Canuk Claus?

LUKE SIMCOE, Canwest News Service

Hands off, Russia. Not today, Norway. There's a reason he dresses in red and white: Santa is one of ours.

Less than three weeks after the Canadian government proposed legislation to expand the country's sovereignty over Arctic waters, its citizenship minister is shoring up Canada's claim to the Far North by declaring Santa Claus, a longtime resident of the North Pole, to be a Canadian citizen.

"The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete," said Jason Kenney, the minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, in an official statement.

It is unclear whether Santa has always been considered Canadian based on his place of residence, or if the country has extended him citizenship as a courtesy.

"I'll let Foreign Affairs field that particular question," said Andrew House, a spokesman for Kenney.

Sadly, Foreign Affairs representatives were reluctant to let the toy out of the bag, so to speak.

Alain Cacchione, a Foreign Affairs spokesman who handles Arctic issues, declined to comment on the matter, saying only that St. Nick is "an international symbol."

Although international law states no country has dominion over the geographic North Pole, a number of nations - including Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark - have recently begun pressing their claims to the area long said to be the location of Santa Claus's base of operations.

Tensions have been particularly high between Canada and Russia. In 2007, former foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay lashed out at the Russians after they planted a flag at the bottom of the Beaufort Sea, a region rich in petroleum and natural gas deposits.

In Russia, the patron saint of Christmas is known as Ded Moroz, which translates as "Father Frost." Moroz dresses in garb very similar to Santa Claus and is said to reside in the Russian town of Veliky Ustyug.

Officials from the Kremlin have yet to respond to Kenney's statement.

Should they choose to dispute Santa Claus's citizenship, they would have to overcome a substantial amount of evidence that points to him being Canadian.

For starters, it's worth pointing out the marked resemblance between his patented red and white outfit and our nation's flag.

North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa Claus's trip via satellite for more than 50 years and consistently shows Santa's flight beginning somewhere in the Canadian Arctic.

As well, Canada Post has long been charged with the task of forwarding children's letters to Santa to the jolly fat man's famous H0H 0H0 postal code.

Malcolm French, a spokesman for Canada Post, said the company receives letters to Santa from all over the world in languages ranging from Albanian to Vietnamese.

"Postal code readers all over the world recognize the H0H 0H0 postal code as belonging to Canada," French said.

The global perception that Santa Claus does in fact reside in Canada seems to be growing. In 2007, Canada Post helped deliver more than 1.2 million letters to Santa - a 14-per-cent increase over the year before.

Technically, Santa's postal code would indicate that he lives somewhere in urban Montreal, a region marked by the H prefix in its postal codes.

However, given Santa's ability to squeeze down chimneys and circumnavigate the Earth in a matter of hours, it's not surprising that Canada Post made an exception for old St. Nick.

Calls made last week to Revenue Canada to determine if Santa was indeed a registered taxpayer in Canada were not returned.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

It's Yule Log Time!

You can even download this for your iPod.

Changing shirts to dresses

In these hard economic times, here is a fun way to change an oversized t-shirt into a mini-dress.

And yes, this leaves out all of us over the age of 25, but still, there are a few gals in our family of the right age to do this.

From wikiHow.

Charting Fake News

Thanks to WIRED magazine for looking at the Fake News industry.

Below is the chart of the history of this industry. Note that The War of the Worlds (1938) is included as is the hilarious That Was The Week That Was from the early 1960s. (See Tom Lehrer. Who did a lot of the music for TW3.)

Click on the chart to see it in full size.

Excess Excess Excess

Refrigerated Beach

There's nothing like a good bit of Dubai excess, but this just isn't impressive enough to justify the profligacy: the Palazzo Versace hotel is building a beach with refrigerated sand.

Fat heads in China?

At first I thought this was a joke. After all the reference to this site was from a friend and humorist in Hong Kong.

But SizeChina is a real thing.

The company is measuring the heads of Chinese across the country so producers can sell hats, eyeglasses, headphones etc. that fit properly.

At last we may have proof that the leaders of China are a batch of fat heads.

The annual "What do the 12 Days of Christmas Cost" report.

This one is from the Weather Channel.

