Andrew McKay

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Happy tampon song demystifies menstruation for youngsters

There are some things men just aren’t comfortable talking about. Like the female menstrual cycle. Often the topic of unpleasant jokes and male confusion, it’s a subject that’s ripe for explanation, if only a man would sit still long enough to listen.

Fortunately, one Swedish entertainer is doing his best to dispel some of the myths of menstruation with a video featuring dancing tampons and an easy-to-understand message: the period is something to understand, and with which to empathize.

Alex Hermansson is a 23-year-old host for the Barnkanalen TV channel. He produced a video that is slated to be broadcast as part of a larger program on menstruation.The video accompanies a song with lyrics like “We just need to be extra nice, show a little patience,” “sing and be glad, tampon and pad” and “it’s a healthy thing, let it stream, cuddle up, eat lots of ice cream!”

Hermansson told The Local menstruation isn’t a subject that makes him uneasy, so the song was a fun project to work on.

"I think it's just fun and cool to talk about periods (...) the only thing that was a little awkward was to sing in public, just because I am really not an experienced singer."

He added: "The more knowledge and transparency [there is] the less of a stigma that many girls carry."

SVT, which is producing the program, hopes the video and other programs shine a light on a subject that is ever-present but rarely discussed, especially amongst youngsters.

"You should be able to talk about the most natural thing as half the world's population is involved,”said Petter Bragée, in charge of programmes for children and young people for SVT according to the Local.

He said he believed that one way to demystify the subject was to produce "something lighthearted" and said he hoped that menstruation would become less taboo as a result.

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Mom blasts party store for sexist Halloween costumes

Lin Kramer was searching for Halloween costumes for her three year-old daughter when, she said, she was taken aback by the sexist options available on the Web site of Party City.

When she complained, she said, the company banned her from their Facebook page.

Kramer, an attorney, wrote an open letter to Party City last week after she discovered some shocking discrepancies among Party City’s costumes.

As you can see, the classic costumes for boys include 53 assorted options, ranging from traditional vampire attire to a ‘rascal pirate’ to 16 costumes relating to possible occupations.

Meanwhile, the classic costumes for girls include 45 options, ranging from a ‘vampire queen’ to a ‘precious pirate’ to three costumes relating to possible occupations. (It is worth noting that I have generously included in this number the ‘cheerleader’ as a possible occupation, despite it being well known that even NFL cheerleaders are not paid well enough for this to be their only source of income, as well as the ‘cowgirl,’ although, unlike the ‘cowboy,’ she is clearly not appropriately dressed to be employed on any sort of working ranch).

To be clear, that means 30 per cent of the costumes you market to boys are based on occupations, while just under 7 per cent of the costumes you market to girls are based on occupations.

Kramer also took the company to task for the kinds of girls’ costumes, decrying the fact that the toddler girls’ police costume, for example, features calf-high boots and a skirt.

When you look around at the police officers in your city or neighborhood, the uniforms they wear are probably substantially similar to the costumes you have elected to offer for boys. However, the same cannot be said of the costume you market to girls. Generally speaking, real life uniformed female police officers do not wear short skirts and low cut shirts, but instead wear exactly the same slacks and shirts as their male counterparts. Further, while your choice to market these different costumes to different genders is remarkable in and of itself, it is worth noting that this disparate treatment was apparently at least somewhat conscious on the part of your business.

When Kramer posted the letter to Party City’s Facebook page, she said she got a generic response. But then the post was deleted, and she was banned form the page. (Her posting privileges have since been restored, she told Mashable.)

The affair is turning into a fiasco for Party City. Each of the company’s Facebook posts this week has been over-run with complaints about the company’s treatment of Kramer, and its sexualization of young girls. With almost 2 million fans on Facebook, Party City’s customers constitute to see comments like this one each time they see one of the company’s posts:

You can't ignore us. We won't stop. Women are fed up with being overly sexualized and sick of seeing companies trying to sexualize our daughters! You delete educated comments and refuse to respond with anything more than a cookie cutter comment that's copied and pasted. Until you can address your customers' concerns, I will not be shopping at your store and will continue asking my friends and family to do the same! 

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Don’t take your bachelorette party to a comedy show - here’s why

If you’re trying to plan a bachelorette party and you think it would be hilarious to take the bride-to-be to a comedy show, a well-known comedian has one word of advice: don’t.

Nick DiPaolo, a standup comedian who has written for the “Chris Rock Show” and the Oscars, and has a recurring role on Louis C.K.’s TV series “Louie,” told Marc Maron’s WTF podcast that a comedy show is the worst possible place to take a bachelorette party:

“I say to the girls now ‘I’m flattered you came out to see me, but why aren’t you at Chippendales? Your best friend is getting married, which means you’re not going to see much of her for the next 50 years. So this might be the last night you’re out with her, and you’re going to come to a place where you can’t talk?’”

DiPaolo and Maron said comedians cringe when they see a bachelorette party at a comedy club. They’re always sitting in the front of the house, and they find a way to make the whole show about their party.

“I think what they’re really looking for is ‘yeah, they’ll make fun of her’,” Maron said.

“So they expect us to do what we’re going to do, but they don’t realize that we hate them, and it’s not going to be that fun.”

“I’ve made a couple of bridal parties cry,” DiPaolo said. He recounted one incident where, after being heckled by a stagette before he even got near the microphone, a verbal war of words erupted that culmniated with most of the crowd marching out, and DiPaolo needing a security escort to get back to his hotel.

“Don’t sit the bachelorette party up front,” he pleads.

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‘The League’ actor admits he lied about being at World Trade Center during 9/11 attacks

A comedian and television star whose professional backstory centered on escaping the World Trade Center during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has admitted that he made the whole thing up.

Steve Rannazzisi, one of the lead actors on “The League,” has said in interviews that he worked for Merrill Lynch in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Rannazzisi claimed that he escaped the building after the North Tower was hit, and was on the street outside when the South Tower was hit by the second plane.

