Yesterday afternoon I didn’t have anything better to do, so I decided I’d check out the anti-police brutality protest.
Past experience has shown me that these protests tend to get rather tense when the radical wing confronts police near the end. I could never quite figure out the cause of the pattern until yesterday when I realized something I should have concluded earlier was obvious:
The entire purpose of anti-police brutality protests is to prompt police brutality.
Now that the debate is over, the media is ready to declare a clear winner:
Glad we cleared that up.
The Ottawa Citizen has an opinion piece which makes a lot of sense. It says schools shouldn’t put blanket bans on cellphones, digital audio players, digital cameras and anything else electronic and handheld, because these devices have legitimate uses.
When I was in high school, they had a lot of rules that either were unenforceable or just didn’t make sense. They banned public displays of affection. They banned visitors. They banned name-calling (a lot of good that did). They banned gossip. They banned fire. They banned juniors buying things during lunch.
The most annoying rule they had in place when I was a student was the rule that said you couldn’t go to your locker during lunch. It was a stupid rule. It meant any lunch I ate either had to be completely disposable, or I’d have to carry it around everywhere – to the library, to lunchtime activities – until the bell sounded ending lunch.
And this was before they started coming up with the really stupid stuff…
Andy Nulman (formerly of the Just for Laughs festival) breaks the news that comedian Richard Jeni (quotes) has committed suicide. No news links yet. Apparently Jeni was supposed to perform in Chicago but was replaced at the last minute. Jeni’s website is blank.
Sad. Comedy isn’t supposed to be sad.
UPDATE: The news coverage begins in the gossip column. Now AP has finally picked up the story, which means it will be in the papers tomorrow.
Metroblogging Montreal points out something I hadn’t heard yet from the overblown lead pipes saga: the advisory letters sent to people’s homes were in French only.
CTV must be having trouble filling their hour of news. Tonight they have a “report” from Paul Karwatsky about how, I kid you not, buses are crowded at rush-hour.
To fill a few minutes get the big story, he interviewed Marvin Rotrand outside the Snowdon metro station (I’d like to see Rotrand for once interviewed somewhere other than outside the Snowdon metro), and then took him for a ride on the 51 (“arguably one of their busiest lines” — Sorry, Paul, it’s not even in the top five). The conclusion? They need more money for more buses.
Really, is there no news happening right now?
Apparently the media firestorm that pounds at our beloved Canadiens day after day has brought out the veterans (Yvan Cournoyer, Henri Richard) who say they need to calm down.
But really, are there that many media outlets covering the Canadiens’ every move? Let’s see:
Some of the above don’t cover every game, and others probably rely on wire services a lot, but it’s still a lot of coverage. The Gazette, for example, will have the following on a Habs home game:
That’s a lot of people doing a lot of work just for one news outlet, and this crew is small compared to the number of people required for adequate television coverage.
So maybe they’re on to something. The question is: what do we do about it?
Need a personal assistant? BMO has a fantastic idea: deal with the company who understands what you are: your bank. This story (rewritten from this press release) talks of new “concierge services” offered to the filthy rich, such as doing laundry and groceries.
What happened to the good ol’ days of Mexican domestic workers?
In other business “news”, Domtar Inc. has changed its name to Domtar Corporation. The CBC is among many to rewrite their press release.
I thought they were joking. They were. And Conrad Black even fell for it.
Remember Rebecca Aldworth, former CSU president, now champion of animal rights?
Yeah, I don’t either.
But apparently she is anti-schooling and likes to pull seals out of the water and wait for them to die.
Looks like I missed this article from my former classmate Jonathan Montpetit on blogs in the Quebec election campaign.
Will blogs change the election? No, not by themselves. But if some blog-discovered dirt gets picked up by the mainstream media, that could make a difference in some ridings. Let’s see if something like that happens.
In today’s paper:
Kate Lunau and Vincenzo D’Alto have an interesting feature series on fair trade coffee in Nicaragua, and the economic impacts of this producer-friendly system.
Meanwhile, Roberto Rocha’s tech blog is live, renamed “TechnoCité” and with a cute mug shot.
Freelancer Christopher DeWolf has a long feature on the STM’s smart card payment system, which is supposed to go live next year.
This Financial Post story is hilarious, quoting RBC’s chief over ATM fees:
“There are areas of concern [for Canada] such as the accelerating growth in public spending, a tax structure that is biased against investment, a fragmented and expensive regulatory structure, and the deterioration in [Canada’s] competitive position,” Mr. Nixon said.
Exactly. Why focus on issues real Canadians care about? They’re small change. We need to focus on those poor investors who are only getting 6.5% annual return instead of 7%. Those are the people in crisis here.
Not to say I’m all in favour of eliminating ATM fees. After all, that’s what’s given us those white-label ATMs all over the place, which are so expensively convenient. ATMs are the future.
Looks like ABC News is doing a profile on Montreal’s “look-alike” photographer François Brunelle tomorrow night on 20/20 (10pm Eastern).
From this article in today’s Gazette:
“I can’t imagine being a business and not being on Bell Mobility now.”
– Wade Oosterman, Bell’s president of mobility
You know, he’s right. I would find it odd of Bell’s president of mobility was using Telus.
Apparently it’s worth four years in prison to flambé a partner’s genitals.
Giving someone HIV, meanwhile, is worth six years (even if you’re a football player).
But leading the gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl in a park (and continuing to rape her until she lost consciousness) is only worth a little more than four years.
Does that seem right?
UPDATE: Dave Barry thinks not.