Missing a Limb

   I feel like I have lost my right arm. Actually, it is only my computer. After weeks of freezing and crashing, and trying to find the problem, I must finally admit that there has been a death in the family. I could race out and get a new one, or I could wait patiently for someone who knows someone who will come when he is ready and do what might be a cheap fix for me, replace the hard drive. In the meanwhile, I am using the laptop, which limits me. So, sorry, but no photos until this situation is resolved.

   The talk about the Vancouver hockey riots just will not go away. It has sunk in, that more than physical damage has been done to the city. After glowing on the world stage, as a result of our wonderful winter Olympics, we seem to have sullied our reputation world wide. Funny what a handful of goons can do with a lighter and a hammer.
    What will happen to the hundreds of perpetrators, who apparently will be easily tracked down and caught due to all the social media publicity of the event? They say that there were 100 arrests made on Wednesday night with more to follow. If the last hockey riot we had in 1994 is a precedent, let see what will happen. 
    There were 100 charges laid with only a dozen or so going to court and all with guilty pleas. Of those, there were only two convictions with any jail time served. One of them was the ring leader who was brain damaged by a rubber bullet and sued the Vancouver Police. With civil libertarians coming out of the woodwork  already, you can guess that the scenario this year will be similar. There will be little or no restitution by those convicted, and if any of them are punished in any way, it will surprise me greatly. The lawyers and the special team of crown prosecutors who have been assembled will make a lot of money, of course, at the expense of the tax payer who will already be hit in the wallet with police costs and other expenses covered by the city and the province. 
   This all adds up to zero deterrents for future rioters. The politically correct thing to do would be to cancel the hockey playoffs next year to avoid tempting the hooligans again. Or at least hold them in secret and only announce the results in the dead of winter during a snow storm so nobody wants to come to the city core to riot.