It is tough being Santa · Wednesday December 5, 2007 by colin newell
Consider the life of the Red Elf in the year 2007.
Saint Nick’s white gloved hands are always visible and he buys liability insurance, for good measure. He never asks where children live and he has no political stripe.
The man in the red suit endures criminal background checks like everyone else… and if you are Santa, don’t even try to get on an Airplane in North American air space – his instincts for being pilot are simply too strong.
Today’s Santa is poked, prodded and shaped to fit the 21st century. It’s no longer enough to show up at the mall, laugh merrily and balance children on his lap.
In shopping malls across Canada, Santa Claus is watching his back. Todays Santa is politically ignorant… neutral. Santa does not curse and is always Holly Jolly.
One would hope if there’s anyone in this world you can trust, it’s Santa. In 2007, however, Santa is verified by Verisign, MasterCard, EBay and Visa first.
Liability insurance, underwritten from the North Pole, spares Santa from unwarranted litigious grief. And with the question… “Is there Lead in this train-set Santa?” Santa had better answer correctly!
Imagine: A child is walking by and trips – not even near you – and gets hurt – Santa is sued as an attractive nuisance.
Santa shares the same choreographer as Madonna: each word and hand movement is tightly regulated. Tricks of the trade are passed down from Santa to Santa at places like The International University of Santa Claus.
Curriculum includes how to hold children correctly, managing tough conversations and proper care of hair, beard and hygiene.
Santa must never, ever make promises he can’t keep.
But what of the average pre-teen or tween? I picture a 9 year old whose Blackberry incessantly rings during recess… In the guise of Santa I approach with the caution of a seasoned alligator wrestler.
Hello. Excuse me young person… I ask. “Uhm – I am currently skyping, podcasting and social networking here Mister!” as I ask a supervised question – teachers and parents look on… The blackberry chirps again… “Excuse me”, the youngster says… “I have to take this…”
But what of the children?
In my day, lead was an active and prominent ingredient in virtually every toy. And Santa was more like Hulk Hogan than Mister Rogers. Any 300 pound man in a frilly red suit was meant to be scary – it built character and caution into the young ones.
But what of the children?
We remember James Barber · Tuesday December 4, 2007 by colin newell
Simple, Easy, Satisfying. These are some of the words you can use to describe the cooking styles of James Barber. As I just finished cooking my Sunday dinner, I read on CBC that James Barber, the host of CBC’s The Urban Peasant cooking show passed away at 84. As I read some of the thoughts passed on by fellow readers, I see how many of us James touched during the
years of The Urban Peasant airing on CBC.
For anyone who watched James, his style was that of breaking down the barriers that many of us see in proper cooking. He was able to show that cooking can be fun; using simple ingredients and simple methods do in fact work in the kitchen! His goal was to create everyday food that was delicious. And for anyone that watched his show knew of the good stories that he could pass along while cooking. A great quote that really does sum up his styles: “it doesn’t matter, just use whatever you’ve got!”
Although the show has been off the air for years, the skills that James taught many of us will stick around. Reading through some of the comments online at CBC, it clearly shows that he taught many people about this lifelong skill of cooking. James was a great fan of shopping “the market” on Granville Island in Vancouver, a place that creates inspiration when it comes to cooking – and was a very special spot for him in the city.
James will certainly be missed around Vancouver and beyond.
Food critic, Dave Reimer lives, works and cooks in Vancouver, BC. He will be a periodic contributor to the CoffeeCrew blog until his blog is online
Biometric scanning at UNBC · Thursday November 29, 2007 by colin newell
University of the North, in Prince George, British Columbia has caught the eye of the media today – as they have just started rolling out some new technology in the Athletics department…
Biometric scanning… of fingerprints.
To allow access to sports facilities, UNBC students are now required to give up their valuable, unique and very personal identity to the University… so they can get into the gym.
The American made technology was quickly implemented with little discussion. It has, not surprisingly, raised the ire of the student body.
I was curious about this so I did a little scanning myself.
And I found a 2002 article about a hotel in Saskatchewan that instituted biometric scanning to replace punch clocks for staff…
Ostensibly because staff kept losing their ID cards.
That and finger prints do not rub off.
I have a problem with all of this – just a little too much big-brother for my taste.
Back to Saskatchewan for a moment – the Human Rights commission and the Labor relations board said it was OK and that there is nothing Illegal about demanding peoples finger-prints as a condition of employment.
Right. And there is nothing ethical about it either.
Additional reading: A website in the UK called Leave Them Kids Alone dedicated to fighting the trend towards fingerprinting all children…
CBC picks up the story here
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Dance to the Music · Friday November 23, 2007 by colin newell
It is always fun having someone walk up to you and compliment you on your life’s work.
Like if you are a butcher or something.
“Hey Colin… nice work on that brisket! It was a thing of beauty…”
Or if you are a writer and erstwhile singer.
Somehow we managed to get on the CBC Radio Playlist yesterday – note the “Two Old Goats” – Island Standard Time in fuzzy jpeg pixel-text. Click on picture for gallery view.
Yesterday, no less than a dozen people sailed by uttering the words: “Heard you on the CBC today…”
I think I said “Thank-you, very kind, thank-you very much…” about 25 times yesterday.
This spot-light thing could be very addictive.
Even though this is a single Christmas light sized spotlight at the moment…
probably a good thing that it will probably not get any bigger…
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