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Elvira Madigan is the nickname of Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major,” which he wrote in 1785 within a space of 4 weeks. It is one of Mozart’s most popular piano concertos, and has three movements.
The concerto was penned for a series of Lenten subscription concerts given by Mozart in 1785. However, it was actually premiered at Mozart’s benefit concert at the National Court Theater on March 10 of that year. A handbill for the concert announced that it would include “a new, just finished Forte piano Concerto.”
The slow second movement is the best known part of this piece thanks to its use in Elvira Madigan, a 1967 Swedish film about a tragic tightrope walker, which gave the concerto its name.
The second movement’s title is “Andante in F major.” “Andante” refers to the tempo marking, which in this instance means to be performed at a moderately slow speed. “Andante” is Italian for “a walking pace.”
Ideology can be a horrible thing. It sinks the brain in a rut, spitting out automatic responses with no regard to critical thought or empirical evidence. This results in a huge resistance to progress. “Change? No! We were right before, so your new option must be wrong! Actually consider the facts and implications? Nope, not interested.”
This sad fact is now rearing its ugly head in the arena of children’s sports, specifically, soccer. The Alberta Soccer Association is proposing to stop keeping score and tracking wins for children under 12. They tried to push this through earlier, but met with too much resistance from parents. Now, they are trying once more and I’m worried that they may fail to persuade the parents yet again.
So why is this being pushed and what are the concerns of parents? Before we look at the real answer, let’s check in with some commercial media. I’ll start with the pinnacle of mindless, reactionary, things-were-better-with-polio zealotry, The Sun.
“Will it result in coddled kids, less equipped to handle the pressures of winning and losing? Probably.
Will the lack of a score promote a culture of mediocrity, where some kids don’t bother to try, and where the best young athletes are dragged down to the level of the lowest denominator? Pretty much.”
Wow, all it needs is to suggest that this new no-score system will lead to socialism or nazism and it’s like we have our own Fox News. But surely, this troglodyte spewing out baseless claims is in the minority. Other mass media personalities will be at least moderately responsible about what comes out of their mouths and actually look into the issue before spouting ill-informed tripe, won’t they? Sure won’t.
Over in radio land, The Bear’s Yukon Jack, the station’s ranter for the everyman, made a Yap entitled “Sports are for Winning” where he posited that the reason behind the no score movement was ‘winning isn’t important’, declared it “nonsense”, then suggested that without winning, kids would have no reason to try or succeed. Of course, no justification was presented for any of this. But then, it’s pretty hard to present what doesn’t exist.
So what’s actually going on? It’s bigger than soccer. Some few articles will mention that this no-scoring for young children is starting in other sports as well. It’s bigger than that too. Sports Canada, the body dedicated to developing federal policies for Canadians to participate and excel in sports, is putting out a massive amount of programs and research dedicated to getting Canadians active for life. They are pushing for all sports to use the Long Term Athlete Development Model . Indeed, some sports have already implemented much of the LTAD model with great success. The mass of research, study, work, and data supporting the LTAD model is staggering. And guess what? Not only is keeping score not important at a young age, it’s harmful.
The load of moronic BS myth is that ‘without winning, children won’t be competitive or motivated to do well’.
LTAD recommends the removal of KEEPING score, not the removal of scoring. People who confuse the two are insulting the intelligence of children. Kids know full well when they kick the ball into the net, hit the ball with the bat, or run all the way to the end zone without being stopped, they’ve achieved. They will feel the rush of success, the thrill of triumph, and the burning desire to do it again. All the motivation, encouragement, and fun one could ask of sports, and no one loses.
In the simpler world of children, losing is failure, losing is being a bad player, losing isn’t fun, losing can be the end of the world. The message ‘you’re a loser’ being pounded into a young mind has disastrous consequences.
The first response to this point is usually something like ‘it builds character and perseverance’. No, for most kids that age, it doesn’t. What it builds is a dislike of sports and aversion to activity. “Why be active and be called a loser when I can play video games? At least video games are fun.” A huge part of the obesity problem we currently face is people are not active enough. Hardly surprising when old school “character building” is teaching kids that sports are for the few elite winners, not for fun.
The other response is ‘kids need to learn about losing, or they’ll be ill prepared for it later’. I can’t help but see claims like this as deliberately dense, as they are wrong on a couple of levels. One, learning to have fun playing sports is crucial to seeing what is really important, which will, ultimately, develop a healthy attitude towards losing when the child gets older. Two, ‘losing’ is ubiquitous in today’s society. It’s a part of almost all games, activities, and all kinds of social engagements. Taking losing out of sports won’t suddenly make ‘losing’ a surprise.