It was his presence at the attacks, he has claimed, that caused him to re-evaluate: he quit his desk job, and moved to California to pursue acting.

It’s a compelling story, and the kind entertainment writers eat up.

But on Wednesday, after being questioned on inconsistencies in his story by a New York Times, Rannazzisi admitted he wasn’t anywhere near the World Trade Centre that day.

As a young man, I made a mistake that I deeply regret and for which apologies may still not be enough.

— Stephen Rannazzisi (@SteveRannazzisi)

September 16, 2015

After I moved with my wife to Los Angeles from New York City in 2001 shortly after 9/11, I told people that I was in one of the World Trade

— Stephen Rannazzisi (@SteveRannazzisi)

September 16, 2015

Center towers on 9/11. It wasn’t true. I was in Manhattan but working in a building in midtown and I was not at the Trade Center on that day

— Stephen Rannazzisi (@SteveRannazzisi)

September 16, 2015

Rannazzisi tweeted that he made the mistake as a young man and wished he could correct it through silence. But the New York Times reported that Ranazzisi continued to claim he was at the World Trade Centre on 9/11 as recently as 2011.

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Innocence lost, on the fourth day of kindergarten

Today was supposed to be a breakthrough day at school for my son. He’s finishing up his first week of junior kindergarten, and he told me yesterday he’d made his first new friend, who we’ll call ”Albert.”

Albert, we figured out, is the same boy who’s started each day this week in tears because he didn’t want his parents to leave him when school started. So today’s agenda consisted solely of making sure my son found Albert before the morning bell, and playing with Albert to make the morning transition a little easier.

Each day, Jack’s class has a different activity. One day it’s drama, another it’s music. On our walk to school this morning, I asked Jack what today’s activity was, and he answered, nonchalantly: “lockup practice.”

What’s ‘lockup practice’?” I asked.

“It’s where we lock the doors and close all the windows and lie on the carpet until they say we can get up,” he said, without breaking stride, as if I’d asked him what he had for lunch and he had replied “carrots.”

Jack was playing it cool, so I did too. He didn’t mention why he thought they were doing lockup (actually officially called “lockdown”) practice, or when he might need to use it, so I figured I’d leave that to the teachers. I dropped him off at the playground, he found Albert, and off they went to play on the jungle gym.

It was only after I left Jack that the reality of what had just happened began to settle in.

Jack’s been in daycare and a Montessori school for the last three years, so we’re used to security measures like locked gates, buzzers, and sign-out sheets that specify who’s allowed to pick him up. And my job means I’m often exposed to the rawest, most terrifying details of events like the Charleston and Sandy Hook shootings.

But I’d never put two and two together like this. Before this morning, my biggest worry was that I’d accidentally send peanut butter in his lunch, or forget to pick him up from his after-school program. I was worried about bullies. Yesterday we forgot to put his water bottle in his bag. Earlier in the week he didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to drink his juice box (because the school has a littler-free lunch policy). Until today, it had never occurred to me to be worried that someone might try to attack my son at school.

As I got further away from the school, I was overcome by a feeling of…helplessness. No more than 100 metres from the hospital where he was born, less than a kilometre from our house, Jack is in a school where you’d think he would be safe. Canada’s only had a few instances of school shootings, and they all happened at high schools. But Sandy Hook in 2012 changed everything. When 20 children and 6 adults were shot and killed in an elementary school, it was an alert that nobody is really safe anywhere.

Toronto’s had its emergency response program in effect since at least 2005, six years after two students killed 12 pupils and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. That means there are kids in high school today for whom some form of lockdown practice has been a reality throughout their school life.  Twice a year, they practice.

Lockdown practice isn’t there in case something bad is happening nearby; there’s a “Hold and Secure” policy for that. Lockdown practice is specifically for instances where there is a “serious emergency situation where the threat is inside, on or very near to the school. A Lockdown requires that all students be kept in classrooms or other designated locations that are away from the threat.”

I’ve been frustrated of late over what feels like backwards, head-in-the-sand thinking by parents regarding the adoption of Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum. I want my child to learn things. I want him to question what he learns, and to ask questions. I want him to know about the realities of the world; I don’t need to hide him behind placards or claims that we, as parents, can teach him everything he’ll ever need to know.

So today my four-year-old is learning how to hide under a table, in case someone attacks his school with a gun.  And the best I can hope is he’s listening, and helping Albert, and he’ll never have to use anything he learned today.

But even if he doesn’t, his world has changed forever. Like a lot of four-year-olds, Jack thinks an activity that happened today will happen every day. For months last year, I tried to explain why we couldn’t go to the CNE today (It’s November!). He asks if Christmas can be tomorrow. He had a salami wrap for breakfast once, and liked it, and then had one every day for the next three weeks.

Tonight, when I ask about his day, I’ll have to ask Jack how lockdown practice went. And he’ll probably ask me if they’re going to have lockdown practice every day. So I’ll answer as honestly as I can. Because the answer, in a way, is yes.

It’s a hell of a lesson to learn on the fourth day of junior kindergarten. For him, and for me.

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Lipstick tutorial reveals jarring truth of acid attacks

It looks like a simple makeup tutorial, but a new video from Make Love Not Scars has a shocking twist.

The video, titled “Beauty Tips by Reshma: How to get perfect red lips,” promises to teach “the right way to wear red lipstick and get that perfect pout every time!”

But this isn’t your ordinary makeup video. Reshma is an acid attack survivor, and her face is a portrait of the after-effects of the attack.

The juxtaposition of the superficiality of applying the perfect lipstick, against the reality of life after an acid attack, is jarring.  

The video is part of a campaign from Make Love not Scars, aimed at ending the sale of acid to the general public. In India, the sale of acid is supposed to be illegal, but in reality it’s generally available on the streets, and often used in attacks against women.

The campaign also produced a video on applying the perfect eyeliner, which is equally shocking since Reshma has one ye permanently disfigured and shut from an acid attack.

