Brush With Celebrity

I sat in for Stephen Whitworth Friday afternoon at his weekly CBC Radio gig. After Chris Kirkland (editor of Planet S up in Saskatoon) and I had done our segment with the host of the Afternoon Edition Michelle Hugli I had a chance meeting with a prominent CBC on-air personality who was in town for the day from Toronto and was also a guest on the show. Anyone care to take a guess as to who it might have been?



If you're having trouble guessing, here's a hint (YouTube)

Climate Denier Crooks Attempt Another Computer Break-In

Okay, this is insanity. Desmog Blog is reporting that earlier this week two "technicians" showed up at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis at the University of Victoria and attempted to gain access to the computers there. When their identities were questioned the two "technicians" vanished.

The story's been verified by a UVic spokesman in an interview with the National Post.

Okay... let me get this straight.... climate deniers from Rex Murphy to Rush Limbaugh are crowing about how some emails hacked a few weeks ago show that there's "collusion" among scientists to squash debate about climate science. "It's an environmentalist conspiracy!" they're squawking.

Meanwhile, these same scientists' emails were hacked, their offices have been broken into, and now mysterious, undercover agents are showing up attempting to break into their computers. Doesn't this pretty clearly suggest that there is ACTUAL COLLUSION among climate deniers and ACTUAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITY by climate deniers going on to discredit legitimate climate science?!?!?!

That all this stuff is exploding in the news right now -- in the lead up to the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change -- just goes to prove that what James Hoggan and the climate science community have been saying all along is true: there is an organized effort taking place among climate liars, deniers, hacks and morons to derail any action on climate change.

And... as Hoggan ably proves in Climate Cover-Up, support and funding for the activities of these deniers and cranks is coming from the fossil fuel industry.

Call me crazy, but if it squawks like a conspiracy, and slinks around in the shadows pretending to be a computer technician like a conspiracy, maybe it's a conspiracy. I'm just saying....

Regardless, whatever paranoid behaviour the CRU scientists exhibited in those emails is looking entirely justified right about now.

This is outrageous. My fury is boundless.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

I was flipping through some back issue bins in the comic book store and I came across an old Gold Key comic featuring Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 1960's. It was one of those spotlight comics that featured a variety of characters. And one of them was something called the Mighty Mightor. The picture that accompanied it was a drawing of a barbarian looking guy with a goofy looking horned hat. For whatever reason the name Mighty Mightor made me laugh - it's just lame.

A quick search of the internet and I discovered that the character was created by comic book legend Alex Toth and aired from 1967-1969 along with another cartoon called Moby Dick. It was the Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor show. Mightor was about a young caveman named Tor who helps an old man. The old man gives Tor a magic club that when held in the air transforms Tor into the Mighty Mightor! Classic! Now why does this super powered tranformation sound familiar? By the power of Grayskull - I just don't know. Oh, there is also a redheaded woman called Sheera in the show.

The second part of the show was about the adventures of a whale called Moby Dick that had nothing to do with Herman Melville's novel. Imagine all the disappointed kids when they started reading the book.

Pick of the Day: Pats Vs. Wheat Kings

After going 4-2 on their recent nine-day road trip out west that included a 7-1 drubbing of the U.S. Division-leading Tri-City Americans, the Pats are tied for fourth in the tightly-bunched East Division with a 15-13-3-0 record. As I noted in a late October post on the team, they face a difficult month ahead. First, they are destined to lose forward Jordan Eberle and defenceman Colten Teubert to the Canadian Junior team when the selection camp opens in Regina on Dec. 11. Then following a three game home-stand, which begins tonight with a tilt at Brandt Centre against the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Pats will embark on an eight game road trip to accommodate the World Junior tournament that runs in Regina and Saskatoon from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

Last year at this time, the Pats were in roughly the same position as this year. But after the Christmas break the wheels fell off for the team and they ended up finishing out of the playoffs. If they post Ws in the next three games, they'll be 7-2 in their last nine games, with plenty of momentum heading into what will truly be a gruelling road trip. In January, the Pats play eight of eleven games at home. If they can survive December they will be in a good position to make a run at the playoffs. If they go into a tailspin, though, they'll have a hard time bouncing back.

And if hockey isn't your thing, also on tap for tonight is a gig at the Exchange by a trio of local bands: Kleins96, Cricket and Tomorrow Starts Today.