fundamental prediction made by the theory been shown to be incorrect.

It's true that the story of life on Earth is still incomplete, something that ID proponents (and the creationists before them) have seized on by arguing that, for instance, there are no fossil forms that show transitions from one species to another. But such claims are not true.

Transitions between land animals and whales, fish and four-legged terrestrials have been found. There are still gaps, but the point is that there are no new fossils that disprove Darwin.

Proponents of intelligent design, on the other hand, do no experiments. They have promised them in the past, but so far, nothing. Instead, they simply criticize evolution. So, they're talking about science but they're not doing any. Science is about doing something. ID should not be taught in science classes because it isn't science.

That all seems pretty straightforward. So why does ID have so much traction in the United States?

Two interesting takes on this have been published in the last few days. One is an article in the journal Public Library of Science Biology about the work of Jon Miller at Northwestern University medical school.

Miller has been measuring scientific literacy over the past 30 years. In the United States and Canada, that literacy is appallingly low. No more than about 15 per cent of the general public can read and understand a science article in Time magazine. To his mind, the acceptance of intelligent design is directly related to the strength of the religious right in the U.S.

How about these examples: One out of every three Americans thinks evolution is "definitely false;" only about one out of seven is convinced it's true. In a ranking of 34 countries whose adults accept evolution, the United States stands 33rd. (Turkey is 34th.) Perhaps the most extraordinary claim made by Miller is that the United States is the only country in the world where a political party wants ID taught in schools.

With that background, it should have come as no surprise to scientists that countering the appeal of intelligent design was going to be difficult. Yet, many seemed surprised when that turned out to be the case.

Scott Lilienfeld, a psychologist at Emory University in Atlanta, understands why. In an article in this month's Skeptical Inquirer, Lilienfeld argues that the problem with scientists is that they expect the general public to be sensible about the whole issue and choose evolution.

But should they be? There is, of course, the issue of religion, as I just mentioned. But what about those who are on the fence, people who might be churchgoers but are not virulently anti-evolution? Is evolution the "common sense" explanation for the glorious diversity of life? No, it is not.

Evolution is hard to grasp. It only makes sense if you're willing to give it millions of years, and if you can grasp the idea that the most infinitesimal changes in genes can, when captured by natural selection, actually create marvellous organs, like the eye, and marvellous species, from fruit flies to blue whales.

Lilienfeld argues that intuition, so helpful in much of life, is a bad guide to accuracy in this case. The Earth does look flat; it isn't. The sun appears to revolve around the Earth; it doesn't. Living things appear to have been designed by someone (or Someone); they aren't.

Lilienfeld contends that the solution is to improve the teaching of science in school, to impress upon students that intuition can be wrong, and that the scientific approach is one way of ensuring that doesn't happen.

Of course, if intelligent design is part of that science education, so much for the chances of introducing thinking.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jay Ingram hosts Daily Planet on the Discovery Channel.

*article shamelessly purloined from the Toronto Star.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Here's my calendar of important dates in the sporting world:

May 21: Training camps open
June 2: Preseason begins
June 16: Regular season begins
July 1: Canada Day Bash
Nov 5: Scotiabank Semifinals
Nov 12: Scotiabank Championships
Nov 16: Rogers CFL Player Awards
Nov 19: 94th Grey Cup in Winnipeg

Now, add to that the NHL playoffs happening now and things are very nice for us sports fans. Of course, if I gave a rat's about the Blue Jay's I'd have the whole trifecta. Sopccer/Football's FIFA World Cup is also coming up. dtrini is in Heaven. He told me he was taking the day off when England played Trinidad.

Um, yeah. have fun with that. :P

As for me? I'm glued to training camp reports.

Take that, Bob Izumi!

Screw all that bait & tackle crap. These guys know how to make fishing fun!

http://www.break.com/index/troutfishing.html

Jour de Hump

I have a random assortment of thoughts for you today.

I always knew that Punters and Placekickers were kind of a weird breed...somewhat like goalies are. Take Duncan O'Mahony. Signed a contract with Winnipeg as their new kicker after 2 mediocre seasons in BC. Leaves home in Abbotsford to Winnipeg, via Calgary. Supposed to meet a friend for dinner at the Airport and then catch a plane to Winnipeg.

He misses dinner. He never makes the plane to Winnipeg. He gets paged twice with no answer, so they offload his bags and the plane takes off.

No Duncan. AWOL. MIA. Without a trace, and all that.

Football team has no idea where he is, and training camp has started.

Well, some 68 hours later, his family reports that he's been located, he's safe, and that "they request privacy to bring the issue to a close."

While this guy is known for being a bit of a free spirit, I can't see someone sabotaging his sports career with a disappearing stunt like that one. Of course, there is Ricky Williams...

