text:
'Last Game Of Rugby', Rob Kearney Former Ireland Full-Back Says Barbarians Outing Will Be His Last
Rob Kearney, a former Ireland and Leinster full-back, has announced his retirement after playing for the Barbarians on Saturday. Ireland's most decorated player has 95 caps for his country and 15 years with Leinster, but his trophy-laden career is coming to a close.
Kearney, who was born in Louth, previously played with Western Force in Australia before leaving in the summer. Confirming his retirement on Twitter, Kearney said: "It's always been a dream to play for the @Barbarian_FC and what a historic team to play your last game of rugby with, grateful for the opportunity!"
Kearney's illustrious rugby career includes four Six Nations titles, two of which were Grand Slams, as well as four European Cups and six league titles with Leinster, where he made 219 appearances. In 2009 and 2013, he also toured with the British and Irish Lions.
Following his retirement from Western Force and a 16-year hiatus from Gaelic activities, Kearney returned to GAA club activity with Louth team Cooley Kickhams earlier this year.
Source: BBC Sport
New Leak Reveals Xiaomi 12 Primary Camera Details
After Defeating South Africa, England Must Remain Grounded, According To Danny Care


Ron Campion Furnishing Centre is based in the bustling coastal town of Brixham, South Devon.
Please feel free to explore our website to view our product range and if you would like any further information, please call us and you will see that our friendly, knowledge team are always happy to help. Better still, why not pop in a pay us a visit.
Whilst we try to show a comprehensive range of beds on our website, we can't show them all or give you all the details. Whilst we would be happy to sell and deliver a bed from our website, we would prefer to see you in person to see and try our range of beds so that you can make your own decision.
Don't forget, you'll be spending a third of your life in it for the next 10 years – because that's the average life span of a bed!


text:
Pelosi: We Want To Get More Money For Voting By Mail In Next Coronavirus Bill, We'll Need At Least $2 Billion For Elections
(Breitbart) – On Thursday's broadcast of CBS' "Late Show," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated that Democrats hope to get more funding for voting by mail into the coronavirus funding bill, and that Democrats want at least $2 billion "to protect the integrity of our election-critical infrastructure as well as to promote voting by mail."
Pelosi said, "We had $400 million to promote voting by mail, direct, all of that. However, it was not nearly enough. We need at least five times that much in order to really meet the needs, to protect the integrity of our election-critical infrastructure as well as to promote voting by mail. It is absolutely essential at this time. … So, in this next bill, we hope to get more resources to vote by mail. And if you're doing that, you have to have funds for the Postal Service as well, which he has objected to."
Flashback: Pelosi: McConnell's Impeachment Excuse An Admission Trump 'Cannot Handle The Job'
Wednesday on CNN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) inadvertently admitted that President Donald Trump could not "handle the job" by blaming impeachment for his administration delayed reaction to the coronavirus pandemic.
Anchor Anderson Cooper asked, "You've said that the president's denials of the seriousness of the virus, in the beginning, was deadly, that it cost lives. The president and the Senate majority leader are now suggesting that impeachment distracted the president from responding to the virus. Do you buy that at all?"
Pelosi said, "I think that's an admission that perhaps the president and the majority leader cannot handle the job. We have a life-and-death situation in our country, and they should not try to hide behind an excuse for why they did not take action, but it does admit that they did not take action. But let's have an after-action review down the road. Right now, we have to work together to get the job done."
She continued, "All of the statistics that we are hearing, every one of those deaths, all of that loss of life is tragic for our country. To see the big numbers, though, we have to see what we can do to stop that growth of that number of people dying. And so, yesterday we spent the day, our Democratic members on the phone almost all day, communicating with each other, with the press, with everyone we could, to say, Mr. President, implement the Defense Production Act, because our men and women, our first responders, our health care providers, our TSA, everyone who come in contact administering to the needs of people who are sick or potentially infected deserves our help. How can we be worthy of praising them, of praying for them, of thanking them, if we are not giving them what they need? The personal protective equipment that they need to do their jobs and the ventilators to save the lives that they are there to save."
"This is something that, regardless of what went before, that we in the here and now have to address. The president can do that by implementing the Defense Production Act."
breitbart.com/clips/2020/04/03/pelosi-we-want-to-get-more-money-for-voting-by-mail-in-next-coronavirus-bill-well-need-at-least-2-billion-for-elections/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Presented By: Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc.
Topics to be covered include: (1) Preparing a Case for Mediation; (2) The Mediation Session; (3) Using the Mediator to Your Best Advantage; and, (4) Getting Beyond Impasse. The presentation will cover perspectives of both the advocate and mediator, so both advocates and those interested in developing their skills as a mediator will benefit from the presentation.


Message #1 Posted by Stephen Panarelli on 18 Apr 2012, 7:54 a.m.
I purchased a 35s this week and was shocked to find this five year old design is still on its original firmware. So I went looking for the means to flash the thing.
The CPU, or microcontroller if you will, is an SPLB31A with 256K of ROM according to the Sunplus data sheet. There is no mention of how the software is loaded.
Is it in fact the case that ROM in the SPLB31A means masked ROM? Thus updating the firmware requires creating new photo masks for the chip lithography?
Re: HP 35s - No Firmware Update?
Yes, it uses masked rom. There is no possibility to reprogram the device.
I wish it were possible to repurpose the 35s. Decent screen, good keyboard, lots of RAM, traditional looks. No exposed I/O but that is livable.
Somehow it reminds me the initial CD claims - "perfect sound forever" - although here it won't be "perfect" but "you're stuck with this forever."
I wish it were possible to repurpose the 35s.
Maybe we can't. But HP could!
Much better anti-glare screen, better keyboard, anti-glare front, lots of RAM, even better form factor than 35s.
Edited: 18 Apr 2012, 3:01 p.m.
FWIW that's a 4Mhz 8-bit architecture with 16-bit features forcibly hammered in sideways, the ability to peer at the 256MB ROM is restricted to 2x 16KB windows, and the bulk of the RWM dangles at the end of an anaemic 400KHz i2c bit-serial interconnect. The hardware managed stack is physically wired and a maximum of 256 bytes.
For all of the bad press the sam7 suffers here, I don't see the Sunplus hodgepodge being preferable to a 32-bit linear address space ARM core capable of 36Mhz operation under similar conditions. While even power consumption relative to clock frequency appears to be a wash, the sam7 achieves higher processing throughput. I suppose the SPLB31A must have been chosen by someone in purchasing rather than engineering.
I can appreciate the benefit of a prospective wp34s port to such a device in terms of generalizing the codebase w/r/t a worst case target architecture challenge. But my personal experience dealing with the contortions KEMU needed to navigate relative to the substantially less radical AVR core, porting to the Sunplus wouldn't be my idea of a fun project.
Concerning the 35s I've found its display to be quite uninspired, essentially being an inflexible character cell configuration with the concession of fully RWM-mapped pixels. The hp-42s did far better than that some 20 years earlier.
The HP-35s is really disappointing, especially the display (beside the catastrophic software). First notably from the typographic point of view the digits / characters have ill-favored proportions, they are much too high and have the wrong spacing, and---besides the reflective screen---the resolution is to low for a good readability, in particular of greek characters. Squarish 'pixels' should solve the first problem---and they free up space for a third display line.
In comparision to my every-day work-horse HP-15C from 1985---I give this masterpiece of 'engineering art' five stars in every category---the HP-35s gets four stars for the keyboard (five for the ENTER key!) and the color scheme , three stars for the general design of the casing (good: the rubber feets), at most two stars for its display and casing quality, and less than one for the (current) firmware and the processing speed (compared e.g. with the HP-15C LE).
 I give only three stars for the label font---the "Futura" is caused by HP's (IMHO) not very elegant corporate design. And it's very thoughtless or dilettantish for example to write the units "kg / lb" and "cm / in" correctly in lower-case letters but "KM / MILE" in capitals!
Edited: 19 Apr 2012, 5:55 a.m.
Edited: 19 Apr 2012, 12:00 p.m.
..the bulk of the RWM dangles at the end of an anaemic 400KHz i2c bit-serial interconnect.
That's probably incorrect -- I'd assumed i2c since the SoC provides an i2c host interface. However 32KB SRAM really isn't available in an i2c interface. So it may be SPI via a bit-banged interface, which assuming a 4MHz cpu clock and historic 65xx instruction timing would ironically result in a burst transfer rate marginally under 400KHz.


Blurb: Cupcakes, crafting and love at The Cherry Tree Cafe... Lizzie Dixon's life feels as though it's fallen apart. Instead of the marriage proposal she was hoping for from her boyfriend, she is unceremoniously dumped, and her job is about to go the same way. So, there's only one option: to go back home to the village she grew up in and to try to start again.
Review: When I first read The Cherry Tree Cafe's blurb, I knew it was my kind of read. I love baking and crafting so the promise of both mixed with a bit of romance is my idea of a perfect story. And after finishing it I can tell you that I was not wrong. As soon as I stepped into The Cherry Tree Cafe I felt like home. Even if when we first read about it, it still needs a bit of work, I completely fell in love with it through Lizzie's eyes. Actually, Lizzie's ideas and concepts to renovate it were some of my favourite bits of the story.
But story behind this book is so much more than the renovation of the little Cafe. When we meet Lizzie, she is expecting a proposal from her rich boyfriend. Which doesn't happen, at all. Instead she is bumped and given that she moved to London for him and got her job thanks to him, she finds herself in quite an awkward situation. But soon she realises, as we do too as readers, that she never fitted in this shiny luxurious life and goes back home to her friend's place to start over. Jemma is the kind of friend we would love to have in our lives. The friendship between these two is really well developed and believable and I enjoyed reading their interactions a lot. But the star of the story is Jemma's little girl, Ella. She always had something to comment on and was usually spot on.
But Jemma and her family are not the only ones waiting for Lizzie in her hometown. Her neurotic mother (imagine Judy Geller from Friends), an old high school rival, her old job and an old flame are all waiting for Lizzie too. Which make her return a bit more complicated and give the story quite a lot of drama. There certainly were a couple of twists that I didn't expect at all and there was a moment when I really had no idea where the story was going to go. So good for Heidi Swain for having the ability to surprise me.
The Cherry Tree Cafe is Heidi's debut and she has showed us her great potential. She certainly is one author to watch. I highly recommend The Cherry Tree Cafe to baking and crafting lovers as there are so many ideas to take from the book. I think I'll leave now to go make some bunting, Lizzie's style!


text:
package kieker.monitoring.probe.aspectj.beforeafter.onlycallee;

import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint.StaticPart;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.After;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.AfterReturning;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.AfterThrowing;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Before;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Pointcut;

import kieker.common.record.flow.trace.TraceMetadata;
import kieker.common.record.flow.trace.operation.AfterOperationEvent;
import kieker.common.record.flow.trace.operation.AfterOperationFailedEvent;
import kieker.common.record.flow.trace.operation.BeforeOperationEvent;
import kieker.monitoring.core.controller.IMonitoringController;
import kieker.monitoring.core.controller.MonitoringController;
import kieker.monitoring.core.registry.TraceRegistry;
import kieker.monitoring.probe.aspectj.AbstractAspectJProbe;
import kieker.monitoring.timer.ITimeSource;

