A gold, and an existential gold

Two winning stories in snowboard cross today.
Canadian Maelle Ricker won the snowboard cross gold medal. The backstory is that at the Torino Olympics four years ago, Maelle had also made it to the snowboard cross final, but then she wiped out part way down the hill and wasn't even able to finish.
So this was her comeback year, and she succeeded wonderfully.
But her backstory pales compared to the Epic Fail experience of another snowboarder, American Lindsey Jacobellis. Four years ago, Lindsey was leading by a substantial margin in the snowboard cross final, and she got so excited that she hotdogged the last jump.
And she fell. By the time she got herself back on the course and crossed the finish line, she had dropped to second place, getting silver instead of gold.
So this was to be her comeback year too.
Instead, this year it was her turn to be wiped out part way down the course. This happened in the semi-final, so she didn't even get into the final at all.
But here's what happened next.
Lindsey was in the consolation final, the race nobody televises because the only credit the winner gets is to be listed in fifth place in the record books. And once again, she comes into the final jump, with first place wrapped up.
Now, you would think that this time she would play it safe, she would think twice before risking another stunt.
But once again, in the last jump, she hotdogged it.

And this time, she didn't fall. She aced it.

Being nice to Canadians

ESPN's Rick Reilly has some advice for Americans in Vancouver for the games:

Pretend that you have to plug in your engine block at night to keep it from freezing, too. Makes them feel better.
Go to Tim's (short for "Tim Hortons") and have a double-double (two creams, two sugars) and some Timbits (donut holes) and stand around and talk about curling. This will be a welcome topic. The Canadians are still great at curling.
When referring to Elvis, be sure its Stojko not Presley. If you're talking about acting, don't forget the god of all Canadian thespians -- Lorne Greene from "Bonanza." If your birthday is Aug. 9, always look at the ground, shake your head and add, "The day Wayne was traded."

Gold medal, thanks be to god

Congrats to Alexandre Bilodeau winning the gold in the men's freestyle moguls.
So we can finally move on from that dreary storyline about how Canada hadn't won a gold medal at an Olympics on Canada.
We can get back to the stories complaining about the opening ceremonies. And the venues.
And cue the medal count competition stories . . .
UPDATE: I'm sure Scott is cheering too

Pride

The Tyee alerts us that there are two Pride Houses at the Olympics, one in Whistler and one in Vancouver -- where Steven Colbert will be broadcasting from, apparently. Here's the website

Great line of the day

The Rev Paperboy says this is burning stupid:

. . . here's a newsflash for "Blayze" the masked protestor who speaks to the press at the end of the video here: "The next level" of a peaceful protest is not smashing windows and trying to provoke the cops and it isn't "the perogative" of the some self-important douchebag in a black hoodie and bandana to make the sensible people who are trying to make a point in a civilized way look bad just because he thinks he's a revolutionary who is going to bring racist exploitive capitalism to knees by throwing newspaper boxes through shopfronts. Dude, your friends are not activists, they are assholes.

Emphasis mine.

First medal, thanks be to god

Great, Jenn Heil won a well-deserved Silver in freestyle skiing and a wonderful performance it was.
I'm happy for her, and also for us, because now we won't have to brace ourselves for a dreary round of media stories that Canada hasn't won a medal yet quel horreur!
One of the things I love about the Olympics is the chance to see sports that we usually never see, like freestyle skiing -- and when Canadians do so well it is a bonus. These judged sports can be problematic, but at least there is a time element for this one to help keep things in line. And American Hannah Kearney's Gold was well deserved -- she was fearless and expert and lucky, the three essential elements to win in sports.
And, surprisingly enough, the short track relay was NOT invented by the same men who designed 43-man squamish, it just looks that way.

With a little help from their friends

Scott posts about the latest Environics Poll which shows the Liberals leading, and then notices something odd in his comments:

If you’re a government/Conservative supporter, I have no issue with you disputing the poll results. I do have an issue though – as should all Canadians – when the IP addresses I can trace show that you’re posting anonymous comments on my site from Government of Canada servers.

Of course, to these guys, by definition, a loyal civil servant IS a Conservative supporter.
And maybe Harper's song choice wasn't coincidental.

Insite insight

Even the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, which basically never met a federal Conservative it didn't like, thinks the continuing federal attack on Insite is wrong.

