Magic Statistics

“I accept no responsibility for statistics, which are a form of magic beyond my comprehension.” — Robertson Davies

March 16th, 2006 at 9:21 pm

Let’s get together and have a friendly game of soccer

Multiculturalism reaches a nadir in Netherlands.

A Dutch multicultural group is organizing a soccer tournament between gays and Muslims, hoping to counter what a study published on Thursday said was a rising tide of fear among gays.
. . .
Youths from Moroccan and Turkish backgrounds often were blamed for the incidents, [Police Research Academy director Frits] Vlek said, since homosexuality is not widely accepted in many Muslim cultures.

That's an understatement.

"Parts of the Muslim community still resist homosexuality and receive little education about it," he said.

The enlightened Western liberal’s faith in education is touching. Those violent anti-homosexual Muslims: they’re not bad people, they’re just stupid uninformed.

Muslim-gay tension is the theme of the soccer tournament organized by the Institute of Multicultural Development, to be held next week. An organizer of the group, Suzanne Ijsselmuiden, said she hoped the competition will "help ease these tensions so that people can openly talk about homosexuality."

“Muslim-gay tension is the theme”? This isn’t a soccer tournament; it’s a death trap. Any homosexual who shows up for this jolly game of soccer is taking his life in his hands.

That is such a bone-headed idea that it could only have originated with a bunch of folks who while away their days indulging multiculturalist delusions, but who would be so foolish as to fund their fantasy soccer rumble tournament? It can only be . . .

A Latin team along with a team of all-women players has also been assembled for the government-sponsored competition.

Another reason why this is one of the least-believed sentences in the English language: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you".

I hope Dutch taxpayers don’t mind seeing their money spent on such a lunatic project. The people of the Netherlands may be about to witness a new extreme in soccer hooliganism.

As raskolnikov at Dust My Broom says, “What could possibly go wrong?”

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March 16th, 2006 at 8:04 pm

Hey, Environment Canada: Winter’s not over yet

Three days ago, Environment Canada announced that the winter of 2005-2006 was the warmest on record.

The winter of 2005/2006 was the warmest winter Canada has experienced since nationwide records began in 1948, 3.9°C above normal, based on preliminary data.

Did Canada's major-league meteorologists speak too soon? The temperature in Whitehorse this morning was -34C, the coldest all winter. Here's a screen shot of the 7:00 am weather report from–where else?–Environment Canada. (Click here for the latest five-day Whitehorse forecast.)

The weather gurus are predicting a balmy -32C tonight.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in North America was -63C (-81F) at Snag, Yukon, on 3 February 1947. (Snag is 465 km northwest of Whitehorse.) The weather station crew threw a bowl of water into the air and watched it hit the ground as chunks of ice. An exhaled breath made a hissing sound as it froze and then left a vapour trail in the air.

My friend and fellow Yukon blogger Rebecca Stark remarked on the low temperature two days ago when it was only -30C. She later described what Northerners have to do to keep vehicles ready to start up and move on down the road. This Northern living ain't for sissies. (Hah!)

Another friend and Yukon blogger Kevin reminisced about delivering pizza in Old Crow at -55C. Check it out to see how the pizzas were kept warm.

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March 16th, 2006 at 4:57 pm

Outrageous!

via Erik at ¡No Pasarán!, who got it via a Finnish cartoonist named Jaana.

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