Marcel Marceau, the world’s most famous mime, has died. He was 84.

Most people either role their eyes or recoil in horror when you say the word ‘mime’. But Marceau was a brilliant innovator and artist, the so-called ‘poet laureate of silence’. Throughout his career, he was France’s biggest theatrical export.

A French Jew, Marceau survived the Holocaust.  It left an indelible mark on his performances:

“The people who came back from the camps, couldn’t talk about it, they didn’t know how to express it … Maybe that has counted, subconsciously, in my choice of silence.”

How to honor the memory of Marceau? Observing a moment of silence seems a bit trite, and somewhat obvious. Nevertheless, the world has lost a great artist, and he deserves every tribute offered over the coming days. Consider this my hat-tip, Mr. Marceau.

On this date in 1937, JRR Rolkien published The Hobbit. Yes, the Middle Earth crew is now a connivial 70.

Now, I like The Hobbit. But it’s definitely not my favourite. However, without The Hobbit there would’ve been no Lord of the Rings, which kicks all kinds of ass.

Tolkien himself had a softspot for his Hobbit characters:

“I am in fact a hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated)….”

Love that unrefrigerated food. This also sheds some light on a recently re-discovered unpublished chapter from The Two Towers- “Aragorn eats some bad Egg Salad”.

He’s a nice guy. A smart guy. You want to like him. But man alive, is Stephane Dion on course for a spectacular flame-out.

The clearest sign yet is his frank admission that, in the wake of the Libs’ punishing by-election losses, his image may need a makeover. Well, duh.

Said Dion:

“I’ll do so and my party is going to help me, so that you meet the real Stéphane Dion … by really putting forth my personality and explaining what I am. People have to know me.”

Too late, Dion. In modern politics once you recognize the need for a makeover, you’re already dead. Once you allow your opponents to define you (think: not a leader), you’ve lost the ability to define yourself.

The examples are clear. John Kerry was characterized as a flip-flopper, then ’swiftboated’. He never recovered. The last two UK Labour Party victories came after the party aggressively and persistently defined Conservative Party leaders William Hague and Michael Howard as ‘old guard’ Tories, ‘wallies’, and so on.

The image of an ineffectual Dion is now burned in the minds of the Canadian public. And Dion doesn’t have the public chops to remove it. Sorry, Libs. You lost this battle. Time to turn your attention to losing the next election and finding a leader who can stand up to the Tory branding machine.

Interesting piece in the Nation about how to fix The CBS Evening News in the wake of Katie Couric’s spectacular failure. The article suggests returning to the ‘less objectivity, more analysis’ format pioneered by the greatest TV journalist ever- Edward R. Murrow.

I agree with this prescription. In today’s media wasteland, ‘objectivity’ is used to demand the presentation of weak or incorrect arguments- like, say, the entire Bush presidency- in the name of ‘balance’. Murrow understood that there were two sides to every story, and one was usually wrong. That’s what made his broadcasts so powerful. This isn’t ‘bias’- it is evaluating on argument on its merit.

And who would the Nation have step into Murrow’s shoes? Why, Keith Olbermann of course. And I heartily second that nomination.

…If only briefly. According to Bloomberg, the US dollar traded at $0.999 relative to the Canadian dollar at 10:58AM this morning. It has since rebounded, but the Loonie seems breathtakingly close to overtaking the greenback.

To all my American friends: yes, I know this will decimate our export economy. Nevertheless, I’m going to take some pride in our humble dollar. And the fact that Amazon.com is now a garden of bargains.

Oh, Canada!

UPDATE [2:59PM]: The age of parity has officially arrived.

Some of you may have been following the story out of Peru concerning a suspected meteorite and a rash of unexplained illness.

Here’s what we don’t know:

1. Whether or not it was actually a meteorite; and
2. Whether the object is actually making people sick.

The basic uncertainty of the case is reflected in most headlines out of major media outlets:

Peruvians get sick from apparent meteorite crater (Reuters)

Peru investigates reports that meteorite is causing illnesses (Los Angeles Times)

600 sick in Peru after ‘meteorite‘ crashes (CBC)

Scores ill in Peru ‘meteor crash’ (BBC)

Peruvians become ill at meteorite crater site (Globe and Mail)

And then there’s the CNN headline:

Suspected Meteorite Causes Sickness

See what they did there? Instead of saying ‘might be causing illness’ or ‘Pervians get sick a suspected meteorite crater’, they flatly state that the meteorite caused the illness. We don’t know that. And their headline contradicts the first line of their story:

Officials are investigating unconfirmed reports that a meteorite crashed in southern Peru over the weekend and caused dozens of people to become sick.

Note the key words: ‘investigating’ and ‘unconfirmed’. The copy acknowledges the uncertainty, while the headline states the meteorite/disease connection as fact.

The meteorite may well be making people sick, but for the moment that’s just speculation. And speculation is not the providence of journalism. Shame on you, CNN.

The Rational Response Squad, an entertaining if somewhat shrill anti-creationist group, is reporting that their thread has been returned to YouTube after being yanked earlier in the week.

The videos were pulled after the Creation Science Evangelism Ministries complained they violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Since the act requires immediate takedown of any copyright-questionable material, and shifts the burden of proof onto the defendant, idiots like the CSEM can use fraudulent DMCA claims to attack their opponents (see also: rational people).

And why are the claims false? Well, the Rational Response squad claims the videos “the clips comprise material that is either public domain, covered by fair use, or entirely self-produced”. Fair enough. But here’s the dinger: the CESM’s own website says ” “none of the materials … are copyrighted, so feel free to copy these and distribute them freely.” Oooh. Conniving creationists. Isn’t there some biblical prohibition against lying?

But the really worrying thing is the RRS was banned outright from YouTube. Their only crime was to protest the unjustified takedown. Sketchy, YouTube.  Very Sketchy. You can’t ban people for resisting a DMCA claim, especially since the only way to reverse a takedow is to protest it.

I’m usually pretty willing to tolerate creationists and their ilk. I mean, if you want to be willfully ignorant, that’s your business. But patience starts to run out when they begin to foist their beliefs on others. And my patience disappears when they start abusing the law and lying to gain an upper hand on their opponents, who have the notable advantages of science and logic.

In related news, Sherri Shepherd, the new host of ‘The View’, also believes in creationism. And apparently thinks the world is flat.

The idiots are taking over.

Photo courtesy of Withak.org.