Censorship for nothing and bleeps for free

The little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he’s a millionaire

... lyrics you will probably never hear again on the radio, now that they have been deemed "offensive".

They were deemed offensive because one individual, we'll call him Whiny-Pants McLooser to protect his identity, heard the word "faggot", ignored the context in which it is used, got offended, propagated his irrational offense to every other gay/bisexual/lesbian in the country, and complained to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council on behalf of all of them. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, being staffed by politically correct zombies, ruled that it violates broadcast standards and cannot be played.

There will always be individuals out there that are hyper-sensitive, or lacking the intelligence required to put things in proper perspective. I don't blame Whiny-Pants for anything because it's not his fault. He has weaknesses, just as we all do. His shortcoming just happened to result in an externality that affects the rest of the country, albeit it in a small way; but that's only because the CBSC is full of idiots.

Organizations that have the capacity to infridge on personal freedoms and activities like the CBSC, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and so forth, need to have very specific mandates and need to have extraordinary adherance to those specific mandates. Those mandates should focus protecting us from words and actions that genuinely incite hatred or have tangible negative effects on society at large. Their job is not to coddle the weakest member of society ... to protect the feelings of the most thin-skinned individual at the expense of everybody else.

The song "Money for Nothing" has been played on the radio for 25 years without producing any tangible negative effects on society. It has not caused any gays to get bashed to my knowledge. It has not incited hatred. The term "faggot" in this song doesn't even refer to a homosexual -- it is a term used with jealousy in reference to a rock star who gets all the "chicks" he wants. The CBSC has far overstepped it's mandate in banning the unedited version of this song, and has actually made things worse. Thanks to their decision, the word "faggot" has not only appeared in this blog for the first time, but has appeared hundreds of times in newspaper articles all across the country. More importantly, it has created unnecessary animosity against the gay/lesbian/bisexual community: "Money for Nothing" is an all-time classic rock song with an epic guitar/drum intro that compels you to crank up the volume when it comes on the radio. But no more ... thanks to the gays you can't hear it any more.

Why create this animosity over something so trivial as a rock song? A rock song that doesn't even have anything to do with gays? It is total stupidity. Once again, I have to use the "Complete loss of perspective" tag for a blog post. Sigh....

***

A little piece of trivia for you: that other voice that you hear in the song -- the one singing "I want my MTV" -- is Sting. He was invited to collaborate on the song because that hook is the same as the hook from the Police's "Don't Stand So Close To Me". In fact, he got co-writing credit as a result of that one line.

related: Reed points out that membership in the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is voluntary. While that may be the case, the fact that virtually every radio station in the country is a member tells me that there are consequences for not being a member. I don't know what those consequences are ... perhaps some companies will only advertise with members of the CBSC, perhaps there are implications related to royalties, or broadcast rights, or who knows what. The point is that their decisions have an impact. Not being a member is not an option for most stations.

Train videos

Found on YouTube ... If you like trains and old stuff, this is for you: smokeywoodstover posted this old1946 footage of a train ride from Winnipeg to Calgary



If that's a little too old-timey for you, then how about this ... The Crystal Method's Comin' Back, off the Vegas album. Vegas, by the way, is a must-have album, even if this isn't really your type of music.

Limited Ambulances

The Paramedics of Winnipeg union is taking advantage of the current civic election to push for more ambulances, with a snappy website and PR campaign. You can't fault them for that: more paramedics means more union dues and less work for each medic. It's in their interest to increase their base. Is it in our interest, knowing that the money for each additional ambulance has to come from somewhere else?

I was going home last Monday and

saw a firetruck rushing off to an emergency at a school on Archibald. There was an ambulance in the parking lot that had beaten them there,

and the fire fighters were casually strolling towards the entrance, chatting about something, knowing that they were not actually needed inside. Further down the same road on the same day, there was both an ambulance and a fire truck at an apartment building that was not on fire.

A couple weeks ago, the lady sitting behind me on the bus had a seizure. We called 911 and waited for help. The firetruck showed up first, and the ambulance later. There was another instance where I was playing ball and no fewer than 3 emergency vehicles showed up after a girl got stung by a bee. It wasn't even a killer bee. Just a regular one.

