Juxtaposition

After reflecting on Ma Ying-jeou's words I come across this photo essay of Benazir Bhutto's assassination narrated by the photographer. It is a stunning and shocking narrative of images.

Guru Sage

Today, courts in Taiwan ruled that presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou is not guilty of corruption. Which means this popular candidate can continue with his campaign - which is nice. But what caught my eye in the article was Ma's response to the verdict and expression of confidence in the justice system.

"No matter how high the mountain, it cannot block the sun," he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters. "I feel at peace right now. But this is just a beginning because the road ahead will be difficult."

"No matter how high the mountain, it cannot block the sun." We just don't hear these eloquent bits in North American politics, no reference to an ancient non-religious yarn of wisdom. Ma's words are somehow beautiful and calming. But that might be because I'm kinda Chinese.

Debunking

I love truths, especially those that are obscured by popular myth. Naturally, I feel it is necessary to share the British Medical Journal's recently released list of common medical misconceptions.

-Turkey doesn't make you any more tired than beef would
-Cell phones don't frack with medical devices and kill people in hospitals
-Put down that 8th glass of water

Oh, and there's more...

Original list from the BMJ
CBC article

Gone Baby Gone

Known internationally as the best jazz pianist ever to lay fingers on keys, Canadian legend Oscar Peterson died today from kidney failure. Peterson performed with the likes of Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole and Stan Getz. He collected countless awards, distinctions, and titles around the world, founded schools, made over 200 recordings, and never left Canada. And let's face it, the dude was just cool.

"It's the group sound that's important, even when you're playing a solo." -Oscar Peterson



CBC
canada.com

Hack The Earth

From Wired, The Year's 10 Craziest Ways to Hack the Earth.

While they are interesting, I'm not a fan of anything that has us trying to maintain our destructive way of life. Instead of coming up with all these crazy ideas, why don't we just make some relatively minor adjustments to our personal existences? These are all just cop outs and misdirection of responsibility...and I guess that point is actually made throughout - thank the gods.


That said, one of them, Vertical Farming (in the No. 10 spot), seems pretty responsible, effective, logical, and pretty to look at (see pic to right). Plus, the idea that traditional farm fields could be then returned to forest? Slam dunk.

Random Quote #6

"It was the least pleasant experience I've ever had due to weather." -Wookiee, on boarding 7th Heaven at Blackcomb

Sets Galore

I've uploaded a bunch of new sets to my Flickr site as well as added to the Dave Work Tour ("Under Construction") set and Life In Macro collection.

New sets include:

• The Question Jar Tour (Vancouver)


• Hollywood Bowl 2007


• Gorge (WA) 2006


• NYC Summer 2006


• Gorge (WA) 2005


• Red Rocks (CO) 2005


• NYC Summer 2005


• NYC Winter 2005


• Following The Band - Toronto (ON), Darien Lake (NY), & Saratoga Springs (NY) 2006


• Riding to Lillooet & Cache Creek (BC)


• Alpine Valley/East Troy/Milwaukee (WI) 2006
  

...and there's lots more to come. But for now my eyeballs - and 'copy & paste' shortcut fingers, need a little break.

List Excerpts

While Google searching for something entirely unrelated to what I found, I came across CBC.ca Arts' The Top 100 of 2006 list.

There's a lot of stuff there, but skimming it I saw a few highlights that I thought rocked for one reason or another...they're old, but they're still true!

Check it:

"9. Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. When U.S. President George W. Bush sat down at this annual gathering of Washington reporters, he was no doubt expecting a light ribbing. What he got from Colbert, star of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, was a punch in the gut. This was satire at its ballsiest — ballsier even than Borat, for the simple reason that the leader of the free world was sitting only a few feet away. “I believe that the government that governs best is the government that governs least, and by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq,” Colbert quipped at one point. The room responded with a gasp. Comedy so devastating it took your breath away." <-true dat. I thought Bush was so freaking angry that he wasn't even going to wait for Colbert to leave the stage before having him disappeared. The full 24 min video here.

