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Jun. 15th, 2004 08:38 pmSunday we had some people over for a movie day. When we went out to the local sub shop for dinner, there were police cars outside the apartment buildings next to ours, but that isn't unusual for this neighbourhood (our building, being a co-op, is pretty decent). By the time we'd finished our dinner, though, the police still hadn't gone away and an officer came into the shop and warned everyone not to go outside. Over the next half-hour or so, we watched as eight-guys with rifles and one with a handgun approached an apartment, cautiously entered, came out, did the same to the next apartment, and then left, taking down the police line tape and letting people through again. I still don't know what it was all about - Doc speculated it might be a really bad domestic incident. I think they must have had a report of some suspect in the area, but it turned out to be a false alarm, or they arrived too late. The news later mentioned a search for someone involved in a recent crime, but not in our neighbourhood - perhaps we just saw a part of the search not considered newsworthy because it was unsuccessful.
Later we discussed whether this was a sign that Canada is Not as Peaceful as People Think, or whether the fact it was Unusual Enough to Notice meant Canada is still ok. Personally I think the fact that none of the bystanders yelled at the police for temporarily keeping them away from the scene, nor did the police use force when the occasional person did wander across the line, is a sign we're all still pretty civil.
The news tonight did another story on how obese we all are; I'm underweight, and these stories still make me feel guilty (admittedly I'm a guilt magnet). What creeps me out the most is the neck-down footage they always run of average people walking down the street, the camera zooming in on their bottoms and stomachs so we can see how fat they are. Who takes this footage? Does the news editor say, "we're doing another obesity-epidemic story - send Jake out on the street with the fat-cam"?
Actually, they showed people's faces in this story, because it was about how people in Toronto are slightly thinner on average than people in the rest of the country, though they didn't look at why (presumably income, walking if you live downtown, and, um, we do have some of the country's major hospitals - I don't know if people with serious illnesses could be bring our average weight down, or if they left them out of statistics for that reason....).
Later another news show did a story on this device http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC000/333/333/258311.html and its use in treating depression. They describe it as a pacemaker for the brain, but I said, "oh, it's like mini-electroshock therapy." This was a bad thing to say as it made the BiPolarBear go catatonic for about five minutes and then moan and twitch until he lost consciousness again, and then be worried and tense when he woke up. Even though I frequently remind him that no one can medicate or institutionalize him against his will, and Toronto has the street crazies to prove it, he still fears that he'll wind up restrained in a padded cell, especially if the Tories get in. Also he did spend a night under observation at the sleep clinic last month, so he has actual memories of being in a strange bed with electrodes and wires and a man in scrubs who kept bursting into the room to wake him and reconnect the wires - if they hadn't let me stay with him I don't know what would have happened.
Luckily the cat came into the room and calmed him down, and right now Stephen Harper is not doing so well in the candidates' debate, so the BPB is feeling happy and vengeful.
Later we discussed whether this was a sign that Canada is Not as Peaceful as People Think, or whether the fact it was Unusual Enough to Notice meant Canada is still ok. Personally I think the fact that none of the bystanders yelled at the police for temporarily keeping them away from the scene, nor did the police use force when the occasional person did wander across the line, is a sign we're all still pretty civil.
The news tonight did another story on how obese we all are; I'm underweight, and these stories still make me feel guilty (admittedly I'm a guilt magnet). What creeps me out the most is the neck-down footage they always run of average people walking down the street, the camera zooming in on their bottoms and stomachs so we can see how fat they are. Who takes this footage? Does the news editor say, "we're doing another obesity-epidemic story - send Jake out on the street with the fat-cam"?
Actually, they showed people's faces in this story, because it was about how people in Toronto are slightly thinner on average than people in the rest of the country, though they didn't look at why (presumably income, walking if you live downtown, and, um, we do have some of the country's major hospitals - I don't know if people with serious illnesses could be bring our average weight down, or if they left them out of statistics for that reason....).
Later another news show did a story on this device http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC000/333/333/258311.html and its use in treating depression. They describe it as a pacemaker for the brain, but I said, "oh, it's like mini-electroshock therapy." This was a bad thing to say as it made the BiPolarBear go catatonic for about five minutes and then moan and twitch until he lost consciousness again, and then be worried and tense when he woke up. Even though I frequently remind him that no one can medicate or institutionalize him against his will, and Toronto has the street crazies to prove it, he still fears that he'll wind up restrained in a padded cell, especially if the Tories get in. Also he did spend a night under observation at the sleep clinic last month, so he has actual memories of being in a strange bed with electrodes and wires and a man in scrubs who kept bursting into the room to wake him and reconnect the wires - if they hadn't let me stay with him I don't know what would have happened.
Luckily the cat came into the room and calmed him down, and right now Stephen Harper is not doing so well in the candidates' debate, so the BPB is feeling happy and vengeful.
