Random Thoughts – The sub-Standard, Mysterious Telephone System, Glen Murray and More
August 13, 2017
1. While taking pictures at the NOTL Peach Festival yesterday, I was again asked by multiple people if I was there in an official capacity. Just because I have a notepad and a camera, it does not mean I work for the sub-Standard, the Welland Tribune or any other accredited media outlet. Given how photography seems to be more popular in this part of the world than it is in the Old Country, having a camera hardly puts me in select company.
1a. Were I in fact employed by the sub-Standard, I wouldn’t exactly be proud to say so. With some notable exceptions, the quality of journalism in that publication is so poor that I get the feeling that when the proposed Ontario minimum wage hikes become law, most of their staff will be getting a raise. One they don’t deserve.
2. Case in point. No one from the sub-Standard or anyone else in the local media seems willing to challenge local politicos like Regional Chair Alan Caslin when they spout off on how they expect 30,000 visitors to come to Niagara for those worthless Canada Summer Games in four years’ time. This is a figure clearly pulled out of thin air, yet blindly accepted as if it were the gospel. Personally, aside from the media, the athletes and their families, I’d be surprised if 30 people came from outside the region for the sole purpose of seeing those games.
3. A Bell technician was across the street yesterday installing services for our new neighbors. After he left, I still had a working phone line. No, I don’t miss the Mysterious Telephone System, and it was another welcome indicator that I no longer live in the Old Country.
3a. I still appreciate picking up my phone and no longer being surprised by the sound of a dial tone.
4. Good riddance to former Winnipeg mayor and current MPP Glen Murray, who is leaving his cabinet post and resigning his seat on the first of September. If you’re in Winnipeg, be sure to honor him by taking the Million Dollar Flush, something I never had the chance to do when I lived there.
5. As happy as I was to see Murray leave the political arena, I was equally sad to see Brad Wall step down as the premier of the Farmers’ Republic of Saskatchewan. I just hope that the reasons behind his sudden and unexpected retirement from politics are entirely personal.
6. I still do not understand why people who aren’t friends of mine on Facebook keep insisting on contacting me through Messenger rather than by email. Are these people aware that most message requests sent to non-friends through Facebook end up being filtered? Is the graphic showing my email address on my website not visible enough? Do I need to put a flashing bar around it?
6a. As someone whose political leanings are somewhat to the right of Lenin, it will just be a matter of time before Facebook suspends my account. Just like Twitter will do eventually. So the problem will take care of itself.
6b. Get. On. Gab.
7. Forget the Garden City moniker, St. Catharines should be called the Fireworks City. As I’ve said before, I just don’t get the attraction to fireworks.
8. As I wrote in a tweet this morning, nothing good can ever come from a Bomber victory. Nothing.
9. Don’t you wish the media would be just as harsh on the Antifa and BLM thugs as they are with the demonstrators in Charlottesville? But they’re not biased, right?
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