Sunday, April 20, 2008

Apparently, kids must not know sex exists

So, at some point this week on Sounds Like Canada, a woman was interviewed who is trying to encourage her 14 year old daughter's school to find high security site-blocking software to block things like Facebook because she had found her daughter in her home office looking at porn in the middle of the night, and then found out that sometimes the kids access porn from the school, and sometimes through Facebook - I'm not clear how they're accessing porn through Facebook, but that's not the point.

I'm not interested in debating the merits of that. Although, I think being horrified that a 14 year old is accessing porn is pretty funny, because I know a hell of a lot of people who were accessing porn when we were 14, we were just didn't have the internet to do it, so we were doing it by sneaking peeks at the smut our parents kept, and sharing that with other friends so that we could experience a variety of it. But like I said, not the point of this post.

This post is in reaction to something that someone who called in to respond to the story said. This woman spoke about how she was horrified when she found out that her 14 year old son was watching porn, that she hated the idea that he was learning about sex from an industry that spends so much time objectifying and belittling women.

Ummmm. Lady? Ummmm. Maybe the answer to that conundrum might be to, I don't know, say, teach your kid about sex from you, so that if he looks at porn (and really, come on, teenage boy, he's lookin' at porn, I mean, teenage girl probably is too, but this is specifically about a guy.) he has it contextualized. It sure as hell sounded like her response to finding his porn was to work really hard to keep him from being in a place where he could access it, but it didn't involve any kind of information about sex.

I mean, really, wouldn't finding out that your kid is looking at porn present you with the *perfect* opportunity to talk to them about sex? To explain why you're uncomfortable with the porn industry and to explain the ins and outs (no pun intended) of sex? Also, uh, lady, your kid is 14 and you haven't talked to him about sex yet? I mean, come on lady, there's a good chance that he's already had sex by now.

What I'm saying is sometimes people annoy scare me.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

holy comments batman!!!

I have a post up on blogTO about the TTC strike.

Apparently if you post about something that people feel really passionatly you get A LOT of comments.

It's sitting at 56 right now.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

a post that was supposed to go up yesterday...

So, this was supposed to go up yesterday, but I didn't end up posting it, so, here it is today.

Last night [Monday night] John wiped the laptop for me. It’s really good ‘cause it was limping along and really needed to be cleaned up, reformatted, start from scratch. And he was awesome, he put everything back for me, right down to my IM program.

But, for some reason, which neither of us can figure out, it will no longer connect to the Jet Fuel WiFi network. No connection at all. I’ve tried restarting a couple times, I’ve tried disabling and re-enabling the network card, randomly futzing with settings, nothing is working. And it’s killing me. I’m writing this post offline and am sad thinking about the fact that I’m going to have to go home soon be connected (yes, the connection works at home) so that I can write my article. But really, I just want to stay here.

It’s amazing how dependent on an internet connection I am. First, I told a friend that I would find him online and we’d make plans, I told him I’d be online at noon, it is now one, so, not online, I’m virtually standing him up. Second, I have an article to write that I can’t even begin to write without the internet because I need to do some research before I can begin.

What a bloody strange thing to be this dependent on something. It’s quite unbelievable how cut off from the world I feel right now, even though I’m in a room full of people. Makes me feel kind of weird that I’m so reliant on technology.

Grrrrr.

So, I’ll finish this latte and be on my way I guess.

Oh, and before I forget, a shout out to Kate wishing her a very happy birthday. And, you know, in case I don’t post tomorrow, a shout out to Brice too. Happy birthday guys, I love you both muchly and wish you all the best.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

An innovative pick-up line (scenario?)

Well, he was persistent, I'll give him that much...

The other day I was heading out to get my haircut and while I was heading south on Spadina I heard someone trot up behind me and felt them tap me on the shoulder.


I turned my head to see who it was, I kind of assumed it was someone I knew, but instead I was met with the sight of a grinning stranger. A pretty cute, well-dressed, grinning stranger - not the kind of Toronto grinning stranger that I more often end up running into where you're pretty sure their meds aren't quite balanced properly, if present at all (god, our social support systems don't work – but that's a rant for another day).


Stranger – Do you mind if I ask you a question? It's a serious question, I really am curious.

Me – Uhhh, okay?

S – Why are you carrying two bags?

M – Oh. Well, one's my purse, and one's my laptop.

S – Doesn't that get heavy? Why don't you get something smaller, I just got a Mac Air, it's great, you should get one of those.

