680News - Lisa Brandt

How stupid do you have to be to drink and drive?

No, you’re not going to find any sympathy here if you happen to blow over just because you had an extra drink at dinner and didn’t think you were impaired. You’re going to find only judgment and dismay! And that’s how I hope the rest of society would look upon anyone who gets behind the wheel when they’ve been drinking.

For the record, I don’t drink. Some of my friends and family do and that’s not the issue. The ONLY issue is getting behind the wheel after imbibing.

RIDE programs are underway or about to launch and police will be extra vigilant about dangerous and potentially impaired driving.

I was pulled over, Starsky and Hutch style, a few weeks ago while driving into the radio station very early one morning. I had killed a spider on my dashboard and wobbled a bit on the DVP and someone - rightly - called the police and reported me as impaired. I wasn’t! I had my tray of Tim’s and my briefcase and I was clearly on my way to work. Was it an imposition? A bit. Did I get really annoyed? No, because it’s good to know that they’re out there and they react quickly. And I hadn’t done anything wrong so what’s the problem?

I hope it’s the same for you during the holiday season, that you haven’t done anything wrong and you’re patient with police who are doing their jobs. Sadly, there are still too many fools out there who drink and drive. Fatal crashes involving alchohol are actually up this year over last. Drive safely, won’t you?

So where do you do most of your holiday shopping?

Today is Cyber-Monday, the kick-off day to the online shopping season. Some people are afraid of shopping online but I’ve been doing it regularly for years without a problem.

Since our dollar reached parity and passed the U.S. buck in late September and October, Canadians have been flooding to the U.S. and shopping like mad. It’s your money, do with it what you like, but unless there’s some sort of eye-popping deal that we can’t possibly get here, I don’t understand the attraction. I do understand popping over to the States for an outing, but not with an actual goal of stocking up on stuff.

Please don’t take this to be a partison agreement - you don’t know and never will know my political leanings!! But I agree with Premier McGuinty who said last week that once you factor in the time and gas spent to get over the border and shop around, you could have purchased what you wanted and been back home, over here. Plus, shopping at home supports your neighbours. At this time of year, it’s something I think about.

Do you?

It’s wonderful when one piece of work can be spun two separate ways!

My Money column for Sun Media, running Fridays here in the Toronto Sun, is about Anne Murray today. The Canadian icon dropped into our studio for an impromptu live interview about a week ago as she visited our music stations to promote her new CD, Duets: Friends and Legends. It’s a comeback CD of sorts. Murray had originally planned to end her recording career with her last release.

The woman is a class act. She’s friendly, real and very much in the moment. There’s nothing quite as uncomfortable as an artist or guest of any kind who’s looking through you and thinking about their next stop. Anne Murray looks you in the eye and even better — she really listens!

Canada doesn’t have very many true icons and certainly not many who still live in this country. If you get a chance to read the column, you’ll find out some little tidbits about how she conducts her career with class and dignity. What a great lady!

On the 680News morning show, we realize we don’t live like most of the rest of you. Our wake times range from 1 until 3:30 am or so. We are all well acquainted with the joys of the afternoon nap. We each have stories of falling asleep at dinner parties and our childrens’ recitals. Radio morning shows alone largely support the under-eye coverup industry! A lack of sleep gives us various stages of black circles that only good makeup can conceal.

But it seems that many people in all walks of life are feeling a little sluggish right now. We’re craving far too many carbs and having trouble dragging ourselves out of bed. The jeans are a little tighter and the rare appearance of sunlight is enough to almost make us stand up and cheer!

And now the city is about to get its first taste of winter, albeit a smaller taste than first forecast. Still, you know the drive in the morning will be tricky - mostly because of the “other guy” who doesn’t realize you have to adjust your driving for slick conditions. He or she will cause dozens of accidents and generally just annoy the rest of us by taking silly chances and sliding all over the place, making the morning a little bit of hell.

At 680News we are ready with the 680 Storm Centre, which puts everything you want to know about traffic, closures and forecasts at the forefront when a storm takes hold. 680 meteorologist Jill Taylor will be with us in the morning, tracking the storm live as it moves through our area. Stay with us and we’ll keep you covered. And we’ll probably be nibbling on muffins as we do it!

Today, an analysis of crime statistics named Detroit, Michigan the most dangerous city in the U.S. St. Louis used to have that dubious distinction. To much of the country, Toronto is the most dangerous place to live. But those of us who live here sometimes think otherwise.

When my Mom hears about a shooting or stabbing that occurs somewhere on the very, very long, major roadway in which I live, she immediately runs to her map to see if the incident occured anywhere near my home. So far, they haven’t hit close enough to make her worry about my neighbourhood but my Mom is completely unfamiliar with Toronto so she panics anyway. She can never remember if Sheppard is north or south of the 401 or whether Don Mills is east or west of the DVP. She’s just not “local” and I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t want to be local!

The closer you look into the American statistics that were used to compile this data the more you see the flaws in the calculations. Some cities were completely excluded from the scoring because of incomplete information. The stats don’t take into account any of the variables that contribute to an increase in crime. Those differ from region to region and town to town. The statisticians are only looking at hard numbers of criminal acts including murders, robberies and car thefts.