Just go through it yourself. :)

Bottom line:
Total Cost of 12 days of Christmas in 2008: $86,609
Up 10.9 percent from last year's cost of $78,100

Today, Dec. 15, in 1791 Virginia became the 10th state to ratify the first 10 amendments to the brand-new U.S. Constitution. (The Constitution took effect March 4, 1789.) And for journalists, right up front in that list is the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Think about it. Without the First Amendment, what good would it be to have the right to bear arms, have a fair trial or be free from unwarranted searches and seizures? How could anyone protest any violations to the other nine amendments if the First was not in place?

The Bill of Rights is modeled after the Virginia's Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason in 1776. It was Mason and James Madison, among others, who criticized the drafters of the Constitution for not including a list of the rights Americans should enjoy. A compromised was reached that following the ratification of the Constitution a Bill of Rights would be introduced.

The Bill of Rights was written by James Madison and passed by Congress Sept. 25, 1789, just six months after the Constitution went into effect.

While many of us in journalism proudly wear buttons that say "It's the First for a reason," the original First Amendment dealt with the system of representation. And gun enthusiasts would be saddened to learn that the original Second Amendment had to do with congressional pay. (That amendment was finally ratified in 1992.)

So go out and enjoy your freedoms. This is the anniversary of the first time someone wrote down those rights for a country and meant for that list to be honored.

Forget those quick hops to Canada

Those of us of a certain age remember just hopping across the border to Canada for a drink or dinner -- or cheaper gasoline. All we had to do was drive across the bridge or through the tunnel. We were hardly ever stopped at either border.

Well, things have changed. Now you need a passport or passport card.

News release from the State Department Dec. 11.

The Department of State recommends that travelers apply now for travel documents that will be required at all land or sea border entry points as of June 1, 2009. On that date, under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) U.S. citizens will be required to present a government-approved document that denotes both citizenship and identity when entering the United States.

The U.S. Passport Book and the U.S. Passport Card are the premiere documents that denote both citizenship and identity. A list of other government-approved documents is available at http://www.getyouhome.gov/.

The U.S. Passport Card is a wallet-sized document designed specifically for new systems being installed at land border crossings to facilitate inspections. A Passport Card costs $45 for an adult and $35 for a child under age 16. When applied for in conjunction with a passport book or by a previous passport holder who is eligible for renewal, the Passport Card costs $20.

The Passport Card is valid only for entry to the United States at land border crossings and sea ports of entry when traveling from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean region, and Bermuda. It is not valid for international air travel. The U.S. Passport Card is designed for the specific needs of the northern and southern border resident communities. It is not a globally interoperable travel document like the traditional U.S. Passport book.

The Passport Card incorporates vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. With this technology, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are able to access photographs and other biographical information stored in secure government databases. For privacy protection, no personal information is stored on the electronic chip itself. The Department of State uses laser engraving and state-of-the-art security features to prevent counterfeiting and forgery. Additionally, the passport card is issued with a protective sleeve that prevents it from being read when not in use, reducing the possibility of its being tracked.

The Passport Card has been in production since July 2008. As of November 2008, more than 650,000 have been issued. Processing times for passport books and passport cards are approximately three weeks. First-time applicants or those under the age of 16 can apply at any of the more than 9,400 passport application acceptance facilities throughout the United States. Current passport holders, who are eligible to renew, can apply for a passport card by mail.
Information on how and where to apply for a U.S. Passport Card is available at travel.state.gov.

Every flight in the world

This is really a cool video of a simulation of every flight in the world during a 24-hour period.

Here is the link to the story.

Bye bye Polaroid film

This is the last month of the last year of production of Polaroid film.

So if anyone still has a camera and you still want to use it, stock up now.

Fans bid farewell to Polaroid film.

Problems in our neighborhood.

A look at what is up to our north -- or if you are from Detroit, to your south.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Provinces in Peril - Indecision Oh-Eh?

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Provinces in Peril

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

For our SPAM loving mother

The Gang of Three Ruin another industry: Private jets

Interesting read from Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institute in Tampa.

Dec. 4, 2008

Auto Execs May Be Hurting Private Jet Business

I remember the days when I got to ride around in the Meredith Corporation jet a few times. A team was out looking at buying TV stations, and we hopped from town to town. It was great fun, and the executives could hit a few towns and still go home and sleep in their own beds.