Children need to learn to have fun playing sports, or you end up with a huge chunk of the population who have all kinds of health problems associated with low levels of activity. Once the love of sports is built in, not only will you have a much more active population, training for high level competition is much more likely to happen later in life for a lot more people.
I point this out, not because it’s the way I was raised. Not because I identify with a group that feels this way. Because that’s what mountains of research has shown to be effective.
Just as they didn’t poll parents when they brought in child seat regulations, I feel it is inappropriate to decide whether to go ahead with LTAD based on what parents think. The information is available. Being willfully ignorant of it to the detriment of children is neglectful and borderline abusive. It should not be an option. Not to say that the LTAD model is perfect. There is still lots to work out in terms of ideal implementation. And I definitely am not denying the possibility of improvement, but hashing out these details is not the discussion that’s being had.
Society should always want better for their children. Improvement of this kind demands we move beyond the ‘it-was-good-enough-for-me’ mentality. This would be expedited significantly if media personalities would actually do a bit of research, speak honestly, and not automatically resort to the traditonal-bootlicking, comfortzone-pandering, misinformation-spreading, ignorance-enabling clap trap that currently pollutes our culture.
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The RPOJ comes for thee DC.
A previous encounter with this fine individual has inspired me to go to his blog and deconstruct all the vile shite that he churns out on semi-regular basis. Douche-Canoe (DC) is a dyed in the wool homophobe, misogynist and whinger makes for some fantastic laughs as this prime MRA supplicant seeks to reaffirm his place in the manosphere.
This post, “Take hold of the Wheel” is the genesis of this particularly foul weed that seems to build, self-referentially (image someone pooping in the same spot over and over) on itself and as usual, no reference to facts or reality required.
But that is the basis of MRA mythology, constructing a skewed version of the world in which somehow the white dude is the persecuted minority. This shallow ploy reminds me of christian’s in the USA that do the same thing when their odious views are challenged. In any case, no sympathy shall be offered to the “persecuted majority” only derision and scorn as their fatuous arguments are laid bare. Unleash the Red Pen of Justice.
Let us begin.
“Three days ago I gently urged my weathered Ford down snow-covered roads on my way home from work. The fear and hysteria of other drivers stood out to me. [Fear and hysteria eh? Oh! You’re setting up a crappy analogy, got it.] And then I wondered, how many actually practice “driving?” How many people associate skill behind the wheel with a necessary survival mechanism improving your chances of getting home safely [Reasonable people would assume that safe driving = getting home in one piece and thus a rational standard to strive toward, of course in shitty-analogy-land, simple, logical explanations, be damned! ]? How many just associate it with F1 and street-racing?”
“Game” strikes many as a synonym for hookup culture, however, this is disingenuous [ as is most of what you write, “Game” is nothing more than treating women as objects and manipulating them into having sex with your sorry ass] as suggesting that the skill of driving makes one a participant in race culture.”
In the 21st Century, a necessity for both arises out of the dangers of dealing with others [sentence with no subject is confusing, ignoring crappy construction]. With obstacles like the divorce court racket [citation needed, specifically how Divorce Court is a racket, oh and anecdata from other MRA whingers doesn’t count], the low societal standards for females [they seem high enough to know to stay the frak away from the likes of you; oh but I keep forgetting you have “game”, LOL.] , the feeling of entitlement for the average woman to a movie star husband [I think by this he means someone that will treat a woman with respect and care, but of course citation needed cause right now you’re just whinging out of your butthurt MRA arsehole], and the venomous atmosphere [*Sniff*, oh the cruel hard world in which you reside in a class that has every societal advantage, we should all share in Douche-Canoe’s pain] in which boys grow up the world has no shortage of dangers for men who wish to find a woman [Wow, you think that treating women like people was some sort of magical voodoo. Pro-tip: show people respect and you’ll likely receive the same treatment in kind. Of course that wouldn’t serve the poor me whinge-festival, now would it?] These are the potholes, slick roads and ice on our roads. How does one ensure his safety in a world of potential crashes? [Not acting like how you advocate is great place to start.] He learns. [Hopefully not from you, because unlearning BS is much harder than learning the proper way in the first place.]
Some men learn through experience: watching, listening and observing the movements of others on the road seeing what leads to safe passage or fatal crashes. Others study vigorously from experts until they too have the skills necessary to provide comfort and safety in the volatile environment of the road.