/**
 * This aspect spawns before and after events by foregoing an around advice.
 * Instead, it uses before and after advices only so that "cflow" can be used when specifying its pointcut.
 *
 * This implementation uses JoinPoint.StaticPart instead of JoinPoint in the advices for performance reasons:
 *
If you only need the static information about the join point, you may access the static part of the join point directly with the special variable
 * thisJoinPointStaticPart.
 * Using thisJoinPointStaticPart will avoid the run-time creation of the join point object that may be necessary when using thisJoinPoint directly.
 *

 *
 * @author Christian Wulf (chw)
 *
 * @since 1.13
 *
 */
@Aspect
public abstract class AbstractAspect extends AbstractAspectJProbe { // NOPMD

	private static final IMonitoringController CTRLINST = MonitoringController.getInstance();
	private static final ITimeSource TIME = CTRLINST.getTimeSource();
	private static final TraceRegistry TRACEREGISTRY = TraceRegistry.INSTANCE;

	// private final ThreadLocal<Counter> currentOrderIndex = new ThreadLocal<Counter>() {
	// @Override
	// protected Counter initialValue() {
	// return new Counter();
	// }
	// };
	private final ThreadLocal<Counter> currentStackIndex = new ThreadLocal<Counter>() {
		@Override
		protected Counter initialValue() {
			return new Counter();
		}
	};

	/**
	 * The pointcut for the monitored operations. Inheriting classes should
	 * extend the pointcut in order to find the correct executions of the
	 * methods (e.g. all methods or only methods with specific annotations).
	 */
	@Pointcut
	public abstract void monitoredOperation();

	@Before("monitoredOperation() && notWithinKieker()")
	public void beforeOperation(final StaticPart jpStaticPart) {
		if (!CTRLINST.isMonitoringEnabled()) {
			return;
		}
		final String operationSignature = this.signatureToLongString(jpStaticPart.getSignature());
		if (!CTRLINST.isProbeActivated(operationSignature)) {
			return;
		}

		TraceMetadata trace = TRACEREGISTRY.getTrace();
		final boolean newTrace = trace == null;
		if (newTrace) {
			trace = TRACEREGISTRY.registerTrace(); // TO-DO parent trace is never used, so reduce impl. (chw)
			CTRLINST.newMonitoringRecord(trace);
		}

		// long threadId = Thread.currentThread().getId();
		// int orderIndex = currentOrderIndex.get().incrementValue();
		// int stackIndex =
		this.currentStackIndex.get().incrementValue();

		final long traceId = trace.getTraceId();
		final String typeName = jpStaticPart.getSignature().getDeclaringTypeName();
		// measure before execution
		CTRLINST.newMonitoringRecord(
				new BeforeOperationEvent(TIME.getTime(), traceId, trace.getNextOrderId(), operationSignature, typeName));
	}

	@AfterReturning("monitoredOperation() && notWithinKieker()")
	public void afterReturningOperation(final StaticPart jpStaticPart) {
		if (!CTRLINST.isMonitoringEnabled()) {
			return;
		}

		final String operationSignature = this.signatureToLongString(jpStaticPart.getSignature());
		if (!CTRLINST.isProbeActivated(operationSignature)) {
			return;
		}

		final TraceMetadata trace = TRACEREGISTRY.getTrace();
		final String typeName = jpStaticPart.getSignature().getDeclaringTypeName();

		CTRLINST.newMonitoringRecord(new AfterOperationEvent(TIME.getTime(), trace.getTraceId(), trace.getNextOrderId(), operationSignature, typeName));
	}

	@AfterThrowing(pointcut = "monitoredOperation() && notWithinKieker()", throwing = "th")
	public void afterThrowing(final StaticPart jpStaticPart, final Throwable th) {
		if (!CTRLINST.isMonitoringEnabled()) {
			return;
		}

		final String operationSignature = this.signatureToLongString(jpStaticPart.getSignature());
		if (!CTRLINST.isProbeActivated(operationSignature)) {
			return;
		}

		final TraceMetadata trace = TRACEREGISTRY.getTrace();
		final String typeName = jpStaticPart.getSignature().getDeclaringTypeName();

		CTRLINST.newMonitoringRecord(
				new AfterOperationFailedEvent(TIME.getTime(), trace.getTraceId(), trace.getNextOrderId(), operationSignature, typeName, th.toString()));
	}

	@After("monitoredOperation() && notWithinKieker()")
	public void afterOperation(final StaticPart jpStaticPart) {
		if (!CTRLINST.isMonitoringEnabled()) {
			return;
		}

		final String operationSignature = this.signatureToLongString(jpStaticPart.getSignature());
		if (!CTRLINST.isProbeActivated(operationSignature)) {
			return;
		}

		final int stackIndex = this.currentStackIndex.get().decrementValue();
		if (stackIndex == 1) {
			TRACEREGISTRY.unregisterTrace();
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
THE QUEEN'S HEAD CROWDFUNDER X RAFFLE
Friday 14th August 2020 •
Our big sister pub is crowdfunding to re-open its doors. It is hosting a raffle for all donors & pledgers to its campaign. Just pop your support in by 5PM on Friday 14th Aug and at 6PM they'll draw the winners. Minimum pledge is just a fiver. You can pledge or donate a number of times for more chances of winning the grand prizes, which include glassware, booze, food and such things that you may enjoy down the pub. Winners announced on their twitter and via the campaign page. More details via the Updates page of the campaign.


