1. CARE FOR SOME NAILS TO GO WITH THOSE BLADES? If you’ve felt that the one thing missing from hockey was Jesus, then I’ve got good news for you. The Youth Ministry Office of the Diocese of Saskatoon is presenting the Saskatoon Blades Faith Night – tonight! You can watch the Blades face off against the Warriors… and then there’s a Christian rock band. I’m kind of curious as to how the Diocese and the Blades came up with this. UPDATE: Commenter Malcolm points out that Faith Night is being put on by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, not the Anglican Diocese. This is why one of them should change their name from ‘Diocese’ to ‘House of Chillax’.
2. JAPAN’S EMPEROR MATERIALIZES. Emperor Akihito made an unprecedented appearance on Japanese television to speak to the beleaguered nation and provide some comfort to its citizens. For elderly Japanese, Akihito’s televised speech probably reminds them of Hirohito’s announcement of surrender in 1945, which marked the first time that Japanese citizens had ever heard an Emperor speak.
3. ETSY FACEBOOKS ITSELF. This story’s a few days old already, but I expect the fallout to continue for a while. Etsy, the user-driven internet craft store, recently introduced People Search, a service intended to make the site a craftcentric version of Facebook. Unfortunately, it makes your purchases, preferences and viewing habits show up on Google searches, so employers can now have the pleasure of knowing about the time when you bought that extra large glass dildo.
4. NATE DOGG R.I.P. Rap musician Nate Dogg has died at 41. The cause of his death has not been reported, but he recently suffered from multiple strokes.
5. WAY TO GO, HUMANITY. Two Canadians have been arrested in a global round-up of child porn traffickers. One of them is from Kitchener, Ontario. The other? From Abernathy, Saskatchewan. On the plus side, 230 children were rescued. Writing anything more on this subject is just going to make me depressed.
6. HARPER WEIGHS THE QUEBEC VOTE AGAINST STADIUM FUNDING. The Conservatives, who recently refused to contribute to our fantasy stadium, have also said no to stadium funding for Québec City. I guess they decided that the potential hit in votes is preferable to opening the massive door of recreational infrastructure funding.