Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Many hands painted Lascaux caves
The painted caves of Lascaux in the Dordogne region of France are one of the most famed monuments of Ice Age art. Dating back about 17,000 years, the great Hall of the Bulls and its adjacent chambers proved so popular with visitors that a generation ago the cave had to be closed to save the paintings from encroaching mould. A replica, Lascaux II, was built nearby and has proved equally popular.
One thing that strikes the visitor is the exuberance of the compositions, with hundreds of animals, including bison, horses and deer, parading along the walls and ceilings, often overlapping. A big problem in sorting out possible groupings of animals, and possible motives for painting them, has been the issue of contemporaneity — what was painted when?
Read more here.
One thing that strikes the visitor is the exuberance of the compositions, with hundreds of animals, including bison, horses and deer, parading along the walls and ceilings, often overlapping. A big problem in sorting out possible groupings of animals, and possible motives for painting them, has been the issue of contemporaneity — what was painted when?
Read more here.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Ahmadinejad knows just what to say
The American media, namely here CNN, are having their noses tweaked again by old Ahmadinejad, so course they have to comment:
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad likes nothing more than criticizing the U.S.
Gee, so do I!
Considering what the U.S. would like to do to his country, it's the least he can do.
Read more here.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad likes nothing more than criticizing the U.S.
Gee, so do I!
Considering what the U.S. would like to do to his country, it's the least he can do.
Read more here.
Jail bars are a series of tubes
The Internet's most famous senator is in trouble...
Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens was charged Tuesday with making false statements after a wide-ranging probe into ties between an energy company and lawmakers in his home state, according to a federal indictment.
In a 28-page indictment from a federal grand jury, Stevens was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.
The indictment says Stevens "schemed to conceal" the fact that Alaska's Veco Energy paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on his home.
Read more here.
Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens was charged Tuesday with making false statements after a wide-ranging probe into ties between an energy company and lawmakers in his home state, according to a federal indictment.
In a 28-page indictment from a federal grand jury, Stevens was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.
The indictment says Stevens "schemed to conceal" the fact that Alaska's Veco Energy paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on his home.
Read more here.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Meet Monkey
Created by the men behind Gorillaz - Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - Monkey and his friends will be the faces of the BBC's Beijing Olympics coverage in the next few months.
Read more here.
More than just a Carry On?
Caricatured as low-brow and smutty, Carry On films were never much rated by movie critics. But do they tell us something more profound about the huge social changes in post-war Britain? The BBC's Carolyn Quinn (right) thinks so.
Read more here.
A Victorian Message in a Bottle
A VICTORIAN message in a bottle was uncovered at a church yesterday.
Contractors restoring the floor at St Helen’s Church, in St Helen Auckland, County Durham, were stunned when they discovered the 142-yearold bottle, with a piece of paper still inside.
The message, which states it was written in 1866 when the medieval church was restored, gives details of the restoration and the people who carried it out.
It also asks the finder to return it to the church’s foundations...
Read more here.
Contractors restoring the floor at St Helen’s Church, in St Helen Auckland, County Durham, were stunned when they discovered the 142-yearold bottle, with a piece of paper still inside.
The message, which states it was written in 1866 when the medieval church was restored, gives details of the restoration and the people who carried it out.
It also asks the finder to return it to the church’s foundations...
Read more here.
CHUM building purchased by developer
Oh Good! More condos. There just aren't enough.
An iconic Yonge Street building that for a half-century was a vital part of the history of popular music in Toronto has been purchased by a major developer.
In a deal that closed this month, Aspen Ridge Homes, a major Toronto-region builder, paid CTV Ltd., a subsidiary of CTVglobemedia (which also owns The Globe and Mail), $21.5-million for the CHUM radio building on Yonge Street south of St. Clair Avenue, according to real estate records.
The records also show that, after the deal went through, Aspen Ridge, a developer that in recent years has moved aggressively into the downtown condominium market, then mortgaged the 0.64-acre property for $30-million, with the Bank of Nova Scotia as the primary lender.
