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	<title>GregMercer.ca</title>
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	<description>Newspapering and other adventures</description>
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		<title>Female boxers still fighting for respect</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The middle-aged lady sitting next to me on the plane leaned over and confessed. “I don’t think women should be boxing. It doesn’t seem right to me,” she said. This was after I’d just told her I had spent the week in Sydney, N. S., covering the Canadian amateur boxing championships for my newspaper, where men and women were fighting. It was a good thing she kept her voice down. In the seat behind her was Mandy Bujold, Kitchener’s seven-time national flyweight champion. Two rows up was fellow flyweight fighter Amanda Galle, sporting a black eye so gruesome it looked like it was added by a Hollywood makeup artist. Try telling those women they shouldn’t be boxing. Canada has some of the best amateur female boxers in the world, giving our northern country a dominance on the international scene normally reserved for hockey or curling. And yet so many of us, like the lady on the plane, think there’s something inherently uncomfortable about it. Women have been boxing since early 18th century, and have encountered opposition nearly every step of the way. So many people still feel it’s just plain wrong – even if we don’t know exactly why we [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2012/01/25/female-boxers-still-fighting-for-respect/</link>
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		<title>My predictions for 2012</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If we could see into the future, how our lives would be different. I would probably never have grown that mullet in Grade 3, for starters. But enough about that. On this day, as another December prepares to fade from view, we’re looking forward, not back. Without further delay, here at my predictions for 2012. • You will wake up the morning after New Year’s Eve with a very bad headache, gaps in your memory and a lampshade for a hat. Strangely, your face will begin to appear on cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon under the title “missing person.” • Sales of skinny jeans will plummet when teenagers everywhere learn you can achieve the same flattering look with a $5 can of blue spray paint. • Iran will “unfriend” America on Facebook. America will respond by creeping on Iran’s new friends Libya and Syria and spreading hurtful rumours that Iran is a bad kisser. • In response to Ontario’s crushing $16-billion debt and troubled credit rating, public sector employees will tighten their belts and cut their lunchtime massages down to one hour. They’ll get carried away and reduce their wage demands to increases of only 10 per cent per year, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/12/31/my-predictions-for-2012/</link>
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		<title>Bad news in a company town</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s the kind of story that seems too far-fetched, too ridiculous to be true. Two top executives from the biggest company in the land get so stinko on an overnight flight to Beijing that the pilot has to make an emergency detour hours out of the way just to have them arrested. When the story broke last week, media from around the world ran with the story, almost gleefully. Here were two suits from that struggling smartphone giant Research In Motion, flying first class on a business trip for a company that doesn’t need any more bad news – and they go and provide it in spades. As hundreds of newspapers, websites, blogs and tech industry pundits have already repeated, the RIM execs single-handedly managed to force their packed commercial flight to turn south from Alaska and make an unplanned stop to meet some Mounties in Vancouver. The unpopular pair weren’t just a little buzzed, they were reportedly drunker than skunks, so divinely pickled and throwing punches the airline crew had to physically restrain and handcuff them to seats, according to other passengers. After spending a night in jail, the RIM execs pleaded guilty to mischief, were ordered to pay [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/12/10/bad-news-in-a-company-town/</link>
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		<title>Honey, the assassins called again</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We try to lead good lives. We help old ladies cross the street. We donate to charity and always call our mother on her birthday. So, doesn’t it just seem so terribly unfair when an assassin is hired to kill you, all for a measly $80,000? The Ontario Provincial Police in Wellington County recently alerted citizens to a scam letter circulating around local e-mail inboxes. The letter begins, “Hello, how are you doing today? I was paid to assassinate you, but I felt it will be right for me to inform…” The e-mail goes on to say that for a small sum of $10,000, this killer with a heart of gold won’t carry out their orders. It reads like it was written by a 12-year-old who’s read one too many Hardy Boys adventures. All that’s missing is a really cool plan to meet in a cave somewhere just at the stroke of midnight. And yet, remarkably, some of us are scared enough to call the cops. “As you can see there is no need of introducing myself to you because I don’t have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/11/29/honey-the-assassins-called-again/</link>
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		<title>Forge on, noise crusaders</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Shhhh, use your inside voice. That’s better. Our fair city, it turns out, has a problem with noise. And city hall, like an angry father banging on the bedroom door, looks like it’s finally had it with all the racket. Just this week, two residents told city councillors they need to crack down on the loud motorcycles and cars that roar up and down our streets with annoying after-market mufflers and amplifiers, causing all kinds of headaches. This, not so surprisingly, hasn’t sat well with some motorcycle owners, who say driving a quiet bike is kind of like bringing pink lemonade to a bachelor party or talking about your feelings. Basically, it’s for wussies. Police, for their part, reportedly told a Cardigan Street man they couldn’t do anything about his concerns because officers don’t have the training and, more specifically, men who drive loud motorcycles are scary. Still, the noise crusaders forge on. Earlier this month, a city hall committee was updated on a review of the city’s 11-year-old noise bylaw — including a proposed amendment that would ban “unnecessary yelling 24 hours a day.” Currently, all our shouting needs to be done between the hours of 9 a.m. and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/11/01/let%e2%80%99s-turn-down-the-volume-on-noise-complaints/</link>