Make Love Not Scars is promoting a petition aimed at ending the sale of acid. So far it’s received over 43,000 signatures.

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This is what happens when you remove all Caucasian dialogue from major movies

With the issue of race in film brought back to the forefront in recent months, one Tumblr is shining a much-need light on the stark lack of people of color in Hollywood films.

Every Single Word was built by actor Dylan Marron to highlight the scarcity of good roles for people of colour. He edits notable movies to eliminate everything but “Every Single Word Spoken by a Person of Color in [Mainstream Film Title].”

The results are jarring. In a film like “Black Swan,” for example, there are just 24 seconds of lines. In “American Hustle,” 54 seconds of lines weren’t spoken by Caucasians.

ALSO SEE: Nine white actors who were cast as different races

Marron told BuzzFeed he started the project because he was tired of being told he couldn’t play certain roles because of his “type.”

“It seems like no matter how far I’ve come, or how much work I have under my belt, this industry still finds a way to tell me what I can and can’t represent,” he said.

While the lack of diversity in some of the films might be understandable (although not excusable) due to their subject matter (Moonrise Kingdom being essentially about a group of white boys at summer camp),  even a modern young hipster classic like ‘The Fault in Our Stars” only weighs in at 42 seconds of non-Caucasian speaking.

Ironically, Marron got his highest-profile role, as Carlos the Scientist on the popular podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” because its creator, Jeffrey Cranor,  got tired of having a white person play a person of colour.

It sucks that there’s a white straight male (me), playing a gay man of color (Carlos). Look, I know it’s a voiceover, but it’s not just that. We do live stage shows, and that’s a visible role for a PoC. Plus, fans often google the actors who play each character, and what does a Latino/Latina teen think when my face might pop up (or worse, no image pops up) as the actor playing Carlos? What am I doing voicing this major character when there are so many talented, gay, Latino or Hispanic men who can/should be doing it? Why didn’t I think of all of this before ep 16? I don’t know.

But here I am: standing in the way of a actor of color getting paid acting work, and I don’t want to do that since I am neither a PoC nor an actor.

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Oprah’s crop top faux-pas sparks online backlash

A fashion faux-pas by Oprah Winfrey’s magazine has sparked a belly-baring backlash by “people of size.”

In the July issue of “O”, an advice column attributed to creative Director Adam Glassman said women should wear crop top shirts “if (and only if!) you have a flat stomach)”.

http://dopenmind.tumblr.com/post/123601972739/liiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkeeeeee-excuse-me-o

The flippant comment offended a lot of people, including users on Tumblr.

http://technicolourtriumph.tumblr.com/post/123630606394/yo-oprah-oprahmagazine-i-could-write

http://chubblebath.tumblr.com/post/123602942017/oops

One user named Ashlee, who runs the Big Beautiful Black Girls Tumblr, used the slight to make a vocal stand for women who think they should just be allowed to dress however they want.

Now I’m not the biggest girl in the room but, I’ve been thick, big or fat all my life and no matter what you name it society still criticizes .Trying to place you in a box and say oh you can’t wear that, why because you are just too fat .When did my size become your problem for what I choose to wear? I’m not bothering you yet you still stare , when you see me in my crop tops and bikinis .

I’m living freely and quite happy, so society ;please leave me !  I will not conform to your rules telling plus size women they can’t wear prints or bright colours .  Cause all women , whether skinny /fat are allowed to wear whatever they want, when they want .

So @oprahmagazine watch me as I rock my crop top , cause I’ve been pulling this off before it was even a trend !

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Loverboy singer apologizes for ‘Working for the Weekend’

Youtube

Mike Reno would like to apologize for the '80s earworm “Working for the Weekend.”

The B.C.-born Loverboy frontman owes a good deal of his career to the song, which reached No.2 on Billboards’s Hot Mainstream Rock Track countdown in 1982. It wax Loverboy’s highest-charting song at the time, and was chosen as one of VH1’s “Greatest Songs of the 1980s.”

Much like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” was heralded for being a patriotic homage instead of the ant-war screed it actually was, “Working for the Weekend” became something of an anthem despite having nothing to do with actually working. The song is basically about starting over, or going to a bar at night, or something; the only reference to any kind of work is in the title and one line in the chorus.

But still, Reno wants the world to know that he feels bad about casting aspersions on people who actually work, and like their jobs. Especially since he’s starring in an ad for indeed.com, an online job site.

“Years ago, I sang some disparaging lyrics about the work week, claiming that people were looking past it and focusing solely on the weekend. Well, it’s time to admit that maybe I was a little off base. Thanks to Indeed and their 16,000,000 job listings, more people are finding jobs that make them happy.”

Reno even suggests a lyric change for the old standard.

“So now it’s not just all about the weekend. It’s more like “everyone’s really enjoying their time at work, and when the weekend comes, that’s fine too.”

It’s amusing to see Reno making fun of “Working for the Weekend,” since everyone else does too. Its most significant appearances in pop culture are from the Saturday Night Live skit with Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze as Chippendale dancers, and a scene from Zoolander where Ben Stiller is working in a coal mine. 

How do you parody a song that’s basically a parody of itself? By taking it seriously. Well done, Mike Reno.

By the way, Reno’s real name is Joseph Michael Rynoski. Now you know.

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Canada’s best-paid celebrity isn’t Drake or Justin Bieber

Jimmy Brooks has come a long way; but not as far as Canada’s favorite warbler.

Forbes released its first list of the best-paid international celebrities Monday, and Canada’s top export isn’t Justin Bieber; it’s Michael Bublé, who earned over $54 million in the last 12 months thanks to a successful tour. He’s No. 45 on the Forbes list.

One of only two Canadians on this year's Celeb 100, this singer-songwriter remains a popular performer, earning millions from the 71 shows he played as part of his To Be Loved tour during our scoring period. Bublé also appeared on the small screen, hosting his 4th Annual Christmas Special for NBC and appearing on Sesame Street. With a confirmed new album in the works, it seems Bublé will be singing the world love songs for quite a while.

