Monthly Archives: February 2006

You can win, but you’re not supposed to win by a lot

What is going on?  The Canadian women’s hockey team has won their first two games handily beating Italy 16-0 and beating Russia 12-0.  As I write, they are beating Sweden 8-1 midway through the 2nd period.  This equates to a 36-1 ratio.  Why do we care about the ratio?  Well, if two teams of equal records should meet in the playoffs, the team with the higher differential will have ‘home ice’ advantage.  The ‘home team’ has the advantage of making the last substitutions before face-offs.  Very key for making sure you have the right matchups on the ice.  Continue reading →

Who says you can never go back home?

How does the old saying go:  “Once you leave home, you can never go back”?

I’m from Walkerton, the capital of Bruce County – Ontario’s playground.  The home of great tasting water, chicken and alkalide batteries.  A small town for sure, but when I was growing up, seemed like the largest place on earth.

I don’t believe the line “You can never go back”.  I know I can, and you can too!  Here’s how: Continue reading →

Let’s revamp the olympics

Since the olympics come around only once every four years - two years now that the television Gods have had their way (something only Zeus once had the power to do) – I tend to take interest in them.  I marvel at the mental and physical capabilities that the elite athletes can display.  Case in point, I was watching men’s downhill yesterday and the television feeds have setup some amazing camera angles and slo-mo technology that exposes these athletes in jaw-dropping detail. 

I have done some rudimentary downhill before so I know that for most mortals, barrelling downhill is a tentative venture at best.  A typical self-conversation that goes on in my mind when going down a hill is something like:  “Don’t die, don’t die don’t die, ohmygod I’m losing balance!  Phew, still up.  Snowplow Snowplow Snowplow!”  A bystander would see a skiier with reasonable balance going down the hill at a respectable pace.  I wonder what goes on in the mind of these olympic racers.  They are moving beyond breakneck speeds and with what appears to be sheer recklessness.  The new camera angles and the slo-mos typically show a person who is constantly struggling simply to stay vertical.  And when they show a camera angle that gives a great perspective as to how STEEP the slope is, I realize they are insane.  By far the most dangerous of all olympic events.

Speaking of events, I think it’s time to revamp the events.  Let’s get rid of the following:

Any event that requires judging.  Exception:  gymnastics

Additions:  golf, fishing, darts, tug-of-war, strongest man, and to appease Pat:  dwarf-tossing.

 

 

Mmmm…..M30402457

You keep going oh Mathematical Gods.  Find ye the largest prime number.  Even nerds need to have a goal.

Islam is rioting. Or, “How I discovered I had Islamaphobia”

Recently, Denmark flew into Islam’s radar by posting cartoons depicting Muhammed with ‘mishapen’ turbans.  It didn’t matter whether the turban was shaped in a funny way to make the cartoon humourous or to stereotype Muslims as terrorists.  Simply depicting their god in any fashion was the spark that lit their already gas-soaked fury.  Simply icing on the cake that there was a (heaven forbid) joke attached to it. Continue reading →

The Olympics Timezone – CET

GO to the WorldTimeZone to check out time zones around the world.

 It is quite disappointing that the Winter Games are in Turin this year.  That means the events will be in “CET” time which is GMT+1 – 6 hrs ahead.  7 hrs if were the summer, but it would be difficult to do Winter Games in the summer I suppose.  Except in the USA.  Where anything is possible. Continue reading →

The U.S. government

Alex Wilson came up with a new term that better exemplifies the US government. 

Most people would state it is a democracy although some would claim it is a far cry from that.  Some would state it is a theocracy especially if the Republicans continue down the path they are heading.  However, it is clear that they are truly neither/nor.  Alex has come up with a word that has the potential to best define the U.S. government, mostly because we can define this word however we want:

 Proctocracy

I welcome you to help me define this word.  Bear in mind who the leader is and the current US foreign policy and I’m sure you can come up with a nice definition. Continue reading →