"11. Watching The Wire on a string. One of us waited until early December to see a single episode of David Simon’s Baltimore crime series — and then plowed through all four seasons in two weeks. Yes, it’s true, Omar (Michael K. Williams) is 21st-century TV’s most excellent antihero. The Wire’s main draw, though, is its unblinking view of the war on drugs, the struggles of the working class, political corruption and the collapse of public education. HBO’s grand gift to devil-in-its-details, dystopian storytelling." -I watched the first episode and immediately decided to wait and watch them all "on a string" too



"13. Robin Sparkles, Let's Go to the Mall. The writers of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother created this genius, faux-1980s music video upon revealing that one of the show’s characters, Robin, is hiding a dirty secret from her past: the Canadian ex-pat was once a bubble-gum popstar. For those who lived through Alanis Morrisette: the Early Years, this hysterically funny video — which boasts the line, “I’m gonna rock your body till Canada Day” — is dead-on in the details: rubber bangles, cheesy white-girl rap, synthesizers, a toy robot, moonwalking and name checks of Brian Mulroney and Wayne Gretzky. It’s awesome, eh." <-um, yeah it is!



"87. Tyra Banks. With her eponymous talk show and evermore me-Me-ME, dammit! appearances on America’s Next Top Model, the poor person’s Oprah has become the ego that ate television. Girlfriend is the guiltiest of pleasures." -"the ego that ate television"!

"94. David Caruso versus acting. It’s not that we enjoy Caruso’s performance as Horatio Caine on CSI: Miami. Rather, we are comforted by its existence. Shatner’s Kirk impregnated fewer pauses; Al Pacino eats less ham; and what — what? — is with the sunglasses? Proof positive that you can be a spectacular failure, and millions of people might love you anyways. So inspiring."

Brabe Asks #2

"...On that note, does our solar system have an actual name like magnatar 38 or something equally cool?" -Brabe

I did a little searching and confirmed that no, our solar system does not have a name like Magnatar 38. According to NASA, the IAU (International Astronomical Union), etc., we just capitalise the words to make them personal pronouns. Our solar system is called the Solar System. The galaxy is commonly referred to as the Galaxy (rather than the Milky Way). Our moon is just the Moon. It seems this is because we live on Earth so they are just our system and galaxy. If we started to live on other planets or in other galaxies, we might either give those new places unique names or perhaps change the names of Earth's neighbourhood. Hard to say at this point! A nice little paragraph (or so) explains that all here.


More links:

Wikipedia on the Solar System

From the University of Arizona's now incorrectly titled Nine Planets FAQ:

Q: Does our solar system have a name? Does our moon have a name? Does our sun have a name?

A: No. No. No. Sorry. They should. But they don't. At least not in English. There are, of course, many words used to refer to the Sun and the Moon in other languages. "Sol" and "Luna" are often thought of as proper names but they're really Latin, not English. So far there hasn't been a need for anything more. Maybe when we start living on other places besides the Earth....

Know The Players

The cover story of the current Entertainment Weekly is "The 50 Smartest People In Hollywood: It's Not About Power Anymore" and features a head shot of Will Smith. In the corner of the cover it asks,

"Who Are the Brains Leading the Film Business Forward? Will Smith Ranks #5 on Our List. Who's #1?"

"Could it be Judd Apatow by any chance?" I said aloud to myself, "Or will they make a statement and say Tyler Perry?"

I flipped to the cover story, and lo and behold, the #1 person is Judd Apatow. And Tyler Perry? He's #7.

Dudes, I read too much about the industry.

Man Overboard

This guy, in downtown Vancouver, took the local flood warning very seriously.

Monotheism, Rome, and Democracy

Why can't God be more like us?
by: Richard Handler

Christopher Hitchens, the British-born contrarian and atheist, has written a best-selling book called God is Not Great in which he thumbs his nose at Allah, Yahweh and all religion for that matter.

I don't know if God is great or not but I 'm sure of one thing: He/She/It isn't a democrat.

Now, this isn't meant as a frivolous remark. Leaving our Western worldview aside for the moment, a vast literature exists on the subject of polytheism, the belief in many gods who jockey for power.

Ancient gods litter the historical landscape. Witness the huge statuary that oversaw once mighty empires like the Hittites and Assyrians.

Present-day Hindus worship a collection of deities. And at one not-so-distant time in the West even, many gods were the rule. I was reminded of this, in the run-up to Christmas, while watching HBO's epic series, Rome.

In between the conspiracies and casual brutality, Romans worshipped both big and little gods with enthusiasm and piety. You want your business to prosper (or an enemy killed), you pray to the right deity for help.