Drake, the child-star-turned-rapper who grossed $39.5 million U.S. in 2014-2015, was the second Canadian on the list. The 28 year-old Toronto native ranked No. 54 on Forbes’ list; an impressive accomplishment when you consider how much time he spent sitting courtside at Toronto Raptors games last season.

“Drake goes 0 to 100 real quick this year, joining the Celebrity 100 for the first time thanks mostly to his earnings on the road,” the magazine said.

Celebrity endorsements help; Drake’s income was supplemented with deals from Sprite and Nike, Forbes said. The magazine also credited Drake’s record “If You’re Reading This It’s too Late,” which propelled him to top billing on the summer festival circuit, including his own OVO shows.

The list measures money earned between June 1, 2014 and June 1 2015.  The top two earners, somewhat surprisingly, are boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, who earned $300 million and $160 million respectively thanks mainly to their blockbuster May 2 match that drove over 4 million pay-per-view buys. Even more surprising was the third-place finisher: Katy Perry. Perry made $135 million thanks to a hardcore overseas touring schedule, Forbes said.

As part of her Prismatic World Tour, she played 124 shows during our scoring period; 75 of them took place abroad, in 27 different countries. According to her managers, 60% of her income now pours in from foreign markets.

In fact, maybe the only non-surprising entry in the top five is musical group One Direction at No. 4. Shock jock and talent show judge Howard Stern ranked fifth with over $95 million, and #6 was Garth Brooks, the 90’s-era country star whose unretirement tour has been grossing over $1 million a night.

As for Taylor Swift, she did OK, with $80 million. That was good for eighth on the list (tied with Iron Man Robert Downey Jr.), but somehow lagging behind airport novel kingpin James Patterson, who somehow sold $89 million’ worth of angsty tween and easily-consumable thriller novels in the last year. 

Bieber, by the way, did not make the top 100.

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The Canadian actor who was almost a Star Wars star

Few "Star Wars" afficionados know how close we came to having a Canadian in a pivotal role in the original film. Garrick Hagon, born in England and raised in Toronto, had a very small role in the original "Star Wars" as Biggs Darklighter, also known as Red Three in the squadron that attacked the Death Star. But when the movie was re-issued in 1997, Biggs’ role was expanded slightly to include a 32-second scene in the Rebel hangar. Biggs and Luke Skywalker embrace and talk about some past experiences and how far they’ve come, alluding to some long-lost friendship that’s never explained. Now, a short documentary has shed light on how that scene came to be, and what it all meant. And the short version is, if George Lucas had stuck to his original filming, Hagon might be famous as Luke’s cool cape-wearing childhood best friend, instead of being relegated to the annals of Wookipedia trivia as a red squadron fighter who got blown up. Jamie Benning spoke to Hagon for "Blast it Biggs! Where are you?!" about the experience of shooting "Star Wars," and how it felt to be left mainly on the cutting room floor. Biggs description in the script was “a burly handsome boy, a few years older than the rest…his flashy city attire is a sharp contrast to the loose-fitting tunics of the farm boys.” "It was a good part,” Hagon said.

In the deleted scene, meant to open the film, Biggs tells Luke - who’s already preoccupied with spotting rebel fighters in the sky - that he and some of his compatriots are breaking free to join the rebellion. Luke’s wide-eyed bewilderment belies his future commitment to the cause, and Biggs’ steadfast refusal to be drafted by the Empire leaves Luke longing to get away from Tattoine. To understand Luke’s commitment to the rebellion later in the film, this scene would have been as close to actual exposition as Star Wars could get. Sure enough, the scene ends with Luke telling Biggs, “Take it easy, buddy. you’ll always be the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Hagon thinks the scene would have offered a lot to the original film. “There’s a lot in that scene that explains why (Luke) leaves the farm and goes off to the rebels.” “There’s a lot just in terms of character, in terms of the relationship with (Luke) and the gang at Anchorhead,” Hagon said. “To miss that is a gap, to me.” Alas, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas said the roles were created to placate critics, and he wasn’t comfortable with keeping them in the film. “Basically they didn’t work,” Lucas said at the beginning of Bennings’ documentary. Lucas said critics thought the opening scenes of the movie were too wrapped up in science fiction, and needed a personal touch.

“(They said) ’it’s all about robots. you’ve got to put some people in the beginning’. So I put Luke in the beginning of the movie.” Wwhat they shot was a four -minute scene that Hagon said was all-or-nothing; there wasn’t really an opportunity to shorten it.

“There was too much in there,” he said, “There was too much information to cut it and put little pieces of the scene back.”

When Lucas tried to drop the scene into the script, he felt it didn’t fit.

“We cut it together and it just didn’t work. So we put it back the way it was intended.” As working actor, Hagon wasn’t particularly fazed by the cuts, until the movie became a global phenomenon.

"We didn’t really know how gigantic it was,” Hagon said. “At the time is was admiration mixed with disappointment. I realized then what a chunk had gone.” If it had to end, though, at least Biggs got to go out with a bang - he was blown up on the approach to the Death Star by none other than Darth Vader himself.

Blast it Biggs! Where are you?! - By @jamieswb from Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning on Vimeo.

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At the Boston Marathon, a new tradition is born over a beer

One picture. Two guys, on the side of the road, sharing a beer. Nothing out of the ordinary, except it happened in the middle of the Boston Marathon, and one of the guys was a runner. And this is how a tradition was started, and a friendship was formed,  between a Canadian and a New Englander, on Facebook and on the side of the road in the middle of the most fabled road race of all time. For eight years, the families have been gathering at the Bianchi house on West Central in Natick, Mass., to watch the Boston Marathon. The Bianchi house sits near the 10-mile marker on the course, the most hallowed race course in running history, one marred by the atrocity of the bombing at the finish line in 2013. A year later, the 2014 race still carried those scars, and they reached all the way back to Natick; a lingering evil that threatened the usually joyous mood of what the locals simply call “the marathon.”