The point is that there is a lot of duplication and unnecessary effort in our emergency response system. This wastefulness doesn't sit well with me. Virtually every medical emergency, regardless of how small, requires two different teams to respond, because the fire truck might get there first, but only an ambulance can actually take somebody to a hospital. This is costly: Edmonton has 40 ambulances and spends $50m per year on that service. Winnipeg, with 60% the population of Edmonton, has only 18 ambulances but spends $44m on paramedic services -- almost the same amount (according to this editorial).

Our combined fire/paramedic system may produce quick response times, but it is a failure in terms of cost-effectiveness in my humble opinion. I agree with the paramedics union: we need more ambulances, but at the same time we need to end the experiment of combined fire/paramedic service and potentially make corresponding cutbacks to the fire service. We also need to work with the health authorities on reducing the time that paramedics spend parked at a hospital twiddling their thumbs as they wait to transfer ownership of the sick guy.

If we can make that procedural improvement, and bump up the number of ambulances a little bit, then we can have good response times while also saving money by cutting the fire fighters loose to focus on dumpster fires and other things that they are best equipped to handle.

***

Keeping on theme: here's a video from laid-back tunesters Ambulance Ltd. This one has a bit of a Lou Reed vibe to it. Ciao:


..

Friday blog notes w/ bonus video.

Winnipeg based right-wing blogger Marginalized Action Dinosaur was booted from his web site earlier this month after a dude name Asad Raza complained to his service provider. What did Raza complain about? Mr. Dinosaur Gary Hollingshead published a post about a website of Raza's that was apparently derogatory to Canadians. I say "apparently" because Raza has pulled it from the interweb so nobody can see it anymore. So embarrassed is Raza about the stuff he posted that he has threatened to sue anybody who even talks about it. The web site included his top 8 reasons not to immigrate to Canada, which you can read here.

Some people are so sensitive.

Anyhow, Hollingshead is back up and running here.

***

As I am sure all of you know by now, Brian Scott has finished his book of wickedawesome Winnipeg Photos. Only 86 days 'til Christmas! .... something to think about...

***

Also on the subject of Winnipeg photos, Kyra found an interesting concept for a blog: 365 Epic Winnipeg Skies.

What happens after day 365? Buildings? Fences? Parkings lots? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

***

On a personal blog note, I seem to have been terribly wrong about Jack Layton's strategy on the gun vote. Wackie Jackie has actually plummeted in the polls. I thought he played the middle ground quite well, but I guess I don't think like most Canadians.

Also on a personal blog note, I just passed my 3rd anniversary on the bloggoshpere. Even three years ago I was ranting about Bipole III. I don't even know what to say about that.

***

That's all for now. Hey, it's Friday. I feel a cosmic hootenany coming on!

What happens when you cross a Rabbit with a Koala?

Awesomeness!

It was about ... oh, I'm gonna say 9 years ago ... that I saw a band called Bullfrog at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival. A DJ names Kid Koala was a part of the band then, and at one point in the show Bullfrog left the stage and left Kid Koala on his own to do his thing.

Kid Koala's thing turned out to be a creative and mind blowing mix based on a Jessica Rabbit sound track. It was the most memorable part of the show for me.

Kid Koala returns to the Pyramid this year on Thursday night with a new band The Slew. I will unfortunately not be there, but I would be if I could be.

Kid Koala live:

Frank for President! .. and other Friday stuff

It turns out that there's more than one election going on in these parts. On June 10 my half-blood buddies will be able to go out and vote for President! David Chartrand is running for re-election, as are two other folks: Frank Godon and Robert Nolin. I'm pulling for Frank, who's returning from a stint in Russia teaching English. If I'm not mistaken, Darcey of Dust My Broom fame is part of his campaign team. Also see his Facebook page.

Cybersmoke is calling for more fiscal responsibility from the MMF.

***

I know many of you spend hours sitting around and wondering "why can't I find a blog about poutine?" Well, your wondering has been answered.

***

I haven't done my Friday video in a while, but here's one for you from Winnipeg break-core musician Aaron Funk, a.k.a. Venetian Snares. Turn this up LOUD. Yes, especially if you're at the office.