A parliament of dieties

I have heard it said that the Romans, or the Greeks before them, hardly believed in their gods: They were seen more as just mythic characters in the literature of the day.

But as the American classical scholar Mary Lefkowitz reminds us in a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, the ancient Greeks believed that their gods were real and that they constantly intervened in human affairs.

The Romans inherited their panoply of gods from the Greeks: Zeus, the head god, became Jupiter, and so on down the line.

Zeus did not communicate directly with humans but his children — Athena, Apollo and Dionysus — did so continually. A mortal could have the support of one god while angering another. Belief and obedience were, at heart, political.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were always bargaining, praying and beseeching their gods for favours. Their world was a place where human beings were courtiers to a veritable parliament of deities.

Smart operators like Odysseus (Ulysses to some) knew how to play the game. Others, like the suitors he slaughtered when he returned home from Troy, were not so cunning.


Divine limitations

The gods of the ancient Greeks and Romans weren't sweet and gentle. They were often bad tempered, lustful and petty.

But they had two characteristics that ordinary humans envied: They were powerful and they were immortal.

These gods fought among themselves just like we do. Living forever, it seems, gave them no monopoly on wisdom. Even Zeus was not all-powerful or completely wise. He lived within his divine limitations. He had his favourites and his dreadful temper.

Still, there are advantages to believing in a polytheistic universe, as Lefkowitz tells us.

For one, it eliminates the problem of theodicy: Why would a good god create evil?

The monotheistic religions of the world — such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam — have to explain to their followers why God created cyclones and blood thirsty murderers. (After four thousand years, there's hardly a good answer, except, perhaps, have faith and mind your own business.)

The Greeks didn't believe in sentimental, loving gods. (When their gods loved, mortals had to watch out for their daughters!)

As Lefkowitz tells us, the classical gods made life hard for humans. They weren't out to improve our condition. The only things they seemed to have a true interest in were valour and human achievement.


Understanding fallibility

The Greeks, and the Romans who followed them, understood human fallibility. They believed mortals could question their gods, who were as imperfect as they were. They believed that all beings — divine and human — were prone to error.

The second great advantage to polytheism is its openness. It gave the ancient world a modern, Canadian virtue — diversity.

The Greeks were the original multiculturalists. There was always room in the temple for a new god, as long as his or her highness didn't want to take over the place.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are downright exclusive when it comes to sharing the limelight. Have no other gods before Me, say the opening commandments (depending on your Bible).

People nowadays talk about wanting to encounter God in nice little gardens and in the joys of nature. But the God of the Hebrew Bible was a jealous God. The ancient Hebrews were always running from Him. Indeed, He was something of a holy terror.


In search of a democratic deity

Of course, Christians have the benefit of a meeker intermediary, a deity (Christ) who suffers, like the rest of humankind.

Still, their God is a rather mysterious being, an omniscient deity with control over his dominion yet who has allowed bad things to flourish.

Then there is the God of Islamic radicals who wants His enemies to convert or be struck dead. He keeps His compassion strictly for His believers.

A Greek would be puzzled by monotheism. But the Greeks understood the world as a complicated, savage and less than perfect place. Even their democracy was imperfect: It excluded women, slaves and many working people.

I've always found it puzzling that democracy, with all its ragged, free-for-all imperfections, is heralded as the supreme political model while our Western religious traditions are so monotheistic and narrow.

God is a dictator, demanding perfection from his underlings. OK, He gives us free will to make ourselves miserable. But if political life should be democratic, why shouldn't religion? If we were created in God's image, why can't God be more like us?

The Greeks and the Romans that I see in Rome understand the world is a quixotic and perilous place. They make allegiances and hope to command a smidgen of honour for their family, friends and community.

The ancient world lived as if all creation was a permanent minority government. Life tottered on the edge of a no confidence vote by the powers that be.

As coarse and politically incorrect as those ancient people were, at least to our way of thinking today, their many gods prepared them for a steely-eyed life without illusion.

We have progressed in many ways since then, especially in our science and technology. But perhaps those ancient peoples were wiser than us.

Today, we seem to live in a world of fierce moralists and one-God believers. Maybe we should take a lesson from the Greeks and Romans and allow more democracy into our modern religions. Then we might all rest a little more easily.

