Idle thinking

So it looks like the City of Ottawa is considering a crackdown on idling cars and buses: CFRA.com

On the surface, this looks like a good idea. However, I also heard that the costs associated with this potential crackdown (hiring more bylaw officers, providing them vehicles, etc.) is projected to be around $750,000.

Do you think this is worth it? Ottawa's got a history of spending mismanagement, and with our rising taxes and service costs, it bugs me seeing that kind of money going towards what I see mostly as a 'feel good' initiative.

Also, I can see legions of people lined up at Tim Horton's being very displeased with being handed idling tickets while waiting for their double-double..

Opinions?

Hey, did you just see that?

As many of you know, Jade has taken a shine to aliens. She now always asks me if she can watch any movie with aliens in it. Lately, her favourite movie has been Signs. She's watched it from beginning to end more than once, and throughout the movie she talks about when the alien is coming up, whether he's going to be a good alien or a bad alien, etc. She doesn't actually get very 'scared', it's more of a fascination. She's also watched an older movie called 'Strange Invaders' with my folks, which I found creepy when I saw it in my youth.

It was a natural step to introduce her to E.T., which is more of a kids' alien movie. My parents had a copy they recorded from TV back in 1991, and we put it on for Jade. Of course, she was entranced. However, the quality of the tape was awful. It was taped 15 years ago, but it was also taped on a channel where the reception was really bad. Somebody mentioned we should get it on DVD, and since my Dad insists on doing things right away, he left immediately to go get a copy. :P We finished the movie on tape. Later on in the evening, Jade wanted to see a few of the scenes again, so this time we popped in the new DVD.

Now, do you remember the scene where they are escaping the government officials on their bikes, they get to the roadblock of cars and officers with their rifles, and the bikes take off in the air? Classic scene.

Well folks, there have been some updates in the DVD version. When we watched this scene the 2nd time through, we noticed that the rifles in this scene have been replaced by.... walkie-talkies.

Apparently, this was done because Spielberg had grown uncomfortable with the idea of officers pointing guns at kids. But c'mon, they never did *shoot* the guns in the original. Besides, if an alien was escaping, possibly infecting the entire world, I don't think I'd hesitate to shoot anyway! It makes sense for them to have guns.

I'm all for updating movies if it makes them sharper or more complete, but I really don't like when they alter the content. This one is almost as bad as 'Han shoots first' in the Star Wars redo.