The two-storey building, built as a book bindery in 1954, was made into a radio station in the late 1950s and was set on the path to rock 'n' roll history when, on May 27, 1957, Allan Waters converted it to a teen-music format and played Elvis Presley's All Shook Up as its first Top 40 song.
Read more here.
An iconic Yonge Street building that for a half-century was a vital part of the history of popular music in Toronto has been purchased by a major developer.
In a deal that closed this month, Aspen Ridge Homes, a major Toronto-region builder, paid CTV Ltd., a subsidiary of CTVglobemedia (which also owns The Globe and Mail), $21.5-million for the CHUM radio building on Yonge Street south of St. Clair Avenue, according to real estate records.
The records also show that, after the deal went through, Aspen Ridge, a developer that in recent years has moved aggressively into the downtown condominium market, then mortgaged the 0.64-acre property for $30-million, with the Bank of Nova Scotia as the primary lender.
The two-storey building, built as a book bindery in 1954, was made into a radio station in the late 1950s and was set on the path to rock 'n' roll history when, on May 27, 1957, Allan Waters converted it to a teen-music format and played Elvis Presley's All Shook Up as its first Top 40 song.
Read more here.
Fuck you MTV
MTV readies 'Rocky Horror' redux
MTV is doing the time warp on a remake of 1975 cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Lou Adler, exec producer of the original film, is partnering with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios on the new rendition.
Two-hour remake will use the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien but may also include music not featured in the original.
Maybe try and do something original..
Read more here.
MTV is doing the time warp on a remake of 1975 cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Lou Adler, exec producer of the original film, is partnering with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios on the new rendition.
Two-hour remake will use the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien but may also include music not featured in the original.
Maybe try and do something original..
Read more here.
Fuck you Yahoo
The bad dream of DRM continues. Yahoo e-mailed its Yahoo! Music Store customers yesterday, telling them it will be closing for good—and the company will take its DRM license key servers offline on September 30, 2008. Sure, it's bad news and yet another example of the sheer lobotomized brain-deadness that has characterized music DRM, but the reaction of most music fans will be: "Yahoo had an online music store?"
And you wonder why corporations are hated?
Read more here.
And you wonder why corporations are hated?
Read more here.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Every Major Senate Democratic Challenger Announces Support for Network Neutrality
This may not make a speck of difference here in Canada, but perhaps Rogers and others will begin to realize the amount of hatred they have building towards them.
It will take more than that though, Rogers has the attitude of a drunk bully.
It is to be expected when they've had renaming run of this city for years, without someone to slap them back for the puffed up bitch they are.
For the last few months, we've been posting Democratic Senate challenger positions on net neutrality here at OpenLeft. Since we started posting, we've been getting in statements and positions, from blogs like Cotton Mouth and the Political Base, from the candidates themselves, and from readers who took the time to ask and send in statements. I'm happy to report that every single Democratic challenger with more than $500k in cash on hand has announced their support for net neutrality. This is a milestone for the fight for internet freedom.
Read more here.
It will take more than that though, Rogers has the attitude of a drunk bully.
It is to be expected when they've had renaming run of this city for years, without someone to slap them back for the puffed up bitch they are.
For the last few months, we've been posting Democratic Senate challenger positions on net neutrality here at OpenLeft. Since we started posting, we've been getting in statements and positions, from blogs like Cotton Mouth and the Political Base, from the candidates themselves, and from readers who took the time to ask and send in statements. I'm happy to report that every single Democratic challenger with more than $500k in cash on hand has announced their support for net neutrality. This is a milestone for the fight for internet freedom.
Read more here.
Internet founder blasts ISPs for hurting national interests
"The Rogers approach certainly isn't respectful of consumer choice,"..."The response that Rogers has been giving — 'this is our network and we'll do whatever we damn well please' — does highlight what is for many a concern."
Read more here.
Rogers thinks it can just brush off complaints from its users, especially since there really isn't a lot of choice in the Canadian ISP market. However, Rogers should be careful in treading so brazenly into what some consider "net neutrality" territory.
Read more here.
Read more here.