Elliot

This morning at the office we were informed that a pregnant friend of ours lost her baby on Sunday. Baby girl Elliot was full term, her due date just a week from now. Only two days prior, on Friday, mom got a check up and everything was going well. Her water broke and she and her husband went to the hospital only to find the baby had died sometime between the check up and Sunday. We shed tears for her and her family, and today everything is tainted with the sombre reminder that childbearing, even in modern times, can be so precarious and uncertain.

What would $611 billion buy?

"If the Bush administration succeeds in its latest request for funding for the war in Iraq, the total cost would rise to $611.5 billion."

It's hard to get perspective on how much money that really is...especially for Canadians who's Federal Government has a yearly budget of about $209 billion versus the American's $2,700 billion. In fact, Canada's entire budget is smaller than the yearly deficit incurred in the States over the past several years.

Rest assured the IntraWebs have provided perspective. Here is Boston.com's take on the war costs.

One of my favs:

More than a year's worth of Medicare benefits for everyone

In fiscal 2008, Medicare benefits will total $454 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation summary. The $611 billion in war costs is 17 times the amount vetoed by the president for a $35 billion health benefit program for poor children.

Because the veto is that much more appalling in this context isn't it?

and:

A real war on poverty

According to World Bank estimates, $54 billion a year would eliminate starvation and malnutrition globally by 2015, while $30 billion would provide a year of primary education for every child on earth.

At the upper range of those estimates, the $611 billion cost of the war could have fed and educated the world's poor for seven years.

Frogs v. Bears

Comedian Mitch Hedberg has a bit about the differences between frogs and bears. This has nothing to do with what is to come, but the title seemed appropriate for some reason.

Not long ago I was discussing the different spins or perspectives news agencies apply to their stories. I have begun to read the news on both CBC.ca and canada.com, the latter of which is a collection of the top stories from reporters and newspapers across the country, and have noticed some interesting variations.

Today Harper announced a $105-million-over-5-years aid package for African children. First I'll link you to the CBC's account the PM's trip to Tanzania here. This was, incidentally, on the same day that a report was released saying that child poverty rates in Canada have remained basically unchanged over two decades.

Okay, so this first article seems pretty benign, uninteresting really.

Now check the article from the Ottawa Citizen on canada.com here.

It's much more interesting, with critique related to the visit and a little bit of a mocking tone don't you think? "Stephen Harper made a high-profile aid announcement and paid a photogenic visit to schoolchildren", "a yard filled with hundreds of singing, flag waving children awaited, for a 20-minute photo-op" and leaves out any Harper quotes about the aid package (like CBC's "Canada has the lead role.") and treats the whole thing as secondary to his supporting of a large mining company who might be doing nasty things to it's employees.

In my opinion, the canada.com article is far better in that it is more skeptical - which is exactly the kind of attitude I want reporters to adopt when approaching political fanfare.

I also like this from the canada.com version; "Harper told a joint press conference...that he wasn't in the habit of telling visiting countries how to conduct their internal affairs." Which he likes to bust out whenever he tries to deflect the spotlight from his support of things that his constituents don't support. However we are all very aware that part of being the leader of a country, particularly one of the leading nations, means constantly telling countries, visiting or otherwise, how to conduct their internal affairs.

Harper does it all the time.

Did he not join the Commonwealth motion that put a time-out on Pakistan for General Pervez Musharraf's dirty deeds? "Representatives from nine Commonwealth countries, including Canada, voted unanimously to suspend Pakistan "from councils of the Commonwealth pending restoration of democracy and rule of law in the country," said Secretary-General Don McKinnon." Why yes he did.

CBC's Political Bytes

If you know anything about John Baird, the punchline rings so very true.

Environment Minister John Baird may have to refrain from one of his favourite activities for a few weeks — speaking in the House of Commons.

The bombastic Baird revels in sparring with the opposition during question period, but his enthusiasm on Wednesday led him to break a cardinal rule of parliament: He referred directly to some individuals who had come to watch him from the visitors' gallery in the House of Commons.

That kind of behaviour is certainly not a crime anywhere else in the country, but in the House they take these things seriously: Only the Speaker is allowed to refer to anyone in the gallery.

Baird himself apologized after QP, chalking it up to a "rookie mistake." But the apology was met with cries of "fair is fair" from the opposition.

