Поднимите обода на победу! RRRoll up the Rim to Win!®

It's that time of year to head to your Timmy's coffee house to get a donut and a RRRoll up the Rim to Win® coffee cup.

In a few weeks, Tim Hortons may post notices in their coffee houses stating that prices will go up and Timmy's will apologize. Tim Hortons did this last year during the contest period.

Will the customers care if the prices go up? Not while the contest is running.

Поднимите обода на победу.
Dérrroule le rebord pour gagner!®
RRRoll up the Rim to Win!®

Happy Pink Shirt Day!

For those who oppose bullying in our schools, workplaces, and communities, one could have worn a pink shirt today. A couple of years ago, some grade-twelve students in Nova Scotia got their friends to wear pink T-shirts to school in order to support younger student who was bullied by some older students for wearing a pink shirt.

Vancouver's CKNW radio host, Christy Clark, is promoting the wearing of pink shirts today. Note: the day is almost done on my end of the country.

If you don't have a pink shirt, wash a white shirt and red towel together in hot water.

Happy Pink Shirt Day!

H/T Sandy Crux. I don't agree with her on many issues. This one, I do.

Catherine Swift of C-FIB doesn't like teachers

Maybe Catharine Swift of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) likes teachers. She just doesn't like teachers from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO). She doesn't like the framework agreement reached among ETFO, the Ontario Public School Boards Association, and the provincial government.

Mme. Swift writes, "CFIB's latest Wage Watch study shows that public sector education workers in Ontario receive on average nine percent more in annual salary and benefits than their counterparts in matching positions in the private sector. In fact, this is a very conservative estimate based on 2006 Census data and the difference is much higher in the larger cities in the province."

Translation: private school teachers make nine percent less in salaries and benefits than public school teachers.

My translation: private school teachers are worth nine percent more than they actually make in salaries and benefits. They're being ripped off. If public school teachers made nine percent less, Swift and company would still be complaining that teachers make too much money.

Some advocates of private education believe that teachers should be paid based on their merit. An excellent teacher should be paid more than a poorly performing teacher. I do believe that teachers in private schools perform as best as they can. Unfortunately by Mme. Swift's logic, private school teachers don't measure up compared to teachers in the public schools. They merit nine percent less pay than public school teachers. If some parents send their children to private schools because they believe that private schools are better than public schools, then private school teachers deserve to be paid nine percent more than public school teachers.

關注者籲華人支持BC-STV選制

Here's a link to a Chinese article from www.worldjournal.com about the British Columbia Single Transferable Vote (BC-STV) system.

Readers may also click a link to a Google translation including a brief comment by Panxiaolong (Bruce Krayenhoff) from BC.

Agents Skinny and Dipper escort Obama to Beavertails

I don't have any new video of the wonderfully toxic Agents Skinny and Dipper escorting the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to BeaverTails in the Byward Market in Ottawa. I did hear that they were extremely pleased with the honour, especially after they were originally taken off the duty to protect Prime Minister Harper from all predators--opposition MPs and the Canadian media.

If you are ever in Ottawa in the winter time, take a skate along the beautiful Rideau Canal, then stop for a bite into a delicious BeaverTail.

Thanks to LeDaro for noting my talent in suggesting a few great places for Obama to visit in Ottawa.

Here's a link to an old video of Agents Skinny and Dipper waiting for Harper on the outskirts of Toronto.

H/T: LeDaro. http://ledaro.blogspot.com/2009/02/obama-accepts-skinny-dippers-invitation.html

Happy Canadian Citizenship Day!

On February 16, 1947, the British subjects living in Canada became Canadian citizens.

I do want to wish everyone a belated Happy Flag Day when Canada received its red and white maple leaf flag on February 15, 1965.

To my American friends, Happy President's Day! It's the first time in a long time that this day is worth celebrating. Anyway, have fun shopping.

To my Lituanian friends (actually, I do not have any), Happy Independence Day (1918)!

Let me not forget tomorrow. I want to wish myself a Happy Birthday! I'll be 29 again!

I think Canadians who do have the day off should celebrate Canadian Heritage Day when we can celebrate (but not go cookoo over) the Canadian flag and becoming Canadian citizens. Families can still celebrate together and it has more meaning than Family Day.

What's not a real Canadian name?

Here's a comment I wrote on Dawg's Blawg about names that may not be really Canadian:

"I'm up for the challenge for determining what is a real Canadian name or not.

Let's go to the Oder-Neisse rivers between Germany and Poland. Anything west of Görlitz (without the umlaut), Germany might pass as real Canadian. Anything east of Zgorzelec, Poland is not really Canadian. Zbigniew Brzenski is not a real Canadian name. Too many weird consonant blends. The W is pronounced like a V or F. Bnai Brith is not really Canadian for the same reason. No BN's please.

Dillon is fine. Dhillon is unacceptable.

Any name from the Islamohindusikh religion is not kosher Canadian. I mean Canadian kosher, not Jewish kosher. Abdullah, Jagdeep, and Manpreet don't pass as real Canadian.

I remember a Sister Kuntz at UWO. That's fine. I also remember a Dr. De'ath at Laurier. That is unacceptable.

Mr. and Mrs. Dixon are fine with their real Canadian last name. Mr. and Mrs. Dixit are in trouble. They may come from Indipakabanglalanka where they may also be known as Mr. and Mrs. Dikshit.

Chinese-Canadians like to pretend sometimes that they are real Canadians. Wu Feng-shui may pretend she's Sarah Wu. Mao Ze-dong tries to pass as Chris Mao when he leaves the Pacific Mall in Markham. This won't work for Yu An-mei. Chinese-Canadians can't pretend that they have real Canadian names.

Black names are not real Canadian names. The exception is Conrad Black who has a real Canadian name even though he is no longer a real Canadian. Names like Shaquane and Shaniqua are too black. Therefore, they are not real Canadian names.

French names are OK if they are pronounced the real Canadian way. Bomb-a-deer is real Canadian name--not Bom-bar-dee-ay. Benoit should be pronounced Be-noyt, not like the ben-wa balls. Thankfully, real Benoit Canadians who live in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan can always correct us.

Aboriginals are the first original real Canadians. However, their names are not really Canadian if they contain the name of an animal. Becky Bear and Sarah Deer are not real Canadian names. Neither is John Deer unless the name is found on the side of a green agri-business tractor. Bomb-a-deer is fine; Sarah Deer is not. Names that contain a Q without an accompanying U are unacceptable. Iqaluit is tolerable because real Canadians can pronounce the Q like a K. Iqaluit is a short name. Kujjuaqjuakimuatiqqakuumaqukaq is definitely not real Canadian!

Basically, a name is really Canadian if it can be found on a novelty bicycle licence plate at a gift shop.

'We need more BORT plates! We're running out of BORT plates!' said a store-clerk on The Simpsons. (Bart Simpson complained about not seeing his name.)

As for convicted criminal real Canadian non-Canadian Conrad Black, I'd be thrilled to accept him back into Canada if the United States can keep Céline Dion forever."

Added thought:

I feel as if I am writing like some Blogging Tory. I feel awful. Anyway, I did have fun writing this comment on Dawg's Blawg.