"It was so tense to see all the police cars and SWAT teams before the race,” Danny Langan said. Danny’s one of the regulars at the Bianchi house. Every year, he packs up a wagon with refreshments - alcoholic and otherwise - and brings his wife and kids to the Bianchi house to watch the marathon. They make a day of it - a day with friends, and the community, and the runners. They offer sliced oranges and water, but more importantly, they offer encouragement to the tens of thousands of runners who stream by every Patriots’ Day.

The Bianchi house sits near the 16-kilometre point of the race to a Canadian, a Canadian like Dave Emilio, a Torontonian who, as he was approaching the Bianchi house in 2014, was deciding it was time to drop out of the race. His singlet was a runner’s version of the 1972 Canada team that overcame all odds to knock off the Russians, but there weren’t any miracles in store on this day. Running with what turned out to be a torn tensor fascia latae - a fancy term for a hip injury - Dave had fallen behind his running partners, popped some Tylenol with no relief, and come to the realization this wasn’t his day. Dave started to walk just after the 15k post, early enough to know the finish line is much too far away to get there on his own. Carrying his phone in case of such an eventuality, Dave texted his wife to tell her he was finished.

So Dave started looking for a ride home. That’s when he came across Danny.

“Come on Canada, keep going!” Danny yelled, trying to give the failing runner a little boost. But all Dave wanted was directions to the train station.

"I told Danny 'I’m done. Hurting too bad to continue'," Dave said.

Danny said he’d give Dave a ride himself, but they were on the wrong side of the road. Instead, Danny told Dave to go see his friends John and Toby in the yellow house a mile ahead, on the other side of the road. They’d give him a ride to the train. “Tell them you’re a friend of Danny’s!”

Before he left, Dave spotted Danny’s cooler.  So he did what any good Canadian would do on a day when things aren’t going well. Dave asked Danny for a beer.

“Are we really doing this?” Danny said. He was in shock. Dave’s bib number - a red 7531 - showed he had been in the first wave of starters, one of the truly top-level runners in this race. And now, he was stopping at the Bianchi house, for a beer.

“When he asked, it was kind of cool,” Danny said.

“I saw he had a low number; that stood out in my head.”

Danny gave Dave a beer, and the two posed for a photo. Dave posted it to Facebook. Dave headed back onto the course, walking, limping. And then a funny thing happened. He got caught up in the crowd, started jogging lightly, and went right past the yellow house on the other side of the road. So he set his sights on the lovely ladies of Wellesley College, at Mile 13. Figured he’d walk to Wellesley and look for a ride home.

But Dave’s wife told him if he wanted to walk the rest of the way, she’d wait for him. So he did, finishing his fifth Boston Marathon in 4:38 - almost a full 90 minutes slower than his qualifying time.

"I settled into a slow painful run, limp-hobble that resembled Terry Fox’s gait and I just thought that this could be worse and battled through it," Dave said.

"Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the whole run despite the injury."

The story of the hip, and the mid-race beer, were the talk around Dave’s running club. In Natick, it was a fun story between the Bianchis, and the Langans, and those who were there that day. If nothing else, it helped erase some of the lingering feelings from 2013.

“This was the cure,” Langan said.

“It was a way to bring back into reality what the race means, to feel the runners’ joy and happiness.”

With the 2015 Boston Marathon approaching, Dave was suffering through another injury, one that made it a 50/50 proposition that he’d be able to run full speed in Boston. Dave began thinking back to 2014, and that beer. All he had was a photo taken somewhere along the course, but it was enough to pique his interest. He studied the photo, then searched Google Maps to find a house somewhere along West Central that looked like the one where he stopped. He found the address, and with no idea who lived there, he wrote a letter addressed to “My Boston Beer Buddy, 84 W Central St, Natick MA 01760.”

“I’m coming back and hope you’re out there cheering again…I’m hoping to enjoy another beer with you.”

Danny Langan was at the Boston Red Sox game on Opening Day when he got a text message from his wife.

“Wait til you get home - you should see this letter.”

The letter had arrived at the Bianchi house. Annalyse Bianchi told Danny’s wife Carolyn ”your husband got a letter at my house. Remember the Canadian runner?”

“It was the coolest story ever,” Danny said. “Nobody’s looking for a'thank you' but it was really genuine. It made an impression on me and whole community.”

So Danny did what everyone does these days: he found Dave on Facebook. Told him they’d received the letter, and of course, stop by again this year! And then he spread the word with his friends, and neighbors. Dave said he’d stop by for a wave if things are going well, and a little longer if they weren’t. When Dave started the marathon on Monday, things were going much better. His new injury was holding off, and he was having a much better race. In fact, he was on pace to requalify for next year's Boston Marathon.

But he had a date to keep first. So he kept his eyes out on West Central Street, for the house he'd run past many times but had seen only once before, the house that was now etched in his memory. He found the Bianchi house, and he found Danny, and he caught him by surprise - Dave's timing chip misfired on Monday, so nobody knew where he was on the course. A huge crowd of people was waiting to cheer Dave on. Danny's kids had signs, and total strangers knew Dave's name and cheered. Danny had a cooler full of Sam Adams beer, emblematic of the Boston hospitality Dave had enjoyed the year before. They shared a drink, and took another photo. And off Dave went, with what seemed like the whole town of Natick behind him, cheering him on to another Boston qualifying time.

Sometimes, the best-laid plans go awry. Danny had arranged for “Friends of Danny’s” signs all along the course - at the Neville's house a mile down the road, at Danny’s mother’s house in Newton, at Danny’s brother’s father-in-law’s house near the Wellesley Hospital. All of them cheering Dave on, all of them, Danny said, signifying one thing for their adopted Canadian runner:

“If you need anything, here’s a place to stop.”

