@ Capacity part 2

Germany 4 : 1 England.

In the continuing saga of "boy, did you get fucked by FIFA's refs" comes the English soccer team. Who were totally robbed of a 2nd point. Totally. That was even more gross a failure than the off-sides disqualifications on us.

How gross a failure of referring was it? The crowd at the Glockenspiel looked at each other in confusion and said curiously "wasn't that a goal...??" and then a pair of the more rabid German fans looked at each other and said "but that was a goal, that was clearly a goal!"

Jr.Gopher#2 actually made it through 30 minutes of the game before he & I headed to the back of the restaurant. Which, conveniently, was still within sight - distantly - of the TV and yet much quieter. We read some German stories & looked at a picture book where we practiced on his German vocabulary. He then walked back up to our table and snuggled up with Mr.Gopher & Jr.#1 for the last third of the game. Admittedly, he was totally entertained by a mechanical dancing groundhog. video to come soon, as soon as I replace the batteries in the camera.

Now, how big is soccer in the rest of the world?
The G-20 summit was interrupted by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister David Cameron taking a breathers to watch the game Sunday. Following the 'we were robbed' event, Chancellor Merkel is quoted:
But a major diplomatic spat appears to have been averted this time round. Merkel apologized for the phantom goal, telling Cameron she was "sorry about that," his aides said.

Reuters-Canada reported:
"There is an idea we might try and watch it together. I will try not to wrestle her to the ground during penalties, but we will have to see," Cameron told reporters.
and
A German flag was pinned to the UK room in the G20 media center. On it was scrawled: "See you on Sunday" alongside a smiley face.

up next: Saturday, at the Glockenspiel in StPl, 9 a.m. Germany - Argentina
Jr.Gopher#1 has started keeping track of the scores from the games.

Mr.Gopher is actually considering going over to see the Netherlands--Brazil game. If so, I'm going with him. It ought to be a good game - finally both of them are up against a rock-solid team.
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Toronto, pt. 2

The trip to AIHce in Toronto was nice. I am frustrated that I didn't make a pilgrimage to Tim Horton's. I didn't realize one was close to our area until it was too late ... And then, after getting into the airport, I saw one!! On the other side of the glass. In the domestic departures half of the terminal. What? I can't have a Tim Horton's doughnut just because I'm leaving Canada??

MSA, a safety supply company, hosted the annual 5k run/walk Tuesday morning. MSA, the same safety supply company, hosted the open bar soirre Tuesday evening. The Golden Gopher team represented in both. I was #3 for the walkers (which was actually 2k); Josie was #1 in the real race for her age group (25-35). That evening, we represented in the drinking as well. I consumed more alcohol that night than I have in a very, very long time. Yup, my liver is still up to par. And, unlike the younger students, my brain is up to par: drinking 1 liter of water prior to sleep will prevent hang-overs.

The end of the alcohol consumption was the Loose Moose pub watching the Penguins v. Red Wings. The same MSA employee crowd was there; they're all from Pittsburgh other than the 2 from Windsor, ONT (ie, directly across the river from Detroit). The whole group were wankers - waaaay too interested in the game to actually enjoy themselves. They didn't even go nuts when Detroit lost!?

I managed to blow someone's mind when I stated that I remember the last NASA moon mission
(1972). The fellow - who works for NASA - looked at me in confusion and asked "how old are you?" When I assured him I had been 6 at the time, he still looked stunned. I had to remind him that a little 3 years age difference now (he's 40) was a really big difference 40 years ago.

The guest speaker for the opening lecture was the originator of the X prize. He was a great speaker - very much in the motivational light-a-fire-under-your-ass sense. His motto is 'innovation through competition'. I was inspired by the opportunities such a philosophy would have in my profession. Competition for excellence in workplace health, yes? Who can come up with the best method for controlling the methylethylmeatloaf? It would need to be the creation of something, not just the absence (e.g. reducing accident rates isn't creativity, it's often bookkeeping.) I was quite suprised to hear a few people pissing & moaning about the talk being a total waste of time. "We're all going to wind up working for each other ... why compete on anything?" No wonder business thinks we're all a bunch of dweebs wasting their money. Business is competition.

On the airplane decending into Toronto:
--Which lake is that? Is that Lake Michigan?
I think it's one of the great lakes.
--Lake Suprior? Lake Huron? Lake Erie?
No, I don't think so
--Isn't there another one?
me: It's Lake Ontario
--are you sure there are 5?
me: uhhhhh... yes... ???


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Toronto, pt. 1

I might put a couple posts about my Adventures in Toronto.

Tonight's adventures:

Detroit 2 : 4 Pittsburgh
I and 2 reps from MSA (from Windsor) were the only people in the bar rooting for Detroit.

