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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-12-08, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005. PAGE 5. Other Views Fads that don’t fade I’ll tell you how fast the world is moving. A month ago, I had never heard the word sudoku. Last week I Googled it on my computer and found more than 14 million sites. I checked again this morning. It had ramped up to over 15 million. For those of you even more out of it than your obedient correspondent, sudoku is a numbers game that sprang up in Japan about 20 years ago. The word translates literally as ‘numbers singly’. Players are faced with a box containing some random numbers, -but mostly empty squares. (Stay with me, I’m not going to go deep with this.) The large box measures nine squares across and nine deep - think crossword puzzle without the black squares. All you have to do is fill in the blanks so that each row and each column contains all the numbers from one to nine. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, but that’s as much as I can explain before my temples start to throb. Does this seem like fun to you? To me, it sounds as appealing as a bout of avian flu, but sudoku is taking the world by storm. Just about every large daily newspaper now offers a sudoku puzzle in each edition. Fads. There’s no accounting for them. Some passing passions are benign and easy to understand. I can appreciate the attractions of Nintendo, Slinky Toys, Trivial Pursuit and Raiders of the Lost Ark-style fedoras. But what possesses people to crave Deely Boppers? Pet Rocks? Polyester leisure suits? Back when I was a kid, raccoons almost became an endangered species thanks to the craze for Davy Crockett ‘coonskin caps’. For several years, just about every male North Tories becoming less civil Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have been hoping to win an election partly by calling for politicians to be more civilized and courteous, but they have lost any right to be Miss Manners. Conservative leader John Tory has made it a main theme and his hallmark there is too much nasty language in politics and it should cease, as an example to the public and to help to get on with business. Tory has stuck to this mostly, although recently he has been asking questions closer to the bone. But new revelations show his party before him, under premier Mike Harris, was the least well behaved in memory, using obscene language most residents would not allow in their homes and traces of racism, and lying to cover them up. The revelations have emerged from a public enquiry the Liberals ordered into police shooting dead Dudley George, one of a group of native protesters who occupied a provincial park at Ipperwash in 1995. The attorney general at that time, Charles Harnick, has told the enquiry Harris came into a meeting with ministers and aides and said loudly “I want the fucking Indians out of the park.” A lawyer for Harris says the former premier denies making such a comment, but Harnick should be believed, because he said he was sure and felt shocked, because it was a wrong and inappropriate comment. The former attorney general also said he had difficulty giving such testimony and agonized over it, because he had nothing but admiration for Harris. Harnick as a minister was reserved and thorough and did not seek attention. He has nothing to gain by criticizing Harris and his Arthur Black American under four feet in Height sported a fake fur pillbox hat with a raccoon tail dangling over one ear. Then there was the hula hoop. Who would’ve thought that a ring of cheap poly­ plastic designed to be twirled around the waist would tickle the imaginations of millions? I don’t know who, but I’ll bet he’s one wealthy tycoon. Four months after the Hula Hoop first appeared in California in 1957, more than 25 million had been snapped up by eager buyers, many of them in places as far away as Japan, where it was known as the Huru Hoopu. I never quite understood the draw of the hula hoop, but the fad that really baffled me was Rubik’s cube. This was the brainchild of a Hungarian sculptor and architect by the name of Emo Rubik. Back in the early ’70s, Mister Rubik found himself with too much time on his hands, so he invented the Cube: a six-sided hunk of plastic made up of nine coloured squares set in rows of three. The squares could be rotated to change the configuration. Object of the exercise: to manipulate the beast until each side of the cube was just one colour. Not too difficult, right? Wrong. Somebody figured out that the number of different possible combinations was a brain-paralyzing 43,252,003,274,489,856,000. Eric Dowd From Queen's Park revelation will hurt him among many Conservatives, who would either defend the former premier on anything or feel making the comment public hurts their current party. The remark also is not completely out of character for Harris, because he once called Liberal MPP Gerry Phillips an “asshole” in the legislature A senior minister under Harris, Chris Hodgson in natural resources, also was said by a then deputy minister, the highest level of civil servant, to have told the same meeting “get the fucking Indians out of my park.” The former deputy also should be believed, because senior civil servants lend to be guarded and she first said she did not want to reveal Hodgson’s words, only that he said something she would prefer not to repeat, but counsel demanded the precise wording. This is gutter language unfortunately heard often on TV and in movies and parents are trying to discourage youth from copying. But use of it by Harris and his minister suggests it is acceptable. Two of government’s major aims now also are to prevent bullying, particularly in schools, and racism, and both are implicit in the politicians’ remarks. It is difficult to imagine they would have used the same terms to