If most of a city’s murders take place within a certain area, does that make the city as a whole, unsafe? It’s a touchy, debatable issue. Some say everything changed for our city when innocent teenager Jane Creba was caught by a stray bullet downtown while shopping at the Eaton Centre on Boxing Day 2005. Has that senseless act diminished shopping in that part of the downtown core? I don’t know for sure, but I doubt it.

The Santa Claus Parade. Is it okay to loathe it?

This isn’t a comment on Santa or Christmas or the commercialization of Christmas, really. It’s the idea of taking potentially tired, hungry, whiny children out on a crisp day and jockeying for position, elbow to elbow with other watchers who may not respect the “got here first” rule, only to have to finally skitter into a nearby coffee shop to empty a nearly bursting bladder and return to find a gaggle of strangers occupying your prime real estate.

I only know this happens because I’ve heard others talk about it. I have to admit that I run in the other direction when I hear there’s a parade in town, I truly do. Granted, I don’t have small children clamouring to be there to get their letters to the big guy in the red suit. That would make a big difference. A parent will do anything for their kids and I’m assuming that’s why they’re willing to brave the close quarters on the curb for the big event.

If you are going to the parade or anything else brings you downtown on Sunday afternoon, 680 News has you covered with airborne traffic reports with our Russ Holden before and after the parade. Enjoy - or enjoy hiding out!!

What could you do with another 9 hours a week? That seems to be the approach to a California survey on how much time we spend on e-mail, whether on a desktop computer or a hand-held device.

I find that take on the results to be flawed. We need to spend time with email. We need e-mail! How much time would it take up to communicate if we DIDN’T have it?

The survey shows many executives are slaves to the system, checking their e-mail almost compulsively every few minutes, hoping something important will come in. Or they’re being pinned on their Blackberries every few seconds and not every message is worth the trouble.

To me, that doesn’t mean e-mail is a problem. People are the problem. I don’t think e-mail is a waste of my time. If I choose to waste time using it, well, that’s a different story.

The survey finds billions of dollars in productivity is lost through these e-mail addictions. Then, of course, there are those forwards of lame jokes that go around and around ad nauseum. But for the most part, in my experience, e-mail is a necessary tool that’s used for good, not evil. Don’t blame the tool! Blame the tool’s user.

Do you still buy CDs?

I do. And up until recently I burned my favourite songs on them to take with me on the road. But the taunting from my friends and family finally convinced me to venture into the world of the mp3 player. That, of course, means downloading songs. So I’ve finally joined the masses in contributing to the end of the great music chains in this country.

Sam the Record man went belly-up earlier this year and now the last of the Canadian music retailers is in bankruptcy protection: Music World.

The Globe and Mail reports Music World will be no more by early 2008. The company says it will try to sell off some of the profitable locations across the country, of which there are 72 in total, profitable and not. British-born HMV is the last big chain in this country and its owner says they may consider snapping up some Music World locales.

The problem for these retails goes beyond downloading music from the internet. People are also buying their CDs that way and not necessarily from music retailers. Everybody and their uncle sells music online now, including Ebay, where you can buy used and new CDs for cheap.

But isn’t the bottom line that we are still buying music and supporting the artists? Now there are music charts that track downloads and ringtones. And it’s up to the retailers to change with the times - at least, that’s what the head of the only survivor, HMV, has said.

Covering health news is a dodgy bit of business. Some studies are big, some are small, some contradict each other and it’s not easy to decide which ones are worthy of attention.

Today we have a prime example.

We are constantly being told to stay out of the sunlight and slather on the sunscreen to prevent skin cancer and to keep us from wrinkling up like apple dolls. But today, a study from King’s College in London claims sunbathing actually reverses the aging process.

So how do you stay in the sun and out of the sun at the same time?

The researchers say Vitamin D is the key and people without enough D in their systems are subject to developing more age related illnesses. They estimate one third of the population doesn’t get enough Vitamin D.

What’s apparently important is how long you stay in the sun and when. They say that you can get your fill of vitamin D long before your skin burns, so the advice is to pop out for about 15 minutes outside of the peak times around the noon hour, absorb a little D and live longer and better. That’s what they say. Take it with a grain of salt and some SPF 50!

A fascinating piece in the latest edition of Maclean’s Magazine and followed up on by 680’s Showbiz Editor Gloria Martin, about the double standard in gossip reporting.

In general, women get skewered while men get a pass.

Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears can’t make a move without photographers and entertainment journalists doing a double page or cover story on them while bad boys like Bobby Brown and Snoop Dogg get only passing mentions.

Think about it. When Angelina Jolie was married to Billy Bob Thornton, she was made out to be insane even though they both acted like fools, wearing vials of each other’s blood and the rest. Thornton is actually afraid of antiques! He won’t stay in a room with them. But SHE is the crazy one?

It’s tempting to go deeper into the psyche of those who run the entertainment media and find out what it is that causes them to concentrate so heavily on misbehaving women and so lightly on their male counterparts. But the bottom line is, these magazine sell and sell well. We get the media we demand! And that includes those trashy magazines lining the racks at the grocery checkouts.