Segacs’s World I Know

The Tampa Tribune had to issue an embarrassing apology after mistakenly running an editorial saying that the Lightning lost game 7:

“We took a puck in the gut this morning,” Editorial Page Editor Rosemary Goudreau wrote in a statement on the newspaper’s affiliated Web site, TBO.com.

Publisher Gil Thelen said it was unclear how the mistake was made Monday night as the newspaper rushed to press following the Lightning’s 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.

The Tribune had prepared two editorials — one for a win and one for a loss. But despite placing the correct editorial in its computerized page-making system, the one prepared for a loss appeared in the newspaper’s entire 275,000 press run.

Well, if Tampa doesn’t want the cup, I’m pretty sure Calgary would gladly take it off their hands.

“Canada’s Team” made a good solid run, but in the end it was too little, too late. After going ahead in the final series 3 games to 2, the Calgary Flames lost last night, making the Tampa Bay Lightning the 2004 Stanley Cup champs.

I’m disappointed, but I have to grudgingly admit that the Bolts were the more deserving team on the ice last night. If the Flames had played the entire game the way they did the last 5 minutes, the result would have been much different. But they didn’t. And it wasn’t.

At least us Habs fans have the consolation of knowing we lost out to the Cup champions. Oh well, I guess it wasn’t Canada’s year.

Genealogy buffs claim that Bush and Kerry are cousins.

Avenue Q was the first Broadway show I’ve seen in over 7 years. It also just won the Tony for Best Musical.

Cool!

Michael Moore would do well to remember the old axiom: What goes around comes around:

Twin Cities filmmaker Mike Wilson’s upcoming “Michael Moore Hates America” details his unsuccessful attempts to interview Moore, the director who won an Oscar two years ago for “Bowling for Columbine.” Moore’s earlier film, “Roger and Me,” detailed his own failed attempts to interview General Motors honcho Roger Smith.

(Via Meryl).

This rant by Tonecluster ought to be required reading for… well… everyone. Don’t just skim it. Read the whole thing. Carefully. Then go back and read it again. And if necessary, again. Until you get it.

Here’s just a short excerpt:

To quote Adrian Belew, “What in the world Has happened to the world?” Look, I believe that women and men should be treated equally in society and under the law, believe that someone’s sexual preferences are their personal business, that the government doesn’t belong in religion, or bedrooms, or looking over the shoulder of a physician. I reject discrimination in any form. I love freedom, maybe a part of this is because my Dad (the Curmudge) is the first guy in a long line of people not to have been born under tyranny. Ditto for my maternal Grandparents. No one chased the Curmudge into a jail, or worse, just because he’s a Jew. That can’t be said of his father. No one came to my door when I was 18 and marched me into the army at gun- and swordpoint or killed my sister and mother because they were Jews in the wrong place at the wrong time. That can’t be said of two of my great-uncles.

I believe in lots of liberal ideas, and I can give a good goddam whether or not you agree with me. I’m not going to force my beliefs on you, and trust me: don’t try yours on me.

And yet I’m told by some I live under tyranny. I’m told that the worst thing to happen to freedom is George Bush. I’m told that I am not free in America anymore. I’m told that Bush is a Nazi; a fascist; a tyrannical despot; a dictator. My response: Oh really, numbnuts? Why should I believe that nonsense? Because it makes you feel better if I drink that Kool Aid with you??

Not a [expletive deleted] chance, you [really expletive deleted]!

You really, really need to read the rest.

(via Damian).

In a scathing opinion piece in today’s Gazette, McGill profs Reuven Brenner and Gil Troy tear apart academia:

We don’t have today a “free marketplace of ideas” – not by any stretch of the imagination. What we have is a heavily subsidized production of “obscure jargons” – much noise, that is – with academics carving out, then jealously guarding, their turf.

Pompous wording, circuitous sentences and flaccid prose protect prerogatives and bamboozle students with buzz-words, elaborate models and unverifiable theories, leaving a trail of confusion that mediocre followers – in academia, media and politics, too – either mistake for profundity or just misuse when convenient.

I think that’s a little harsh. There are some very good professors out there, and I took more than my share of excellent, thought-provoking classes.

But Brenner and Troy aren’t attacking individual professors so much as the entire system of academia. And here, they aren’t too far off the mark. While their analysis is more bleak than anything, there is no denying that academia can be full of narrow-minded people who are oftentimes out of touch with reality. The overuse of jargon should be obvious to any first-year arts student. Too many professors have voiced concerns about the sacred cow of “publish or perish” being replaced by “toe the line or you’re out”. If your opinions are unfashionable, you’ll have precious little success finding a position anywhere.

I’d like to say things are getting better, but it seems that they are getting worse. Too many classes, instead of teaching students to become independent thinkers, instead require regurgitation of the professor’s ideas. It’s obvious this can lead nowhere positive, and maybe some soul-searching in academics is long overdue.

After a long battle with Alzheimer’s, Ronald Reagan died yesterday at the age of 93.

Reagan’s legacy has many facets. From his ending of the Iran hostage crisis at the start of his presidency, to the fall of the Berlin Wall just after the end of it, his administration was a decade of noteworthy achievements and economic prosperity. He is also remembered for inflating the national debt, and for the Contra scandal.

But perhaps his biggest achievement was to formally, once and for all, obliterate the line between celebrity and politics. Reagan ushered in the era when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura get elected to government. And if you think that it’s inconceivable that Jerry Springer could get elected as President, just wait.

Allison on Sharon’s firing of cabinet ministers in attempt to push through his disengagement plan over the objections of his party. Too funny.

Incidentally, I don’t agree with Sharon’s political manoeuverings. If this plan is in fact supported by the population, as he contended, he should have put it to a referendum vote from the start, instead of only a vote in the Likud party. That would have given him the mandate to go forward. Instead, he’s trying to short-circuit democracy, and on an issue as divisive as this one that can’t be a good idea.

Still, Sharon – the ultimate cat with 9 lives – is probably only on his third or fourth. He keeps bouncing back as analyst after analyst underestimates him. The world would be wise to realize this and understand the popular support he enjoys among Israelis, instead of writing him off as merely a hard-liner or yet another corrupt politician.