text:
← Absent Kings
Amid the Threats →
Tipping a Wink at Whitlingham
Posted on January 28, 2017 by crispina kemp
While I have no intention of making this post a promotion of Whitlingham Country Park (I'm sure they've their own department devoted to it), I will agree that it makes an ideal destination for a family day out. Sailing, canoeing, rambling through woodland, skiing (on a dry ski-slope), cycling, jogging—picnicking—or just walking the dog. However, families were thin on the ground when I visited earlier this month—unless we include the aquatic kind. But that suited me fine. I was hoping to shoot some of Whitlingham's wildfowl (with camera not gun).
The Met Office had predicted a dry and warm day (for January), though they had also said of strong winds. They were right of the warmth. Having walked out from Norwich bus station, I detoured into Trowse woods hoping for the privacy to shed some of my unneeded layers (I had left home early that morning; it had been cold).
Trowse woods, grown upon a former quarry . . . I've tried several views of this log and finally I've got it, for something of this really satisfies
Stripped down to basics (t-shirt, trousers and coat) I made use of the detour not only to grab some tree studies, but also to snap up some fungi.
Lo! Inkcaps, this far into winter
And then, wouldn't you know it, just as I left the woods it rained. Not a shower either to be soon shaken off, but a proper downpour. Luckily, by the time I reached the park the café was open. Though I carry a flask of coffee on my walks in the winter, it was good to sit in the warm and dry and wait out the weather.
Although it's called 'Whitlingham Country Park, it's in the neighbouring parish of Trowse. The Country Park itself has an interesting history, more so the parish. With an innate preference for orderly progressions, I'll relay these history-bytes chronologically.
It might be useful to start with a map. This one is based on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1881-1886 (things seemed clearer in those days!)
Place-names:
Whitlingham: According to 'kepn.nottingham.ac.uk', this is 'the homestead or village of Wihthelm's people'. Not terribly exciting. The next one is better.
Trowse: According to same source, Trowse was probably named for a lord's hall, a 'beam house'. Most likely a mead hall.
trēow (Old English): a tree, or large piece of wood, a post, or a beam
hūs (Old English): a house, or a building used for a special purpose.
It's possible the origin of this name dates back to the earliest Saxon settlers in Britain, evidence of which is found at nearby Caister St Edmunds. This, sited beside the then-navigable Tas, had been the site of the Roman Venta Icenorum. An early Saxon cremation cemetery is found alongside it.
With the Romans withdrawing, and pirates marauding upriver, it's easy to imagine the local elites, left weaponless by Roman colonial policy, hiring Saxon mercenaries to defend them, body and property. The leader of such a warband might then become the local lord. It takes no stretch of the imagination to see him building a 'beam house' or mead hall downriver at the confluence of the Tas and the Yare.
Pure speculation, I admit. Yet by 1086, and the Domesday Survey, Trowse had become the most important parish of Henstead Hundred (see Hundred on wiki for explanation of this administrative division); Domesday Book records the manor at Trowse as part of the King's Lands (he had a burgess of Norwich residing there). It was the site of the hundred court until 1272.
In 1285, the jury presented, that the bailiff of the King's hundred of Henstede always held his hundred court at Trowse, till within these 13 years past, when he was inhibited so doing by the Prior of Norwich, lord there, under pain of excommunication; and it being found to be one of the Prior's manors, enjoying the privileges of the church, and that this was no damage to the Crown nor country, the inhibition was confirmed.
Francis Blomefield, Topographical History of Norfolk, 1806, pp458-462
Unfortunately, Blomefield doesn't tell us how the Prior of Norwich came by this manor. Nor does William White in his 1845 Whites Directory of Norfolk. Since the entire of Newton and part of Trowse had been in the keep of Norfolk-born Stigand (archbishop of Canterbury, 1052-1070) until either his removal from office in 1070, or his death in 1072 when the land was taken into the hand of King William I, I can only guess that someone at Norwich cathedral petitioned the Crown to have returned to them what was considered rightfully church property—since in 1205 this land was made over to said cathedral.
Now, in 1205 the prior at Norwich was one William de Walsham—not exactly a star that lights up history. However, the bishop of Norwich at that time was one John de Gray.
John de Gray was in service to King John—and he served his king well. He lent the king money (and King John was always in need of money), and undertook several diplomatic missions. As reward, he was appointed to a series of ecclesiastical offices, culminating in his election as Bishop of Norwich. But there was more to come. He was elected as archbishop of Canterbury. Unfortunately the pope disallowed it. However, one can imagine that the return of former church lands might have been considered suitable recompense.
Trowse-Newton Hall, which ruins can still be seen (though not of the original C13th building)—see photo below—served as a country seat for the Priors of Norwich. It also received royal visits—King Edward III and his queen, Phillipa in 1335. The hall continued to be used by the cathedral even after the Dissolution—by then as a deans' retirement home. But by 1850 it had become no more than a lowly farmhouse. And so, with the Victorian rage for all things Gothic, it was intentionally ruined—'Isn't it just too much, our very own Gothic ruins!'— by Sir Robert Harvey, the new owner of Crown Point hall and estate.
Trowse-Newton Hall. As can be seen by the autumnal colours, this (along with the next photo) was taken back in November
A romantic view of a Gothic ruin (Trowse-Newton Hall)
As William White tells us (Whites Directory of Norfolk), in 1845 the land at Trowse-Newton belonged 'chiefly to Colonel A. Money, St. Giles' Hospital, in Norwich, and the Dean and Chapter of Norwich', while the hall estate and the great tithes were leased to the same Colonel Archibald-Money of Crown Point. As White observes, 'a handsome mansion built by the late General John Money, who died 1817, aged 87, and was author of several military works.'
Last resting place of Colonel Archibald Money at St Andrew's church, Trowse
St Andrew's church at Trowse, a familiar sight for anyone passing through the village (it stands beside the road into Norwich)
In 1865 the new owner of Crown Point estate, Sir Robert John Harvey, had the hall restyled. But he and his family weren't long in residence. Following Sir Robert's suicide, in 1872 the hall with its extensive park was sold to the Colman family—whose mustard factory was, and still is, (though now owned by Nestle) situated at nearby Carrow.
The Colman family off-loaded the hall in 1955. For a while it was known as Whitlingham Hospital, a home for the elderly. It has since been converted to flats.
As to the wider estate . . .
As can be seen on the 1881 map with the Park overlay (below), Whitlingham Country Park barely scratches the boundary of that parish. But then, it wasn't named for the parish but for the lane across which it straddles: Whitlingham Lane.
I remember that lane from way back in my teens. It was the favoured haunt of lovers—young, or adulterous, or some reluctant. So few houses. Not at all overlooked. Not a through-road except via the sewer-works. Park up by the marshes and watch the lights of an occasional train, like fairylights in the night. Very romantic. There was nothing but marshes in those days—grazing land. Though to me at the time it looked more like waste-land (I hadn't yet developed a liking for walking the marshes). But Norwich was a growing city, with growing needs.
Pressures on land. Pressures on roads. There was already a 'ring road', intended to help ease traffic congestion. But that wasn't enough. Norwich sits at a crossroads, east-west, north-south; it owes its very existence to that. What was needed was a bypass to divert through-traffic, away from the city centre. But a bypass is a wicked gobbler of sand and gravel. Ha! Luckily, there was some to hand.
Beneath the empty-seeming marshes was an abundance of aggregates, deposited during the Ice Age. Quarrying these was no new idea. Look at the map; those tan coloured areas denote various earlier aggregate diggings.
But what happens when you dig a deep pit close to a river? Well, I knew the answer to that, for I used to go fishing with my brother at Costessey Pits (the flooded remains of former gravel workings beside the Wensum). It's how the Broads were formed, too, though there it had been peat diggings.
It can't be denied, it was a smart move: to turn a major site of gravel extraction into an attractive leisure resort. Poetic, really, considering the Park is bounded by that very same road that gobbled up the extracted sand and gravel (the Norwich Southern Bypass). Of course, it's common-place now, but less so then. And, though there is no entrance fee, an income is gained from the various activities. Nothing wasted. Very 'Green'.
Of course, you get the wildlife for free. And that's what had attracted me.
The weather cleared. The sun shone bright. There is a 'lawn' beside the water, close by the café. Of course, no one would dare to feed the ducks. Yet the ducks and geese and swans do seem to congregate there. Maybe it's just that there is easy access to the shore. With fingers crossed for at least one good shot, I made my way there.
Swans, Canadian geese, black-headed gulls in winter plumage, various ducks . . . oh joy!
I trained the camera on that swan and kept the button pressed for a 'burst'.
He thinks he's a fully paid member of the actor's union!
No-no-no, that's as close as you get
I took 15 photos altogether as this swan emerged from the water and waddled towards me. I hadn't realised how close he was until, all of a sudden, I can see the water droplets on his feather, all rainbow-like and prismatic.
Of course, I did find other birds to shoot: ducks—the ubiquitous mallards, and some black-and-white tufted ducks. There were also some pochard but they didn't come close enough and my camera hadn't the range.
Mallards . . . sparrows of the duck world
Mr and Mrs Mallard . . . had a tiff!
And then, as I rounded the end of the 'broad', the wind blew!
I'm not sure if you can see the effect, but this is usually placid water. I took this photo then, wisely, packed the camera away. The wind, now blasting at considerable speed, was laden with grit and other nasties
Although Whitlingham Country Park has definite charm, and is in easy walking distance of the centre of Norwich, there are also drawbacks to being so close. Trains, both passenger and goods, rattle along the nearby tracks. And although usually muted, depending on wind direction, there can be a constant hum of traffic. And then there are these . . .
Pylons on the far side of the River Yare
Some will say these mar the skyline. For myself, I like pylons, majestic structures from the last century.
For these and more photos of Whitlingham Country Park, including the trees, see Google+ Tipping a Wink at Whitlingham
About crispina kemp
Spinner of Asaric and Mythic tales
View all posts by crispina kemp →
This entry was posted in History, Photos and tagged birds, Countryside, Local History, Maps, nature, Photos, Walks. Bookmark the permalink.
11 Responses to Tipping a Wink at Whitlingham
Brian Bixby says:
First off, thanks for an excursion into scenery and history, both!:)
Second, I had to laugh when I googled the park's name: it took me to a site whose URL name is "enjoythebroads." Guess they were thinking of that lover's lane you mentioned.
crimsonprose says:
And that reminds me of an article I was commissioned to write for a Norfolk Tourism brochure. So I put the finished article through a spell checker, but of course it was American English. It advised me to change the word 'Broad' as it was derogatory term for a female. Yea, but it's also the Norfolk word for one of Norfolk's most iconic features. Though, technically Whitlingham isn't a 'broad' since it isn't a flooded pit digging. It is a pit, the same as Costessey Pits are pits: flooded gravel quarries. There is a major difference in vegetation and probably in quality of water. And of course, that broad didn't exist when the guys in the area enjoyed the other kind of broads along that lane!
BTW, for more of the scenery (and that swan) use the link to GooglePlus
Is there still a railroad, even if not operating, at the station in Carrow you photographed?
Yep. I'd say so judging from the frequent metallic rumbles and glimpses of goods trains. But it is only goods. The yard there used to be lined with cattle pens (taking the beefs grazed on sweet Norfolk grasses to the mass markets in London. Now, judging by the shapes seen trailing the engine, maybe something liquid: they looked like tankers. But there were industrial noises most of the time I was there. Hard to tell where it comes from: the valley sides reflect and distort. And I hadn't at that time spent a whole week drawing that map. I am now very familiar with the terrain . . . in 1881!
Time to fire up the time machine! 😉
As you know, a favourite fantasy of mine. Do you reckon I was HG Wells in a different lifetime/universe?
And BTW, more ancestors from this area, from Whitlingham. One Mary Witterick b.before 1770. Witterick, of course, is a corruption of Wihtred. Perhaps the family took their name from the same chap who gave his name to the settlement? Which I highly doubt. Yet it is one of the earliest attested Anglo-Saxon names. It kinda makes me feel grounded in this landscape.
And seeing how Judy also loves time-travel and other things that mess up the continuum . . . someday I'll have to write such a story. Someday.
In another life, in another universe. BTW have I yet told you I'm making GD another time-slip story? And with that decision, it's suddenly come to life. But it's going to take some writing, so I shan't be ready to post immediately when KW ends.
No, you'd not mentioned it. 🙂 🙂
Well I have now. Currently researching . . . certain aspects, while jotting down notes regarding plot and characters etc. I'm buzzing. It's good. The buzzing I mean. Though I think you'll enjoy the story, too.


My Wife Shannon saw a side of me that few witness when I turned a corner in the Metropolitan Meusum Of Art in New York City and I walked into a sea of Van Gogh's work and became to cry. Now, I'm an overly sensative artistic type to begin with; but it's rare that I'm moved by visual imagery as I consumed so much of it on a daily basis. So those moments are rare indeed. So I didn't expect to get 'hit' with this kind of gut shot the day back to work from my Christmas Holiday, until I met Vivian Maier due to the tireless efforts of one John Maloof.
I acquired Vivian's negatives while at a furniture and antique auction. From what I know, the auction house acquired her belongings from her storage locker that was sold off due to delinquent payments. I didn't know what 'street photography' was when I purchased them.
Some of her photos have pictures of children and often times it was near a beach. I later found out she was a nanny for a family on the North Side whose children these most likely were. One of her obituary's state she lived in Oak Park, a close Chicago suburb but, I later found she lived in the Rogers Park neighborhood, in Chicago.
I found her name written with pencil on a photo-lab envelope. I decided to 'Google' her about a year after I purchased these only to find her obituary placed the day before my search. She passed only a couple of days before my inquiry on her.
Posted on December 27, 2010 by Justice Mitchell and filed under Art, People, Photography, Research and tagged Vivian Maier discovered photographer photos street photography unknown.
Well known advertorial photographer (and creator of "The Best Camera" iPhone application) Chase Jarvis has done a little memorable chit-chat regarding cellphone photography and the capturing of the moment. He's also a very active blogger and Nikon/iPhone enthusiest. And because I'm a brand whore and own both, I just wanted to point that out.
Chase Jarvis iPhone photo gallery.
Posted on December 29, 2009 by Justice Mitchell and filed under Mobile, Photography, Technology and tagged Chase Jarvis Iphone cell phone photographer photography photos.


text:
Q: How to avoid duplicate token evaluation? I use Keycloak 4.1.0.Final with Spring Boot 2 and I want to authenticate to a rest endpoint /services/{some id}/content/{id} with a bearer token. I have taken the setup from here: https://www.keycloak.org/docs/4.1/securing_apps/index.html#_spring_boot_adapter
On the Keycloak server I have created a resource /services/123/content/{id} so that only access to entity with id=123 can be granted. All others shall be denied.
Now, when I call the endpoint with a bearer token, the token is evaluated twice. First, through the KeycloakAuthenticatorValve which grants access:
05-16-2019 16:04:40 DEBUG org.keycloak.adapters.authorization.AbstractPolicyEnforcer - Authorization GRANTED for path
Second, through the KeycloakAuthenticatedActionsFilter which denies access:
05-16-2019 16:04:42 DEBUG org.keycloak.adapters.authorization.KeycloakAdapterPolicyEnforcer - Authorization denied - @[,http-nio-8081-exec-1@304]
I have seen that the AbstractPolicyEnforcer called from KeycloakAuthenticatorValve uses the path /services/123/content/{id} for evaluating the permission. The path is also registered on the Keycloak server.
But the AbstractPolicyEnforcer called from KeycloakAuthenticatedActionsFilter uses only the context path /services which is not registered on the Keycloak server. So the permission cannot be granted.
Does anyone know why the token is evaluated multiple times? Can this be disabled?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Our children in Reception have been busy being pirates. One great idea was to have a special Pirate Party, they needed party food so we decided to take a trip to Tesco. The children decided what food they wanted and even worked to a budget.
Take a look at us in Tesco!


