Photo courtesy the People's Daily Online.
I first saw this in the Star, but the Sun Online had more details. Basically, during a warm-up for a track meet in Sao Paolo, Brazil, a wayward javelin ended up in the foot of this judge.
You can't help but shudder...
Thanks to Wade's timely intervention, my Homecoming photos are now up for viewing. Just click on the badge on your right.
Not much to report from the Queen's Journal (sorry, they're slow to upload so I can't show you pictures or linked text). But it's pretty much the same things re-iterated: Much better than last year, it was safe but fun, etc. There is a report from the Journal saying one student was Tasered for resisting arrest, but it wasn't confirmed in the special Homecoming pull-out that the Journal published. They do have a great spread of the crowd in Aberdeen, as well as an ironic picture of a student getting arrested wearing a t-shirt with a 3-panel cartoon titled, "How to avoid a cop" and Don Rogers trying to convince a passerby to not drink on Aberdeen (HA HA HA). Some choice quotes:
"They allow things you would never allow in Ottawa. As long as people don't do the same dumb shit as they did last year, it's all good." - Nick Bertrand, University of Ottawa student.
"It seems to be controlled chaos." - Harvey Rosen, mayor.
"So far, it's looking very peaceful and very orderly. It's very good to see the volunteers and the police and the students are talking." - Vice-Principal Deane, Queen's University.
"People love the volunteers. I've had so many 'thank-you's', ranging from random people coming up and simply saying thanks, to whole groups of people saying, 'Chug your beers for the volunteers!'" - Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, ArtSci '07 volunteer.
So I wasn't too far off. Reactions from the Kingston Whig-Standard has been positive. Apparently, an estimated 8000-10000 people were packed into the Aberdeen/Johnson/University area Saturday night with an approximately 200 police officers keeping the peace. About 50 people were arrested, though that number's expected to increase. There were two arrests for assault on a police officer and one for resisting arrest (which I think I was witness to as 3 officers were chasing a student down University Ave...like he would've escaped). All in all, the non-confrontational measures employed this year have had an appreciable and positive effect. A timeline of events seen from a reporter can also be found HERE.
Some choice quotes:
Kingston Police Sgt. Neil Finn: "Over 100 students have come up to me and shaken my hand and said thanks for letting them have such a safe party - and the other officers have had the same experience."
"I was hoping there were going to be some cars smashed here - we're serious," said Eric Joyce, 19, a second-year University of Western Ontario student. Joyce came with four other Western students to witness what has become known as one of the top parties in North America. He and his friends were also hoping to smash some beer bottles, he said.
Not everyone was impressed by the police performance. Former city councillor Don Rogers spent hours pacing the sidewalks around Aberdeen Street to protest the relaxed policing of liquor laws. He carried a sign that read, "Police: Don't just stand there! Enforce our liquor laws."
A police officer took away his sign twice, but Rogers had more in his trunk and continued his campaign. "This is our neighbourhood and we have to take back our neighbourhood," Rogers shouted over the noise on Johnson Street. He said he wanted to see police employ "whatever crowd-control measures are necessary" to clear up the party.
Tomorrow: reactions from the Queen's Journal.
Update: Sept. 19, 2006 1:32 pm
An updated article from the Whig outlining the likely costs borne by the City of Kingston for Homecoming and concerns the chief of police had over the weekend.
This is what I get for not going to the library right away and posting my reactions. You fall behind quickly. Well, I excuse myself because I was running 10k for the Terry Fox Run today. So there.
For those interested, Optimuscrime has some reactions and pictures posted. I took a lot of pictures last night but I forgot to bring the camera connector so my pictures won't be up until next week, but you 3 faithful readers will be the first to know.
Anyways, I think of all that could've happened on Aberdeen tonight, it was the best outcome it could've had. The atmosphere was great, few smashed bottles, lot of very chill people. The police and the volunteers did an amazing job with the crowd. They didn't have to handle anything, just keep people and cars moving and handle the odd open alcohol violations here and there. The volunteers were everywhere and everyone had a plastic cup. I think the city, the AMS, the Kingston Police, the OPP and the voluteers deserve a hell of a round of applause for the work they put into making this event run so smoothly. The lighting, the cameras, the volunteers, the plastic cups definitely made considerable differences from last year.