Of his many albums, one is called Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole, and features songs like "Die Winnipeg Die Die Die Fuckers Die".

I'm sure he means that in a nice way.

Health, wellness, and blasphemy

I am feeling very confined. My wife has banished me to the office, forcing me to kill time by writing on this stupid blog. I suppose I could be doing my taxes, but on a Friday night? No. I don't think so. I started drinking three hours ago already.

The "man" is also beating me down. The man being the government of our province. First, they approve a $260 million dollar bird-killing factory, which has caused the me to lose sleep. Poor little feathery creatures. Then, they submitted a budget that spends $5 billion on health care, yet still doesn't cover the experimental treatment for keeping my finger nails from growing so fast. And now, this. Come on, man. Don't make me take off my copper underwear! It gives me the support I need, and only recently broke in to fit me perfectly!

****

On another note, I shall give you some health advice, because I am an expert. I am an expert because I say I am, and because I have a master's degree*.

Drink. Specifically, drink the following:

A glass of red wine, to lower your cholesterol, followed up by a pint of ale to make your bones strong:

A beer a day could keep brittle bones at bay. That's because beer is rich in silicon, an element that has been linked to bone health. But what type of beer should you drink? ... lighter-coloured beers made from pale malted barley and hops, such as pale ales, are richest in silicon, while low-alcohol beers contain the least, along with stouts, porters and wheat beers.

But don't put away the stout just yet! You need that too to prevent heart attacks.

Feeling good yet? Good. But you're not done: you also need to grab six or more cups of coffee to keep yourself alert and also prevent Parkinson's disease, diabetes and cancer.

That's my typical morning anyways so I should be doing OK, except for those damn fingernails.

*in economics.

****

If you're into blasphemy, these guys might be for you ... I found out about them here and had to check them out, from curiosity. This music isn't really my bag, but the song gets better as it goes on. You can pick up some influences from Metallica, and Avril Lavigne. That last one might be my imagination.

Graffiti Zone

I have noticed a couple of City of Winnipeg "Authorized Graffiti Areas" downtown recently. Like this one, on a what used to be a car rental store in a small strip mall on Ellice Avenue:


And this one, on a garage door in the exchange district, that I snapped with my ancient cell phone, hence the 24 pixel resolution:


In both cases, there was nary a spot of graffiti to be found, with the exception of the stenciled City of Winnipeg marker. The lonely little City of Winnipeg marker.

My initial reaction was "Wow is that ever lame. The city can't even get kids to tag a blank wall". So what's the deal with these graffiti zones? Is it an open invitation (as it appears to be) or is it designated for specific artists, who presumably are working on their "authorized" graffiti in their loft studios somewhere?

Does it have to be good graffiti?

It just so happens that I have been carefully crafting a piece of graffiti art over the past 8 or so months, and I think I am ready to take it public. What do you think?


I am very proud of it!

But maybe I'm misinterpreting these enigmatic little signs. Maybe they're not what they originally appear to be. I have considered a couple other possibilities:

1. The signs are actually a clever use of reverse psychology. Mr. Sam Katz knows that the appeal of defacing a building is lost if it's authorized, so the wily old mayor ordered somebody to paint these signs all over to keep our city clean and graffiti-free.

2. The signs are a practical joke by Banksy


I like that last one. That would be so cool if Banksy came to Winnipeg. In any case, keep an eye on these "authorized graffiti areas" to see what materializes. Who knows ... maybe someday you'll see this:

*****

Friday Video

Something a little different today: an old Sweet Marie commercial, featuring the Kink's You Really Got Me. I really had a thing for this girl with the crimped hair and attitude. I think crimped hair is a trend that's due to come back, don't you?

The Windsor Blues

As you may know (if you live in Winnipeg) there are rumours that the venerable Windsor Hotel and blues bar will be torn down to create a parking lot -- a scenario that certainly seems plausible given the neglect of the current owners. A group has formed to save the Windsor, lead by local blues singer Kathy Kennedy. They have a Facebook group, and on-line petition, and were organizing a rally for Saturday afternoon.

Tearing down any occupied building for yet another parking lot would certainly be a blow to downtown, BUT ... there is good news! Kathy's latest update on Facebook states:

Sam Katz just called me and said that the city has no intentions of tearing down the Windsor or buying that property. So now we know this isn't true!