One of the best ideas we think we've ever seen is a woman in China uses her own handle while riding the bus. She takes a toilet plunger and sticks it to the ceiling!
The video above shows a woman boarding a bus in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, and looking for an available handle to hold as the bus starts to move. She realizes there are none to use and uses her own ingenuity.


text:
glocalmedia.it » Literature and Fiction » Soul Corporation
Soul Corporation epub
by Robert Collins
Author: Robert Collins
Subcategory: Contemporary
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd (June 2, 2005)
Other Formats: lit mbr rtf doc
Robert_Collins Contemporary English
The Soul Corporation book. See a Problem? We'd love your help.
The Soul Corporation book. Details (if other): Cancel. Thanks for telling us about the problem. The Soul Corporation.
Robert Collins is half-Brazilian and half-English and lives and writes in London. His first novel, Soul Corporation, is a fast-paced thriller set in a vividly realised not-so-distant future.
com's Robert Collins Page and shop for all Robert Collins books. Rob Collins Rob Collins is an technology executive with more than 30 years experience. He has been a Chief Information Officer in the public and private sectors
com's Robert Collins Page and shop for all Robert Collins books. Check out pictures, bibliography, and biography of Robert Collins. He has been a Chief Information Officer in the public and private sectors. As a product leader with Cognos, he travelled the world speaking to organizations about their use of technology and their goals in making technology investments.
Robert Oakley Collins (1933 – 2008) was an American historian of East Africa and Sudan
Robert Oakley Collins (1933 – 2008) was an American historian of East Africa and Sudan. He published numerous articles and thirty-five books, including Shadows in the Grass: Britain in the Southern Sudan (Yale, 1983), which was awarded the John Ben Snow Foundation prize for the best book in British History and the Social Sciences written by a North American
The Soul Corporation. 2004) A novel by Robert Collins.
The Soul Corporation. Beautiful and prodigiously gifted, nineteen-year-old Esh has been asked to become the face of the biggest product the world has ever seen. Trading her life in London for a luxurious home in LA, her rise to stardom seems like a dream come true. As does her neighbour Marcus, whose image, like hers, hovers above the earth on the endless floating SkyBoards advertising their products and services.
Город: Boston, MAПодписчиков: 6 ты. себе: Proud Dad. Senior Communications Exec w. .
com Brand Creation, Corporate Affairs, Social, Digital Strategist, Public Relations
Lisa Herbert lives in on the planet Fairfield. The Savage Rain decades earlier isolated her world. To get out of debt, spacer Jake Bonner takes on two odd jobs
Lisa Herbert lives in on the planet Fairfield. To get out of debt, spacer Jake Bonner takes on two odd jobs. The first, chauffeur pop star Evvie Martini on her tour; the second, helping Daniel and Clarissa Rosen overthrow their planet's tyrannical ruler.
Поиск книг BookFi BookSee - Download books for free. More: The Politics of Economic Growth in Postwar America. Категория: Экономика. 7 Mb. Transforming America: Politics and Culture During the Reagan Years. Категория: Общественные науки прочие, Политика. 838 Kb.
They stole her life. Now she wants it back. Beautiful and prodigiously gifted, nineteen-year-old Esh has been asked to become the face of the biggest product the world has ever seen. Trading her life in London for a luxurious home in LA, her rise to stardom seems like a dream come true. As does her neighbour Marcus, whose image, like hers, hovers above the earth on the endless floating SkyBoards advertising their products and services. But appearances are deceiving. Esh soon realises the true nature of what she has agreed to do and watches terrified as her life and identity unravel, taken over by the immense power of the Corporation. Desperate, she turns to a group of underground rebels, 'The Team', who fight the Corporation by creating iVerts - digital viruses that reveal the sinister truth behind the world's commercial giants.
Related to Soul Corporation eBooks
The California Professional Corporation Handbook (How to Form a California Professional Corporation) download
How to Form Your Own California Corporation (How to Form Your Own California Corporation (Paperback)) download
Blessed (Tantalize) download
The Timid Corporation: Why Business is Terrified of Taking Risk download
The Naked Corporation: How The Age Of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business download
Frozen Oceans: The Floating World of Pack-Ice download
Snowmobile Service download
Taking Care of Your Corporation : Director and Shareholder Meetings Made Easy download
Arthur Schopenhauer: Knowledge Products (Giants of Philosophy) (Audio Classics: The Giants of Philosophy) download
ABC Online: Becoming the ABC: The First Five Years of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online download


from the righteous colours surrounding you.
Still on more distant she sails.
how can they blossom so near to your beauty?
then scurries off backwards still too shy to meet.
to give its council free to me?
as winds blow whispers so you may talk.
On Calderstones Field lays silent with stones, in circles of ancients and colourful tones.
Then suddenly rainbows sadden skies smile, her jealousy piercing you're close for a while.
her absolute essence of Love fresh and light is the guide to my future my spectrum bright white.
Still soft is my heart and simple a man, with the word Love, destroy Love I can.
and though crystal tears must sometimes fall, my goddess, you, will catch them all.


<question>Andrew never ….. music classes.
<question>The Olympic games …… every four year.
<question>Anna ….. two foreign languages.
<question>How often ….. to the cinema?
<question>What kind of books ….. reading ?
<question>They ….. sometimes too late for the lesson.
<question>How … you spell your first name?
<question>My sister ….. at the library in the evening.
<question>I usually …..TV every day.
<question>Marat always (stay) at work too late at night.
<question>I …that evening listening to records.
<question>She … very old and needed someone to look after her.
<question>The roses …very beautiful last summer.
<question>Sam … 22 last year , so he is 23 now.
<question>Charlie Chaplin died in 1978. He … a famous film star.
<question>This time last year we … in Paris.
<question>Who … Yuri Gagarin ?.
<question>Emily had a big breakfast, so she …have any lunch.
<question>…Sam and Sarah have a good time at the concert last week-end?.
<question>Tom … tired this morning. He stayed in bed until 10 o'clock.
<question>…people …by plane 100 years ago?


text:
import React, {Component} from 'react';
import _ from 'lodash';

export default function componentInitData(Comp, {propsComparison}) {
  class ComponentInitData extends Component {

    constructor(...args) {
      super(...args);
      this.state = {};
    }

    componentWillMount() {
      this.props.initStaffUpdate(this.props);
    }

    componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
      if (!_.isEqual(this.props[propsComparison], nextProps[propsComparison]) && !this.initiated) {
        this.initiated = true;
        this.props.initStaffUpdate(nextProps);
      }
    }