describe Chamber of Commerce worthies. Harris also once said I figure if you put me in jail and replaced the cell lock with a Rubik’s cube it would be approximately 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 years before I got the cell door open. Unlike Shotaro Makisumi, a 15-year-old Japanese kid who holds the world record for solving the Rubik’s cube. He matched up all six faces of the cube in an astonishing 12.11 seconds. I think of all the fads I’ve lived through, hula hoops and Rubik’s cube would be the two I would least likely spend any disposable income on - but here’s the rub: they’re both making a comeback. Hula hoops are showing up at music festivals and raves. So where do you buy a Hula Hoop these days? If you’re lucky, at a garage sale. Otherwise, you make your own. All you need is a couple of yards of irrigation tubing from Canadian Tire and a bit of duct tape (coloured electrical tape if you’re feeling festive). There are even websites that will walk you through the construction. And Rubik’s cube? Yep, it’s back too - especially in Japan, where nostalgic 30- somethings and kids grown bored with complicated video games are the big buyers. There’s even a mutant version of the mindbender. It’s called Rubik’s revenge. It features 16 squares on each face. So far, I’ve managed to contain my enthusiasm. Actually, I’m okay with the reincarnation of the cube and the hoop. But if the sudoku puzzle knocks the crossword out of my newspaper, I’m going down to the editor’s office to launch an official protest. Wearing my coonskin cap and polyester leisure suit. some leaders of aboriginals simply want comfortable careers. Hodgson also was close to Harris and named often by news media as his chosen heir. He may have modeled his language on the dominating premier. There also has been a postscript in that Harnick had been asked in the legislature a year after the shooting about a rumour an unidentified person said “get the fucking Indians out of the park” and replied he had not been able to substantiate such a remark was ever made. Harnick has now explained he was speaking in a political forum and felt he did not have the same obligation to tell the truth as in a court or before a commission. This will hurt Ontario’s Conservative party under Tory, because it has accused the Liberals of lying for breaking election promises and a prominent Conservative has said it is o.k. to lie in politics. The Conservatives also will have problems insisting they are dedicated to bringing more civility and courtesy to politics. Few will take advice on good manners from a party that had none. Final Thought There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. - Carl Jung Bonnie Gropp The short of it Are you ready? You can try to deny it if youywant, but there’s really no escaping it — the countdown is beginning. Christmas is just over two weeks away. And how ready are you? There are those I know, for whom the last minute rush is the best part of the Christmas madness. They enjoy the push of the crowds, the down-to-the-wire pressure to find that perfect something for that special someone. There are the wise shoppers who allow themselves only so much spending per paycheque, thus are buying right up until the day. For some people, decorating for the season is not a segue from Halloween skeletons and autumn harvest to festive finery, but rather a Christmas Eve tradition of fresh greens and holly that will adorn their home into the new year. Often many of these people see the rush to decorate before mid-December as just one more insult to the meaning of the season, and one more vote for its commercialization. Things, however, are not necessarily as they appear. When it comes to Christmas to say I like to start early is understating the reality. 1 am admittedly, unabashedly anal about getting all the holiday madness of shopping, baking and adorning out of the way by as close to Dec. 1 as possible. It is my personality to need tasks cleared away. I am at my best only if I feel organized and on top of things. This I don’t see as bowing to the gods of commercialism. Though, to be honest, I do enjoy the commercial aspect of Christmas. I love the hunt for the perfect gifts, the decorations, Santa Claus and the wonder in a child’s eyes. But not for one second does any of this overshadow the spiritual aspect. Beginning Dec. 1 there were 25 days for reflection and meditation for me. Because my shopping is behind me, the baking is in the freezer and my home sparkles with the warmth and lights of Christmas I now have the time to appreciate the upcoming days. While others are scurrying around the stores, I am looking at wrapped gifts under my tree, each chosen for someone who has blessed my life. While others are up to their elbows in flour I can see and give thanks for a full freezer. While others begin to decorate, 1 am sitting by the soft light of my tree, surrounded by the beautiful music of this special season. I have a ritual at this time of year that is both inspiring and rejuvenating. It has become a practice at the end of my work day while supper’s cooking, to put Christmas carols on the stereo, pour myself a glass of wine, then sit and appreciate the decorations and savour a few minutes of quiet contemplation. During these times I think of Christmas in its Christian sense and in its Santa sense. My thoughts focus on tradition and its importance, but also on changes and the need to be flexible to them. I take some moments to feel for the people for whom this season isn’t easy. Finally, I reflect on all that I am and all that 1 have and feel so incredibly grateful for every part of it, and for this wonderful time of year which instills in us feelings of gratitude, kindness, caring and generosity. So yes, I decorate early, I spend, I commercialize. But by the time Christmas Day arrives the true meaning has never been stronger in me.