Three different opposition MPs pointed out that they had made similar "mistakes" early in their careers — and all had been banned from speaking in the House for 30 days as punishment.

Speaker Peter Milliken has said he will review the tapes of the incident before making a decision.

But Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale is encouraging Milliken to treat the minister with the same severity as other MPs, adding "We should also consider the beneficial effect that action would have in reducing greenhouse gases."

Long Overdue

Finally, there is real discussion about installing turnstiles or gates in our SkyTrain stations. Finally. We've only been asking for this since 1986.

When In Rome

Just read this story about the only Canadian on death row in the States whom the Conservatives have decided to stop fighting for. They say it's because it would weaken their tough stance on crime. Opponents say that it's a tacit endorsement of captial punishment (which is against the Canadian way) and that all citizens deserve a reprise from that form of punishment.

"Smith's case has caused an uproar in Canada because the Conservative government's surprise decision last week not to seek clemency for the condemned Canadian reversed long-standing foreign policy"

The prisoner, Ronald Smith, said,

"The whole idea in Canada has been to try and rehabilitate prisoners if possible," Smith said in a prison meeting room. "Why shouldn't I have the opportunity, just because I came down to the United States and killed somebody? What difference does it make? If anybody else deserves an opportunity, then I should as well - I'm a Canadian citizen."

I agree with the Conservative's decision, but not their reason. I believe that if you enter another country you are to abide by and respect their rules and laws. You can not expect to leave Canada but still be blanketed under our justice system. The murder is not being contested so this is not a case of false imprisonment, this is about whether you should suffer the consequences of your actions based on citizenship or geography. I go with geography. I mean, it is rather un-Canadian to export and force our way on others anyway. Aren't you a lot more careful about the law when you go to America? I'm certainly cognizant of these differences, and if you're not, well...guess you end up like Smith.

Hypocrisy Shout Out

I like how the States gets off on telling other countries that they can't do what the US does because they're not "good" or "God's favoured people" or "blind believers in American Democracy" or whatever.

You can't have nuclear weapons! Why do we have them? Oh, because we can be trusted, and you can't.

We always support the rule of law! Unless of course, we don't like your law.

Talking about removing the President of the US is treason! We only remove leaders of countries we like to bully.


Now, I'm upset as any human should be about what President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is doing in Pakistan. Today I wondered if I would risk what would be risked to go and help the protesters if I lived closer to their country. But I'm still going to jump on a comment like this:

"You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time," Bush said Wednesday, describing to reporters his phone conversation with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Hold the phone.

From Wikipedia on the Presdient of the United Stats of America:

"Perhaps the most important of all presidential powers is command of the armed forces as commander-in-chief.

...To carry out this duty, he is given control of the four million employees of the vast executive branch, including one million active duty personnel in the military.

...While the power to declare war is constitutionally vested in Congress, the president commands and directs the military and is responsible for planning military strategy.

Sure we can, but Pakistan? No, they can't do that. Obviously.

Miss Poledance Australia 2006

Because this is just beautiful. It really is. I swear!

Say No To Stanley Park Dinosaurs!

Brabraham Lincoln, I know this irked you a lot too, so be glad that the idea on hold. Temporarily.

The Vancouver Parks Board has decided that too many people, though they enjoy dinosaurs, did not want to see them in Stanley Park. But of course, in a bid to "attract paying customers to the park", they haven't taken this bullshit idea completely off the table.

I suggest they build a dinosaur theme park outside of Vancouver. Or we could just put up an arrow sign pointed East that says, "Drumheller: 1,107 km.", and leave it at that.

My 6th Black Hoodie

I think I need another black hoodie. That's a bunny hug to you Saskatchewanians. This $100 hoodie is different from the rest, it's the Burton Sleeper Hoodie and it's nearly impossible to find in stock. This hoodie was designed for travelling by plane and will be a significant upgrade to my usual hoodie-on-the-plane uniform.

The Burton Sleeper Hoodie has a removable inflatable neck pillow, a light shield in the hood that covers your eyes, stash pockets for travel documents and portable music, pit zips, thumb hole cuffs, etc.

My cubicle-mate found one locally and put it on hold for me...I think I need to buy it!

Reviews from:

Wired

Gadling

Why Doesn't Vancouver Exist?

I've shown examples of it before, but here we go again.

I just read this article about the exceptional statistic that there have been no murders committed in Quebec City in almost a year. At the bottom of the page there is a list of Canadian cities and their murder rates over the past two years. Do you notice any conspicuous omissions?

MURDERS IN 2006 / TO DATE THIS YEAR / POPULATION SIZES

Toronto 99 70 2,503,281

Montreal 52 35 1,620,693

Edmonton 39 23 730,372

Calgary 26 26 988,193

Winnipeg 22 23 633,451

Ottawa 16 10 812,129

Saskatoon 8 5 202,340

Windsor 3 3 216,473

Quebec City 7 0 491,142

Regina 8 5 179,246

Sure, Saskatoon and Windsor get shout outs, but one of the largest cities in the country is ignored. Further evidence that when people look West they just can't see past Alberta.

Overheard In The Office #3

Incorrect use of the word "dramatic" on one side of a phone conversation to a roommate.

"Stinky [the cat] ate some plastic?"
...
"Oh, he's just being all dramatical."
...
"Well, you better get him food or he's going to be all dramatical until we get home!"

Ice Waves

As in waves of ice in Antarctica. Pictures here.

Canada's New Government?

Finally, a Conservative initiative I can get behind; the end of this irritating nonsense.

Threw, Through, Throw

I just opened a piece of mail. It was an anonymous complaint letter from one of our communities. In it, the self-described Early Childhood Educator who has been working with children for ten years, repeatedly used 'threw' when she meant to use 'through'. These were minor errors among other glaring offences to English.

I put it away to stop my head from involuntary shaking it's sad back and forth and opened an e-mail I received from a co-worker about some broken glass on my floor. He suggested that "we through the glass out" when the movers arrive.

I want to throw them both off the payroll.


`

If I Had 70 Million Dollars

You would be all invited to lounge in a "living room [that] is considered the most magnificent privately owned room in the world. This incredible space was the original ballroom at The Pierre Hotel, with 23 foot high curved ceiling and 20 foot French doors overlooking the park and the city. Four adjoining terraces add to its phenomenal dimensions." Or enjoying the "16 grand rooms - including five master bedrooms, 7 full baths and three half-baths, five working fireplaces, oak flooring with mahogany borders throughout, separate guest suites plus staff accommodations".

Oh, and this is not just any old mansion. It's the top three floors of a hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York motherfraking City.

Did I mention that those are five working wood burning fireplaces? I am unspeakable shades of envy.

`

More Copfoolery

So the cops hassle the men for having open alcohol at UBC on Canada Day while flirting with women carrying open alcohol and playfully handcuffing them for photo ops.

I'm not at all surprised - don't tell me you are?!

Folded into the end of the piece in a comment about local Canada Border Services Agency officers being morons by posting their misdeeds on the obscure networking site, Facebook.

I'm so proud.

Maybe It's Only Funny To Me

"In a pre-season game in September, Flyers rookie Steve Downie received a 20-game ban for leaving his feet and delivering a shoulder to the head of Ottawa's Dean McAmmond."

...for leaving his feet! *lol*

Recall Everything

Starbucks is recalling children's mugs that were made in China, further spurring the panic that all products from that country are dangerous.

These nefarious plastic mugs have animal faces glued to them, and "if the cup is dropped, it's possible for the face to break off and leave sharp edges that can choke or cut children."

The recall is because if you drop the cup it might break.

Now I'm pretty sure there are lots of items around my house that if I dropped, might break, and then be dangerous to babies who want to eat pieces of glass. I'm also certain it doesn't make everything that is breakable a dangerous made-in-China defect.

Spageism #7: "With a w-e-d."

I went to the beach with a friend of mine a while ago to take night pictures of the city. After many smoked bowls, when we were cold enough to warrant leaving, I picked up my tripod which was wet from dew that settled while we were talking. I realized that we also got dew on us, which contributed to our coldness so I said, "Dude, we've been dewed...with a w-e-d."

The New Duct Tape

Someone at DiY Life thinks that tennis balls should be as highly revered for their multi-purposeness.

Here are 17 other uses for the tennis ball.

Waiting For The 2008 Summer Tour

I was in Los Angeles for a couple of days to take in the last two shows of the Dave Matthews Band 2007 Summer Tour at the legendary Hollywood Bowl. The shows were phenomenal. More than that. During the N2 set closer, I told Lance that the night was my blue heaven.


We were treated to an incredibly rare song (#34) that Dave dedicated to his wife on her 34th birthday made even more rare by the addition of lyrics (not done since 1993!). We had Danny Barnes join in both nights on the banjo (love the banjo!). There was John Mayer guesting on #41. And yet another rarity, Exodus, made even more rare by the guest vocals of Stephen and Ziggy Marley (and some of their band mates). For the first time ever, the band also invited the entire crew onstage during the encore break. The energy and atmosphere was, to be corny, magical. The music was innovative for both nights, I met great people, and curled up with old friends on the DMB circuit.


Then there was L.A. You know, I really hate L.A. I can't believe how bad the roaming paparazzi has gotten down there. It's noticeably worse than when I was last down. Guys with cameras and video cameras everywhere. Just waiting. Skulking. It's a soulless place, no doubt. It somehow has a complete lack of character - how do they do that?

Wookiee - thought of you on Tuesday. The club next door to my hostel (so trendy it had no name visible and was constantly stalked by paparazzi), hosted the Jericho Season 1 DVD release party.

Anyway, picture upload to follow...eventually.

Did I remember to post about the Guster show in Seattle the other weekend? I gotta get on this shit.

Collection Of Videos

• This one is a mash up of Bert & Ernie / De Niro & Pesci in a not quite seamless version of a scene from Casino.
  
  
• Then you've got an awesome vid of Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" dubbed over an old-phat hippie music video.
  
  
• Of course, who doesn't want to see what has been dubbed "The best five second video on the internet"? See The Dramatic Chipmunk here. It is all in the turn.
  
  
• Something tells me Fatboy Slim would like Walk It Out, Fosse.
  
  
• How is it that I never used this method to close and save a bag of chips...or any other bagged goods? I'm trying it right now.
  
  
• Firefighters are flying a car on jets of water!
  
  
• Japanese ads - gotta love 'em, same as it ever was. This one is from the early 80's for the Honda City car.
  
  
• Tell me men, does this battery hack apply to Canada?
  
  

It's no wonder that a recent survey of 1,011 American adults, conducted by advertising agency JWT showed, among other things;

While slightly more than half (55 per cent) of the respondents said they could go without connecting online "for a few days," only about a fifth (18 per cent) said they could abstain for a week, the survey found.

Similarly 48 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement: "If I cannot access the internet when I want to, I feel like something important is missing."

This is entertaining (I mean, important) shit! My friends don't spontaneously break into dance parody when a bouncing song is on the speakers. You don't want to go a whole week missing this stuff!

7 Amazing Holes

As the poster says, "if you’re expecting filth you’ll be disappointed".

Pictures and blurbs on seven holes found on the planet.

$1 Cdn = $1 US

Woohoo!

Perfect timing; I'm heading to the States this weekend :)

In your face doom and gloomers, in your face.

Flickr Update

I've got a few new sets up on my Flickr site.

Wookiee's Wedding Weekend



1208 Greatest Hits Tour



Gorge 2007

Jack Black Top Ten

Like all Late Night Top Ten Lists, it isn't particularly funny - except this time Jack makes the Number 1 spot hilarious. Check it on YouTube.

Okay, the "Dance...dance...dance.." one is pretty funny too.

Effrontery

This is the side of Shaquille O'Neal's big pimpin' party bus. Yes, he is painted alongside characters from The Godfather, Scarface, and Goodfellas...and then there's the Superman symbol.




For interested parties, some background on where it was photographed.

Google's Lunar X Prize

Awesome.

UN News of the day

I can't say I have any intimate knowledge about what is in the UN declaration on native rights document that Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Australia are dissenting on. But I do know this; there are only five countries in the world who are known for their specialized or unique indigenous, native, aboriginal, etc. issues/situations that are unlike any other place on the planet (Scandinavia being the other). I have a little bit of knowledge on this because I work in a First Nations branch of the Federal Government so there is a lot of sharing between those specific governments but no others.

My point is this; the headline, "Canada to vote against UN declaration on native rights", is meant to make us look bad - and that's what many will think. But the fact is the declaration is just a non-binding political statement, and the people who are signing on happen to be from countries that don't know what the heck they're talking about when it comes to native issues in other countries. So, especially since Australia is on board, I'm going to say that they probably had good reasons to dissent. But I'm still curious as to what exactly they are...

CityRag Style Post #1

• Have you ever seen the very first picture taken from the surface of Mars? Here it is, taken July 20, 1976.

• The World Conservation Union's 2007 Red List of Threatened Species released today informs us that the most common type of gorilla is now "critically endangered" and one step away from global extinction.

• For the first census since 1871, unmarried people over 15 outnumber the marrieds. Plus, there are more couples without children than with.

• Two weekends ago we discussed whether spiders would ever build large webs together instead of individual ones. We stoner concluded that this wasn't in their nature after transporting spiders from their webs onto others' and watching them scurry away as fast as they could. Okay, the exercise was also dubbed as USF: Ultimate Spider Fight. Well, turns out, under the right conditions, spiders do make giant scary webs together.

Boys & Construction

Edit/re-post: Yesterday morning, check it: 6 men, and the requisite uninterested woman.




Originally posted 6/sep/07.12:23
Vancouver has it's own Big Dig doing on right now, which may not exactly rival Boston's, but is nevertheless wreaking havoc on our city.

The Waterfront Station happens to be right outside my office - which means construction in a giant hole has been going on for many months outside my window. It's been one headache after another, especially when they bring out giant rock destroyers or massive vacuums to get the rain water out of the hole.

But I like the plus side, and that is that every morning I get to watch some Big Construction on my walk to the office. I told some girls at work that I'm such a boy because I like to take a pause to watch things like a back hoe dumping loads into a dump truck. They didn't understand that. Of course not.

I kid you not, every single morning, there is at least one male (and no females) taking a look over the edge at the men and machines in the hole.

This morning, there were two:




And it's not just "unprofessional" people either, one morning I saw one of the doctors/executives from my office down there taking a gander too.

Halfer

"More than ever I am coming to appreciate the ambiguity, the looseness. I think it's actually been very helpful for me. It's made me more open about learning things, about other cultures, other religious groups, that I think is reflected in my research."

-Paul Bramadat, mixed race professor at the University of Winnipeg who teaches about multiculturalism and tolerance.

About 50% of the people who know me are aware of the fact that I am mixed race. It's something quite unique to grow up with, something not many others can understand. I grew up not fitting in with the white people because I'm Chinese, and not being accepted by the full Chinese because I'm part European. I've thought about it a lot over the years, it comes up when other what I refer to as "Halfers", pop up in my life - but mostly we do the equivalent of a motorcyclist wave as we pass each other; we are kindred, but aren't sure what else to say about it.

There is a great article on the CBC site today about mixed race Canadians and the strange kind of isolation and scrutiny we face. The feature about The Question (oh, we all get The Question) is completely accurate.

In the 2001 census, there were 328,115 people who self-identified as belonging to more than one racial group. Few enough that to meet another is to feel a significant attachment, like you aren't the only lost mixed race baby in town. Like Kip Fulbeck says in the article, we spend our lives checking the box marked 'Other' on questionnaires about race. Other. No wonder we look for the perfect word to describe ourselves! I'm not Other! I'm Hapa, Halfer, Cablinasian, etc. I even used Caucasian Asian Crustacean for the longest time - but I guess CaucAsian would work!

I enjoy how the article talks about how mixed race people tend to feel that their identities are more fluid - I think that's quite true. And so resistance to any one definition also makes sense. It's as if mixed race might be what it takes to start erasing racism. We tend to refuse to say what we are, we get offended, we repeat over and over that we are Canadian and nothing else. We are not the sum of the colours of or parents' skin or shape of eyes, we do not conform to one set of customs over an other. We respect many cultures and revere our Nationality above all else and feel particularly connected to groups outside of our own...because we already have more than one!

It's always been difficult for me to vocalize all of what makes a mixed race person different. Outcast. Isolated. Separate. All the while feeling more connected to all peoples. They are difficult points to reconcile, I know, I've been dealing with it my whole life.

I struggle with embracing my halves or ignoring they exist. People don't like me saying that I'm Canadian. But they sure like it more than when they ask "What are you?" and I answer with "Human." Somehow, that's just not acceptable.

Anyway, if you want to read the article, it's here.