    render() {
      return <Comp {...this.props}/>;
    }

  }

  return ComponentInitData;
}


text:
Category: sports media
Let's talk about 50 years after starting in the rag trade…Daniel and Gabby are Slam champs, too…Bianca's place in the pecking order…what about Marie-Philip?…stay in your lane, young people…a good read in The Athletic…the further Torontoization of the Winnipeg Sun…High Tide and Green Grass…and other things on my mind
A special anniversary smorgas-bored…and it's my doctor's fault that I'm still doing this after all these years…
I walked into a newsroom for the first time 50 years ago today, fresh out of high school, and I still remember the hum of activity.
It wasn't loud, not at that time of the morning in those days of PM papers, but it was steady and easy and soothing and vibrant.
I liked it, the way I liked Sinatra and Streisand.
I listened to the constant clatter of the teletype machines and discovered there was a hypnotic rhythm to their tap-tap-ta-tap-tap. There were three of them, as I recall, one for national and Southam news, another for dispatches from across Western Canada, and the third for United Press International. Every so often, one of them would send out a ding-ding-ding chirp. Breaking news. A copy boy would scurry over, read the alert, then tear off the story and distribute the front sheet to the appropriate department head and the carbon copy to the news rim.
Peter Warren
City editor Peter Warren might have been on the Winnipeg Tribune news rim Sept. 10, 1969, or maybe it was Harry Mardon or Jim Shilliday, who later would become the first but not last editor to bark at me. (It was for messing up a coffee order, something about too much sugar or not enough cream. He was wrong, I was right, and desker Peter Salmon, noticing my body quiver like a kitten on a limb, told him so, for which I remain immensely grateful.)
I know Gene Telpner was on assignment in the Middle East that long-ago day, but I suspect Val Werier and Hugh Allan were on site. Jack Matheson, too. Matty would have been hunkered down and proofing sports pages in his bunker in the far left corner of the newsroom, opposite the artsy-fartsy department, a domain shared by Telpner, Frank Morriss and Joan Druxman, whose flair for fashion was extraordinary and resonates to this day.
As I soaked it all in, I decided then and there that the Trib newsroom was where I wanted to be. Where I belonged.
It took me 10 months to get up to the fifth floor from the business office, where I handled incoming and outgoing mail, but I made it as a copy runner and, not long after that, Matty had a notion to bring me into the toy department.
I wanted to stay at the Trib for 50 years, but the dark forces at Southam Inc. headquarters in the Republic of Tranna had other ideas and put more than 300 of us out of work, kicking if not screaming, in late-August 1980.
But here I am, half a century after my first day on the job in the rag trade, out of work again but still scribbling about Winnipeg sports, albeit from a distance. Go figure.
I sometimes wonder why I carry on with this carry-on. I mean, it's not like someone is paying me to put this alphabet soup together, although I suspect some among the rabble might be willing to take up a collection to shut me the hell up, and I can't say I blame them. The thing is, one of my medics tells me it's best that I keep my mind busy, and I'm not about to go against someone who gets to stick a needle in me on a whim. So, on doctor's orders, I look for ways to humor myself at 1:30 in the a.m., and poking fun at sacred cows and media mooks works for moi. I don't know how long I'll keep going, but I know the end is closer to 50 days away than another 50 years.
Daniel Nestor (left) the Wimbledon champion and partner Nenad Zimonjic.
Now that I've mentioned mooks, I'm surprised that so many in mainstream media have saluted Bianca Andreescu as the first Canadian to win a tennis Grand Slam tournament. It simply isn't so. Daniel Nestor won 12 of them in doubles play, and Gabriel Dabrowski has two major titles on her resumé. Ya, ya, I know. Doubles sucks and nobody cares. But a Slam is a Slam is a Slam, and I'm not going to insult Daniel or Gabby by saying their achievements don't matter.
Here's something else that gets up my nose: Our flowers of jock journalism wax on about the "greatest moments" in the history of game-playing by True North athletes, and they spew the same names and the same events. The Henderson goal. Sid's golden goal. Donovan Bailey's lickety-split at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Mike Weir at the Masters. Joe Carter touching them all. The Tranna Jurassics. And now, of course, Bianca's victory over the neighborhood bully, Serena Williams, in the U.S. Open. Which is fine and fitting, except for one glaring omission: None of them ever mention Marie-Philip Poulin's golden goal. I don't know about you, but nothing at the 2014 Sochi Olympics had my heart beating faster than Marie-Philip's OT goal in Canada's 3-2 victory over Uncle Sam's Yankee Doodle Damsels. I still get chills watching the video. Alas, Marie-Philip's goal fails to get the respect it deserves simply because it's women's hockey, which appears on the radar once every four years for most news snoops, and it's quickly forgotten.
We all have our personal "Where were you when?" moments, and this is my top five in Canadian sports:
1. Paul Henderson's goal in the 1972 Summit Series between the good guys and the Red Menace from Red Square Moscow.
2. Marie-Philip Poulin's golden goal.
3. Kenny Ploen's 18-yard skedadlde in OT to nail down a Grey Cup win for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1961.
4. Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer, Dawn McEwen winning curling gold at the Sochi Olympics.
5. Bianca Andreescu beating Williams in Queens, NYC, on Saturday.
Honorable mention: Brooke Henderson winning the Canadian Open golf tournament in 2018.
I try to stay in my lane when it comes to rating the events from a lifetime of watching sports, and that means 1957, or thereabouts, to the present. Anything that happened pre-1957, I don't have a clue, other than what I've read about or watched on grainy, black-and-white film. I suggest young opinionists do the same. If you weren't even on the breast when Paul Henderson slid a puck under Vladislav Tretiak in 1972, you have no business comparing Bianca's achievement to that moment. Like, if you weren't around when John, Paul, George and Ringo landed in Gotham, don't tell me about Beatlemania. Stay in your lane.
Even veteran jock journos like Steve Simmons of Postmedia Tranna make that mistake. Simmons likes to present himself as a sports historian, and he's fooled TSN into believing it, but his point of reference can't start any earlier than 1965, if not later. He tweets, "I choose not to make assertions about athletes I've never seen unless they're Ted Williams or Babe Ruth," yet he was arrogant enough to compile a list of the National Hockey League's greatest 100 players. Except he never saw 20 of them play. He added a list of 40 honorable mentions. He never saw 16 of them play. Ergo, the list was a sham.
Here's what legendary sports scribe Grantland Rice had to say on drawing parallels to events and athletes from one era to another: "Probably the greatest waste of time known to man is the matter of comparing some star or champion with another who lived and played in a different decade." It's a trap we all fall into, of course, and I'm convinced that Steffi Graf would kick Serena Williams' butt six out of every 10 matches. But Ol' Grantland is likely correct. It's just that the then-v.-now debate always makes for such good barroom banter.
Best read I've had this week is Eric Duhatschek's piece in The Athletic on Winnipeg Jets young defender Josh Morrissey. Really, really good stuff. If you're looking for a reason to subscribe to The Athletic, this is it.
Josh Morrissey
On the subject of Josh, why all the fuss last week about him saying he wants to stay in Good Ol' Hometown for the duration? "I want to be a Jet" screamed a Winnipeg Sun headline, in type size normally reserved for a declaration of war, moon landings or the assassination of JFK. People, people. I agree it's swell that young Josh wants to stick around, because he does boffo work on the Jets blueline and he seems like the kind of lad you'd want your daughter bringing home for Sunday dinner. But it's dog-bites-man stuff. It's not news.
Here's Josh in May 2018: "I love playing here, I love being a Winnipeg Jet."
Here's Josh in August 2018: "I love being here. I love playing here. I love being a Winnipeg Jet."
Here's Josh in September 2018: "I love playing here and love being a Jet. I hope I can be here for a long time in the future."
So he repeats what he said three times last year and it warrants a screaming headline? I shudder to think how large the type will be when he actually signs long term.
Speaking of the Winnipeg Sun and headlines, what's up with that sports front this morning? There are pics of Bianca and hoops guy Kawhi Leonard towering over the CN tower and the Republic of Tranna skyline, with this captioning: "Bianca Andreescu and the Raptors got the country buzzing—and have changed sports forever in Toronto." Excuse me, but we care about the sports landscape in The ROT why? The article was written by a ROT scribe, Steve Simmons, and aimed at a ROT audience. Neither the column or the cover belong in a River City rag. But it's just the latest example of Postmedia's pathetic Torontoization of its newspaper chain, and it sickens me.
I really hope boycotting women's shinny players are getting on with their lives, because Dani Rylan isn't in any hurry to shut down her National Women's Hockey League to make way for an NHL takeover. "I see us as an international league spanning both the U.S. and Canada with a great broadcast deal, the best players in the world, and a fan base that is continuing to grow exponentially," commish Dani told The Ice Garden. "So I think the options are endless. The future of women's hockey is incredibly bright." As for the recently formed Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, Dani reports that "unfortunately, they have refused to communicate with us." The five teams have 83 players under contract for a fifth season.
Be advised that I scribbled a good portion of this post while groovin' to the Rolling Stones album BIG HITS (High Tide and Green Grass), which might be the best 12-song, 36-minute set in the history of recorded rock 'n' roll. You've got Keith's kick-ass guitar licks, the thumping beat of Charlie's drum kit, Mick's snarl and sass, and some of the best, straight-ahead rock songs ever written—Satisfaction, The Last Time, It's All Over Now, Get Off My Cloud, 19th Nervous Breakdown. Brilliant.
And, finally, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of my entry into the rag trade, a quick tip of the bonnet to a few of my all-time faves, news snoops who made the journey more enjoyable and still inspire me: Dave Komosky, with whom I spent a sizable portion of 50 years in the trenches, young Eddie Tait, Knuckles Irving, Shakey Johnson and Ringo Mingo, Big Jim, Greaser, Uncle Tom, the Caveman, Homer, Ketch, Sinch, Swampdog, Scotty Morrison, Trent Frayne, Shaky Hunt, Willie Lever, Downsy, Jon Thordarson, Ronny (Les Lazaruk), Judy Owen, Paul Friesen, Marty Falcon, Buzz Currie, Doc Holliday, the Friar, Sod, Pick, Witt, Cactus, Matty, Peter Young, Blackie, Reyn, Joe Pascucci. And thanks to the late Don Delisle for hiring me right out of Miles Macdonell Collegiate.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on September 10, 2019 September 13, 2019 Categories Sports, sports mediaTags Babe Ruth, Beatlemania, Bianca Andreescu, Big Hits (High Tide and Green Gass), Brooke Henderson, Canadian Open, CN Tower, Dani Rylan, Daniel Nestor, Dave Komosky, Dawn McEwen, Donovan Bailey, Eric Duhatschek, Gabriel Dabrowski, Gene Telpner, George Harrison, Grantland Rice, Harry Mardon, Jack Matheson, Jennifer Jones, JFK, Jill Officer, Jim Shilliday, Joan Druxman, John Lennon, Josh Morrissey, Kaitlyn Lawes, Kawhi Leonard, Kenny Ploen, Marie-Philip Poulin, Mike Weir, Miles Macdonell Collegiate, National Hockey League, National Women's Hockey League, Paul Henderson, Paul McCartney, Peter Salmon, Peter Warren, Postmedia, Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, Ringo Starr, Rolling Stones, Serena Williams, Sochi Olympics, Southam Inc, Steffi Graf, Steve Simmons, Summit Series, Ted Williams, The Athletic, The Beatles, The Ice Garden, Toronto Raptors, U.S. Open, Val Werier, Vladislav Tretiak, Winnipeg Sun, Winnipeg Tribune7 Comments on Let's talk about 50 years after starting in the rag trade…Daniel and Gabby are Slam champs, too…Bianca's place in the pecking order…what about Marie-Philip?…stay in your lane, young people…a good read in The Athletic…the further Torontoization of the Winnipeg Sun…High Tide and Green Grass…and other things on my mind
Let's talk about 35 candles for TSN and the creation of the Man Cave
Tuesday morning coming down in 3, 2, 1…and, in honor of its 35th birthday, I was going to list 35 things I like best about TSN, but I stalled when I couldn't decide between Kaylyn Kyle's hair and Jeff O'Dog's butt cleavage and his food fight with Tradey…
Once upon a time, those of us who live in the colonies derisively referred to TSN as the Tranna Sports Network because, you know, it was like that old zen koan: If a tree falls outside the Republic of Tranna and there's no TSN camera crew on site to record it, does the tree actually fall?
But, hey, just look at TSN today. No longer Tranna-centric.
Except, of course, for the daily Drake updates during the NBA season, the daily updates on Auston Matthews' grooming habits, the daily Where's Mitch Watch (which is the offspring of last year's daily Where's Willy Boy Watch), the daily Mike Babcock speaks-but-says-nothing feature, the daily Vlad the Gifted still isn't speaking English report, the annual Day Of The Long Faces when they breathlessly and bitterly recount the night Wayne Gretzky used the blade of his hockey stick to part the hair on Doug Gilmour's chinny-chin-chin, and the annual retro look at the Joe Carter dinger.
So, ya, TNS remains on Tranna overload, but at least they now have a camera handy if a tree falls in the colonies. And they even let Sara Orlesky or Farhan Lalji talk about it.
Okay, just kidding. I like TSN. A lot. It's terrific, flaws and all.
Tradey up to no good.
I would rather, for example, listen to their natterbugs on all matters Planet Puckhead as opposed to the squawk boxes on Sportsnet, even if it means staring at O'Dog's butt crack while he's brawling over a bagel with Tradey.
I'd like to say the same about the Grid Guys, but they lost me last year when they morphed into teenage groupies with their cringeworthy, Beatlemania-like fawning over their favorite lousy quarterback, Johnny Manziel. By the end of the season, I believe Rod Black and Johnny Rotten were actually dating, although I haven't been able to confirm it. The Transcona Kid (that's Blackie) is still gushing over Johnny Train Wreck, so there'll be more therapy sessions and, hopefully, Dr. Phil can have him detoxed by the time the Canadian Football League playoffs commence.
In the meantime, they're celebrating 35 years on air, and I'd like to salute TSN with my personal Top 10 Reasons Why I Watch(ed):
Jim Van Mustache
10. Jim Van Horne, who let it be known in a recent tweet that he represented ground zero for TSN talking heads. "I was the first commentator hired by TSN. We hit the air 35 years ago today (Sept. 1). First media conference I went to with my TSN blazer was met with 'what the fuck is TSN?' I think the question has been answered. I had 17 yrs of fun there. Congrats to those who carry the banner proudly." I recall golfing with Jim Van Mustache and the late Billy Powers in a charity tournament during the early 1980s, when all three of us worked in Calgary. I swear, at one point Jim was rolling on the ground, literally, in a fit of laughter. It was the funniest 4½ hours of my life.
9. Matt Dunigan. I sometimes wonder if Matty has tossed back a brown pop or two by the time the red light is switched on, but I get a kick out of the "let's get 'er done" former quarterback who often forgets that he's in a TV studio or broadcast booth, not a locker room.
8. Skins. No, I'm not referring to the amount of flesh TSN's bevy of cover girl teleprompter readers are told to flash. I'm talking curling. The made-for-TV Skins game was introduced in 1986 and it's been must-see TV for us Pebble People ever since.
