Funny Editorial Cartoon

I don't typically laugh aloud for editorial cartoons, but I found this one pretty funny. For those of you who don't live in Winnipeg, a School Board trustee recently remarked that not only should the school division collect data on the weight of kids (to measure the effectiveness of PE programs) but that a child's weight aught to be included on his/her report card. Needless to say this was not a popular proposal. (This cartoon is from today's Winnipeg Free Press.

Xmas Card '07

This year's card was a bit behind schedule, which is why it took so long to post. I might have completely forgotten to upload it if it weren't for an old college buddy who reminded me (thanks Jon).To get the full sized version please be sure to click on the image.

I don’t quite get how people can be so prudish about sex jokes, a lot of which children simply don’t get, but be completely okay with violent and scary films. Is violence okay because it is only fake, while sex is something that is somehow more possible, and therefore dangerous? To me I would rather my kid ask me about some crude sex jokes, to which my answer might be “When you’re old enough to understand what they are talking about I’ll be happy to discuss it with you.” Far worse to have them enjoying sociopathic slaughter in the name of shock value I’d say. Think about it, while the implication of the one is love and passion (even if it’s a bit crudely rendered), the implication of the other is hate and cold-blood (beautifully cinematic in how it splatters across the screen).

So what makes one so “inappropriate” and the other okay. It comes down to one’s particular bias. Last night my Uncle and I were watching “Blades of Glory” with his soon to be seven-year-old daughter. There was definitely some sex jokes there, but she wasn’t getting most of them, and I couldn’t see the harm. Her mom lets her watch horror movies and Family Guy (a show that makes some of the raunchiest references around), so I thought she’d be cool about it. But the sexual references made her very uncomfortable and she ended up insisting we turn the movie off and watching Zack & Cody, and Hannah Montana instead. Such is life.

Response To Air Canada's Response

I received a response from a guy at Air Canada named Guy to the letter I sent earlier this week (see previous post.) Unfortunately I am forbidden by law to reproduce his response, but here is my response to his response. Hopefully you can get the drift of what he said from my rebuttal.

Dear Guy,

Thanks for your quick response. It appears as though your new headsets are an improvement over the old variety. However, I would like to suggest that you take even more aggressive steps to implement a more environmentally friendly approach than the ones you have outlined.

My idea is that Air Canada would no longer offer any headsets to passengers free of charge. Instead Air Canada would offer to sell them a one-to-two-prong converter (which I believe is what you are referring to when you mention retractable plugs) for the ear-buds/headsets they likely already own for use in MP3 players and other entertainment devices (until such time as airplane manufacturers smarten up and build in standard 1/8" jacks). The cost would be reasonable, and yet it would encourage frequent travelers to keep this converter for future flights (say $5 or so). For those rare souls who don't own a set of headphones or ear-buds AC could offer to sell them headsets for a bit more (say $10-$15) either on the flight or when they purchase their ticket (to be distributed when they check-in or during the flight). Would this cause a bit more work for your flight attendants? Initially yes, but in the long run it will likely save time.

Nice as it is that you have reduced land-fill and CO2 emissions by using smaller sets and encouraging people to keep them, offering them as complementary does not encourage passengers to take any responsibility for themselves. In a past age when personal electronic devices where not quite so ubiquitous offering headsets was pardonable, today it seems extremely wasteful. Furthermore, a program to recycle the sets you currently offer (as your current Heathrow experiment suggests) is a PR exercise that is ultimately wasting resources when you have a much simpler solution at hand. For those who do not own headsets and have no intention of ever purchasing them there is always the in-flight magazine.

I hope you will consider my proposal seriously, I consider it extremely reasonable.

Sincerely,
Ryan Kinrade

Did I witness the wanton disposal of many, barely-used, headsets?

Dear Air Canada,

On arrival from Calgary last night I noticed that the flight attendant collected all the in-flight headsets that people did not want to keep for future flights in a trash bag, along with the rest of the garbage. Is it common practice for you to freely distribute these headsets only to send them to the dump after a single use? If so can you please explain this wasteful policy to me in further detail.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.