Ontario Provincial Police 1 : 3 criminals
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/06/02/crash-at-queen-and-university-injures-two-seriously.aspx

The powerhouses

Who's going to win the Olympic basketball games? Well, it's no longer a sure thing we will, but no one is going to write us off. Baseball? Well, I might start betting on Cuba or Puerto Rico, but no one's going to be surprised if we do. American football? No one else plays it, so who cares? Soccer? Only our women are seen as a serious threat internationally. Ice hockey ... hmmm....

Well, gone are the days of 1980's "miracle", mostly because all of the amazing Soviet players moved here. Still, they're retired. The Russians clogging the NHL now, that's different - or perhaps no so different.

Russia 7 : 2 France

They play ice hockey in France? Where?

Sweden is the powerhouse of ice hockey. The largest nationality group for the Red Wings is from Sweden. Sight unseen, if I had to pick a best bet, it would be them. Of course, no one is immune from failure.

Sweden 2 : 3 Latvia.

Do most people here even know where Latvia is?

“We are obviously going to need that killer instinct when we play the Swedes,” [the US coach] said. “They are a very good team, a puck possession team, and play a little different from what we’ve seen so far.” Well, it's good that someone has explained to them that you need to actually get your stick on the puck in order to score.

I'm curious as to why this is going on concurrently w/ the Stanley Cup. A couple of the teams have yet to announce their line up for the next round, due to the players being distracted by the Cup. Sorry, Mr. Gopher, the Fatherland is (probably) out by another one of the Germanic countries (CH), although we took out the other one.

Canada 9 : 0 Hungary

Sure, rooting for the underdog is great - but the finals are likely to be the same-old-same-old: Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech, & Slovakia, and and the U.S. Although, just checking, the Russia-Switzerland game is 2:2. If I can't root for Germany, at least I can hope one of the other underdogs take down the big boys.

But, the power game for the Gopher household is tomorrow: U.S. vs. Svenska (Hey, Mr. Gopher, did you know Linköping has an ice hockey team?) The only way Mr. Gopher will cheer for us is if we're not playing Germany or Sweden. Unfortunately, 8:15 p.m. Central European Time isn't exactly coordinated with Minnesota Central Time. I suspect my professors won't be too keen on ice hockey rather than a boring goddamned waste of my time field trip tomorrow.

General Duty

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety & Health Act, often referred to as the General Duty Clause, requires employers to:
furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.

This is my profession's mantra: "free from recognized hazards". Closing one's eyes fails to qualify as "I didn't see it".

The World Has Changed

You'll know which part is just for you, mom

Driving the Zamboni

Zamboni: originally developed by Frank Zamboni in '49, registered as an international trademark, it is nonetheless used as a generic colloquialism for ice resurfacing vehicles in ice hockey arenas. Think of a giant ride-on lawn mower that melts the ice and then squeegees it smooth, using an internal combustion engine for power both to move & melt.

They can slice your fingers off. [well, duh] They can scare the bejeepers out of small children by leaving a bloody trail of crimson transmission fluid on the ice. They can become runaway weapons of vehicular mayhem if controlled by a vodka-swilling driver. When will society wise up to the inherent dangers of the seemingly innocent Zamboni?

From our polite neighbors to the frigid north, comes more Zamboni baloney:
Public health officials in Quebec City are alerting people who attended a weekend hockey tournament in Portneuf to be vigilant about any breathing problems, after a Zamboni used at the event emitted toxic fumes.

Seven people were sent to hospital with chest pains and breathing problems after playing hockey at the St. Ubalde arena rink on Sunday.

Two of them are still in intensive care, while another is suffering from a build-up of liquid in the lungs. Health officials suspect the patients inhaled nitrogen-oxide emitted by a Zamboni machine with an improperly calibrated motor, operating in an arena that wasn't very well ventilated.

Other problems in hockey rinks involved spewing microscopic particles. I ran into an unexpected international/cultural barrier - with another English speaking country: Canada. We in the U.S. often use grams per cubic meter when measuring pollution. With particulate problems, we use parts per million (ppm). Not the folks up north~
"What's more, 14 per cent also tested higher than 100,000 particles of pollution per cubic centimetre, roughly the equivalent of the air quality that might be experienced standing next to Toronto's Highway 401, the busiest road in the country." ~~ parts pollution per cubic centimeter? What is that? pppcc? I've never heard of that as a unit. wierd. Although, I suppose someone I know will promptly inform me that it's something like a barn in nuclear physics. :)

• At a Pittsburgh Penguins' game: looks like the zamboni ran over a wayward penguin (way cool pic)
• Choping off kid's fingers with a zamboni is apparently as easy as with a tractor PTO shaft
  
• ZUI: zamboni under the influence