 But the stupid timing chip didn't work, so they couldn't track Dave's progress, and they couldn't tell when he'd be arriving. So the Nevilles didn't know when he ran past, and Dave didn't know he was supposed to be looking for them. But on this day, Dave didn't need to stop. Knowing all of these people were there carried him through Natick, through Newton, through the whole damn race.

"I really enjoyed the whole day knowing the support was there," Dave said after the race.

"Even after I left them behind I was still pumped. I thought of them a lot the rest of the way and also fed off the crowd thinking, if they're so nice, I bet all of these people are nice too. Such a great crowd of cheers the whole way."

His injury held up; he was slowed late in the race by stomach problems, of all things. It wasn't a personal best by any means, but he ran the 2015 Boston Marathon in 3:38.

Not bad for a guy with a bad hip, a guy who stopped halfway through the race to have a beer and to catch up with an old friend.

[amckayyahoo]

The dwindling power of the Canadian passport

It’s probably no surprise that when it comes to universal access, the US and UK passports are the best in the world. But you might be shocked to find out Canada’s passport isn’t as powerful as you might have thought.

Arton Capital has built a “Passport Index”, which ranks all the world’s passports based on the ease of travel they offer, counting all the countries a passport holder can visit either without a visa, or with a visa they can obtain on arrival. The US and UK passports provide direct access to 147 countries.

Technically, Canada has a rank of 7 on the Passport Index because our passport provides access to 140 countries. But there are actually 18 countries whose passports provide better access without visa restrictions, including some surprising ones like South Korea, Luxembourg and Portugal.

We shouldn’t worry too much about the waning power of our passport, though; it’s apparently still the document of choice for “for spies, state-sponsored assassins, terrorists and just about anyone else seeking to be plausibly ordinary across a range of languages, ethnicities and religions,” according to the Globe and Mail.

Aside from Canada’s dwindling powers of global access, the Passport Index is fun to browse as it lets you sort by ranking, nation, and even colour.

Arton’s rankings looked at the 193 UN member countries and 6 territories for a total of 199. Territories belonging to other countries were excluded.

For the visa-free count, Arton consulted IATA's Timaticweb platform and other sources.

[amckayyahoo]

Americans in Canada racing to give up passports

In every U.S. election, there are always threats by Americans that they’ll flee to Canada if the candidate they hate wins. Those threats rarely come to anything.

But thanks to a 2014 intergovernmental agreement committing Canada to provide the banking information of Americans living here to the IRS, there appears to be mad rush by some Americans to renounce their U.S. citizenship, and stay here - forever.

According to Global News, almost four times as many U.S. citizens as normal dumped their citizenship in March. The reason is an obscure regulation that forces Americans to fill out a Foreign Bank Account Report if they have an account abroad that totals over $10,000 in a year, according to the Wall Street Journal. While income earned abroad is mostly exempt from U.S. taxes, the penalty for not filling out the necessary paperwork can equal up to 50 per cent of the value of the account. In 2010, the U.S. passed FATCA, a law forcing Americans abroad to turn over banking information, and started going after people who weren’t reporting their money.

After that law came into effect, Patricia Moon had a choice: either renounce her citizenship and avoid the enforcement of IRS penalties, or risk fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and face a lifetime of reporting and sending cash back to the U.S, she told the Wall Street Journal. Moon, who lives in Toronto, gave up her passport, rather than face the prospect of exposing her husband’s finances to the U.S. government and paying U.S. capital gains tax on their house in Canada. After she did it, she said, she “bawled her eyes out.”

Now, Americans who haven’t played by the rules could find their banking information handed over to the IRS anyway. The 2014 agreement means Canadian banks will turn over that financial information directly. The first reports are due May 1, which is why Americans who don’t want their financial data sent to the IRS are scrambling to become non-Americans in a hurry.

Despite a hefty fee - which jumped from U.S.$450 to U.S.$2350 last summer, according to Global News - the backlog to book a renunciation appointment at some U.S. consulates in Canada is now nearing a full year.

Global News cited a U.S. army veteran who has lived in Canada for 42 years, who flew from Ontario to a U.S. consulate in Calgary in March to complete his loss-of-nationality paperwork, because it was the earliest appointment he could get.

“I’ve lived Canadian for 42 years – give me a break,” said the man identified only as ‘Dale.’

“I’m not going back to the U.S., I have no ties to the U.S., I don’t own property down there. Why would I not formalize this and get my certificate?”

While Dale’s case seems cut and dried, others aren’t as lucky. Ruth Freeborn of Kingston, ON told Reason.com that the decision to give up her U.S. citizenship was “a gut wrenching experience that I do not think I will ever be over.”

Freeborn doesn’t make any of her own money, but she said banks were likely to err on the side of handing over too much information, putting her family’s finances at risk.

“They say they cannot afford to ferret out all Americans and anyone related to them every year and then on top of that ferret out who met the thresholds so to save money they are jU.S.t going to report on everyone with any ‘U.S. indicia.’ They don't even have to be American, just share joint accounts with one,” she told Reason.com.

Freeborn’s choice is one that more and more people are making, according to a study by the University of Kent (at Brusssels) this past winter. The survey found that 31 per cent of U.S. citizens and former citizens have actively thought about renouncing U.S. citizenship and 3 per cent were in the process of doing so.

The reason, the survey found, isn’t income; it’s the increasing pressure to meet U.S. financial reporting requirements. At best, Americans abroad face thousands of dollars in accounting fees to prove they don’t owe the U.S. any money; at worst, they can be penalized tens of thousands of dollars for not reporting properly. It’s a lot of effort, and a lot of risk, for people who have already chosen to live elsewhere.

The report also found another subsector of Canadians who could get caught in the U.S. tax trap: those born along the border to parents of both nationalities. One survey respondent said:

“Canada is home to many border babies, born in the U.S. because that was the location of the closest hospital, and 'accidentals' like myself who left the U.S. as young children with no say in where they were born.” For those children, U.S. citizenship, while a birthright, has never been more than a matter of convenience, and is easily cast away when financial hardship is on the line.

