Somewhere there's a village/where things turned out OK

Think of all the exotic religious beliefs you have read about.  Is it fair to say that most of them are held by people who live in exotic climes, have exotic names, speak exotic languages, perhaps even wear exotic clothes? 

But one day you have your nose rubbed in the fact  that your ordinary neighbors might be as exotic as anybody else.  Or maybe you yourself!

Above, exhibit A for a Canadian example.

I am one of those Canadians -- and there are plenty -- who is not particularly attached to hockey.  But I know enough to realize how much seriousness there is behind the humorous facade.

It's everywhere

Jousting: April 25, 2010 in Hermitage Flat, Lithgow, NSW, Australia.


Thanks to Matt Spong, Rod Walker (riding) and Sean Garrison.

Another good idea from Japan: Yukigassen

From the Weather Network:

When Canadians think about the ultimate winter sport, games like hockey come to mind. But in Japan, some people think of an organized snowball fight.

This is not your typical backyard snowball face-off. The snowballs aren't just perfect. There are 540 of them. They were made in a machine and are each 6.5 to 7 cm large.

It's part of a game called Yukigassen, which is Japanese for “snow battle.” The first tournament in North America was held in Saskatoon on Friday and Saturday.

Ready for battle

How is it played? Two teams of seven players compete. Each team has a flag, and half of the snowballs, to be used over three periods. There are two ways to win. Either eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with snowballs and getting them “out” or capture the other team's flag.

Football fans of London

I know people who will enjoy this map of London showing what districts support which teams.  Click on the map for a better view, and comment away!

What I'd rather be doing...from the Big Picture

More here.

A Torontonian explains why he is supporting Cote d'Ivoire in the World Cup

"My ex-girlfriend lived there for a few months."

Neither Canada nor Trinidad (his personal heritage choice) is in it, you see.

Thanks to CBC Radio news for that one..

A fascinating article on the current bullfighting controversy in Spain

In the Guardian.

Driftglass on Mark McGwire's steroid use

The blogger Driftglass is capable of drawing amazing, well-written insights out of any aspect of American life. Here he is on Mark McGwire's admission that he was using steroids when he racked up his amazing home run records (in Major League Baseball, for those who don't know). The emphasis is mine:

Baseball is a business in which thousands of people have tens of billions of dollars at stake.

It provides a service which is entirely voluntary -- no one is forced to attend a game, watch one on teevee, listen on the radio, or read about on dead trees -- and yet, as we saw with the case of Tiger Woods, the revenues generated by this utterly unnecessary activity keep hundreds of media companies and secondary businesses solvent.

These businesses dance always on the edge of disaster -- trafficking in fickle, wispy products like yearning and nostalgia, with a public that could so very easily wake up one day and find the whole ritual too ridiculous and ridiculously expensive to play along anymore.

Like every other bubble of the last 30 years, the Home Run Bubble was a perverse outcome created by incentive structures which rewarded bad behavior, punished ethical behavior and placed a premium on secrecy and protecting corrupt institutions.

It is a lesson that we are obviously incapable of learning.

File this one under "bubbles as a general historical phenomenon."

More Buzkashi for the New Year

The Big Picture provides us with this great pic of the classic Afghan game, here being played near Kabul on December 9, 2009. Think William Marshal's 12th century melee tournaments.

Re-creation and the Olympic torch -- from The Big Picture

Top: Priestesses at Olympia light the torch.
Then: Vikings keep it burning at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Too cool.

More here. Or click on the pics.