Right. Just like how Sam called me personally and stated that he had no intentions of caving in to the Friends of Upper Fort Garry, back when they wanted to kick an apartment developer out of town.

Here's where I am conflicted: I have gone to the Windsor from time to time and enjoy having another choice to catch some live music downtown, though if it were to disappear my life would go on. Actually, I wasn't even aware that it had deteriorated from a respectable, if divey, "Nothing but the blues" blues bar, to a "Nothing but the booze" strip joint that plays top 40 music, as some people say. Also, out of concern for downtown Winnipeg, I would hate to see a building torn down to expand a parking lot, and the loss of urban vitality that comes from losing a live music venue. Problem is, if the place really has turned into nothing more than a drunken bum factory, that's not much better than a parking lot.

The Save the Windsor group is attempting to accomplish it's goal by lobbying to have the hotel registered as a heritage building. Certainly there is a lot of history associated with the building, like that whole Charlie Chaplin thing, but is it really a heritage building? It is no architectural gem, nor is it in the middle of a cluster of period buildings that needs to be preserved. It is an ordinary, run-down building in an uninteresting part of downtown. However, it could be so much more. With the right owners in place I could envision that building being renovated into a boutique hotel with a clean and welcoming blues club attached to it. It is not the Windsor as it currently exists that I would regret losing; it is the potential of what the Windsor could be.


I was in the downtown area early Saturday afternoon, about 10 minutes before the official start time of the rally, and decided to stop by to check things out. No gathering had materialized yet. I saw three people wander out of the hotel door, one of whom obviously shops for his cigarettes on the sidewalk. There were two other people standing outside of the blues club doors who I thought might be there for the rally, but as it turns out they were just smoking a joint. On the inside it was business as usual with about 12 or so people sitting around drinking beer and giving me the eye as I walked around in my dressy wool coat. The place looks like a dive, it smells like a dive, and I did not feel particularly at home, although I never mind stopping for a beer in even the seediest of joints. But having a look around reminded me that my fond memories of drinking beer and watching bands at the Windsor have more to do with the bands that were playing and the friends that I was with, than with the building itself.

***

I neglected to post my usual Friday video this week, but here is a belated video of Big Dave McLean, who I once saw perform at the Windsor. Enjoy:

The year in Peanuts

It's kinda fun to look back at the web stats for the past year. In terms of hits and page views we more or less plateaued in 2009. That's OK though. I'm sure people still enjoyed my posts. For example, let's look at the post with the most page views in '09 ...

.. ah here it is. It's, uh ... The future of Winnipeg: cookie-cutter condos, from April 2008.

Hmm. It appears people are still Googling Phil Sheegl. That's ok ... let's see what's next: How to get to Vimy Ridge -- posted in November 2008. D'oh!

Actually, I'm pretty happy that I'm getting a fairly consistent stream of hits from Google about getting to Vimy, because I had a difficult time finding information before I went there. The more people I can help and encourage to go there, the better!

I'm sure the next one will demonstrate the popularity of my 2009 work. K, let's see .... Aaa dammit! : Only a matter of time, posted August 2008. Well ... I am still the #1 hit on Google for "Leah Hextall Sex Tape" so I understand that, I suppose.

Ah, finally! Here's one from 2009: Trust me baby, it will fit -- my demonstration that a field (sans end zones) will fit in the spot that Gordon Bell wants to use for it's students.*

Other top posts:
Suggestions on Ikea Development
Louis Riel Day


So we know that people are searching for Phil Sheegl on Google, as well as Vimy Ridge, "Keepin' it Riel" t-shirts, and nude photos of Leah Hextall, but what else? Some of the odder search engine hits from the past year:

assporn (this was actually in the top 10!)
big animal with little eyes
doer put golf
eat leah hextall (yes, we get it, you like Leah...)
i want to die quickly but painless (perhaps you should get help...)
nude gay pictures bob brennan (you REALLY need to get help)
how do cars pollute the earth
ouch that's my ass (sorry)
selling my virginity winnipeg
shitting while walking olympic (good God, are my posts really this bad?)
what is a world class city? (the million dollar question!)
why free peanuts and water is not (the other million dollar question!)


