A day in my life -- 25 years ago.

25 years ago today, the space shuttle challenger blew up.

Kiddies, you can find the relevant details here

That's not really what this post is about.

However, the events of that particular day allowed me to remember, with more clarity that normal, what went on in my life on that particular day.

I woke up that morning hearing bulletins on the clock radio about the incident.  That means I must have woken up around noon.  Yep, I wasn't a morning person back then, either.

I was working in radio back then, specifically, I was the afternoon drive announcer at CKLA in Guelph.  Back then, it played "beautiful music" and was heard in doctors and dentists offices all over the region.  Seriously, even at that time, although the music they played was considered old and stale by contemporary standards of the time, the fact remained that people were listening and the station actually made money.  But I digress.

When I came into work that day (around 3:00) they had ditched the elevator music in favour of playing constant news coverage of the event.  I thought it was rather interesting only because that meant I didn't really have to "work" that day as the newspeople basically took over until aout 5 or 6 that day.

So, drinking coffee and engaging in idle chatter that day, I experienced two things that demonstrate how people cope with these things:

1.  My first "space shuttle" jokes.  I remember the first clearly.  It was that NASA stands for "Nice Air Shot Assholes."  The second one I don't recall clearly but it had something to do the space shuttle being the world's most expensive ashtray.   (Hey, I never said they were in good taste or even actually funny!)  I should point out that these comments only circulated amongst those of us on the lower rungs at the station and never, and I mean never within range of a manager or, God forbid, a microphone.  Management was very serious about the whole issue and, at least publicly in the building, demonstrated leadership in how we were supposed to behave on-air about the incident.

2. My first experience with public grief.  People seemed to be all beside themselves over the fact that these seven unfortunate people died doing something that is, inherently, dangerous.   The phone lines at the station were flooded by calls from people telling us how awful the whole event was.  They needed to talk to someone about it.  I'm not downplaying the sadness of the incident, but in my mind at the time my reaction was more along the lines of "bummer, that sucks" but unless I had a personal connection to any of the astronauts, I didn't see the logic in being in grief over it.  Sometime later, Jean-Michel Jarre released his album "Rendez-Vouz" which had a piece where the saxophone part was to be performed from that shuttle by Ron McNair.  Suddenly there was a connection for me.  I didn't go into convulsions of grief.  My reaction was "Major bummer.  That really sucks."

That's pretty much it.  No heavy-duty stories to relate here other than the fact that I still remember something I experienced 25 years ago.  If there's a point here, I guess it's just that when I heard about the 25th anniversary on the news this morning, I was amazed at the memories that came back and at how an incident like that has a tendency to bring out those "where were you when..." types of memories.

Which leads me to remember that when Columbia blew up 17 years later (Feb 1, 2003) my wife and I were on our way to the Canadian national junior figure skating championships in Brampton and we heard the bulletin on the radio.

Amazing how the mind works.

Happy Robert Burns Day!

I'm not Scottish, but I've always had some sort of kinship with them.  Perhaps it's my own red beard and the fact that I actually like the sounds of the bagpipes.  And there's something about the accent -- especially when coming from a young lass.

But in observation of this special day, here's one of Burns' greatest poems.  I'll leave it up to the reader to fully understand it, but, this is why Google is our friend.


Nine Inch Will Please a Lady
(Robert Burns)

Come rede me dame, come tell me dame,
My dame come tell me truly,
What length o' graith when weel ca'd hame
Will sair a woman duly?"
The carlin clew her wanton tail,
Her wanton tail sae ready,
"l learn'd a sang in Annandale,
Nine inch will please a lady."


"But for a koontrie cunt like mine,
In sooth we're not sae gentle;
We'll tak tway thumb-bread to the nine,
And that is a sonsy pintle.
Oh, Leeze me on, my Charlie lad,
I'll ne'er forget my Charlie,
Tway roaring handfuls and a daud
He nidged it in fu' rarely."


But wear fa' the laithron doup
And may it ne'er be thriving,
It's not the length that makes me loup
But it's the double drivin.
Come nidge me Tom, come nidge me Tom
Come nidge me, o'er the nyvel
Come lowse an lug your battering ram
And thrash him at my gyvel!

What Ever happened to context?

It's a sad day for people who prefer to think for themselves.

Today, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council  released its decision concerning the broadcast of the unedited version of the song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits on CHOZ-FM (OZ FM, Newfoundland).  The CBSC concluded that the presence of the word "faggot" in the song contravened the Human Rights Clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB)Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code.


