Juimiin had an unfortunate encounter at Tim Horton’s this morning on her way to a brat entertainment event.

It was nothing special in itself: just the purchase of a pint of milk for the brat in the drive-through lane. While expiry-dated a few days hence, the contents were already … er … expired. With a toddler as bitterly disappointed as you may imagine, she did not return to the store for the aggrevation of a refund. Instead, with her nerves fraying, she dropped by home for a milk tank top-up. This sort of thing probably happens all the time … in fact, did to me at a bagel shop near my work ex-office.

In any case, I couldn’t leave it quite at that. I found the franchise contact info:

731 Eastern Avenue, Toronto, ON M4M 3H6 Tel. : 416-466-3580 Category : Coffee Retail Directory : Toronto

I called, and waited for a manager to come on the line. The conversation went pretty close to this:

Hi, my name is …. and my wife bought a tub of milk in the drive-through a couple of hours ago.
And it was bad?
Yeah. You will want to check through your inventory to get rid of others like it.
Do you have the date stamp?
Yeah, August 9.
OK, thanks for the information, we’ll get rid of those. click

OK, any consumer relations specialists realizing what was missing from that?

Here’s a blunt hint: any appreciation by the manager of the situation from our point of view. We were out a buck or two, some time, and some peace of mind. These must not have risen to his level of consciousness — or at least he sure didn’t express any empathy, or apologize, or offer restititution. If this sort of thing is becoming common, watch out CA:THI stock holders.

By now, many people know of reutergate a yet another scandal where news is faked. Other recent examples include overstatements of casualty figures, staging of rescue / body-display scenes. Granddaddy “rathergate” from 2004 is still a freshly oozing memory.

It seems to me that the real tragedy behind this phenomenon is not just that

• the fake news spreads and affects public sentiment here and abroad
• it confirms the Nazi-era theory of the Big Lie

• it erodes the trust in public institutions, in culture, in basic principles of our civilization

What most saddens me about it is that many of the western news organizations are so hungry for any information that tends to put their ideological foes (Israel, George W, the entire USA, whomever) into bad light, that even the enemy knows it can exploit them, enlisting their aid. These organizations are fighting on the wrong side of the war, and may not even know it. “Those stupid infidels!”, the enemy must be snickering.

During my formative years at school, back when the internet was for non-commercial use only, when Usenet was for Real Men …

… there were net kooks roaming the net. One of the most amusing was one Roger David Carasso, who on one fine day in 1991 posted this message. Go ahead, read it, I’ll wait. Or, if you’re lazy to click on a link, here it is:

 From: carasso@aludra.usc.edu (Roger RDC Carasso)
 Newsgroups: talk.bizarre,alt.weemba,talk.rumors,alt.party,alt.personals
 Subject: MAKE ME FAMOUS
 Message-ID: <15210@chaph.usc.edu>
 Date: 23 Feb 91 23:50:25 GMT
 Sender: news@chaph.usc.edu
 Followup-To: talk.bizarre,misc.test
 Organization: GOOD: flowers, peace, sunshine; BAD: NUCLEAR WAR, EVIL
 Lines: 24
 Nntp-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu
 Originator: carasso@aludra.usc.edu


 I WANT TO BE FAMOUS.  
 YOU CAN HELP ME.  
 IT IS GOOD TO HELP OTHERS.
 YOU WILL MAKE ME FAMOUS.
 ———————————————————————————————
 DO THE FOLLOWING:

        1) Throughout your life, whenever you would normally
           write grafetti, write my name “ROGER DAVID CARASSO”
        2) Throughout your life, whenever you write a paper and
           include references, include me with:
                Carasso, Roger: “The Socio-Economic Effects of _______”,
                1987, M.I.T. Press
        3) Throughout your life, whenever you are in the background of a 
           tv news story, sure make funny faces, but also yell “CARASSO”
        4) Throughout your life, whenever you write fiction, include a
           character named CARASSO.
        5) Throughout your life, whenever you write make letters to the editor
           claiming some viewpoint you are too ashamed to state publically,
           sign the letter CARASSO.

 Roger “Kilroy” Carasso

I’ve kept this awesome message at the back of my mind for years, I had few occasions to help out Mr. Carasso (who, since has grown up into a respectable professional, and so would likely wish to put this part of his history behind him). But recently there was an opportunity too good to miss. A full-page ad in the New York Times from the Mozilla web browser guys and countless fanboys. Red Hat, being a sponsor of the effort, got a reservation of some some number of names in exchange, so of course, R.D.C. had to be, finally, made famous. And he was.

The last four days have seen lots of aerial activity over our new house very near the Brantford airport (CYFD).

The reason? The Brant United Way Airshow was opening, performing, and closing. It was a lovely experience overall.

Monday and Tuesday, the demonstration aircraft were arriving and praciticing. The town got an earful of jet noise, and it responded. During the arrival/setup days, dozens of cars and people lined up on the rural roads adjacent to the runways.

The logistical setup at the airport was consistent with the small town: personal, volunteer labour-intensive, and effective. There was a fence erected along the width of the apron, separating the crowd from the military jets. The fence was informally patrolled by (volunteer?) security folks – not the kind you find bouncing in a dance club, but the middle-aged kind with a camera around his neck. The fence line ended on both sides with mere ribbons, and farther out, not even that. The crowd behaved with good civility anyway, and did not cross even the imaginary lines. Plus, locally based aircraft like GXRP were located in hangars on the crowd side of the airport, with the doors wide open. Despite the temptation, people did not wonder over for a good fondle, that is, until the end when I invited some Air Cadet kids over for a look.

It got better, After each pilot performed, they came over to mingle with the crowd. The driver of the awesome A-10 demo flight, one Capt. Jeff Yost, just casually strolled across to where I was sitting. He was gently mobbed by a few dozen kids, and one star-struck pilot (me) who just wanted to shake his hand and thank him for coming. The dudes flying the Hamilton warplane museum’s awesome big birds were also on hand. Not just that – while not flying, these amazing old airplanes were parked amongst the crowd. Eric touched the giant wheels and propellers of the B-25 and the Lancaster, and uttered “big!” more than once. And the sound of all those engines running … sweet!

Can you imagine the security that is against miscreant elements of the big-city-phenemenon Toronto crowds? During the annual CNE airshow (coming up this weekend, with some of the same performers), steely-gazed security chicks frown on even local pilots snapping pictures – and that’s during the days before the show, while the island airport is otherwise open!

As I write this entry, the visiting jets are leaving. There is a small amount of litter and the fencing has yet to come down. The good reviews , lots more pictures, and memories are here to stay.