The partygoers also deserve recognition for being respectful of the whole situation. Everyone seemed to have a great time without having to get rowdy. What surprised me the most was how it had spilled out of Aberdeen. In all my times witnessing this street party, I've never seen so many people on Johnson St., University Avenue (BBQ at University and William?! Unheard of!) and Division Street as well (though someone might argue the contrary). I can only attribute that to the many undergrads NOT from Queen's who made it to Kingston this weekend because of their friends here and the notoriety gained from last year (I should know, I rode with several of them on the bus on the way here on Friday).
And while this should be portrayed in the next few days as a very successful Homecoming, I find it ironic walking through Aberdeen last night that probably 40% of the people there weren't even Queen's students, let alone alumni (My percentage comes from the sheer number of people there, as I can't imagine ALL of them being Queen's students). As the name implies, "Homecoming" is normally reserved as a celebration for alumni, and yet there didn't seem to be that many there, or they blended quite well with the crowd. While there's an inkling of worry about whether alumni will actually consider NOT coming because it's been taken over by undergrads and students from out of town (as yet another excuse to drink and party), it is only a passing thought that I don't have an answer to.
At the beginning of this post I mentioned why last night's event was the best outcome. On the one hand, the behaviour of everyone last night should hopefully convince the city that Queen's, the city and out-of-town students CAN get along during Homecoming without causing a blemish to the institution or the town, which should ensure the viability of future Aberdeen parties at Homecoming. It was also very self-contained within the boundaries of the ghetto, which I think is a much better solution then having thousands of drunk partygoers spread out across downtown. On the other hand, the (some might say) good behaviour of the people on the street might convince the shit disturbers that everyone else on this street is not going to tolerate belligerence now that we've seen both the brink of Homecoming cancellation and what a good Homecoming celebratoin can look like. This should hopefully convince those yahoos to either a) tone down their behaviour in the future or b) not come back. Either way, less violent behaviour, the better.
The fortuitous timing of being in Kingston this week allows me to be able to gather local media (Kingston Whig-Standard, Queen's Journal) reaction to all of this, see if my observations agree with theirs and pass this information along to you, my faithful readers.
Just another public service that I provide with a smile...now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go lie down and rest me legs.
Well, not quite. Those familiar with professional football (soccer, keep up!) will know that professional teams tend to have their biggest sponsor's logo emblazoned across the chest of the soccer jersey, as evidenced below:
This is their 2006-07 Home kit. What's funny is that these are now outdated. Apparently, FC Barcelona has signed an agreement with UNICEF, the UN children's organization, to have their logo on their jersey. The price? 1.5 million euros. But it's the other way around. FC Barcelona is contributing that amount ANNUALLY to fund UNICEF projects. They debuted these new jerseys in the Champions League against Levski Sofia, routing them 5-0:
I don't see this as a start of a trend, nor do I think this will make FC Barcelona any more popular (I doubt I'll see aid workers snap up Cdn $100+ Barca jerseys just because UNICEF's logo is on it...), but it's interesting to see a team that's eschewed a corporate logo for so long went this route instead. And while other teams give back to their respective communities in other ways, it doesn't diminish what FC Barcelona has done.The Tragically Hip is one of my favourite bands. I know not everyone have the same opinion of them (looking at you, Wes and Jenny) but it doesn't matter. I was excited to hear that they were releasing a new album, called "World Container".
Until I heard the new single, "In View" on the radio. Then I shuddered. I hated it. Again. This happened the last few times, with "Vaccination Scar" and "It's a Good Life If You Weaken" (This last song did grow on me in the end, but I still don't like "Vaccination Scar"). Other bloggers have also not given good reviews of the song either.
I hadn't paid attention to the background piano in the beginning of the song but now I just find it irritating. The other thing that bothered me was the chorus, "The phone rings once. The phone rings twice. The phone rings three times..."
Really? This is the chorus? I mean, The Hip aren't known for their thought-provoking lyrics, granted, but they could definitely do better than that.
I watched/listened to the clips of the other new songs but I can't really judge by the poor quality of the video. I'll have to just wait for the CD to come out. Hopefully, like In Between Evolution, where I skip through "Vaccination Scar" and "Heaven is A Better Place Today" to the better songs, like "Makeshift We Are" and "Goodnight Josephine", I can ignore "In View" and find the good stuff.
Courtesy PhD Comics
That's pretty much how it went down this year, plus or minus some differences. Please don't let my supervisor know about this post...