The CBSC is a self-governing body of the broadcast industry so that, ostensibly government doesn't have to worry about creating and enforcing policy regarding material that may be offensive to those who may easily take offence.


I find this ruling to be especially scary for three reasons:

1. The ruling does nothing to address the context in which the word "faggot" is used.  It is perjoritive, but it actually ridicules the person uttering the offensive word.  Sure, words can be offensive, but perhaps looking at things in context would have dismissed this complaint right from the start.
2. This entire thing was precipitated by a _single_ complaint.  Basically, one person's opinion changes everything.
3. As a result, it is now verboten to play the full, unedited version of this song.

What's next?  We should ban "I saw her standing there" by The Beatles because the lyric "She was just 17, you know what I mean." which very obviously is suggestive of abusing children.


Context is everything.


Yet another example of how society really is going to hell.  Maybe this whole 2012 apocalypse thing isn't so far fetched after all.


With that, I think I need to go out and get a few fagots of kindling for the fire.

Thanking our new Mayor

On the first day of 2011, my bride (that's the cute chick in the photo) and I went down to City Hall to congratulate our new Mayor, Rob Ford, wish him well, and thank him for being the new Mayor of Toronto.

Here's a man who decided he was going to change things and took it upon himself to make it happen.  Along the way, he was able to galvanize public opinion and create a rally cry that caused an unprecedented turnout at the polls last year.  He made people realize that one person, one vote, really can make a difference.

If you saw Global News at 6:00 on New Year's Day, the guy with the scruffy red beard was me talking about Ford, being a regular guy, was able to communicate with regular people and understand where they're coming from.  Aside from the now famous "gravy train" message, his biggest catchphrase is "just call me."  His brother, newly minted Councillor Doug Ford, even told us not to hesitate to call if we need something, despite the fact that we don't live in his ward.

My main purpose for being there, though, was to thank him for running for Mayor and being willing to put up with all the unfounded bile and downright venom he's going to have to endure over the next 4 years.

Ok.  So this probably tells you where I stand politically.  I often wonder how I managed to survive the last 10 years (before making good my escape) of working amongst a number of "progressive" thinkers who were ready to eviscerate him at the drop of a hat.

One thing that struck me as a sign of how things used to be was when we were waiting in line at the levee and the line passed by a scale model of the city -- a model that only showed the city south of Bloor.  Yup, anything north of Bloor or off in the hinterlands of Etobicoke or Scarborough just didn't matter.  Seems to me that was basically the mantra of the city fathers (and a couple of real mothers) over the last 7 years.

In his first month in office, Mayor Ford has done what he pledged he would do.  But moreover, and I think this is the big deal, he is listening to the public and reacting by dealing with them.  Specifically:

• The plastic bag levy.
• At first, Ford said it was not a priority to do anything about it unless he heard otherwise.  Well, he certainly did and it has become one his next items on the chopping block.  I'm not going to get into a pissing match with environmentalists, most of whom have already poisoned themselves on the green kool-aid, but I've never been too terribly keen on having the government dictate that a retailer _must_ charge a fixed price for a particular commodity.
• Arts Funding
• Ford named Jeff Melanson, executive direction of Canada's national ballet school, as his special arts adviser.  Melanson was willing to do it as long as Ford promised not one penny would be reduced from the budget.  Ford agreed.  Reading what Melanson has to say about Ford's take on the arts in the Toronto Star makes it pretty clear that Ford understands that arts funding, done right, will create a "win-win" situation.  Melanson said that unlike Miller, Ford is definitely someone who can not only "talk the talk" but "walk the walk."

It seems pretty clear to me that Ford is not only a listener, but is interested in what can benefit everybody the most and making it happen, even if it's not immediately apparent to him.

Wonder how many of his campaign promises Smitherman would have outright broken by now?

I'll say it again.  Thank you, Mr. Ford.

First Post

So....

Here we are, it's 2011.  Time to get introspective...or just start a blog.

We often look forward to the new year with thoughts of finally getting around to doing what we've been meaning/needing/wanting/not bothering to do for the past year, or years.

We often think about how lousy the past year was and how everything is going to get better.

Personally, 2010, in retrospect, was a hell of good year for me.

Why?

Mainly because I discovered a number of things, among them:

• I like the taste of gin.  There was a time I preferred vodka in my martinis.
• My life isn't defined by what I do for a living.
• Abandoning what I may have really wanted to do with my life 26 years ago just for more money wasn't such a good idea after all.
• My job is not the love of my life.
• My wife is the love of my life.

Yeah, 2011 is going to be pretty good, too.