The Canadian Association For Equality Marched In York Pride Parade

The Toronto Pride Parade banned the Canadian Center For Equality (CAFE) for life this year. But Jacob Gal, head of the York Pride Fest, reached out to CAFE and invited them to join the York parade on June 20, 2015 in Richmond Hill, north of Toronto.

Justin Trottier, one of CAFE's founding members, informed Gal of the Toronto Pride decision and, after looking into the background and details of the "controversy," Gal concluded that the exclusion was unjustified. Gal was pleased to welcome CAFE to his event in Richmond Hill and, after the event, went even further, saying that he would be pleased to partner with CAFE in the future since they shared common goals.

Gal learned that Toronto Pride organizers, like executive director Mathieu Chantelois, were concerned that CAFE was not catering to every group but was primarily focused on issues affecting men. But Gal pointed out that many, if not all, of the groups participating in Pride parades target specific demographic groups. Gal indicated that specialization is often necessary in order to better meet the needs of a particular demographic, adding that if he excluded specialized groups, there wouldn't be much of a parade left. Gal also noted that

Tim Hunt fired for a mild (true) jest

I put off writing about Tim Hunt's firing for a couple of days, perhaps partly because it hits too close to home, partly because I've been waiting for some follow up: to learn that the Nobel Laureate would get his job back with a full apology from University College London ... something.

The story is disturbing on many levels: that a great scientist could be forced to retire for such a trivial reason, that he essentially accepts the reason and has issued a groveling mea culpa, that his wife essentially accepts the reason and has had to fall back on feminist bromides as a form of defense ("He does all the cooking ..."). They are a pathetic couple not least because of the injustice that has been done them but also for their seeming inability to think for themselves about what has happened. Get angry, for goodness sake.

Warren Farrell and Erin Pizzey In Conversation

Don't miss our yearly live event with two cultural icons of our time, Erin Pizzey and Warren Farrell as they discuss hot topics in family matters and gender relations.

Erin Pizzey is a prolific author who's most recent book This Way To The Revolution details the difficulties she experienced, not only from clergy and public administrators but even more so from feminist groups, when she single-handedly launched

Video Workstation Configuration

My desktop finally died. It didn't owe me anything since I bought it refurbished five years ago for $900. When the fan on the video card quit working two years ago, the desktop would crash after a few minutes as the video GPU reached about 120 degrees C. This was an odd sized fan and I could not find a replacement to fit, so to keep the PC running I removed the side panel and GPU cover and put a small USB powered fan to blow air over the cooling fins on the graphic card. This worked for a couple of years, but other things also began to fail: the front USB connections, card readers, and finally the PC would not stay on for more than 10 or 20 minutes. Rather than buy a new desktop I decided to run entirely off my laptop, which is a bit under-powered for video editing, but I'll see if it works.

Four-monitor laptop workstation 

White House Council on Boys & Men

Dr. Warren Farrell, author of The Myth of Male Power, Why Men Are The Way They Are, Father and Child Reunion, and many other books on masculinity, and his supporters are requesting that president Obama establish a White House Council on Boys & Men.

The proposal outlines several problems facing men and boys. It concludes that we are facing a profound crisis in the education, work, and physical and emotional health of our sons. Some important facts taken from the proposal include:

• Boys are more medicated and less educated
• Boys’ suicide rate goes from equal to girls’ prior to adolescence to five times girls’ between 20 and 24
• one out of three children in the U.S. living in father-absent homes
• the male-female life expectancy gap has grown from one year in 1920 to more than five years today
• boys and men die earlier than girls and women from nine of the 10 leading causes of death
• One of every five men 25 to 54 is not working

In this video, Dr. Farrell explains the difficulties involved in bringing this proposal to the attention of the White House, which includes the necessity of sending a contingent to the Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses to meet the candidates while they are still accessible before the election efforts are in full-swing. Donations to fund this effort are needed, and welcomed.

I have been invited to document this effort, which begins in April, 2015.