Mackem Chainsaw Massacre

Leatherface: a very good band I've just recently been introduced to. And not my usual cup of chai which should tell you something. This tune is a scorcher:

Leatherface--"Evo Pop" (from the album Horsebox)

Here are the handsome devils on Utube.

Very pure. Unadulterated. Nothing between you and it, if you know what I mean.

And they're from Sunderland which should piss him off.

The (Number) One About The Irishman

Our next-door neighbour has decided to opt out of indoor plumbing.

Probably got mad when he couldn't figure out how it works.

Not Necessarily Dangerous

In the wake of The Event, the University of Northern Colorado is taking no chances when it comes to security.

Cuz you never know when an anorexic is going to go off.

P.S. I'm guessing Ken Chan is a peeper. Just a hunch.

There may be a leetle delay

If anyone's been wondering about this camp saga (which I doubt), I will be seeing some of the camp founders this weekend. I plan to pepper them with questions to get more info about the early days. Then I'll be able to do another post on the story with greater accuracy and detail.

If Nav's Reading

I told you so, didn't I?

But, But...What If My Kids Suck?

He should do a post about the weirdies spoken of here, since he's the one with the professional interest. What do I care about the environment?

Choice r-tarded quote:

Vincent Ciaccio and his wife, Laura -- both 29 -- grew up passively assuming that they would have children one day. However, after the couple met in college and embarked on a life together, they realized they did not want to become parents, a decision informed in large part by environmental concerns.

While the Ciaccios would not describe themselves as hard-core environmentalists, they are both ethical vegetarians who eat locally grown food, drive a compact car and regulate their energy consumption.

"There are a lot of reasons to be vegetarian and a lot of those translate into reasons to be child-free -- choices like not supporting clear-cutting the rain forests to raise cattle," says Mr. Ciaccio, who currently lives in Boston, where his wife is at law school. "Being child-free means we don't run the risk of having children who won't be vegetarians and undo all the good choices we've made."

Why Camp Three Arrows?

So, there are our young idealists, wandering around southern Ontario, looking for a cheap piece of land. We'll leave them to wander for a little longer. Let's take a quick side-trip to look at Camp Three Arrows' name and symbol:





The arrows point to the LEFT -- by design, not by accident. They stand for three socialist principles: bread, peace, and freedom. This was a slogan adopted by the International Free Trade Unionists in the 1940s, but I found references to it earlier than that. (But don't politicos of all stripes yearn for these things?) As far as I know, the symbol was always green.

There is one theory that the design originated during Nazi-era Germany. If one saw a swastika, one negated it by drawing three diagonal lines or arrows through it. I'll have to investigate this one day.

Next up: Camp buys some land.

The Story Of Camp Three Arrows

This is the first in an irregular series about Camp Three Arrows--a failed socialist experiment in Ontario. My father started to write a history, but never finished it, I'm not sure why. But given that his health is failing rapidly, I thought I'd better take up the story now. Some of this will be a bit sketchy on historical facts and details; I will try to go back and fill them in as I find things out. If anyone out there can correct me on dates, etc., please feel free. But this outline will do for a start. Most of this history I've heard, since I was a kid, from my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and the other founding members of Camp.

In 1932, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the CCF) was started in Alberta. It had an offshoot, the CCYM (Co-operative Commonwealth Youth Movement). My parents were members; in fact, that's where they met. As with any political party's youth branch, it was part political, part social. Lots of singing, baseball games, and drinking interspersed with earnest debates about socialism.

In Toronto, the CCYM branch organized camping trips, the better to have those earnest debates 'round the campfire. These outings were usually to provincial parks. After a while, the membership decided it might be good to have a permanent site to hold these get-togethers, the better to organize and plan the new socialist Canada. So they started to scout out southern Ontario to find a suitable piece of land.

To be continued...

Faith In Humankind Restored

Whoda thunk it?

Ice Follies

Always important to keep a level head during divorce proceedings, and put the kids first.

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Coaches are hired to be fired these days, but wtf..?

Claude Julien had no comment, other than to remark: "Why is everything I love taken from me?!"

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Like most people, I expect to be asked the preferred variant of my given name--Rob, Robert or (the spaghetti monster forbid) Bob. So, why do sports networks assume that everyone named Martin just loves being called "Marty" on-air, whether they're French-Canadian, Swiss or Czech? Did they take a poll?

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I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one who's rubbed the wrong way by Sportsnet analyst Nick Kypreos.

As a sports "personality" and member of said network's obligatory panel o' blowhards, The Kipper's speciality is making snarky, dismissive comments about other players. At the trade deadline, for example, and if memory serves me correctly, he joined in the general piling-on against the Leafs' re-acquisition of oft-undervalued veteran centreman Yanic Perrault. Not what the team needed, will add nothing, etc.

Fair enough. This is analysis, after all.

But, just for comparison's sake, here are Perrault's career stats, and those of a certain former middle-market heavy and fourth-line spear-carrier who was lucky enough to play for a cup winner.

Voting For The Hall

...of Ill-Chosen Company Names starts this week.

Lifetime achievement inductee.

Up for selection this year.

Score One For Pitch-Correction Technology

Nelly cleans up at the Junos.

Even I gotta admit her mid-rent dance music's a lot easier to take than her godawful teenage-girl folk-pop.