7. The women's World Cup soccer panel of Kaylyn Kyle, Clare Rustad and Diana Matheson. Imagine that. Allowing women to do more than read a teleprompter. They were actually allowed to provide opinion. Strong opinion. So strong, in fact, that apologists for the Yankee Doodle Damsels were squealing in protest. What an overdue concept.
Kaylyn Kyle and her hair.
6. Kaylyn Kyle's hair. Rapunzel ain't got nothing on our soccer girl. Kaylyn's mane is longer than a Winnipeg winter. And much prettier, which is okay to say because Kaylyn and her gal pals discussed makeup and girl crushes during the World Cup, so I don't want to hear from the PC Police.
5. Jeff O'Neill, aka Jeff O'Dog. What can I say, the guy makes me laugh out loud, plumber's cleavage and all.
4. The CBC did a dirty when it kicked Chris Cuthbert to the curb, but TSN was there to scoop him up, for which all Rouge Football fans should be grateful.
3. The CFL. I'm not sure Rouge Football as we know it would exist today if not for TSN.
Vic, Linda and Moosie.
2. Vic, Moosie, Russ, Linda and Cheryl. Show me your top game broadcast crew, any sport, and I'll one-up you with TSN curling's Vic Rauter, Moosie Turnbull and Linda Moore, followed by the current team of Vic, Hurry Hard Howard and Cheryl Bernard. Moosie's left us, but he was one of my all-time favorite people, and it's no coincidence that he called Winnipeg home.
James Duthie
1. James Duthie. As the Pepsi ad said (with the help of Tina Turner), "Simply the best. Better than all the rest."
(FOOTNOTE: Many thousands of years from now, when archaeologists dig and sift through the ruins of our civilization, they will discover numerous subterranean hideaways full of sports memorabilia, nacho leavings, discarded pizza boxes, empty beer cans, flatscreen TVs the size of a Royal Family dinner table, and scientific proof of intense male bonding between members of the long-lost Jockosaurus species, who thrived in their secluded habitat without female companionship. After carbon dating, they will determine that—YES!—TSN and history's first Man Cave arrived at the same time, on the same day, Sept. 1, 1984.)
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on September 3, 2019 September 3, 2019 Categories Sports, sports mediaTags Auston Matthews, Billy Powers, Calgary, Canadian Football League, CBC, Cheryl Bernard, Chris Cuthbert, Clare Rustad, Diana Matheson, Doug Gilmour, Dr. Phil, Drake, Farhan Lalji, James Duthie, Jeff O'Neill, Jim Van Horne, Joe Carter, Johnny Manziel, Kaylyn Kyle, Linda Moore, Matt Dunigan, Mike Babcock, Moosie Turnbul, Rod Black, Russ Howard, Sara Orlesky, Skins Game, Sportsnet, TSN, Vic Rauter, Wayne Gretzky, women's World Cup3 Comments on Let's talk about 35 candles for TSN and the creation of the Man Cave
Yes, there's sexism in sports, and it's no more prevalent than in the media
In my previous life as a mainstream jock journo, I surely was guilty of a few sexist scribblings.
It doesn't matter that it was during a more tolerant time and place. A time and place when we didn't have the politically correct police parsing every syllable or turn of phrase we produced in print or on air. Even if written with a tongue-in-cheek quill—which it was—or to ruffle feathers—which it did—it still registered as sexist and today would result in a prompt and thorough scolding and scorn on social media. So, yes, guilty as charged.
I am reminded of my past indelicacies because the pungent odor of sexism is again awaft.
Everywhere you look, there is sexism in sports. On TV. On the Internet. In newspapers (what's left of them). On the playing fields. In changing rooms. And, yes, in the press box. Definitely in the press box.
To believe, or pretend, otherwise is to believe Donald Trump doesn't really live in the White House.
So, yes, sexism exists, most definitely in professional tennis, as we were reminded in the past two weeks.
Alizé Cornet strips off her tennis top at the back of a court during a U.S. Open match. Code violation. Novak Djokovic and numerous other male players strip off their shirts—multiple times—courtside at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Crickets.
That is an undeniable, undebatable sexist double-standard.
And, quite frankly, what happened to Cornet was, to me, far more offensive and egregious than anything that went down in the U.S. Open women's final between young champion Naomi Osaka and her bully of an opponent, Serena Williams.
Unless Williams, or any among her mob of angry apologists, had access to chair umpire Carlos Ramos's inner thoughts last Saturday, they cannot say with any level of certainty that he issued three code violations and docked 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams a game simply because she is a she.
The fact that Williams chose to play the gender card does not make it so.
Novak Djovokic
Williams had been on the uncomfortable receiving end of a good and proper paddywhacking from Osaka when Ramos observed her coach, Patrick Mouratoglu, flashing hand signals from his perch in the viewing pews. For that, Ramos issued a code violation. Cue the sideshow. A racquet-destroying hissy fit earned another reprimand. The hinges were loosening. Branding Ramos a thief and a liar cost Williams a game. Completely undone.
Nothing Ramos did or said suggested sexism was on the table. He was governing the match according to the rule book. Williams—no one else—made gender the issue, on court and during her post-match chin-wag with news snoops.
So, is sexism something we should be discussing today? For sure. But not as it pertains only to tennis, which occupies a very small corner of the sandbox.
Let's talk about sexism and the sports media.
In the fallout from the Williams meltdown, many opinionists—women and men—have been barking on air, in print and in cyberspace about the evils of sexism in sports, but they're living in a glass house and throwing stones.
Surely you've noticed all the pretty faces and big hair that surface every night and day on TSN and Sportsnet: Jennifer Hedger, Tessa Bonhomme, Kara Wagland, Kate Beirness, Lindsay Hamilton, Natasha Staniszewski, Sara Orlesky, Caroline Cameron, Martine Gaillard, Evanka Osmak…all babes. Talented, but babes nonetheless. They look like they arrive at the studio directly from a Vogue shoot.
Is that by design or accident?
I think we all know the answer to that.
The men, on the other hand…meh. They can have a face like Yogi Berra's old catcher's mitt and a body shaped like an igloo and still get the job.
And, of course, the men have all the answers.
A woman is allowed to look pretty and read the teleprompter (stay in your lane, girl) because, you know—hair, cheekbones, eyes, lips, hips, legs and boobs are the only reason she's there, right? It's left for the men with their large brains to interpret, break down and make sense of what the woman has just read. The more the woman reads, the more mansplaining there is to be done. Let's go to the boys on the panel.
Is that sexism? Absolutely.
It's moderately different on the print side of the sandbox, in that the babe factor isn't at play. A woman who doesn't look like Michelle Pfeiffer can still apply. And find work. But she better have game, because there's an entire world of men out there convinced she doesn't know a football from a facial.
No one wonders if a male jock journo is a nitwit until he opens his mouth or writes his first article to remove all doubt. Conversely, it's a given that a woman doesn't have a clue right from the get-go. And she fights that misguided stereotyping her entire career, otherwise we'd hear more female voices in panel discussions.
Basically, sports media in Canada is a man cave and will remain sexist until it's accepted that women have functioning brains.
Thus, before they tell tennis or any other sport/organization to clean up their back yard, they might want to look at their own first.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on September 11, 2018 September 18, 2018 Categories Sports, sports mediaTags Alize Cornet, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Canada, Carlos Ramos, Caroline Cameron, Donald Trump, Jennifer Hedger, Martine Gaillard, Michelle Pfeiffer, Naomi Osaka, Natasha Staniszewski, Novak Djokovic, Patrick Mouratoglu, Sara Orlesky, Serena Williams, sexism, sports media, Sportsnet, Tessa Bonhomme, TSN, U.S. Open, Yogi BerraLeave a comment on Yes, there's sexism in sports, and it's no more prevalent than in the media
About 49 years from Day One at the Trib…good for Ted Wyman…good reads in the Drab Slab…a TSN WTF moment…CFL power rankings…Serena unhinged…and other things on my mind
It occurs to me…
If you'll permit me a personal note right off the top (and you must, because this is my blog), this morning marks the 49th anniversary of my start in the rag trade.
Yup, it all began in the mail room on the second floor of the Winnipeg Tribune building on Sept. 10, 1969, me an 18-year-old, know-nothing kid fresh out of Miles Madonell Collegiate working at what had always been my newspaper of choice.
After a brief time running incoming and outgoing mail to the various arms of the Trib operation at the corner of Smith and Graham, directly across the street from the main post office, I was shuffled up to the fifth floor, whereupon I became a midnight-to-8 a.m. copy runner and began scribbling non-byline Manitoba Junior Hockey League rewrites in 1970.
Legendary sports columnist and editor Jack Matheson was somehow struck with the notion that I might be a suitable replacement for a departing sports scribe, and my first byline appeared in print on Page 16 of the Trib on June 14, 1971.
It was back-of-the-section, bottom-of-the-page stuff—a short blurb about a Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association financial shortfall of $8,753—nestled between the Assiniboia Downs form chart and horse racing writer Harold Loster's graded selections. Humble beginnings, indeed.
My first beat was local tennis, which I totally enjoyed. Then high school football, a good place to earn your chops. But Matty had me mostly on hockey, at all levels and all leagues, at home and riding the bus across the frozen tundra with Gerry Brisson, Muzz MacPherson and the Winnipeg Clubs in the Western Canada Hockey League.
Butch Goring
There wasn't a hockey league I didn't cover and, in fact, my final writing assignment at the Trib was to pen a sports-front, up-close-and-personal piece on local lad Butch Goring, weaned on the frozen ponds of Windsor Park/St. Vital and a Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders. Photog Jon Thordarson and I had visited Butch at his home. Spent more than an hour with him. The article and pics were in the can and good to go as a late-summer feature. Alas, the mucky-mucks at Southam had the bad manners to shut down the joint on what we called Black Wednesday, Aug. 27, 1980, and the Tribune was no more.
But, hey, here I am 49 years later, and old bag of bones still scribbling about shinny, football, curling and athletes in Good Ol' Hometown, albeit from a distance. Don't know when or how to stop.
Which means you're right—there's definitely something wrong with me. Like, does the term 'get a life' mean anything to me?
Apparently not. I might actually make it to 50 years.
Ted Wyman
A tip of the bonnet to Ted Wyman, soon to be the latest inductee to the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Media Roll of Honour. Ted's been cranking out the good stuff for 26 years, earning his chops at the Moose Jaw Times Herald and Brandon Sun before bringing his act to Good Ol' Hometown in 2003. He's been a steady hand on the wheel of the Winnipeg Sun sports department since 2006.
Really enjoyed Melissa Martin's piece on Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler in the Winnipeg Free Press last week. Melissa doesn't stray into the toy department too often, but I always enjoy her take on sports and athletes. She's my favorite scribe at the Drab Slab.
So I'm sitting in my local watering hole, watching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders duke it out on Saturday afternoon. They were down to the short strokes, with about three minutes remaining and Gang Green clinging to an iffy lead. The end result was very much in the balance. And what does TSN do? It cuts away to the Calgary Stampeders-Edmonton Eskimos skirmish, which had yet to start. You talk about your WTFTSN moments.
Here are this week's Canadian Football League power rankings…
1. Calgary (9-2): Bo Levi was brilliant; the defence not so much.
2. Saskatchewan (7-4): Four straight Ws.
3. Edmonton (7-5): Got it done vs. Calgary this time.
4. Hamilton (6-5): Wicked offence, wicked QB, wicked Speedy B.
5. Ottawa (6-5): Continue to be a puzzle.
6. Winnipeg (5-7): A bye week just what the doctor ordered.
7. B.C. (4-6): Still say they're done like dinner.
8. Montreal (3-8): Took the week off.
9. Toronto (3-8): QB woes continue.
Last week in CFL quarterbacking…
It's about Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers: Wow. Just wow.
Still baffled by Serena Williams bringing motherhood into the equation during her epic hissy fit in the women's final at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. "I have a daughter and I stand what's right for her!" she shrieked, in full bully mode, at chair umpire Carlos Ramos. That simply does not compute. It makes no sense at all. What did Ramos's rulings—questionable or not—have to do with Williams' little girl? Can you say completely unhinged, kids?
For those of you scoring at home, the last eight Grand Slam tennis tournaments have delivered eight different champions on the women's side and only three on the men's side. Meanwhile, the same three guys winning everything now—Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic—have been winning everything since Wimbledon 2003, when Federer claimed his first Slam title. The scoreboard reads: Big Three 51, Rest of Guys 11. And who are those Rest of Guys? Stan Wawrinka (3), Andy Murray (3), Andy Roddick, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, Marat Safin and Gaston Gaudio. So, 10 champions total. In the same time frame, 24 different women have won Slam tournaments.
And, finally, this from Steve Simmons of Postmedia Tranna: "I really hope the Maple Leafs pick a captain soon—so everybody can just shut up about it. The captain stuff: Relatively meaningless." Interesting. In July, Simmons went on Tranna 1050 TSN radio and flapped his gums about the "relatively meaningless" Leafs captaincy for more than seven minutes. But now that he's had his say on the topic he wants the rest of us to "shut up." As if.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on September 10, 2018 September 12, 2018 Categories Sports, sports mediaTags Aaron Rodgers, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, B.C. Lions, Bo Levi Mitchell, Brandon Bridge, Brandon Sun, Butch Goring, Calgary Stampeders, Chris Streveler, Edmonton Eskimos, Gaston Gaudio, Gerry Brisson, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Jack Matheson, Jeremiah Masoli, Jon Thordarson, Jonathon Jennings, Juan Martin del Potro, Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, Marat Safin, Marin Cilic, Matt Nichols, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Media Roll of Honour, Melissa Martin, Mike Reilly, Miles Macdonell Collegiate, Montreal Alouettes, Moose Jaw Timers Herald, Muzz MacPherson, New York Islanders, Novak Djokovic, Ottawa RedBlacks, Postmedia, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Serena Williams, St. Vital, Stan Wawrinka, Steve Simmons, Ted Wyman, Toronto Argonauts, Travis Lulay, Trevor Harris, TSN, Western Canada Hockey League, Windsor Park, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Winnipeg Clubs, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun, Winnipeg Tribune, Zach CollarosLeave a comment on About 49 years from Day One at the Trib…good for Ted Wyman…good reads in the Drab Slab…a TSN WTF moment…CFL power rankings…Serena unhinged…and other things on my mind
What the hell is wrong with Steve Simmons?
Either Postmedia needs to get Steve Simmons some help, or they need to get rid of him. Immediately.
I mean, only someone struggling with serious inner demons would be so callous and cruel as to recklessly attack a man whose hockey career ended abruptly at age 33 due to blunt force trauma to the head. A man whose many years of post-concussion symptoms included headaches, memory loss, sight impairment, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, dizziness and exhaustion. A man who was required to live what he calls a "reverse lifestyle," sleeping during the day and awakening in the small hours of the night to watch TV alone. A man who was diagnosed by one psychologist as suicidal.