But for every man who has skill behind the wheel, several dozen sad men sit slumped in defeat [Err…or they don’t have licenses]. They never learned to drive; they never paid attention to the road [They never embraced the patriarchal nonsense you espouse, lucky them]. They took it for granted as something natural that needed no thought. They took the television and film portrayals of it as Gospel truth [Our culture is rife with patriarchal messages and memes, so I’m not really sure what you’re referring to, but then again neither are *you* since you habitually make shit up.].
And now the sad reality: if you did not learn by experience or have a skilled teacher, you are doomed to crash [Hello, driving lessons!! But there I go again being oblivious to the deep subtleties of this analogy. DC is inferring that if you don’t have someone to act as your douche-yoda, “trouble you are in”.] . Not if, but when. Sincere danger [as opposed to insincere danger? DC’s fabulous word-smithing demonstrates an exemplary command of the language] whisks past on either side and surrounds us. Perhaps the greatest danger rests in the sheer ignorance and denial of this reality [You are, by far, a qualified expert on ignorance and denial of reality] by pacified drivers, the willful ignorant [see previous statement of mine].
The clouds gather over the West and flurries fall. Soon all men[because you have the authority to speak for all men?] behind the wheel without
some semblance of skill will wish they could learn[Learning to be a douche? Why not learn compassion, empathy and respect for others, it will take you much farther than the hate being preached.]. The young men are watching the crashes of their fathers, uncles and bosses. They’re not buying the 50-year feminist lie anymore[citation needed of the great lie perpetrated by the evil feminist hoards; or did you mean the funny notion that women are people too?]. Thankfully, we get more new driving instructors every day with a red pill prescription in hand [Which sounds an awful lot like whinging and blaming women for your failing at life] for the curious.
The Manosphere [Is the manosphere kinda like Thunderdome? Two whiners go in, one whiner comes out? Can we make bets on this fun game?] is about to get a slew of applicants for Gender Studies 101[Clearly, because learning how not to be a douche is obviously the wrong way to go about things].
Yesterday, I was worried that the bulbs I planted last fall had died over the winter.
Today, it’s like Annie Dillard says in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:
they say of nature that it conceals with a grand nonchalance, and they say of vision that it is a deliberate gift, the revelation of a dancer who for my eyes only flings away her seven veils. For nature does reveal as well as conceal: now-you-don’t-see-it, now-you-do.
These were simply not there yesterday.
Here they are today, coming right up through the snow.
And the more I looked, the more tiny shoots of green and red I could see, just waiting to spring into the light tomorrow. If it doesn’t snow.
The Right in Canada was bloodily united a couple of years ago under the banner the old, yet new again, banner of the Conservative Party. The two precursor parties were the Progressive Conservative Party and the (Wack-a-loon) Reform (Alliance/fascist/reactionary/etc) Party of Western Canada. Sadly, as I hail from Western Canada, I cannot but feel partially responsible for bringing the supernovae grade stupidity and fail into power. In my defense, I’ve done what I can helping elect, Federally, the only New Democratic Party candidate (woo!, Linda Duncan!) in this political backwater called the lovely province of Alberta.
Patience gentle readers, as I am setting up some background to better frame the insipid gurglings we are hearing from the backbenches of the Conservatives party as of late. Steven Harper, our beloved leader, essentially won his majority because our right-centre Liberal party, for the last seven years, has had a gargantuan case of cranial vapour lock and simply cannot get its shite together. Thus, traditional centerist voters rather than voting for the “scary” New Democratic Party (because social democratic values are Satan), voted for the the seemingly calm, stable monolith known as the Conservative Party of Canada.
Harper, whose child-eating smile still makes me cringe, is a backroom authoritarian who is more than happy to sell Canada’s people down the river to corporate and business interests. Harper though, the High King of the reform party, brought to the table all the false populist beliefs that makes the red-necks here in Western Canada bray with crazy-eyed delight. Tough on the poor, women and foreigners, family values and all that hoopla. It is the usual traditional nonsense that sounds fucking AMAZING to the poor feckless (read false populist) sobs that greedly eat that shite up come election day.
Fortunately, the regressive bullcookery of Western Canada doesn’t play well in Eastern Canada where most of the votes are, so all those gob-smacked, turd-streaked policies that Harper trumpeted in the West quickly got tucked away under his big ole cowboy hat. Then surprisingly(?) enough, he almost exclusively talked about a reasonably sane economic platform (admittedly ‘reasonable’ is a stretch) to the rest of Canada, winning him the election over the fractured parties of the Left.