Anyhow, the team here at the Peanut would like to thank all of you for stopping by, and all of you other bloggers who link to me, and a special thanks to my regular visitors. I look forward to an eventful 2010! Happy new Year!

A Friday(ish) video for you:



*actually, as Nancy Chippendale pointed out to me in an email, the Gordon Bell administration and WPSD did not lend much support to this effort**.
**as Marty Gold pointed out to me, this is probably because purchasing the land was not possible while following proper budget protocols. Officially pursuing it would have been problematic for Gordon Bell.

Christmas Friday Video

Code of conduct, and your Friday video

Well, this is certainly interesting:

Kelly was fired at about 8 p.m. Thursday, just hours after being arrested and charged with assault following a domestic dispute in the morning at his home near Philadelphia.
...
If the team can show cause, they will not be on the hook for the final two years of Kelly’s contract.

Well isn't that fortunate timing? We were going to fire him anyhow, then bingo: he just let us off the hook for the rest of the contract!

I'm not so sure. How can you reasonably argue that he was fired because of his getting arrested? especially after saying this:

It’s a tough decision but I’ve been saying repeatedly to you for the last six weeks we were reviewing the performance of the head coach and we came to the conclusion tonight that based on that assessment it was time to move on and find a new head coach. We recognize that an incident did take place but in the eyes of the law these are allegations and allegations only.

Oh well ... time to move on. And let's never again give both the head coach and GM job to somebody who has never done either.

***

After putting you to sleep the past two weeks with Black Box Recorder and The Sugar Cubes, I am going to slap you out of your coma with Probot -- Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project. Turn up the volume on your netbook and call your boss over for this one:

Call Centres, Christmas Ornaments & the Friday Video

The pending closure of the Convergys call centre in Winnipeg has been reporting by the mainstream media (and over at ChrisD's), but one thing that I never saw reported was the closure of the IBM customer service centre earlier this year.

About 15 years ago or so IBM bought Manitoba Data Services, which became ISM, and later just IBM. The helpdesk and IMAC services groups grew to a substantial size, supporting customers all over North America including DOW Chemicals and Nissan, as well as local customers like CWB and the Provincial Government. The helpdesk peaked about five years ago, and began to decline as IBM outsourced as much as possible to Bangalore, India. Then this year they shut down what was left of the operation and moved it to a larger consolidated centre in Toronto, one of four IBM "Global Delivery Centres" in North America . The job loses weren't quite as great as the Convergys closure, but I have seen news stories about much smaller cut backs at other places.

***

Hey look! I got another letter from Siloam Mission, three weeks after asking to be taken off their mailing list. This time they were kind enough to send me a cardboard Christmas ornament.

Ooooo, that's exactly what I was looking for to finish decorating my beautiful tree!


They also gave me a lovely note signed by John Mohan. So nice of him to continue spamming me even after quitting last month.

***

Ok, now on to the video ...

I give you the song "Hit", the The Sugarcubes. You might recognize the lead singer.



I was at the Pyramid Cabaret recently and was happy to see that they still have the giant Sugarcubes poster up on the wall. Don't ever take that down, guys. Unless it's to give it to me.

Friday Videos, and oh those nutty Japanese bloggers!

Your Friday video coming up. But first, a couple of blog notes:

note 1:
I successfully made my blog 150 pixels wider this week. I am so proud of myself! (Stop shaking your head (Shaun) ... not all of us can be good at this computer stuff.) Now I can cram more pictures and nonsense (like note 2:) into one screen!

For those of you on the Son of Moto, Mr. Moto, or Ms. Moto blogger templates, all you have to do is increase the #outer-wrapper width and your #main width by equal amounts, and then upload a new larger banner. The trick for me was getting the shadows back on either side. To do that, you have to search for the shadow gif (outerwrap.gif), download it, make it wider in MS Paint or whatever, and then upload it somewhere and plug the new URL into your HTML. Bingo.

note 2:
I am getting an increasing amount of comment spam, mostly on older posts. I have already turned on moderation for posts more than 60 days old, but I may have to turn on that silly word verification thing for newer posts if it gets worse.