That man is Marc Savard, last seen in the National Hockey League on the night of Jan. 22, 2011, concussed for a sixth time and being gently escorted from the ice surface by teammates after Matt Hunwick of the Colorado Avalanche had layered him into the corner boards with a clean hit.
Only in the last year has Savard begun to see the light again. Literally and figuratively.
Yet, his descent down the deep, lonely, seemingly bottomless rabbit hole didn't prevent Simmons from making the former Boston Bruins forward the target of a vicious, repugnant attack in a Sunday column that appeared in Postmedia online newspapers nationwide.
"Marc Savard basically disappeared when his career ended in Boston," Simmons wrote. "Media called. Nobody answered. Now suddenly Savard is a media guy. My advice: If he calls, don't answer."
Marc Savard
Imagine being so bitter and vindictive simply because someone living on the dark side of life failed to pick up the phone when you called. But, then, drive-by shootings have become Simmons's sick shtick. I might suggest that it must be bloody awful going through life spewing such undisguised loathing, but it strikes me that it's his perverted pleasure, something only a woman or man with a PhD in psychology or psychiatry can correct.
He's also a hypocrite.
In January of this year, on Bell Let's Talk Day, this is what Simmons tweeted: "Everyone I know has been faced with a problem. His problem. Her problem. A friend. A relative. A colleague. No reason to hide anymore #BellLetsTalk please RT this and keep RTing all day long."
We now know that sentiment to be as sincere as a politician's election promise, because here he is skewering a man who was laid low with mental health issues for close to seven years.
I'm uncertain if Simmons has suffered blunt force trauma to the head (it's a safe bet that he's been dropped on his head, many times), but I know concussions. I've suffered 10 of them. I can relate to every symptom with which Savard has dealt. But I'll allow him to tell you about it.
"I had these terrible headaches, and any loud noise or bright light was…I mean, it's almost indescribable," Savard wrote in a revealing article for The Players' Tribune in May last year. "If you've never had a concussion, I don't know if words can do the feeling justice. Every little noise is like nails on a chalkboard, and you feel this dread so deep down inside your body.
"So I pretty much lived a reverse lifestyle. I was in bed all day with the blinds closed, in total darkness, in total silence. Then I would get up at 11 p.m. and watch TV on mute, with the brightness turned way down. If somebody called to check on me, I didn't want to talk. I can't really explain it, but everything seemed so…what's the word?
"I guess the word is daunting. Just the thought of talking to a friend on the phone seemed like a huge mental and almost physical effort. I was so irritable because of my symptoms that it was hard to be around people—even the people I loved."
In a November 2016 interview with the Boston Globe, Savard had said much the same: "There was a couple of years there where I kind of went off the radar, but it was only because I wanted to get my health back and get everything straightened out."
Yet Simmons's massive ego is bruised because Savard doesn't have him on speed dial. Boo freaking hoo.
Simmons is a disgrace and should be an embarrassment to Postmedia and TSN. He glorifies a convicted woman-beater—former boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.—and he eagerly advocates the signing of a confessed woman-beater—Johnny Manziel—to a Canadian Football League contract, yet he discredits Canada's medal-winning Olympic curlers and figure skaters in the most-dismissive and derisive of terms. And now this, bullying a man once laid low by mental health challenges who's finally finding his way back and doing the odd gig on Sportsnet.
Simmons often crosses the line of fair comment, but the Savard attack is so far out of bounds, so repulsive and gasp-inducing that it suggests he needs to be saved from himself.
If so, get him the help he requires. If not, how in hell does he keep his job?
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on April 9, 2018 March 3, 2019 Categories sports mediaTags Boston Bruins, Marc Savard, National Hockey League, Postmedia, Steve Simmons, The Players' Tribune2 Comments on What the hell is wrong with Steve Simmons?
Cale Makar isn't a "damned fool"…Steve Simmons is
Editor's Note: I vowed I wasn't going to write this blog anymore. I was fini. I mean, it's not like my voice is essential, or that I expect my views to sway opinion. The sports universe can, and will, unfold as it should with or without my two cents worth. But geez Louise, the media mooks have gotten to me. I can no longer ignore them. So I'm back. Sort of. Kind of. This might be a one-off. But I doubt it.
Quiz me this, kids: If a sports writer doesn't appear to enjoy sports or many of the athletes who play kids' games, should he be writing about sports and the athletes who play kids' games?
I agree. He shouldn't be.
Steve Simmons: Damned fool is in the doghouse again.
So why hasn't anyone at Postmedia told Steve Simmons it's time to sack his bats and go quietly into the night? Maybe find a hobby that doesn't involve character crucifixion. I mean, the Tranna-based opinionist has fallen into a mosh pit of insulting, callous, demeaning, shameful, dismissive, bitter, unnecessary name-calling commentary. He doesn't offer opinion so much as he delivers nasty. He isn't a writer. He's a hit man.
His latest victims are a fledgling, 19-year-old college kid and a group of amateur athletes who hold down daytime jobs and actually lose money in pursuit of sporting achievement and glory.
The college kid is Cale Makar, who, for reasons yet to be disclosed, reportedly declined an invitation to join the Canadian men's hockey outfit for a few weeks of frolic at next month's Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. For this, Simmons, without knowledge of the wherefore and why of Makar's decision, calls the teenager "a damned fool." It doesn't matter if the young defenceman's determination was based on counsel from his parents, his college leaders or his agent. Apparently a Postmedia columnist knows best. So the kid's a "damned fool."
Imagine that. Steve Simmons: Life coach. Who knew? And how utterly objectionable.
But there's more.
Not satisfied with discrediting a teenager, the Postmedia mouthpiece has also put mixed doubles curling in his crosshairs. Admittedly a quirky event, it debuts as an Olympic discipline in PyeongChang, much to Simmons' huffy disapproval.
"It's a recreational pursuit," he harrumphs from his soapbox of sourpuss stirrings.
"The winner of the men's and women's downhill at PyeongChang will get the same gold medal as the winners in mixed doubles curling. Doesn't sit well with me," he adds.
Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris: Steve Simmons doesn't want them at the Olympics.
Well, excuse our Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris all to hell. The nerve of those two Olympic champions, turning a "recreational pursuit" into an Olympic dream. And, hey, it'll be such bad manners if they earn the top step on the podium in South Korea and accept gold medals. Can't have that in the world according to Steve Simmons. Daredevils of the downhill ski slopes are gold-worthy. The curlers? They're lesser-thans. Give 'em trinkets made of tin foil, right Stevie?
Simmons is such a prig. His commentary is mean in spirit and gratuitous in nature and has become chronic.
Canada wins gold in Olympic hockey: Steve Simmons says get rid of it.
On Olympic champion Rosie MacLennan: "She competes in a rather marginal pursuit: Trampoline. When you think Canadian sport, winter or summer, trampoline seems more backyard and gimmicky than it does Olympian."
On Olympic women's hockey: "There should be a cry to end this Olympic charade of imbalance."
On women's sports: "I don't believe there's a demand from the public for women's sports."
On mixed doubles tennis: "The event is junk." (The week Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski won the French Open title.)
On 3-on-3 basketball becoming an Olympic sport: "Somebody out there in Olympic land—or many IOC members—have lost their minds."
On players replacing National Hockey League stars on men's Olympic hockey teams: They're "also rans."
Marcus Stroman: Steve Simmons says he's an annoying kid.
As for individuals, Kevin Durant is "gutless," Venus Williams is "92 years old," Marcus Stroman is an "annoying kid" who needs to "grow up," Brooke Henderson also needs to "grow up," John Farrell is a "traitor," Phil Kessel is petty and "small," Roger Goodell is a "flim-flam" man, Chad Ochocinco is a "big mouth," etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
None of that is necessary, and the steady outpouring of gratuitous cheap shots should be an embarrassment to Simmons and Postmedia.
But no. He insists on wrapping himself in the robes of the villain scribe, assuming them to be garments of honor in a profession that supposedly values the tell-it-like-it-is posturing of the late Howard Cosell. Well, there's nothing honorable about Simmons' contrarian shtick. He doesn't write with the skill, the cheek, the witty irreverence, the knowledge, or the delicate touch of those who came before him or many of his peers today. He comes at the reader with the sledgehammer of the unpolished practitioner, and it's become tawdry, tiresome and tedious.
And nobody at Postmedia has noticed this? Damned fools.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on January 11, 2018 January 11, 2018 Categories sports mediaTags 3-on-3 basketball, Brooke Henderson, Cale Makar, Chad Ochocinco, downhill skiing, French Open, Gabriela Dabrowski, Howard Cosell, John Morris, Kaitlyn Lawes, Kevin Durant, Marcus Stroman, mixed doubles curling, mixed doubles tennis, Phil Kessel, Postmedia, PyeongChang, Roger Goodell, Rosie MacLennan, South Korea, Steve Simmons, trampoline, Venus Williams, Winter Olympics, women's hockey, women's sports6 Comments on Cale Makar isn't a "damned fool"…Steve Simmons is
The sports media dealing with social/political issues is nothing new
Stick to sports? Why?
Why should jock journalists and opinionists be limited to one-trick pony-ism, writing and gabbing about nothing other than wins and losses, home runs and touchdowns, free throws and three-pointers, and how much air there is in Tom Brady's balls?
Sam Lacy, Dan Bankhead and Wendell Smith.
I mean, I'm guessing that if Twitter had been around in the 1930s and '40s, Sam Lacy, Wendell Smith and other black sportswriters might have used their 140-character allotment to say something significant about segregation in baseball. Twitter didn't exist back then, though. So they used newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier, the Chicago Defender and the Baltimore Afro-American as pulpits from which to openly lobby for desegregation.
For example, when Major League Baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis died in 1944, Lacy used his Afro-American platform to scribble this about the appointment of Happy Chandler as MLB commish: "It appears that his choice was the most logical one for the bigoted major league operators, of which there is a heavy majority on hand."
Similarly, in the chaotic 1960s, when young heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay joined the Nation of Islam and became Cassius X then Muhammad Ali, (white) sports scribes refused to use his Muslim name in their copy (it wasn't until October 1970, six years after the fact, that the New York Times issued a directive that sportswriters were to call him Muhammad Ali) and they weren't shy about spicing their prose with biting social commentary re "Clay," race and religion.
Here are two examples from New York columnist Jimmy Cannon:
"The fight racket since its rotten beginnings has been the red light district of sports. But this is the first time it has been turned into an instrument of mass hate…Clay is using it as a weapon of wickedness."
"I pity Clay and abhor what he represents. In the years of hunger during the Depression, the Communists used famous people the way the Black Muslims are exploiting Clay. This is a sect that deforms the beautiful purpose of religion."
The noise became amplified, also more threatening and vicious, when the champ refused to step forward for induction into the United States military in 1967.
Red Smith, legendary New York columnist: "Squealing over the possibility that the military may call him up, Cassius makes as sorry a spectacle as those unwashed punks who picket and demonstrate against the war."
Really? Those protesting the Vietnam War were "unwashed punks?"
Jim Murray, legendary Los Angeles Times columnist, who mocked Ali by calling him Abdul the Bull Bull Ameer: "Cassius Marcellus Clay, one of the greatest heroes in the history of his people, has decided to secede from the Union. He will not disgrace himself by wearing the uniform of the Army of the United States…From the safety of 103 years, he waves his fist at dead slave owners. Down to his last four Cadillacs, the thud of Communist jackboots holds no dread for him. He is in this country but not of it."
Really? Dead slave owners and Communist jackboots in a sports column?
So, you see, when ESPN anchor Jemele Hill went off on Donald Trump on her personal Twitter account recently, calling the United States president a "white supremacist," she wasn't digging a shovel into fresh, unbroken ground. Social/political commentary in print and on air is older than the contract Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first black player in baseball's major leagues. Do you think the names and words Jesse Owens, Adolph Hitler, Nazis and Aryan supremacy have never appeared in a sportswriter's copy?
Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star is among the elite wordsmiths in Canadian jock journalism today, but social/political commentary on his Twitter account heavily outweighs the sports content. Why would anyone find that objectionable?
Red Smith
"I think it should be a personal decision, based partly on who employs you," he said as a member of a Sports Illustrated panel. "But if you're informed—or even just feel strongly about something—and you're comfortable making your voice heard, then you should be able to say what you think. Sports are great, but they're not the world. It's okay to live in the world a little, too."
On the night of the 2016 American presidential election, with Donald Trump winning the White House, Steve Simmons of Postmedia tweeted: "The saddest night in American history." That is, of course, a totally illogical comment, especially coming from a non-American, but is he not allowed his emotional, if uninformed, opinion? Does it reflect on Simmons or Postmedia? I would submit the former rather than the latter, and numerous followers suggested he "stick to sports."
If I have an issue with sports opinionists and their social/political commentary, it's when they say nothing at all. Or when they're inconsistent.
Ray Rice is pilloried for beating up one woman. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is given a pass on his thick file of repeated domestic violence. (I suppose the arrival of Johnny Manziel to a Canadian Football League outfit will be greeted with literary high fives.) That isn't merely inexcusable, it's the abandonment of responsible reporting.
Sports and politics/social activism are bedfellows, and to think otherwise is to live in a Utopian world. Social media has upped the ante, to be sure, but jock journos have always been there to write and talk about it. Usually in more than 140 characters.
Patti Dawn Swansson has been scribbling mostly about Winnipeg sports for 47 years, which means she's old and probably should think about getting a life.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on September 21, 2017 September 22, 2017 Categories Sports, sports mediaTags Adolph Hitler, Aryan, Baltimore Afro-American, black sportswriters, Brooklyn Dodgers, Bruce Arthur, Canadian Football League, Cassius Clay, Cassius X, Chicago Defender, communism, Dan Bankhead, Donald Trump, ESPN, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Happy Chandler, heavyweight boxing champion, Jackie Robinson, Jemele Hill, Jesse Owens, Jim Murray, Jimmy Cannon, Johnny Manziel, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Los Angeles Times, Major League Baseball, Muhammad Ali, Muslim, National of Islam, Nazis, nego leagues, New York Times, Pittsburgh Courier, Postmedia, Ray Rice, Red Smith, Sam Lacy, social media, Sports Illustrated, Steve Simmons, Toronto Star, Twitter, Wendell Smith, White HouseLeave a comment on The sports media dealing with social/political issues is nothing new