Let the Games begin

Wasn't it neat to see so many happy, cheering people greeting Wayne Gretzky and running pellmell after his truck as he carried the torch through downtown Vancouver, even though the rain was pouring?
And an estimated 150,000 people were lining the Vancouver streets today for the end of the torch run.

Here are some opening ceremony photos.





I was glad these athletes did not leave the Games.


Protesters were there too -- police said 1,500 protesters, Ubyssey said 5,000.


Was there actually an attempt to provoke a riot? Vancouver police seemed to think so:

Protesters intent on provoking police moved to the front of the line and began throwing traffic barricades around. Their tactics then escalated as they sprayed vinegar in officers' eyes, threw sticks, and spit on members.

And earlier on Friday, protestors at the torch relay struck a blow for anti-capitalism and anti-colonialism by preventing some Canadian veterans from welcoming the torch into Victory Square. As one commenter said:

I believe in the right to protest but when I watched the protesters block the Olympic torch from being brought to the cenotaph in Vancouver today where the Veterans were waiting I was really disappointed. These veterans asked what they could do for their country and their moment was taken away by a group of people who are asking what their country can do for them.

Stay classy, folks.

Dumb and dumber

And this is a nation which thinks of itself as the world's only superpower?

McLeroy moved that Margaret Sanger, the birth-control pioneer, be included because she “and her followers promoted eugenics,” that language be inserted about Ronald Reagan’s “leadership in restoring national confidence” following Jimmy Carter’s presidency and that students be instructed to “describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.” The injection of partisan politics into education went so far that at one point another Republican board member burst out in seemingly embarrassed exasperation, “Guys, you’re rewriting history now!” Nevertheless, most of McLeroy’s proposed amendments passed by a show of hands.
Finally, the board considered an amendment to require students to evaluate the contributions of significant Americans. The names proposed included Thurgood Marshall, Billy Graham, Newt Gingrich, William F. Buckley Jr., Hillary Rodham Clinton and Edward Kennedy. All passed muster except Kennedy, who was voted down.

I'm surprised they didn't boot Hillary as well.

Great line of the day

Pogge has a deep thought:

Maybe the real reason Stephen Harper prorogued parliament was so the opposition parties wouldn't be able to make fun of the government during Question Period when Canada wins the award for the ugliest pavilion at the Olympics

New York

So my sister has been planning for the last year to get to New York for the Westminster Dog Show -- some travel for the sightseeing or the restaurants, she travels for the dog shows, she's been to Crufts in England, to California a couple of times, she almost got to New Orleans until Katrina happened two weeks before the dog conference was scheduled.
Anyway, of course she was worried the last few days about the snowstorm and flights being canceled and all that.
Well, she left this morning -- and got right through. Just 15 minutes late landing in Toronto, just half an hour late leaving for New York -- Air Canada flies 11 times daily to New York, and eight of their flights were canceled today, but hers was one of the other three -- she said they had a rough landing at LaGuardia, but now everything just fine and no bedbugs in her hotel either.
She's on a roll!

Great line of the day

The Rev Paperboy writes about the recent travesty where a New York school principal actually called the police about a 12-year-old girl who scribbled on her school desk and the police actually arrested her.

This kid is probably lucky they didn't taser her when she started crying . . . . Way to put the "Pal" in "Principal" Ms. Grant! What do you do if the kids chew gum in class, waterboard them?

Emphasis mine.

Gone

I just couldn't stand it anymore.
You know what I'm talking about -- those awful, borderline offensive ads that are on website after website.
Those teeth chomping into a sugar cube. And more teeth glowing green.
That fat woman in a bikini, lying across the middle of every page.
And the before-and-after photos of some man's hairless torso.
So I finally installed an adblocker.
And it works -- they're gone! Beautiful. Of course, now Kos is trying to guilt me into subscribing.
But that's a small price to pay.
It occurs to me that the dominance of personal hygiene and dieting ads isn't going to prove to be a particularly attractive or substantial economic model for the internet, is it?
When you buy a magazine like Macleans or Chatelaine or Time or Rolling Stone, the ads are national brands with some substance to them -- cars or fashion, appliances or insurance.
When the only companies which advertise on websites are touting whiter teeth and thinner bodies, its like they think the only people reading the blogs really are pajama-wearing slobs with Cheeto breath.

Olympics almost here

The Olympic Village at dusk

Just five more days until the 2010 Olympics begin. I have set up some sports sites on the blogroll to keep up with the events. And there will be a Saskatchewan Pavilion near BC Place, too.
From Vancouver's CityCaucus, I found this great rap: