Friday, February 4, 2011

Are You #%^&1n' Kiddin' Me #5

Sometimes news coverage just makes me want to scream. I don't mind a little fluff or human interest stuff, but the chosen lead stories sometimes leave me really angry. Thankfully here in Canada we have the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Far from perfect, at least CBC News usually leads off with something that might matter to thinking people.

Global News Toronto, on the other hand, often makes rather different calls. This was their lead story on the late news last night.

 



Here are the top stories, in order:

1) School Piercing Ban (long)

2) Man Dead In House Fire (very short)

3) Ottawa Relaxing Airport Security (Somewhat Longish)

4) Cairo / Egypt / Mubarak / Journalist Suppression (really long)


Perhaps they have a policy of starting with Local news, then National, then International. That's cool. But how and why does a girl getting kicked out of class for a dress code violation trump a fatal house fire, or anything else? How is that News? I mean, Are You #%^&1n' Kiddin' Me? Next I guess they will do a four part series on what some teenagers are hiding in their lockers. For the record, the four parts should cover booze, smokes, drugs and lurid bikini photos. Shocking. It's just shocking.

I guess I shouldn't expect much from a News Provider that puts issues up on Twitter and then reports on air what all the insightful people out on the Internets have to say about it. I guess it is just a natural extension of the "man on the street" interview, but those bug me too. Why the hell would I want the opinion of some joker who gets stopped on the street over an expert who might enlighten me in some way? If I wanted to hear people's personal and random and oh so human opinions, I would start a stupid blog or something or at least read other people's stupid blogs. I mean, sheesh!




Yer pal,
R A N T W I C K

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Shipping News (No, not that Shipping News)

I took my packages to the post office last week and was informed that I would be charged extra to send those tubes. Apparently they are a pain because they roll off conveyors and stuff. So I didn't ship. I took my stuff back home and had a beer and thought about where I might have some suitable small boxes.

I drank beer and thought about that for several days, except when I was at work, of course. The prizes were finally shipped yesterday by the cheapest method available, so hurry up and wait, you lucky dogs!

R A N T W I C K

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Would You Turn The Other Cheek?

I am a peaceful person. I don't really know how to fight and have never been in a "real" fist fight with a stranger. Before you get the wrong idea, I didn't get in a fight today either, but the potential was there. For the purposes of the following narrative, **** = the F word. Here's what happened.

London Ontario experienced a blizzard last night and through the early morning, with high winds and some decent snow accumulation, but nothing crazy like back in December. I knew it was going to be a tough slog in to work, so I left extra extra early hoping to see less car traffic. That worked OK, but thanks to backstreets being quite plugged I walked my bike quite a lot.

It was while I was doing this that I passed a man running a snowblower and clearing his driveway while his wife shovelled the steps. I was quite near them and obviously within earshot when he yelled to his wife, "Has this guy got ****ing rocks for brains?" I didn't like that. Had I been riding, I probably would have just kept going and shrugged it off. I was on foot, however, and that made it feel more personal somehow. I stopped walking, turned and looked straight at him for a few seconds and then resumed walking away.

At that point "****ing Idiot!" issued forth from behind me. I couldn't take it. I lay my bike down in the snow and walked back to snowblower man. I pulled my goggles under my chin so he could see my face and asked, "What the **** does it matter to you if I ride my bike today?" To which he replied "Hey man, in snow like this... it's dangerous... there are cars out there. I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about you..." Well, that made sense. I know that when I am concerned about a person, I always let them know by calling them a ****ing idiot.

As I play it back in my mind, of course there are all kinds of reasonable and informative things I wish I had said. As it was, however, I replied "How about I just take care of myself, OK?", to which he replied "Alright, whatever" or something like that. I returned to my bike and as I picked it up he yelled "It just seems crazy..." and then some unintelligible stuff to his wife.

The smart me knows that the guy could have been a total nutcase who was looking for a fight, but I just could not let his comments pass. It worked out OK, I guess, but I am curious what you might have done. I mean, would you just keep walking? Would you do what I did? Would you throw a snowball at him and run? Would you punch him for being so in your face?

I'm still pretty mad. I know some people think I'm an idiot or worse. That is truly OK, because I know that what I do looks pretty crazy. My question is, why do some people feel the need to yell it at me? Why can't they just shake their head and make fun of me over dinner or at the water cooler? I know I need to learn to just let go of these bad vibes. I am finding it difficult.
R A N T W I C K