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EAA LOA LAT dane TA DCE LAAN SE RETLIFINL LY A PRG AY AT LEY BON CREASES v JV RUE SRT NX AAA IAARIEEAS atid i b LLY Aan laa 0 ST EOL ARY 4 LEAL SAAN SEINE SENAY (Rot AE EANCHARA ASAE plat ER RK, 3 4 SR GY git RE it RA Bad dX Ren) 0) Editorial Comment RRR ChatterBox SEE by J. Peter Hvidsten If you were among those watching television last Sunday night, you probably were one of the millions who tuned in to watch the Academy of Television and Sciences hand out their annual awards.....four months late, ~~ Yes, it was Emmy night on the "Boob Tube." This glittering spectacle is the television industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards, and offered over two hours of rather questionable entertainment to viewers. If it were not for the likes of Don Rickles, Phil Silvers, Milton Berle and a few others giving us a few chuckles, it would have been a very drab, boring show. A good portion of the program was devoted to showing the "stars" of last season's shows sitting in anticipation as the nominations were called out. From there it went to segments of applause and acceptance speeches by the winners. Boring.....very boring. But they'll do it again next year. Having not watched '*'the tube" for most of the summer months, it was enlightening to find that the producers and directors of the many commercial messages have not changed their tactics. They still think the viewing public are unintelligent people. If it were not so amusing to see a woman talk to a bottle of cleanser, and the bottle answering back, it would be downright degrading and revolting. This is just one example of the growing list of obnoxious commercials aimed at getting the public to buy their products. : The above example comes from the makers of Lestoil, and it is just one of those which turns my stomach every time I see it. Another dandy comes from the Lysol spray people. A woman known as Snoopy Sniffer enters a home and stalks about the place looking for germs. Under the garbage can lid, around the sink and stove she searches for those hidden germs. How stupid do they think we are? Surely they know there are many intelligent people watching, and that they cannot be fooled by these degrading tactics. Or maybe they know something that we don't! Maybe these really are the commercials that work the best. The ones that you can not forget because they are so bad they become wedged in our minds, and can't be pryed loose. I should hope that they are wrong, but by the number of this type of commercials being produced these days, it makes one wonder. There is a long list of these gems....Wisk will wash away your Ring Around the Collar..... Tickle Anti- perspirant, with their bunch of make even the most smelly armpits acceptable, and Right Guard has returned with their famous 'Hi bod 7 # A FB, / . allow the techers as many PA days as they want, women, will' Guy" commercial of a few years ago, this time with a roll-on. : There's more. Playtex are making millions on a girdle that even they '"Can't Believe It's A Girdle.... the Man from Glad is testing his new, stronger garbage bags....every toothpaste company in the country is claiming that you can have the whitest teeth from their product. McLeans even go so far as to tell you that their toothpaste will help out your sex life. Based on that statement alone, there are probably millions of people carrying their toothbrushes and paste to work, ducking into washrooms' or behind the water cooler to "brush-up" everytime a desirable mate comes in to view. There are many, many more, but it is near lunch-time as I write this, and if I continue, my dinner will not sit well in my stomach. Came across an interesting article from the Peteér- borough Examiner the other day which was aimed at the school teachers. ° i Now that school has returned, it will not be long until the teachers will start booking-off time for | Professional Activity Days (PA days). And as one % might suspect there will be criticism by the public = and parents about the worth of these group-think sessions by the teachers. The teacher's federation claims that the public misunderstand them. They are not days off, but days of serious work, they claim. High-school teachers take most of theirs near the end of June to mark papers and grade students for promotion. A The other and perhaps better known side of the coin is the Durham Board of Education having to reprimand a high school principal who allowed teachers to spend part of a professional activity day at the racetrack. | The Examiner say, there is-no need for the PA days to create a problem for. the entire education establishment, If it is felt that the PA days don't contribute much, why reduce the number? Why any PA days at all? : ir That would be one way of dealing with the controversy, but the genuinely concerned teachers would then lose out. : A better way, the Examiner states, would be to provided they take them