Anyhow .. one post in particular -- Boo (updated) -- got several Japanese comments in a space of a few days. I started deleting them, until the thought occurred to me: maybe there are actually Japanese bloggers getting into an intense discussion on my month-old halloween thread! I wouldn't want to break that up, would I? So, I decided to run the comments through a translator to see what's going on:

Disappearance from home said:

On the trendy disappearance from home bulletin board, a lot of messages of the runaway girl who I stay, and walks the net cafes of each place are written recently. They seem to go to stay at even the house of the man who got to know on a bulletin board immediately because there isn't money. Don't you return an answer to a note, too?

H checkers said:

H checkers to be able to enjoy together!I understand your hidden H frequency just to answer a simple question!I will try the diagnosis that the degree comes out sullenly of that person right now

side business said:

It is a guide of the side business that 50,000 yen or more a day is available. The celebrity-like woman of the man confusion eats out the man who got to know in a net by financial power in sequence. I lead such a woman by the nose and don't earn large sum of money?

married woman said:

OK natural as for the society ground, the practical acquaintance of the married women who are H!I introduce eroticism married women of the frustration to preference. I meet immediately, and please choose child wife, a celebrity, the woman who want to play from six genres more than a woman, an SM wife, a secret carefully

A high income part-time job said:

I find sexual desire unmanageable and get value of the money with a woman becoming the frustration, and it is work it heals it, and to give. I don't ask it paper, the educational background at all on participating. I take the one that is interested in a high income part-time job by all means

A high-quality cherry said:

The women who want to take virginity do that I incise a one-time special event on a heart for a man together for life called [the first experience] in supreme joy. Don't you do best SEX in a high-quality cherry with women liking such a virginity?

I see what Disappearance is getting at, but side business makes some good points too. I was going to let this continue, however A high-quality cherry seems to be taking this off onto a tangent that I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. Comments closed on this one. Sorry.

~~~

Video(s) of the week:

I am going to slow things down a little with Black Box Recorder's The Art Of Driving:


Also, a couple weeks ago Unapologetic Ex-Winnipegger suggested God Blessed Video by Alcatrazz. I have thought about it, and I am not sure I can subject my audience to that kind of punishment. But I'll tell you what: if you start posting again on your blog I will reconsider.

In the mean time, I will quench your thirst for sweet sweet Steve Vai guitar juice with this slightly less cheesy piece. I really like how he juxtaposes the most profound images ever captured by man with his mundane guitar playing.



'till next time ...

Friday Video: Gorillaz

This week's video: Fire Coming Out Of The Monkeys Head by my fav animated band Gorillaz. You might know Gorillaz better for Clint Eastwood (a.ka. the sunshine in a bag song) or Feel Good Inc. but I chose Monkeys Head because it helps you learn Spanish with a groovy bass line.

Friday Video, getting harassed by John Mohan and other things

Happy Friday, everyone.

~~~

Hey, question for you. If the H1N1 vaccine supply is set to run out today, why did they open up the vaccine clinics to people who weren't high risk just one day ago? The WRHA seems to need to sharpen up their forecasting...

~~~

Less than one week after I posted about receiving aluminum/chicken soup from Siloam Mission, I got yet another letter from them asking for money. That's 2 in less than 2 weeks, and three in the past month. Good grief guys, I gave you money .. get off my back already!

I sent a letter back asking to be taken off their mailing list. Just watch, next week John Mohan is going to come to my door with a pellet gun and force me to turn over my wallet.

~~~

I'm digging the new Mercedes SLS:


It's sleek and retro, with gull wing doors, two seats, and tons of power. Fast and totally impractical, just like a supercar should be. (click picture for full view)

~~~

Thank you for sitting through my little non sequitur rants. As a reward, I give you the Friday Video: Weapon Of Choice by Fatboy Slim, starring Christopher Walken (sorry about the intro. All the other ones had embedding disabled.)

Friday Video -- Take On Me

As per last Friday's post, I will make an attempt to post a video each week. I know, I know ... One whole video every week? My God, cherenkov, you maniac. How do you ever hope to keep that up?? Well ... I am not sure I can but I will do my best!

This week's is a classic cheesy 80s vid by Norwegian synth pop band A-ha, but one of the best videos ever. Enjoy: