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Twemy-five per cent of the naive public vote for liars. Seventyâ€"five per cent of the rest don‘t vote. Now I know why I lost three elecâ€" tions at three different levels over the years because I told the voters the way it really was, which is apparently what they do not want to hear. Now that the new Waterloo mayor has apparently followed this popular pattern, I have a suggestion for her to save face on the water problem. On all the new building permits issued, ensure that a cistern is built under each new garage, which would add very little cost to the price of a new house, not to menâ€" tion the fact that no expensive salt and water softeners would ever be needed in the house. Also with all the energy alerts to the public about cutting down on our use, why are there 98 light poles Now I know why I lost the three elections I ran in We're a stoic bunch, we men. There‘s a fine line, of course, between stoic and stupid, a line many of us seem to cross on a regular basis. For example, many of us ignore medical sympâ€" toms, preferring instead to tough it out. After all, if you can‘t handle a little pain or discomâ€" fort, well then you are not a man. [ _ Walk it off, the coaches used to say. HJ But that is dumb, of course, which 1 can personally testify to, given an expeâ€" BC rience with a deep bladder infection a year and a half ago. l It was so bad I personally visited every bush and tree on several South Carolina golf courses. And that was just in one day. Anyway, 1 eventually broke down and went to a doctor, which included what has become an almost legendary digital rectal exam. Certainly among my favorite days! Time for men to stop being stoic and realize they‘re being stupid It does seem men, as odd as it really is, have a particular problem with going anywhere to have our nether regions looked at medically. That‘s not good. And it‘s a message some people are working really hard to change. Chery! Fried is one of those people. Just over five years ago, she began a medical journey with her son Adam. It started innocently enough, with her son losing some weight and going through back pains. Four or five months later, they discovered that at just 18 Adam had testicular cancer. Actually, that‘s not really all that surprising. Tesâ€" ticular cancer is the most common form of the disâ€" ease in men between the ages of 15 and 34. _ A young man has a ane in 300 chance of develâ€" oping it, and over the last 30 years the incidence of it has increased by some 60 per cent. _ s If caught early enough, it is very treatable and very curable. â€" & s That was not the case for Adam. He died in November of 2003, just a few months after being diagnosed. on University Avenue and the expressway cloverieaf? _Could we at least turn these lights off after 11 p.m. when the traf fic is very little? bylaw. I work for the City of Kitchener and occasionally there are waterâ€" main breaks that occur in the wee hours of the morning. One reason for not allowing this is for unseen emergencies. _ Kitchener not having this bylaw, has many cars parked on the road and it seems there are more cars parked on the road at night knock at the door early in the morning? his letter is regarding Brian ‘Bourke‘s column in the Chroniâ€" on the city‘s overnight parking columnist like a BOURKE COMMENT Chery] was a prime force in helping the Waterloo region health unit create a campaign it will launch this fall called "Check Em." And that‘s exactly the point. nAE l Cheryl Fried has taken her grief and channeled it into something worthwhile, something that lets her know her son did not die in vain. She is hoping to appeal to men of all ages in a couple of fundraising and, more importantly, awarenessâ€"raising events. _ _ oo _ One of those comes this Sunday with the first ever golf tournament at Grand Valley Golf and County Club. _ _ _ _ _ It‘s in memory of Cheryl‘s son Adam. You can contact Chery] at cheryifried@rogers.com or by phone at 519â€"742â€"6676. Let‘s face it, it‘s the perfect combination. You can go out, play some golf, maybe lose a couple of balls and, hopefully, help someone you know from sufâ€" fering the same fate. You can also visit the testicular cancer website for information at www.tctca.org. The health unit wants young men to "check em" â€" 1 don‘t have to spell this out, do 1? Brian Bourke, a member of the 105.3 KOOL FM morning crew, can be reached by email at Waterloo Carol Millar, a fixture in the region‘s schools as a nurse, says most teenagers figure testicular cancer is an "old man‘s disease" and has nothing to do with them. But the health unit will be talking to boys this fall, encouraging them to learn about self examination. It‘s the same sort of campaign that has had great success on the female side with breast self exams. I don‘t have any sons of my own, but with three daughters in their early 20‘s, I sure know enough of them. _ And my best highâ€"school friend was diagnosed with testicular cancer when he was just 19. _ 8 than in the day. If a car has to be moved to repair this main break, we may have to knock on a dozen doors before we find the owner of the car. How would Brian like to have a city worker knock on his door at four in the morning to see if a car belongs to him, when it doesn‘t? This is one reason that I can think of, as I am sure there are many other good reasons, such as fire or other emergencies. Furthermore, the city looks tidier at these times than other cities that don‘t have this law. Brian, make your driveway bigâ€" ger, or move to Kitchener buddy, if this is such an issue that you have to write about it. I will see you at four in the mornâ€" ing sometime, when I am asking you if you know whose car this belongs to because it needs to be moved. TtA GTE Jeff Tvrdon Waterloo ne of my greatest inspirations to study astronomy as a child came from the books of American astronomer and astrobiologist Carl Sagan. It was through books like Cosâ€" mos and Pale Blue Dot that my understanding of our solar sysâ€" tem and the universe was greatly enhanced, and captured my imagination for the human future in space. Now the parent of a fiveâ€"yearâ€"old daughter who shares my enthusiasm for the wonders of the universe, I was excited to learn this past week the Children‘s Museum in Kitchener has launched its newest exhibit, Mission: Outer Space. With guided tours exploring the stars in a portable planetariâ€" um to interactive exhibits where kids can discover what it‘s like working on the moon, the Children‘s Museum, in recent months, has become a leading edge art, science and technology facility for young people, thanks to the creative vision of execuâ€" tive director David Marskell. Designed to educate children about space and space flight, the exhibit reminded me just how far, in my lifetime alone, we‘ve come in understanding our OWn . |,@@apapaans solar system thanks to the power of o imtlog vro«~/ _ OSBOSIEU In the first book I ever owned about the solar system, published in the 70s, colourful drawings were used to illusâ€" trate the intensely hot and hostile atmosphere of the planet Venus, and the cold barren surface of Pluto, so distant from the sun. Today, much is known about Venus‘ surface geology and volcanic history â€" and Pluto has since been reclassified as a dwarf planet, given the number 134340. Nothing to me was more frightenâ€" | ing than illustrated depictions of MA“I}ASESLL immense, white lightening storms on Jupiter, or the planet‘s great red spot â€"a complex storm moving in a counterâ€"clockwise direction â€" big enough to hold two Earths. Searching the night sky for the unknown As the great red spot demonstrates, Jupiter is a world of superiatives. It is the largest planet in the solar system, big enough to swallow more than 1,300 Earths, bigger than some types of stars â€" and mare massive than the solar system‘s other known planets and moons combined. It also rotates faster than any other planet. ‘American humorist Jack Handey once said, "Whether they find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be called an enemy planet.". s The first time 1 saw Jupiter, along with its four largest moons Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and fo, was through a telescope at the Ottawa Observatory in the early 805. I would imagine that the first glimpse of a planet like Jupiter, or Saturn, through a telâ€" escope is something even professional astronomers remember all their lives. This August, Jupiter is the brightest "star" of the evening sky, shining in the southwest after dusk. I‘ve also been keeping a close eye on the brilliant yellowâ€"orange star Arcturus, the fourthâ€"brightest star in the night sky, which seems to have staked out a spot in the middle of the western sky this month. Difficult for me to comprehend, Arcturus is 20 times larger than the Sun, and produces about a hundred times as much energy. 1 find the easiest way to locate Arcturus is to follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper, currently dipping into the northwest. Even more mindâ€"boggling is the concept that when we look up at the night sky, we are seeing stars as they were at sometime in history â€" their light only now reaching us from thousands, even millions, of years ago. And for all the stars we see, some of them will no longer exist, and then there are other new stars whose light hasn‘t reached us yet. Among the many ideas that Carl Sagan has instilled in me is that the sky is up there for everyone to enjoy, and one doesn‘t need an expensive telescope or an education in astronomy to appreciate the greatest of nature‘s art. _ And for those with kids looking to explore some indoor star gazing and the marvels of space flight, the Mission: Outer Space exhibit will be on at the Children‘s Museum until earty 2008. Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. â€" Dr. Carl Sagan Because somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be Marshall Ward is an artist and independent filmmaker. Email is welcome at marshall_ward@hotmail.com. WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, August 15 2007 + 9