1. Edmonton Sun's Kerry Diotte hits the nail on the head yesterday, with an op-ed called NYC beats TO anytime. Having been to New York last spring, and spending far too much time since plotting ways to get back, I couldn't agree more. A day in Toronto can be a great time, a wonderful experience, but New York City - Manhattan especially - is a truly amazing place.

    A walking city from top to bottom, just a simple stroll from 78'th street down Broadway to Times Square is an experience, with a new discovery around every corner. Toronto simple can't compete. Besides, New York has the worlds greatest restaurant: Peanut Butter & Co.




















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  2. It's not a new theory to readers of this blog, but a big "yea!" to Lucia Corbella for discussing it:

    For most school-aged children in Canada, today is that most marvellous of days -- the last day of school.

    And for those of us older than, say, 35, the last day of school represented much more than just no homework. It also meant little supervision and not many plans. It meant freedom to just kick around unsupervised.

    Not any more. Now our kids' summers aren't so much about freedom and finding their own fun. Instead they are structured and almost always supervised.

    Apparently a new British study, "Natural thinking: Investigating the links Between the Natural Environment and Mental Health" by Dr. William Bird, says not giving children freedom to explore the natural world leads to higher incidence of stress, ADHD, rage, impulsiveness and criminality in children.

    Wat's really shocking is that this news to anyone. Kids need freedom, they need responsibility and they need time to ponder the world, and their world. Constant stimulus is the worst thing for children, and the thing that more and more children are getting.

    I have reviewed Silken Lauman's Child's Play and talked about Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods before, and won't rehash. But they both make the clear point that we do a disservice to our kids when we over protect them, and this study is one more argument in for that point.
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  3. This time it's an absolutely for maybe, positively possibly ambiguously certainly could happen event.

    World Entertainment News Network is reporting that Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John-Paul Jones, along with John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham on drums, will play a London show in tribute to late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. Beyond that, it seems a possibility is being raised, "if all goes well and they don't have a fall out" to tour. Next year sometimes seems to be the time - the world, presumably, would be the place.

    Unlike other Zep rumours, this one has a whiff of truth due to the Ahmet Ertegun connection. Many a reunion has started off as a one off performance, the current Police tour being a notable that comes to mind.

    Time to start saving some pennies.
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  4. ... has lost the argument:

    ...Your Government is moving each day closer to a theocracy where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.

    Your Government suppresses the science that doesn't fit it's religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.

    Your Government is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.

    Your Government enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.

    People look at this and think of Hitler. They are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society, very quickly, in a fascist way and for generations to come...
    Just astounding!

    Signed: Olympia Dukakis; Edward Asner; Jane Fonda; Sean Penn and so on, ad infinitum.
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  5. At Home in Hespeler wishes Berke Breathed, creator of Bloom County and Opus, a very special 50th THPFT!
    And noting it's also William, the Prince of Whales' 25th, I was reminded of a series of Bloom County's that appeared back in the day (click on image to see a bigger sized).


    What was that phrase? Oh yea, "off with 'is ead!!"

    I bet his grandma used that about his brother recently.

    Note: Updated and modified to add the 2 cartoon pages @ 5:33pm.
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  6. There have been many summer solstice celebrations through the ages - virtually every culture, from the druids to the modern catholic church to the Wiccan's have celebrated. We can't help but note it ourselves, and many people tomorrow will mention "it's the first day of summer."

    There are so many ways to celebrate this, from a few dogs on the Barbie to some beach time, to just skipping off work (tell them your a Druid, it's a religious holiday).

    Me, I wanna go to carhenge to celebrate the summer solstice like a Nebraskan.

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  7. I knew as I was framing this post in my mind whilst working today, that I would be pretty lonely in my opinion. I knew already what the great Joe Warmington had to say, could have guessed what Right Girl and Wonder Woman were saying, yet still found myself agreeing with David Miller.

    I, and this blog, have been supporters of our troops since day one. I used to own one of those magnets, until some anti-war-Bush-hating-BirkenstockAndSock -wearing-smelly-old-needs-a-haircut-hippy-unionist stole mine (or it fell off, who really knows)(see picture right). But again, I must say it, David Miller is right: showing the ribbon can be construed as a political statement.

    The debate, then, ought to be, should we be making political statements on public emergency vehicles? And perhaps, a reasonable answer is no.

    I happen to think they belong there, I happen to be happy that Rob Ford was prophetic ( "It should be 45-0," adds Councillor Rob Ford. "We should all be 100% behind our brave troops."). But, if the answer is no, we should not be making political statements on public emergency vehicles, that means NO political statements: no breast cancer ribbons; no firetrucks in the gay pride parade. Not just, no right of centre political statements, no political statements. And that's what is really galling everybody. They know this wouldn't even be a question if this was any other cause.

    For me though, the best part of this was the bit nobody noticed. The ribbons would stay on until removed during routine maintenance. That means that, unless you are a highly paid unionized mechanic in the city of Toronto, you are not qualified to remove an over sized fridge magnet from a fire truck.

    Fortunately, this is all moot, as Toronto council voted 45 - 0 to keep the ribbons. Apparently the city of Toronto e-mail servers were getting a work out.
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  8. For fathers day this year I got to cook for twenty-odd people on my brother-in-laws new BBQ. I don't, as a rule, suffer from envy. But there's exceptions to every rule and it can safely be said I have a bad case of BBQ envy.






















    Luckily, I love to cook, and he likes letting me
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  9. Happy 65th birthday to Paul McCartney, for:

    The Long and Winding Road'
    Band on the Run
    Live and Let Die (the best ever Bond theme, the only one that has been covered and made a re-hit, the only one still played on the radio with any regularity).
    Lady Madonna
    Venus and Mars Rock Show ("It Looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page")
    Hey Jude
    I Saw Her Standing There
    Blackbird
    Ob-La-Di Ob-La-da
    Sgt. Pepper
    Elanor Rigby
    Paperback Writer
    Lady Madonna
    When I'm 64
    Eight Days A Week
    That cool "bye, bye" at the end of Helen Wheels
    &tc.

    For all that, and the obvious ones I'm forgetting, happy 65th birthday, even if the new CD, Memory Almost Full, is nowhere near as good as too happy to please reviewers say it is.
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"...a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy..." F.A. Hayek
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