In fact, a U.S. State Department representative told Global News that Canada now leads the list of countries where Americans are willfully handing in their passports. On May 1, it could get even worse.

[amckayyahoo]

Five things you didn't know about the Canadian passport

This week a Bowmanville, Ont. couple found out the hard way that just having a valid passport isn’t enough to get you out of the country. Dallas Hill and Evan Bouckley were prevented from boarding a flight to Italy because Hill's passport was set to expire in July; Canadians who are travelling to the Shengen area of European states need passports that will be valid for at least three months after they leave the region they're visiting. Some countries have even stricter passport authentication requirements.

Validity requirements aren’t the only things some Canadians don't know about their passports. Here are five more.

Royal prerogative

Technically, your passport is granted by the Queen of Canada (which is different from the Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, even though they’re the same person). A passport application can be denied simply by "royal prerogative," which was invoked famously when Omar Khadr applied for a passport in 2006. Fortunately, Charter rights mean such a denial is extremely rare.

No more tint

As of May 9, tinted glasses aren’t allowed in passport photos, to ensure that the holder's eyes are "well defined and clear." Sorry, Bono. It’s a popular prop for assassins

James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King’s assassin, used a Canadian passport with the name Ramon George Sneya to elude the FBI in 1968. In 1940, Spaniard Ramon Mercader del Rio used a Canadian passport to travel to Mexico City, where he killed Leon Trotsky. In 1973, Mossad agents used false Canadian passports to kill a waiter in Norway suspected of being a terrorist operative. Hidden images

The new ePassports have a lot of eye-pleasing features, not the least of which are the illuminated images that come alive under a blacklight. Colours, flowers and even fireworks jump off the page when the passport is lit properly. No autographs please, we’re children

Contrary to the claims of some airlines and border agents, you shouldn’t have your child sign their passport unless they’re over 11 and the they meet the strict requirements of Passport Canada. Parents should never sign for their children; it voids the passport.

[amckayyahoo]

The hidden dress code message in school hallways

A silent upheaval is happening across schools in Canada and the US. On the surface, it appears to be about dress codes, but in reality it’s the first wave of a vocal uprising from students around puberty and sexualization in schools, according to one expert.

In early April, a 15-word post went up on Tumblr with a picture that quickly went viral.

  Signs like this have been appearing in schools across North America for the last couple of years, but nobody is really talking about them. The issue, at first glance, is straightforward: dress codes that unfairly target girls.

But the issue isn’t nearly that simple, says Dr. Gabrielle Morrissey, a human sexuality and relationships expert. The signs aren’t just a way to argue against dress codes; they’re an important first step for teens to proclaim that they want to lead the conversation on matters of sexuality, gender equality and self-esteem.

“It's almost like an anonymous "take back the night" campaign,” Morrissey told Yahoo Canada.

“They’re not empowered enough to attach names and faces to it, but they’re trying to take the power and exert their voices and selves. I take the signs as a direct invitation to want to lead and or be involved in the discussion.”

Don't say rules are rules. That’s just telling girls to shut up.

—Andrea Stokes

That willingness to lead would fill an important gap in an issue that has dominated headlines in years past. Every spring, as the weather gets nicer and winter coats go back in the closet, the matter of dress codes and appropriate dress comes up again. And each year, students complain that they’re left out of the discussion of a policy that directly impacts their self-expression. Sexualization is inferred where it doesn’t always exist, and the girls have no say in the matter.

When a student tries to change that paradigm, the results usually aren’t pretty.

Last May, Tallie Doyle was taken to the principal’s office at Fisher Park Public School in Ottawa because she refused to cover up a spaghetti-strap shirt with black bra straps showing underneath. Tallie, then 14, knew the outfit contravened the school’s dress code, but she didn’t understand why the policy existed. So she challenged it.

Andrea Stokes, Doyle’s mother, supported her daughter. Stokes said Tallie didn’t think of her clothes as sexual; to her they were just what she thought was fashionable.

“In the years of 12-14, it really was ‘I’m just putting my clothes on’,” Stokes said.

“Even wearing bras was new to her. Nobody in her life had ever sexualized her before.”

Empowered by a healthy dose of “righteous indignation,” as Stokes calls it, Tallie was willing to take a stand. She spoke to the media, and demanded answers. And the backlash was incredible.

“We were all shocked at the vitriol,” Stokes said.

“The flak was unbelievable.”

Near-constant harassment

That backlash included what Stokes calls “near-constant harassment” of Tallie by boys, both at Fisher Park and at her new high school. Parents have judged them, and the comments online and in social media bordered on outlandish. (One example: “Sorry young lady but a classroom is not a cocktail lounge and the object is to get an education rather than to set up for a Saturday night date.”)

We asked the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to discuss why dress codes like the one that ensnared Tallie are enforced. Sharlene Hunter of the OCDSB sent a statement that included the following:

“This student dress policy is based on the expectation that schools shall be safe and respectful learning environments. It is not about "distracting boys". The dress code is applied to all students.”

The part of the OCDSB policy that applied to Tallie, it’s presumed, is a prohibition on “sexually explicit or revealing dress.”

That wording, Dr. Morrissey said, is part of the problem.

“Even the language we use to describe it implies sexuality,” she said.

When the policy assumes a matter of sexuality, Morrissey said, it’s incumbent on the administrators to deal with it in a way that encompasses all the issues it raises.

“The discussion is about both genders, gender roles, sexual control, sexual invitation and sexual response, gender equality … and in comprehensive sex ed, rather than one or two rushed health education classes, these discussions can take place among teachers and students, where whether they get to make the rules or not, there is healthy debate about them so they better understand the complexity of the world in which they are growing up.”

In Tallie’s case, Stokes said she challenged the dress code because she wanted to know why it existed in the first place. She never got an answer, or at least one she liked.

Don’t say ‘rules are rules,’” Stokes said.