****

Item two on the ol' hit parade was going to be me moaning and bitching that I was likely to be incommunicado from Penny because her cell phone needed charging. We tend to be SMS-ing or MSN-ing back and forth all day long. So she was off to work with no cell phone. However, smart girl that she is, she took her charger so all is well now. :)

****

Whatever happened to Digitalicat?? I figured he would be back at some point, but I figured wrong. Too bad, really. (see edit note)

****

Woke up this morning and thought it was Thursday.

****

The Edmonton Oilers are just one win away from making it to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 16 years. Of course, fans in Edmonton should be a little worried about their team blowing a 4 goal lead in the 3rd period before squeaking out their 5-4 win last night.

****

Would love to know what's making the weird noise in the rear wheel of my bike. Guess I know what I'm doing when I get home tonight.

****

Why do some women insist on marinating in their perfume? I nearly suffocated in the elevator this morning when this rather ragged-looking 50-something blonde got on this morning. *choke*

Okay, I think that's all....digest away!

(Edit: Fans of the late, lamented Digitalicat will indeed appreciate Joefish. I've added him to the blogroll as "Eat at Joe's")

I'm bored, too

I'm sitting here, to Penny's immediate left. While my kidneys are not acting with the same sense of urgency I can safely say that if there was a tree nearby, I would have been bored out of it long ago.

Back around 2PM, they say? There's a difference between "approximately" 2PM and "holy fucking late, Batman!". I'm scanning the skies for the bat symbol as we speak.

Bored.

Bored, bored, bored.

Borini, boridi, borici. (I came, I saw, I bored)

*long exhale*

Um, guess I can do my own weekend update while Penny staves off the "gotta pee dance" in the passenger seat.

I worked wood this weekend. My drill press table looks pretty good and I've even christened it inbetween glue-ups I did get part of the lawn mowed before the verdamnt mower gave up the ghost yet again. Fortunately it was the front part which got finished. The back still looks like something that Stanley should be trekking through while looking for Livingsgtone. Must do something about that...

2:42. *sheesh* Timeliness isn't exactly a strong suit with the folks who run this particular corps.

Heck, we've even had time to get rid of some of the accumulated crap in the car. (No, that didn't take 45 mins). I got out my Armor-all wipes and did the dashboard. Found my molding and trim tape to fix the loose end of the ventshade on my window.

Checked the oil...a bit low. Must top up at home.

Checked the transmission fluid. All good there.

*sigh*

Now what?

*tap fingers on blackberry*

(We pause for a moment....Taking Penny to go pee before she has a breakdown. )

Shit. Now I gotta go too. ~fume~

Wonder where the bus is? Wonder where the lions are? If a Mossy pees in a forest, will anybody hear? if I had a ... No, never mind. I don't like Bruce Cockburn that much.

(News flash: called the Corps brain trust on a cell phone. Apparently the 2PM pickup time was incorrect, it was closer to 4PM. Me? So not impressed. Neither were the other parents in the lot when I passed that along. )

So here I am, back in the lot at the revised time. Kids? No sign.

*edit: Kids arrived shortly afterwards*

Tide-to-Go rocks!

it's Football Jersey Friday and I managed to spill coffee down the front of my San Antonio Texans jersey. (defunct US-Based CFL team)

Fortunately, I keep a Tide-to-go Pen handy at the office for just such an emergency.

Happy Birthday, Ma!

Yes, its another birthday for Motherdear!

I would have posted sooner, but, well, I got sidetracked....

Happy Birfday, Cricket!!

...and many happy returns to my favourite Goddess of the Random Blog.

I was contemplating doing a similar photo post to the one I just did for dtrini, but you know...those photos that you used to post, well... *low whistle* Dunno if I can use those ones.

Maybe next year, k?

Happy day!!

Dooced? To Blog or Not to Blog?

That is indeed the question.

Word reached these shores that someone who was dooced a little while back (with cause) is still blogging unrepentantly.

If you wind up getting Dooced, should you continue to blog? I therefore open this debate to my loyal readers.

Is it: "hey, its my blog and I'm gonna do whatever I like..."?

Or is it more like someone who drives drunk, has a very nasty accident and then continues to drive under the influence?

I'm not taking a side here...I want to see which way the wind is blowing.

The Magic Flutie Era comes to an end

I knew this day would come, but I knew I'd be a little sad and wistful.

Yep, the little QB that could has finally called it a career. 3 leagues, 21 years and 58,000+ passing yards later.

Doug Flutie has retired.

You have to hand it to a guy who never knew the meaning of the word "quit" and had such a mind for the game. He was an absolute thrill to watch, particularly during his two seasons in Toronto.

Dougie, you went out having fun and with a big smile on your face in your very final game and you went out on your own terms. The game is better because you were up here playing it.

See you in Hamilton in 3 years for your Hall of Fame induction.