Harper won the election by controlling and essentially muzzling the pack of socially conservative dipshites that were elected in Western Canada. The “S2 Directive” (sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up) has been an iron rule in the Conservative Caucus. The bug-frakking-nutz ideology is starting to bubble over Harper’s carefully crafted message. Now we are starting to see the rampantly bat-shite, wilde-eyed social conservatives come out of the rotten woodwork of the governing party and demand the regressive social platform that got them elected in (*sigh*) Western Canada.
Let me show you the abortion law in Canada:
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There isn’t one. That decision is left up to the woman. End of story. No legal restrictions and thus, none of the twelve different flavours of socially regressive bullshit that is happening down in the US at the moment. Hence, in Canada, Women’s autonomy and rights are (for the most part) being respected and this gentle reader, is officially a GOOD thing. Cue the clown-car entry of concerned male-white-dude Mark Warawa MP from Langley BC and his ‘thin edge of the wedge’ selective sex abortion tirade against women and their rights.
Mr.Warawa’s noble attempts to get women closer to broodmare status have been smacked down repeatedly in the Canadian parliament. Much to Harper’s chagrin Warawa is not sitting down nor is he shutting up, he’s calling the ‘waaaaambulance’ and faffing on about being repressed and going on histrionically about how democracy died on this day. The loopy-gnats representatives of the failosphere have clawed a hole in Harper’s big ole centrist-economics hat and are spilling out all over table spilling their garbanzo-bean crazy as far as the eye can see.
From the CBC, in this article Warawa has already been shut down once, but insane doesn’t know the meaning of the word stop (or deleterious to the party), so he warbles onward:
“Conservative MP Mark Warawa has lost his appeal to bring a motion condemning sex-selective abortion to the House of Commons for debate.
The procedure and House affairs committee upheld a decision by its subcommittee that Warawa’s motion, M-408, isn’t eligible to be debated by MPs, despite the advice of a non-partisan Library of Parliament analyst that the motion was in order.”
Like the fetid ramblings of Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth Warawa has had his shit-shutdown. I’m guessing that this is only the tip of the iceberg of stupid that is the socially regressive base of the Conservative party. Undaunted by opposition from within his party and common sense, Warawa plows on.
“Warawa has five sitting days to appeal to the House of Commons, but with MPs returning to their ridings for two weeks, that brings his appeal deadline to April 19. He says he’ll announce his decision when the House returns on April 15.
The MP for Langley, B.C., said Monday he has the backing he needs to bring the appeal, with the support of five MPs from two recognized parties. That appeal will lead to a secret ballot over whether the motion can be brought for debate.
Warawa said he’s “very disappointed” but was going to take a few days before deciding whether to appeal. He can also introduce another private member’s bill or motion instead of appealing the decision.”
It looks like Conservative back bench has cranked the stupid-o-tron to 11(!1!!11!!!), broken the dial off, and flushed it down the crapper.
“My conscience is my guide, but I also am proud to be a member of the Conservative caucus,” Warawa said.
You sir, are an arrogant, misogynistic, snivelling, cock-sweater of a human being. Take your conscience and ram it sideways into the brain-trust known as your arsehole. Women and women alone are best arbitrators of their reproductive systems(aka their bodies). Despite the abortion issue being settled, Harper’s backbench are threatening to go all Lord of the Flies on his ass, and are taking umbrage at their right to free-speech being trampled on. Funny my backbenchy friends, how you were comfortable with Harper’s hobnailed boots on your necks, while he was winning you the election. Just sayin’.
“New Brunswick MP John Williamson, who in 2009 worked for Harper as his director of communications, said blocking any MP from delivering a statement is “is a violation of privilege or right” and that the speaker recognizes MPs directly, not via their parties.”
“I believe there are limits that have been crossed that involve removing speaking rights and that suddenly now involve veto rights over who is able to be recognized as a member of Parliament,” Williamson said.
“This also involves our democratic principles. If we, that is to say, you, Mr. Speaker, reinforce the authority of members of Parliament by reaffirming their right to speak, [and] then your right to recognize them, we will together strengthen democracy in this chamber.”
I’m all for the wigged out cracker-jacks of the conservative back bench getting their regressive views into the limelight; then people can see the balefully retrograde, and decidedly icky ideas they have voted for. The next logical step for the electorate, like a satisfying peristaltic contraction, is to expel the pants-on-head-retarded, ass-clownage (see Conservative Party of Canada), from power.
It is time to for the forced birth advocates to sit down and shut up. The mess they are making of women’s rights in N.Dakota is an atrocious and ethically bankrupt action.
Theramin Trees produces another fabulous video, slamdunking both religion and pseudoscience.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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