Spelling out the racket/racquet聽rules
Re: 鈥淢aking a racket about racquet,鈥� letter, Sept. 10.
The International Tennis Federation, based in London and with which Tennis sa国际传媒 is affiliated, is the world governing body of tennis. The ITF spells the word 鈥渞acket.鈥� 鈥淩acquet,鈥� a misspelling of the French 鈥渞aquette,鈥� was introduced to the English language in the 19th century.
Regardless of which spelling one prefers (personally, I鈥檇 side with the ITF in England), saying that Canadians 鈥渒now how to spell correctly, unlike our southern neighbours鈥� displays an interesting attitude. Who is to say that 鈥渃olour鈥� is right, and 鈥渃olor鈥� is wrong?
English, like many languages, has different shades. To self-righteously state that Americans 鈥� including the brilliant minds at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc. 鈥� don鈥檛 know how to spell strikes me as rude and, therefore, un-Canadian. Perhaps reading the official rules of tennis, written in England, would be enlightening.
Colin Gardiner
North Saanich
Province鈥檚 Bluetooth snooping will聽lead to money grab
Re: 鈥淧rovince intercepting your car鈥檚 Bluetooth signals to study traffic patterns,鈥� Sept. 12.
It appears that Big Brother has been busy here in sa国际传媒 and is now using our Bluetooth signals to snoop through our phones as we travel from point to point. This of course is the entry point for the future enforcement of so-called 鈥渁verage speed鈥� violations as yet another revenue source for a government that has never met a dollar it didn鈥檛 want.
Worse than that, though, is the inevitable disclosure that at some point someone within the government or an external hacker has accessed our private data for their own nefarious reasons.
I once thought that I had an expectation of privacy for my data and telecommunications unless a judge somewhere felt otherwise and had issued an intercept order. I appear to have been wrong.
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
Giant houses allowed on fertile farmland, but restaurant closes
Re: 鈥淩estaurant not allowed on farm, panel rules; Nanoose Bay eatery forced to close,鈥� Sept. 9.
I find it bizarre that the Agricultural Land Commission would pull the plug on the Rusted Rake restaurant for not using enough of their land for agricultural purposes. After driving through the Fraser Valley鈥檚 prime farm land and seeing houses the size of hotels, many times bigger than the restaurant, sprawled across acres of rich soil, it makes you wonder who is shovelling this manure.
Greg Peters
Victoria
We need campaigns with聽honest聽information
Partisan political campaigns are designed to win the next election. They are not designed to serve the greater good for this and future generations. To win, partisan campaigns use tactics designed to elicit emotion, not critical thought.
Attack ads deflect our thinking from issues that affect us all. Campaign slogans never solve anything.
Instant gratification in the form of tax breaks, ultimately increases the national debt or decreases social services. Both come with a far greater long-term cost.
As a society, we will continue to spin our wheels until we see a campaign with honest information only, that we can reflect upon before casting our vote.
Graeme Gardiner
Sidney
She鈥檚 not leading by environmental聽example
It has been interesting to watch Elizabeth May鈥檚 lack of 鈥渓ead by example鈥� on environmental issues with respect to her work as an MP and Green Party leader.
Riding in a Viper during the Victoria Day Parade, trips in her husband鈥檚 gas-powered car, flying to the Calgary Stampede to 鈥渨ear her cowgirl hat,鈥� dipping her toes in Frame Lake near Yellowknife and swaying with music at a parade in Montreal. All of this frivolous travel done during what many call a climate emergency.
I called her on it at one of her recent Sidney town hall meetings and was told in no uncertain terms that her work as an MP is so important that she has to burn carbon in order to do her job. She emphasized that we need to change our way of thinking if the planet is to survive.
Meanwhile, she and all of the other candidates will burn up the carbon (as usual) during this federal election campaign.
At the end of the town hall meeting, her supporters, who tisk, tisked about oil pipelines, big hydro electric dams and the like, streamed out to their gas-burning cars as I watched from the edge of the sidewalk on my bike.
Vince Kreiser
North Saanich
Selling beer and wine on聽ferries聽is聽a bad idea
Re: 鈥淏eer, wine to appear on sa国际传媒 Ferries Pacific Buffet menu in October,鈥� Sept. 9.
Instead of 鈥渄on鈥檛 drink and drive,鈥� is it now 鈥渄rink and drive鈥�? I鈥檓 not a teetotler by any means but selling alcohol to ferry passengers, then sending them off to drive their cars on these busy highways is unbelievable.
Blanche Barrett
Port Alberni
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