“That’s just telling girls to shut up. Make sure they’re implemented in a way to be compassionate.”

There’s also a fair question of whether the dress code is adequately addressing all the issues it purports to deal with.

“Larger conversations around gender roles and stereotypes can be discussed through the topic of dress codes,” Dr. Morrissey said.

“Why is it we feel girls can’t show their bodies, that their developing sexuality is something to be shameful of? Does it potentially elicit thoughts of “uncontrollable” sexual urges among boys and men? What does that mean we are saying about boys and men in today’s society then?”

One size fits all?

Another issue is whether a blanket policy is the right approach at all. The OCDSB has a dress code policy for the entire board. The Toronto District School Board and Vancouver School Board each draft their policies by school, to address community-specific issues that might not be relevant at other schools.

Ellen Roberts is the principal of Kitsilano Secondary School. She’s often pulled in both directions, by students who want to push the envelope, and parents who want her to draw a firm line in the sand. She manages by trying to understand the changing reality of the school-age population.

“Sexualization is out there, and the trend is towards more acceptance,” Roberts said.

“We have more open conversations about sexuality.”

Roberts thinks some schools’ policies towards the issues that impact teenagers are outdated. For example, there are signs in schools banning cell phone use, while the sexting culture within the schools is alive and well. It’s a disconnect between policy and reality that serves no-one.

“Some of the stuff is archaic,” Roberts said. And that includes dress codes.

“I think there’s an old-fashioned attitude towards dress, and I think we need to change it,” she said.

“I’ve seen a lot of navels, but I think the girls are confident, high-achieving. There are kids that push the boundaries, but you already know about them for other reasons.”

Roberts is seeing students who want to flip the question, asking why teachers and administrators are assuming sexual motives in their dress.

“We find ourselves in positions where they say ‘why are you looking at us like that?’”

Those messages, like the ones popping up on hallway doors, point to the same overarching message Tallie and her mother have: they want to talk about this. Girls want to know why the same clothes they see in ads and in the front window at malls are suddenly inappropriate behind a desk, Stokes said.

“I don’t think boys are asked to self-scrutinize in the same way,” she said.

“Don’t just tell hem they can’t wear that… attempt to explain why the code is written...and demonstrate a willingness to be flexible, and careful in how it's implemented.”

That dialogue, Dr. Morrissey stressed, is the only real way to solve the perennial problem of “teacher knows best.”

"I would argue that if you are going to acknowledge the increasingly rapid rate of our youth becoming aware of adult issues such as stranger dangers, drugs, addiction, financial stresses, etc., that you engage them in the conversation and thereby start to empower them, in the boundaries of what is appropriate for their age group. By handing down dress codes that invite shame instead of titillation, one is simply replacing a negative with another negative.”

To that end, Stokes, Roberts and Dr. Morrissey agree that the secret to solving this perennial issue is increased communication.

“We need engaged, interactive learning with young people to speak their mind and hash through their feelings,” Dr. Morrissey said.

If that communication is beginning with anonymous signs posted on a hallway door, it’s not ideal, but it’s a start.

[amckayyahoo]

Social media outrage machine strikes in CityNews reporter prank

The fallout from a CityNews reporter’s willingness to take a stand against an Internet prank proves that in the age of social media, it’s almost impossible to get away with anything.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hydro One issued as statement saying it was taking steps to fire an employee who it said was one of the Toronto FC fans caught on video bothering reporter Shauna Hunt on Sunday afternoon. Within 48 hours of the man claiming his antics were "hilarious and his mom would "die laughing – eventually,” his employer said he would be fired for violating the company’s code of conduct.

Man in FHRITP confrontation with CityNews reporter is a Hydro One employee. Company says it is 'taking steps to terminate' him. #cbcto

— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) May 12, 2015

HydroOne later confirmed the firing with the Toronto Star.

“Regarding the incident at the Toronto FC game between a (CityNews) reporter and fans, Hydro One is taking steps to terminate the employee involved for violating our Code of Conduct,” said Daffyd Roderick, director, corporate affairs for Hydro One.

“Respect for all people is engrained in the Code of Conduct and in our Core Values and we are committed to a work environment where discrimination or harassment of any type is met with zero tolerance.”

Roderick identified the employee as Shawn Simoes, an assistant network management engineer who made $106,510.50 a year.

The firing is the first piece of tangible fallout from the report, although it’s not the first time there has been a followup effect for participants in a “FHRITP” prank.

Last November, a Pennsylvania man was arrested after interrupting a TV report.

In an age of mishaps like Justine Sacco (who made a stupid AIDS joke before getting on a plane to Africa, giving all of Twitter hours to vilify her before she could do anything about it), it’s bewildering why anyone would willfully seek out a TV camera to act like an idiot.

Journalist Jon Ronson has a new book, “So You’ve Been Publily Shamed,” that outlines the devastating effects of being outed for stupid online deeds. And there’s an argument to be made that the impact of online shaming, in the form of doxxing (the act of publishing an offender’s private personal details), harassment and general outrage, is often disproportionate to the crime.

That doesn’t explain participants in “FHRITP” pranks, who are actively seeking out attention on camera. In the case of the two Toronto FC fans interviewed by Hunt on Sunday, they weren’t remorseful; they seemed to be daring her to do something about it.

And yet, neither of the two men recorded on camera had actually done anything, other than admit to Hunt that they were planning on interrupting a broadcast, possibly hers. For that, one is being fired, and the other, who may have been identified by Internet sleuths, is likely to face similar public shaming, for the offence, basically, of not seeming contrite when they were called out for their behaviour.

While the television appearance certainly drove the story, it was the online world that blew it up, eliminating the opportunity for the duo to apologize or manage what happened next. Hunt's tweet was retweeted 1400 times and mentioned on Twitter over 2200 times in one day.

In the end, it’s a scary, if important, lesson: in the connected world, there’s nothing that’s out of reach of the long arm of the Internet.