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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday November 18, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary IAN OLIVER Group Publisher NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Letters to the Editor Some motorists need to drive SUVs I read with interest C. Walker's letter on Idle minds and cars (Oakville Beaver, Wed., Nov. 15). I don't drive a Hummer because it's a large and clumpy vehicle that was designed to fit tank tracks in a war we don't fight any more. However, I read an undertone that suggests that driving a gas guzzler, somehow infers an anti-social behaviour. I live in Oakville and I drive a 1995 Landrover. It's a gas guzzler and I wish it wasn't. However, it's the only vehicle I have found that suits my needs in Northern Ontario as well as my home in Oakville. I work in forests and rough lands, across beaver ponds and through sand bogs and across pine meadows. The differential drive is the only thing that keeps you going. I am not a wealthy commuter to Toronto, I just need a reliable vehicle that is good for bush and town. As for hybrids, I've driven one and if I just commuted, I would be attracted to them for all the right reasons. However, consider that some of the people that drive a gas guzzler, may actually need one. By the way, I couldn't afford a new Landrover, I'm just grateful that in Oakville the second-hand market doesn't appreciate their real value. K W LLOYD RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Cartoon was not funny Having fairly recently moved to Oakville I thought it would be a good idea to take out a subscription to The Beaver to help broaden my knowledge of the community. I have just browsed the Nov. 1 edition and was appalled to see the cartoon on page 6 depicting the scary trio of, I presume, Bin Laden, Kim Il Jong and George Bush. Now I realize that Mr. Bush is not popular among most people in Canada but, I have to say, I have a similar aversion to our last two Liberal prime ministers. However, dislike aside, I would not place them in the same category as Bin Laden and Il Jong. Why are you getting into the realm of international politics anyway? I suggest you leave this well alone and concentrate on what you are good at, i.e. local affairs. Actually this issue leads me to question your judgment on local matters too. I'm very disappointed in you; this is the sort of thing I would have expected to see in some radical left-wing rag. BILL WADDELL Grandpa Andy laments the loss of truth in photographs G ather around, kiddies, and old Grandpa Andy will tell you about the days when we codgers had a saying: "The camera never lies." It's true, so you can stop your giggling, you little nose-miners. Photography was fact, not fiction. Let me tell you a few things about this marvelous medium of communication. A history of photography is a story of the whole wide world since 1839, when photography was officially "born." I've heard it said that more photographs exist in this world than bricks. And do you know that while we eventually came to take photography for granted, when it was invented the world was in absolute awe? For the first time in history, art was placed in the hands of anyone who could master the technology. With photography, the world was brought home. We had obviously read or heard about, say, elephants in Africa. But suddenly, we could hold in our hands pictures of these magnificent creatures. The camera has also acted as a witness to the world. Many credit photographs with putting an end to the Vietnam War -- the American people could simply not stomach what they were seeing in still-frames. For fifty-odd years after its invention, photography was a giant pain in the back. All the paraphernalia needed to take a picture was difficult to lug around. Then technology leap-frogged and the camera evolved. Light, fun, portable models were created. Snapshots were born and photography was efficiently and economically placed in the hands of the people. The Andy Juniper photography industry boomed. Photographs -- frozen, snared slices of time -- eternalized assorted stages of life and various public celebrations. Baby pictures. Wedding pictures. Snapshots of family picnics and family vacations. And while family photo albums typically presented a rosy, somewhat false sense of life -- smiling, happy faces, with little sorrow or grief (honestly, who takes pictures at a funeral?) -- these snapshots still captured the essence of people and of families. They still snared truth. Here's a picture of idiot Uncle Eddie with his fly down. And here's Auntie Edna with a giant boil on her nose. But you know what? We loved idiot Eddie with his fly down ­ hey, that was Eddie, always with the fly down ­ and we loved Edna, boil and all. Yes, kiddies, the camera never lied. That is, until now. I'm talking, of course, about these newfangled digital cameras with built-in editing options like "slimming-effects." These cameras, which are apparently all the rage as Christmas approaches, have a feature that takes the subjects of a picture and squeezes 10 pounds off their bodies. My word, I heard a camera salesman on the radio singing the praises of this feature, and suggesting there is no downside to it. No down-side to distorting our memories? Photographs, you see, are part of how we remember things. Well, fifty years from now we'll look back and all our relatives will be cookie-cutter perfect ­ no one will have a defining blemish or boil and no one will have bad hair or anything but ivory-white teeth. And no one, but no one will be at all overweight. And we'll all be left staring at these photographs and wondering what the heck our relatives really looked like. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.