Proposed Law in Hamilton is Profane

Mark Nimigan, Vice-Chair of Hamilton's Police Services Board, says that cleaning up the city's downtown is a priority.
At Tuesday's board meeting, Nimigan proposed the city criminalize the use of obscene language in public.   (more...)

He argued that issuing fines to people who use profanity in public, in particular downtown and within the city's parks, would reduce the objectionable behavior.
Mr. Nimigan did not comment on issues related to enforcement of his proposal. When informed of the suggested regulation, I wouldn't have blamed Chief Mullan if he'd muttered '$#!+' before giving an official response.

Never mind that HPSB met in-camera yesterday to discuss 12 alleged sexual harassment charges faced by an officer - this proposed crackdown on cussing can only mean one thing:

the city has solved all other @*!#% problems in its universe.

The proposed Anti-Swearing Statute was the lead on the local newscast.

chapters.indigo.ca

Tags: [Swearing in Public] [Hamilton, ON]
[Hamilton Police Services Board] [Mark Nimigan] [Chief Brian Mullan]
[CHCH News] [Michelle Dubé]

Bawling for Blessings

The annual Crying Sumo Competition took place in Tokyo yesterday.

In crying sumo the babies are held up by amateur sumo wrestlers in a ring, and the baby who cries first is the winner. If both babies cry, then the one that cries loudest wins. A total of 84 babies born last year participated in the contest at the temple.

Crying sumo is a blessing for healthy growth of the child.
I don't understand the competition of this. Is there a wail-off to determine the loudest crier of all babies presented? What prize does the loudest crier receive?

"I love winners when they cry, losers when they try." (Tom T. Hall)

Available at chapters.indigo.ca

Tags:[Crying Sumo]  [Sensoji Temple]  [Tom T. Hall]

Histroic Mispelling For Sisters of Lorretto

New Mexico is unveiling its first Landmark for Women by honoring The Four Sisters of Loretto.
The Loretto Sisters were pioneers of education in New Mexico and started the first school for girls in the state.
Unfortunately, the historic plaque has been erected with several errors.
The plaque commemorates the Sisters of Lorreto, not Loretto; and uses know instead of known. Close ups ( in video) . The dedication ceremony is Saturday, Dec. 1 / 07.

San Francisco artist, Maria Alquilar knows the cost of public misspellings. "My career in public art is over," said the artist, after "Eistein", "Shakespere" and "Michaelangelo" appeared (along with 8 other spelling mistakes) in the mural she created for the Livermore Library. Alquilar said that she chose to leave the errors in her piece, claiming it was part of the art. Since her drawings show the correct spellings, I can't buy her 'art' theory.

How about the Ministry of Education report on school standards in The Isle of Wight? You know the one - it referred to The Isle of White throughout the document.


Tags: [Sisters of Loretto]  [Landmarks for Women]  [Santa Fe, NM]
[Maria Alquilar]  [Livermore Library]  [Education - Isle of Wight]

Do Not Create False Drive Thrus

A recent survey showed that more Americans can accurately list the ingredients in a Big Mac than recall the ten commandments.

In a study of 1000 people, 80% correctly identified the seven elements of the Big Mac; less than 60% remembered 'thou shalt not kill'. Read more...

The survey was completed at the request of the producers of the animated movie The Ten Commandments (Oct. 19).

Kelton Research also found that "survey participants had an easier time remembering the names of the six children on the old TV series 'The Brady Bunch.' "

Imagine how much more dismal the results might have been if Moses hadn't dropped a tablet, reducing the commandments from 15 to ten!

Tags: [Ten Commandments]   [Big Mac]   [Kelton Research]
[The Bible]   [McDonald's]
[Mel Brooks]   [History of the World Part II]

Venus

Since the 1970's, the first Sunday in September has been set aside in Piobbico, Italy for the annual Festival of the Ugly. At each festival, club members elect a new president. For 30 years Telesforo Iacobelli has accepted the honor.


Signor Iacobelli heads the Club dei Brutti in Italy. The club has links that go back to 1879. It is now known as The World Association of Ugly People, and at the 2007 Festa on September 9, 2007, Iacobelli will unveil a monument to ugly people.
The prototype picture is shown at right.


The motto of Club de Brutti is 'a person is what he is and not what he looks like.'

Iacobelli describes the monument as a tribute to the one who is beautiful on the inside.

Fact: Brigitte Nielsen is a member of The Club

Goddess on the mountain top burning like a silver flame The summit of beauty and love and Venus was her name CHORUS: She's got it. Yeah, baby, she's got it I'm your Venus I'm your fire At your desire (Stock, Aitken & Waterman) Performed by Bananarama

Tags: [World Association of Ugly People] [Piobbico] [Telesforo Iacobelli]
[Bananarama] [Brigitte Nielsen]

In Other Anthropology News

Headline from LiveScience and MSNBC:

Residents of Ancient Pompeii Liked Fast Food

Quick history lesson:
Pompeii was destroyed by a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. It was accidentally re-discovered in 1748. Pompeii is one of the richest anthropological sites because it was destroyed so quickly. Scientists are focusing on the relics in one neighborhood to better understand day-to-day living in the 1^st century.

Back to the story -

Archaeologist Penelope Allison (University of Leicester) describes some of her team's findings:

There was an absence of formal dishware sets but an abundance of small
grilling vessels (like barbecues) found in the residences studied, indicating
that people were eating-and-running on the go.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Everything old is new again.
[Pompeii]    [Penelope Allison]     [Archaeology]

¡Viva!

Cinco de Mayo is widely thought to be the Independence Day of Mexico. Mexico's official Independence Day is in September. Cinco de Mayo celebrates the day of Mexico's Great Battle at Puebla.

Napoleon III's French troops occupied Mexico for five months in 1862. On May 5 the Mexican military overcame the French soldiers at Puebla. In defeating the French Foreign Legion, supplies to the Confederate Rebels in the U.S. Civil War were cut off. The U.S. rebuilt their own forces and beat the Rebels at Gettysburg the following year.

The French recaptured Puebla on May 8^th but were finally expelled from Mexico in 1867.

Así que qué, you ask?

A while ago, my brother and I were talking about Cinco de Mayo. Our sister, who was with us, said, with much disbelief, "Like you guys know when Mexico's National holiday is."
"It's the fifth of May," we replied together.
Joe turned to his son David, 4, and asked, "David, do you know when Cinco de Mayo is?"
"Yep," David answered. Maybe he did know, but he was preoccupied with removing the pepperoni from his pizza slice.

She wouldn't believe that we knew the celebration takes place annually on May 5^th.

We explained that Cinco de Mayo translates literally to May 5.

In her most scholarly voice, our sibling declared, "Well, the national holiday of Norway is November 3^rd."

"No it's not." Joe and I laughed. In fact, it's May 17^th.

So - ¡Viva Cinco de Mayo!
Today, celebrate a battle you've won.

[Cinco de Mayo] [Napoleon III] [Norway]