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		<title>Can condos ‘disrespect’ a city park?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[At the very least, give them an award for creativity. Guelph residents wrote impassioned letters and made pleas to city council this week voicing their opposition to a proposed condo building at 180 Gordon St., near the Speed River. One man summed it all up by saying the whole project is “downright disrespectful to… a very sensitive piece of land,” namely, a small park next door. You see, it’s not that they’re opposed to a condo development in their neighbourhood — why, that’s preposterous, they love condos! — it’s that they feel condos beside a park honouring the memory of a woman killed by her partner is inappropriate. Here’s the basics: A Toronto company wants to build a four-storey, 11-unit brick condo building in a vacant lot at the end of Water Street. It’s a big building, sure, but the Empire State Building this is not. It’s also an infill project, which puts new housing on unused brownfield sites within the city rather than bulldozing more farmland at the edge of town. Most of us can agree that’s generally a good thing. The problem is, the condos would be next door to Marianne’s Park, named after Marianne Goulden, a women’s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/10/12/can-condos-%e2%80%98disrespect%e2%80%99-a-city-park/</link>
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		<title>Get ready for more growing pains</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Behind all the screaming and shouting over tax breaks for “foreigners” and rising hydro bills, there’s a quiet little proposal that has barely gotten any notice in this election. It’s the Liberal plan to expand the Greenbelt, and if you live in or around Guelph you might want to take a look at it. The Greenbelt is that 1.8-million acre band of protected farmland and environmentally-sensitive space around the Golden Horseshoe created in 2005. If the Liberals expand that protected zone into more of Wellington County and Waterloo Region, it could have huge impacts on the growth patterns of a city already wrestling with a booming population It almost certainly will mean Guelph will have to look inward even more for places to grow. And that’s sure to upset some people. But the truth is those already griping that this city is losing its small-town feel are holding onto a fantasy that doesn’t exist anymore. Guelph sure is nice. But with about 120,000 residents and more coming every day, small town it ain’t. I wasn’t around when John Galt chopped down a tree in 1827 and founded his settlement on the banks of the Speed River. But I’m pretty sure [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/09/18/get-ready-for-more-growing-pains/</link>
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		<title>A journey to the heart of America</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t need to tell you the news from the south has not been good. After a steady stream of stories about the double-dip recession looming in the United States, my friend, Eric, and I decided to do some deep research and go straight into the heart of the beast ourselves. We would travel to America and see how our southern cousins were handling this impending economic crisis. As far as research projects go, this one promised to be epic. Our mission hit a snag about 10 metres onto American soil, when we ran into a hard-case border guard who looked like an overweight Tommy Lee Jones. Our cover story – that we were headed to Chicago to see a couple baseball games – wasn’t passing mustard with him. “What will I find if I had a little look around in your trunk?” he asked. That’s an awfully personal question, I thought. Shouldn’t he have to buy me a drink first? “Uh, our bags, I guess,” I said, eventually. “What else?” Did he want a list? I thought about everything – the half-empty jug of engine coolant, the dirty gym socks, the broken kayak paddle, the stack of yellowed newspapers, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/08/29/a-journey-to-the-heart-of-america/</link>
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		<title>It&#8217;s good to be home</title>
		<description><![CDATA[At least now I know my blood is too thick for the South Pacific. I shouldn’t be surprised – I’m from a part of the world where overcast and 18 C is cause for a day at the beach. Still, it was a shock to my pasty, Maritime-raised body to step off the plane in Fiji, one of those clusters of tropical islands where turning the page on a book is enough to break out into a soaking wet sweat. Despite the sauna-like conditions, I had no grounds to complain. I was a lucky man – newly married to a beautiful woman and privileged enough to be able to honeymoon far from home. Fiji sits south of the equator, meaning it’s winter there now, so the night watchmen wear tuques and jackets to ward off the chilly 28 C air. They had no idea how good they have it. On many islands, the Fijians lived without shoes, cars or Facebook. I know, I couldn’t believe it either – isn’t Facebook a basic human right? In a part of the world where they don’t seem to get many Canadians, we were a bit of novelty act. Their response when we told [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/06/23/its-good-to-be-home/</link>
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		<title>What&#8217;s next &#8211; mixed-gender beaches?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[First, they legalized bikinis. And now they want to relax Ontario’s liquor laws? What’s next? Mixed-gender swimming beaches? Gambling houses that take wagers on horses? Physical contact at high school dances? Dresses above the knees? If this keeps up, I guess I should pack my bags and move to Greenland. I’ll be the first to say you don’t need more than a sunny disposition and a bag of potato chips to have a good time. So the news that Ontario’s Attorney General Chris Bentley plans to introduce changes to Ontario’s liquor rules in time for summer have left me wondering what’s going on at Queen’s Park. Bentley – probably fresh from doing a keg stand – says we ought to lighten up the rules around drinks served in beer tents at festival and other events. He’s proposed a set of changes to our liquor laws that would let festival goers wander around and do shopping with a drink in their hand. My guess is sales of those helmets with the holders for two beers cans on the side would go through the roof. Boosy Bentley’s proposal also includes extending liquor serving hours for weddings and charity events to 2 a.m. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://gregmercer.ca/2011/06/01/whats-next-mixed-gender-beaches/</link>
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