Happy Birthday, dtrini!

Happy Birthday to my favourite Trini.

No matter how long our friendship lasts, my friend, this picture represents my most enduring image of you...

After much waiting and nail biting...

...like this, I got an email today.

From: [mailto:(Program Associate Name)@RoyalRoads.ca]
Sent: May 15, 2006 11:56 AM
To: Stone, Mossy
Subject: FW: Congratulations - Offer of Admission to the MA in Learning and Technology

Hello Mossy,

Congratulations! You have been accepted into the MA in Learning and Technology program. I have attached a Letter of Offer. I also have attached the Notice of Acceptance form for you to complete and return by May 31, 2006.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any other information.

Once again congratulation and welcome to the MA in Learning and Technology Program.

(Signed by Cheerful Program Associate)

The Jinx is in!

So much for the Sens getting swept 4-straight after my previous prediction of a Buffalo sweep. I guess I'll take some solace in the fact that Ottawa might get knocked out at home.

Yes, dear reader, Friday is Jinx day. Its a lovely day today and I'm taking a chance that the rain will show up in the afternoon, justifying my decision not to ride this morning. However, if its still dry when I get home, I'm definitely going for a ride.

"But Mossy," you say, "this post looks suspiciously like a mobile blog!"

Right you are, my careful-eyed reviewer! I'm blogging en route because I foolishly left my laptop in Stand-by mode last night and totally forgot about it. Dead battery means no Babylon 5 episode on the way in. As I was getting my stuff together in the bedroom I was debating bringing one of my techno-thrillers with me to read today, but I thought, 'naaah....I've got the DVD, so I might as well watch it.'

"Silly Mossy! You really need to listen for fate giggling in the background when you say stuff like that."

Right you are, reader! You're in solid ironic observational form today, I see.

On a positive note, because I can see you're anxious to know, my fundraising for the Ride for Heart is going well. I was a little concerned that I might not be able to raise much, but I'm doing much better than I thought - courtesy of a couple of generous online donations and the willingness of my colleagues to part with their cash. Apparently you can win some nice prizes for certain levels of fundraising, which is kinda cool. I wonder if I could be setting a dangerous precedent, though? I'm sometimes one of those "first time lucky" kind of guys, although its a rare enough occurrence that I still enjoy it when it happens. Just my luck I would enter next year and be lucky to cobble together a couple of loonies and a subway token.

"Oh Moss-man, don't be like that."

Hey, you chose the read so enjoy the ride. Besides, isn't self-deprecation one of my charms?

*ugh*

Cool, wet, and generally depressing.

That pretty much sums up Thursday.

Random News tidbits....

A coroner's inquest in Quebec finally determined that the 15 y/o girl who had allegedly died from a peanut allergy (ostensibly triggered by a kiss from her boyfriend) actually died from a severe asthma attack. The reported smooch from her beau actually occurred 8-9 hours after his consumption of peanuts...by which time all traces of the allergen are gone from one's system. The coroner went on to mention that the fact that the girl had been smoking marijuana beforehand "probably didn't help." (No shit, Dick Tracy. An asthmatic having a reaction from smoking....go figure.) The media didn't mention the dope in their initial reports a few months back, nor did they happen to mention to the time lapse between the PB and the smooch. Poor bastard gets vilified in the press and they all but accuse him of killing his girlfriend. Kudos to the coroner for setting the record straight.

***

Speaking of dope smoking, the Toronto Argonauts are still hopeful that they will be able to land erstwhile Dolphin RB Ricky Williams for the 2006 season. Opinion is sharply divided over whether the Argos should be parachuting in this fella when they've worked very hard to promote their community involvement and improvment programs (Anti-Drug, Anti-Gun, Anti-Bullying.)

***

Shrouded in secrecy and media debate over the name of the team, Major League Soccer's newest franchise (owned and operated by Condo developers and Basketball/Hockey meddlers, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) was unveiled today: Toronto FC. ~yawn~

(Next???)

***

Looks like the Clown-Haired Bastard and the rest of the Ottawa Senators will have to try and make a 4-game run at the next round of the playoffs without Dominik Hasek. As I explained to Danikabur this morning, I'm not cheering FOR Buffalo...I'm just not cheering for Ottawa. "hey, Senators! Tee-off time is at 10AM Friday!"

***

Sad thoughts as the City of Windsor and thousands of Police officers said good-bye to the first officer shot dead in the line of duty in the 120 year history of the force. RIP, Const. John Atkinson.

***

Toronto Councillors need a pay raise like I need a boob job. Here's a hint: Make a real committment to term limits for the nitwits we keep sending to City Hall, and maybe then we can talk.

***

Note to the moron from my office who was actually making calls on his Blackberry while taking a shit: The Mens' Room is not your personal fucking phone booth....moron.

That is all...