If your upholstery losing its lustre, or furniture is starting to harbour mystery odours, it's time to call Clean & Fresh!
If you have started to notice your upholstery losing its lustre, or if your furniture is starting to harbour mystery odours, it's time to call Clean & Fresh.
We use only the most advanced steam-heat and dry cleaning processes to clean your upholstery, sofas & settees and we use only the methods that are suggested by manufacturers for your particular upholstery materials. We use only the best and most eco-friendly, biodegradable stain removal solutions.
Our equipment is state of the art and recommended by the industry at large. Clean & Fresh is also able to clean leather sofas as well as offering a wood finish polish & protection service.
To enquire about cleaning upholstery, sofas and other furniture Contact Us today.


text:
Daniel Lanois' Black Dub Announces New Tour Dates for 2011
Premiere New Live Video On Soundspike.com
Video for Posting - Live footage from East Coast Tour (link to video premiere: soundspike.com)
"One of the year's top debuts." - USA Today
"...One of the best debuts of 2010 and the start of something very special." - ArtistDirect.com
"This album - with Lanois on guitar, Brian Blade on drums, and Daryl Johnson on bass - is destined for classic success." - Relix
"...Onstage the voices were one more sonic element amid the gorgeous commotion." - The New York Times
NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresh from a run of fall dates that introduced Daniel Lanois' Black Dub as a sensational live show that was met with rave reviews and accolades, the 4-piece super group comprised of Lanois, Trixie Whitley, Brian Blade and Daryl Johnson, has announced a string of west coast dates for the new year.
For those that have not had the privilege of experiencing the phenomenon that is Black Dub on stage, the group has released a reel of live footage from their recent east coast run that demonstrates exactly what is not to be missed. The video, which is available on Soundspike.com (< click to view) features live versions of the tracks, "Last Time," "Surely," "Love Lives" and "Nomad," all shot beautifully by the talented Adam Vollick.
Black Dub, the highly anticipated self-titled debut album was released earlier this fall on Jive Records. Primarily recorded live, the album's eleven tracks cook up an undeniable concoction of rock, blues, dub, reggae, and soul.
West Coast 2011 Tour Dates
Jan 28               El Rey               Los Angeles, CA
Jan 30               The Independent      San Francisco, CA
Feb 1                Neumos               Seattle, WA
Feb 2                Venue                Vancouver, BC
Feb 3                Aladdin              Portland, OR
Black Dub is available on iTunes and Amazon.
For more information visit their website: http://blackdub.net/
SOURCE Jive Records
SOURCE: Jive Records
Daniel Lanois' Black Dub Announces New Tour Dates for 2011 Premiere New Live Video On Soundspike.com Video for Posting - Live footage from East Coast Tour (link to video premiere: soundspike.com) "One of the year's top debuts." - USA Today "…One of the best debuts of 2010 and the start of something very special." - ArtistDirect.com "This album - with Lanois on guitar, Brian Blade on drums, and Daryl Johnson on bass - is destined for classic success." - Relix "…Onstage the voices were one more sonic element amid the gorgeous commotion." - The New York Times
NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2010
CONTACT: Gihan Salem, +1-310-272-2650, Gihan.Salem@sonymusic.com
Web Site: http://blackdub.net