M – Well, sure, but this one works and is 7 years old, so by now it's free, so I'll stick to it for now.


I sort of smile, nod and turn away and keep walking. He keeps pace.

S – Can I ask you something else?


M – um. Sure.

S – What are you doing right now? (it wasn't until he asked this that it dawned on me what the hell was going on)

I'm always pretty bad at this part, the part where I realise there's a good chance I'm being hit on. I get kind of stammery, or I over-compensate by being really really aloof. I think in this one I went the aloof route.

I told him I was off to get my haircut, he said my hair looked good I shouldn't cut it. I told him it was 'cause I had a photo shoot the next day. He decided that meant I was famous. I assured him I wasn't.

This went on for a reasonable amount of time. He initially tapped my shoulder north of College, my hairdresser isn't until almost Dundas (sorry non-Toronto folks, that's a little over half a kilometer, not long on it's on, but a reasonable distance in the 'walking with a stranger' scheme of things...), so probably more than 5 minutes.

During our time together he talked about how much money he spends on art, he talked about his really expensive computer, he tugged on his expensive clothes to draw attention to them. It was like what he really wanted to say was “Hey, lady, guess what? I have money. Isn't that exciting. Doesn't that make you want to hang out with me?”

It, of course, had completely the opposite effect.

It made me feel kind of sorry for him actually, 'cause it felt a bit like he was insecure and thought that money was what he could bring to the table. In truth, he seemed pretty nice, was a good looking guy, and had the guts to walk up to a stranger and talk to them.

Makes me think that he probably has more going for him than he thinks he does. I probably would have found out more, except I was busy high-tailing it to my hairdresser and making sure I was leaving fast enough he couldn't ask me for my number.

Like I said, I'm really bad at these things...

Friday, April 11, 2008

red light camera controversy

so, the fines for running a red light in toronto just went up to $500.

there are cameras at various intersections around town, if a car registered to you goes through a red light you get a ticket in the mail.

this has sparked a bit of a controversy. well, maybe a mini-controversy. okay, well, maybe not a controversy per se, but, um people care enough about it to comment on an article i wrote about it. that's kind of cool...

Friday, April 04, 2008

public typing

so, i know some people who think it's really lame to be typing in public. i'm not sure what it is, if they feel like it looks conceited or something. but here's the truth, i have discovered the joys of typing in public.

in fact, right now, as i type this, i am sitting at a table in jet fuel, drinking a delicious latte listening to an eclectic mix of blues with undertones of other people's conversations.

i love it.

it's a way to get out of the house.

it's a way to have the energy of others around me without having to interact with people.

it's a way to do all of that without feeling bored, unconnected, or unproductive.

maybe people think when they see people in coffee shops typing away that they're all writers trying to create the next big novel, but it really isn't. it's people doing work. it's people doing homework, it's people chatting to friends through IM, it's people doing internet research, it's people writing blog entries, and no doubt, it's also people watching or reading porn. and yes, probably people trying to write the next great novel too.

not really a point to this entry, other than, you know, uh, well, yay wifi and lattes!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

this is a kind of funny April Fool's thing

Virgle - bringing a human colony to Mars

is the news about Air Farce a joke?

So, it's the poisson d'avril, or, as it is also known, April Fool's day.

CBC usually has some good April Fool's jokes. The one that always seems to stand out in people's mind is the As It Happens piece on Sheila Copps announcing that the clock on the top of the Peace Tower is going to be replaced with a digital clock.

So, today I clicked my way over to www.cbc.ca to see what they might have up in way of practical jokes. What caught my eye was the story telling us that the Royal Canadian Air Farce is ending.

I have no idea whether this is a hoax, or if it is real. When I asked Kate if she thought it was a hoax she said "I hope not", because, well, here's the truth, Air Farce, not so funny anymore. Don't get me wrong, I loved Air Farce when it was on the radio. Made a point of listening to it ever weekend. But once it moved to television, it really lost it's appeal for me.

I'm not sure what it was. I think it got a bit less edgier when it moved to television, it lost some of it's zing. Or, who knows, maybe it has nothing to do with the move to television, maybe it's just one of those things where if a show has been going on long enough it's going to peter out at some point. Who knows.

If it's true then I'm sure there will be uproar about the end of a venerable Canadian institution, but the truth is, I'm with Kate on this one, I think it might be time for Air Farce to be put to rest, it jumped the shark long ago.




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