Lately, though, the use of corporate jets has been highly criticized. The Big Three executives have become poster children for excess, riding in private jets to their first hearings. Watching General Motor's 6-foot-4-inch Rick Wagoner get out of the hybrid car was a picture of humility.

So what happens now to the private jet business? Will governors and other politicians have to ditch their flight plans for the time being until flying seems less excessive to taxpayers?

Time magazine makes the argument that maybe we have all of this wrong. Maybe people who run huge businesses and governments should not be sitting around at airplane gates hoping planes will leave and arrive on time. Consider this:

It was pointed out that the three could have flown commercial that morning for something like $212 each. But let's do the math. Three CEOs being paid millions a year each are going to Washington on a business trip to try to save $300 billion worth of sales and 3 million jobs -- and they are supposed to risk all of that on Northwest or US Air, a.k.a. Northworst and Useless Air, formerly Allegheny a.k.a. Agony Air? I see the connection: you fly to D.C. on a previously bankrupt airline as you contemplate the bankruptcy of your own company. The experience should be enough to scare you into devising a scheme to save your own company from such a fate. But wouldn't this be a case of America's worst-run manufacturing companies relying on America's worst-run service companies? There'd be a 50% to 75% chance of the CEOs showing up on time. What are you supposed to do, call Congress and tell them you're on a gate hold?

Even voices in the corporate aviation business worry that the public is getting the wrong message about charter business flights.

A commentary piece in the Hartford Courant offers some additional ideas about why flying commercial is not a great option for high-level execs:

High-level executives -- especially those heading up corporations in the news -- are the targets of significant and very real, threats, which are leveled at them every day. Flying commercial is not an option, even with a bodyguard. The exposure is simply too great.

Also, every major corporation I know has policies prohibiting certain senior executives from flying together, guarding against catastrophic loss to the corporation in the event of an accident. Asking three top executives from the auto industry, even from different companies, to fly together would violate the very appropriate caution imposed by this policy. Further, corporate aviation is not a royal barge, it is a time machine. 

New Math: Just in an Abbot and Costello mood today

Who's on first updated

I saw this exchange right next to the original Abbot and Costello Who's on First routine. It is a version of what has been done with just about anyone trying to deal with China and the Middle East.

Enjoy.

56 Years on TV and Who's On First?

Today in 1952 Abbot and Costello premiered their TV show.

The show was popular but not as popular as their most famous routine: Who's on First?



Enjoy!

Hoist a drink at 8:32 p.m. EST to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 21st Amendment

Dec. 5, 1933
8:32 p.m.
The Utah legislature ratified the proposed 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Its action repealed the 18th Amendment and ended Prohibition.

Thanks to the people who wanted to save the world from the "evils of drink" and pushed through Prohibition in 1919 with the 18th Amendment we got positive results such as organized crime figures Al Capone. Besides laying the groundwork fro organized crime, Prohibition led to increased corruption among law enforcement officials and a weakening of respect for the legal process.

So let us all raise a glass of our favorite alcoholic beverage -- in moderation of course -- to praise those who finally woke up to the fact that legislating morality doesn't work.

History Channel Story.

Welcome to my world

Santa's e-mail hacked

I just love this page: Santa Claus' Gmail Account Exposed

And, no, it is not a real account.

But just look at who has been writing to old St.Nick.

What not to get...

It's that time of the year again.

And here are the Top 10 Stupid Gifts for 2008.

And more!

A sad day in automotive history...

Today, 29 years ago, the last of the AMC Pacers rolled off the production line.

My little baby was a fun car to drive -- even though the autodrive often crapped out.

So a moment of silence please as we honor the passing of the Jetson Bubble car.

Toddler Phone: The latest from Asia

Friend and very funny columnist Nury Vittachi in Hong Kong comments on the latest item from Asia for the spoiled "little emperors": Mobile Phones for 3 Year Olds

Irony exists: Today in history

Today, 95 years ago, Ford Motor Company debuted the assembly line.

Ironically, today (12/1/08) is also the day the Big Three (or as they say in China: The Gang of Three) CEOs return to Washington asking for a bailout.

So how soon do we see the "dis-assembly" line kick in?

The Simpsons and Apple