I read on several websites that for a distance of about 3.6 m (12 ft) from the screen to the viewer, the optimum size of a television should be 85 inches (220 cm, measured on the diagonal). That’s also the distance between someone sitting on our couch and our current
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: The Psychology and Therapeutic Benefits of D&D
Or, Why D&D Kicks Butt There is a mounting body of evidence and experience that shows that D&D, the original role playing strategy game (like chess, but with improv theatre, and no great powers of concentration required), has very positive psychological and therapeutic effects on children, youth and adults. The
Continue readingIn This Corner: A Simpsons milestone nobody is celebrating
According to the Internet (which, as we know, is never wrong), if you were to watch all 552 episodes of The Simpsons, it would cost you 12,144 minutes of your life. Or, put another way, 202 hours and 24 minutes. Or, put a third day, eight-and-a-half days. And that statistic
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 4: Trump’s rule by fiat
We all know how powerful the President of the United States is. But I don’t know if we ever recognized just how powerful. Almost … dictatorial? Don’t agree? Well, what other kind of leader can decide, with the stroke of an expensive pen, to ban immigrants from 14 countries, on
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 2: Caution, bad news ahead
Hoo-boy, what a bad news week for Alberta, and Canada. Oil continued its slide, falling to below $30 a barrel. The Canadian dollar continued its slide, falling to below 70 cents US. If it weren’t for the fact that Mexico already has the peso, we’d be calling the loonie the peso of North America. Thanks […]
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 51: It was a very bad year
Well, I did it. And I’m sure you’re thrilled. When I started writing this blog, I vowed to write a weekly review of events as I saw them. I did it mostly as a personal challenge, a way to instil a little discipline in my undisciplined life, and to boost my memory of the events […]
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Annual message to Calgary Stampede: real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment
PHOTOS: Stampede chuckwagon races – exciting for spectators, but deadly and cruel for horses. Real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment. There will be a safety “review” after the death of a fourth horse on Sunday at the 2015 Calgary Stampede, which is now mercifully over. Oh, please! There will
Continue readingThings Are Good: Violent Video Games can be Good
Violent video games get attacked a lot. Media and news companies are quick to blame the influence video games have on youth to be the reason that youth commit acts of violence. This is not the case though. Every year there is more evidence that it’s not true that violent
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Do we value women or don’t we?
I haven’t had much to say since the shootings on Parliament Hill back in October, but today’s news that Jian Ghomeshi is facing three new charges, all from three new women who previously kept silent, is making me ask who we are as a society and why some people are
Continue readingbastard.logic: Questlove Remembers Robin Williams
Man. The smallest gesture can mean the world to you. Robin Williams made such an impact on me and didn’t even know it. He named checked all of us in the elevator during the 2001 Grammys. I know y’all think I do this false modesty/T Swift “gee shucks” thing to
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Electronic music, raves & Toronto’s moral panic on drugs
…they do the work because they want to re-produce the type of city they want to live- the type of city that is worth living in. … …not all entertainment is built the same- some of these very worth while performers and promotors can’t jump through your hoops, or will
Continue readingMelissa Fong: The Pity Party, that is -Dave Foley-
I used to love Dave Foley. Kids in the Hall was one of the most epic variety shows, and Canadian to boot. Then there was News Radio that had awesome […]
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: BL2: Resistance is futile
I tried to resist. I really did. I avoided it for more than a year, skillfully averting my eyes from the store shelves where it sat, ignoring the emails with invitations, sales offers that dangled newly-released DLC packages before me. I looked the other way when ads popped on on
Continue readingBlevkog: From the Blevkog Archives – April 21, 2006: Cultural Relativism: An Example
Note to readers: I’m not entirely sure why, but this has always stood out for me as one of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve done on Blevkog. This particular frivolous item comes from the prior incarnation of the blog. I may have written better entries since then, but
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Zombies are… Black? Family Feud’s Steve Harvey tells White Lady contestant to ‘Shut up’
Zombies are… Black? Family Feud’s Steve Harvey tells contestant to ‘Shut up, Lady’ (you can tell he is REALLY holding it in…). Help me out here… WHAT IS THIS??? Sometimes […]
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Free choice in communications? (Competition Tribunal says no)
To my surprise and dismay, the Competition Tribunal has approved Bell Canada’s takeover of most of Astral Media’s assets. This comes some time after a similar buyout attempt was rejected. Yeah, Bell will have to divest several cable channels — namely Family Channel (Read: Disney Channel Canada), Teletoon (English and French), Teletoon Retro
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: House of Cards – American Style
As an inveterate fan of the original 1989 BBC series “House of Cards” I was highly skeptical that it could be successfully adapted into an American context. It had some pretty big shoes to fill, after all – most notably, the outstanding performance of Ian Richardson as the cunningly ambitious
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Who’s the jack booted thug?
This new commercial from Wayne LaPierre of the NRA sets an all-time low. You can be absolutely sure that this ad would not have been made if Obama and his kids were white. I’m showing it here to demonstrate just how low the level of debate has gotten in Washington
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: "Free to Be" — 40 years on
For what I think will be my last post of the year, I wanted to reflect on something I heard about a couple of weeks ago — the 40th anniversary of Free to Be… You and Me and the impact it had on a generation of kids. Including me, who
Continue readingknitnut.net: Astronaut Love Triangle thrills audiences!
Astronaut Love Triangle was brilliant and superb and I love them more each time I see them. They’ve added a couple more pieces to their repertoire (I especially liked the Roller Derby Girls) and they’ve modified at least one piece to reflect changes in the composition of the band (the
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