during the summer vacation of over two months, Probably then they would find that public resentment would die down completely. Assuming that a teachers wage is calculated on twelve 'months work, a couple of weeks in 'the summer to spruce-up on new techniques and ideas does not seem 'to much to ask. There would still-be plenty of time for lazing in the sun. Not a bad ideal oR pe = & i ws ' --- Going Metric So, Ontario highways officially went Metric. September 6 with the Installation of speed signs in kilometres per hour, replacing the old familiar miles per hour signs. : the conversion to the metric system with the main arguments advanced that it Is not serving any specific purpose, it is too hard to learn, there 'hasn't 'been enough of a 'public education program", and that it will be too costly to switch all the signs, labels, etc. to the new system. And of course, the media jumped right into the fray with headlines about "metric madness' and speeding tickets that are going to cost more, and so on. It was a typical display of bandwagon journal- ism, pandering to the whims of a vocal minority who always manage to jump up and down, screaming and waving their arms at just about. anything new and -unusval. : So what's the big fuss about? changeover Is going to take some getting used to, and to be sure, It Is going to cost a few dollars, initially. But the arguments against it are silly. In the first place, all the rest of the world uses the metric system (except the United States), and while a substantial portion of Canadian trade and com- merce is with the Americans, there are potentially vast new markets for Canadian goods and services where the metric system is in use. The suggestions that going to metric will hurt our trade relations with the Americans are foolish. In the first place the Americans are interested in profits, and where there is a profit to be made, they'll trade in any system of measurement. As for the rest of the world, going metric might just allow Canada to reduce Its total trade imbalance with the United States by increasing trade with other countries. It seems that just a few short years ago, There has been a lot of hooting and howling about. Sure, the everybody was up in arms about our dependence on . the Americans, and now that a tiny step is being taken to make trade with Canada easier for other countries, the moaners are at it again. Going metric Is a logical extension of the Canadian foreign policy decisions of a few years : which spelled - out -the so-called namely that Canada would continue its good relations "third option", : with the Americans, while at the same time taking . positive steps to increase its trade and relafions with -the rest of the world. One obvious area for increased trade is the Far East. In fact Premier William Davis will head a trade mission to Japan later this month.' And any Canadian businessman or manufacturer who might be wailing the blues over metric now would turn handstands with glee if the People's Republic of China with its potential consumer market of one billion people were ever opened up to Canadian products. Going metric won't bring that about, of course, but it will give Canada a trade advantage when it does happen. Likewise with the Soviet Union and countries of Eastern Europe, not to mention the extremely rich oil states who are falling over themselves these days to buy consumer goods and western technology. Again, going metric by itself, in Canada, won't bring about economic miracles, but it won't hurt either. : : The metric system is a much easier method of measuring than ounces and pounds, feet and yards, pints and quarts. And let up keep in mind that that is all it is; a method of measuring based on multiples of ten. ' A few years ago, Great Britain converted its currency to a similar system based on easy mulij- ples, and there was a great hue and cry. that people couldn't - understand it, . that. they were getting, short-changed in the supermarket, and so on. That fuss didn't last very long, however, and people soon found that it actually made things easier. Hospitals in this country, by the way, have been using the metric system of measurement for years, A Obviously the medical profession, which demands precision measuring, must find it has some advant- age, or it wouldn't be used. 2 : Getting back to speed signs, If-anybody can't figure out what. 50, 80 and 100 kilometres per. hour means in relation to speed, safety and the law, they shoyldn't be behind the wheel of a car.. And anyone who tries to plead confusion before a judge in court for a speeding ticket should get the book thrown at him." He'd only try it once. : Tha2 uf The hysteria over metric ' conversion Is an example of negative Canadian parochialism at ifs worst. We've become a nation of groaners. and moaners, unable to see the forest for the trees, Get. on with the conversion. Learn the system, Start looking for the benefits that might be derived from it.