Rogers thinks it can just brush off complaints from its users, especially since there really isn't a lot of choice in the Canadian ISP market. However, Rogers should be careful in treading so brazenly into what some consider "net neutrality" territory.
Read more here.
Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead
How convenient
Khalid Shahenshah, who was the former Pakistan prime minister's security chief at the time of her assassination, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he left his house in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, police said.
Mr Shahenshah, 45, was riding in Mrs Bhutto's bullet-proof car when she was killed in a suicide attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi on December 27.
He was expected to be called to give evidence at a United Nations probe into her death.
Read more here.
Khalid Shahenshah, who was the former Pakistan prime minister's security chief at the time of her assassination, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he left his house in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, police said.
Mr Shahenshah, 45, was riding in Mrs Bhutto's bullet-proof car when she was killed in a suicide attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi on December 27.
He was expected to be called to give evidence at a United Nations probe into her death.
Read more here.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
CBS re-edits McCain interview to make him appear a bit less of an idiot
So instead of airing McCain's mistaken answer, CBS has taken it on themselves to "correct" his answer by using footage from another part of his interview.
Is this legal???
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wall Street got drunk
An ABC-TV outlet in Houston, and now the Houston Chronicle, have posted a video taken at a political fundraiser for Pete Olson, featuring George W. Bush last week -- capturing some embarrassing/revealing moments after, he noted, he had asked cameras to be turned off.
Lesbos locals lose lesbian appeal
The islands of Gay, Fag, Pansy and Queer also voiced their disappointment...
Three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have lost an attempt to ban the use of the word "lesbian" to describe gay women.
The residents argued that using the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.
But an Athens court ruled there was no justification for their contention that they felt slighted, saying the word did not define the islanders' identity.
Greeks often refer to the island as Mytilene, after its capital.
After Mytilene changed its name from Dike...
Read more here.
Three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have lost an attempt to ban the use of the word "lesbian" to describe gay women.
The residents argued that using the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.
But an Athens court ruled there was no justification for their contention that they felt slighted, saying the word did not define the islanders' identity.
Greeks often refer to the island as Mytilene, after its capital.
After Mytilene changed its name from Dike...
Read more here.
When liberals overreact
Towleroad has a post about a new series of Nike ads:
More homophobic advertising, this time from Nike. This one has been seen on phone booths in Harlem.
The ads were created by Wieden + Kennedy studio... None are as overtly homophobic but all of them play upon how awful it is that a man's face might be close to another man's crotch.
Now, go look at the ads themselves..I'll wait.
Read more here.
Methinks Towleroad is overreacting just a tad, no?
Ebert, Roeper cutting ties with `At the Movies'
...You didn’t have to read much between the lines of the hosts’ gracious comments to infer that Disney ABC Domestic Television plans to dumb down and glam up the show next season.
Details are still sketchy, but word is that the new version will bear little resemblance to the brilliant and exquisitely simple format Gene and Roger invented ...
Read more here and here.
E! Entertainment critic Ben Lyons and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz are the new guys.
I see the strategy. One who has seen a movie made before 1990, and one who knows nothing of cinema history.
Ying and Yang
Details are still sketchy, but word is that the new version will bear little resemblance to the brilliant and exquisitely simple format Gene and Roger invented ...
Read more here and here.
E! Entertainment critic Ben Lyons and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz are the new guys.
I see the strategy. One who has seen a movie made before 1990, and one who knows nothing of cinema history.
Ying and Yang
Are We Living in a Giant Void?
As a science fiction fan, I have come across something that annoys me. There seem to be a limited number of things that can happen in a series, and episodes start repeating themselves from series to series. One such occurrence is the idea of a ship being trapped in a void of stars; being literally nowhere near another star, and thus, all in black.
This void, as most episodes are entitled, is similar to the descriptions that filter out of Antarctica...
Read more here.
This void, as most episodes are entitled, is similar to the descriptions that filter out of Antarctica...
Read more here.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Rogers, DNS and Paxfire
Rogers may or may not be outsourcing their DNS redirecting to Paxfire, but this will give you an idea of what Rogers is up to:
The Paxfire Look-up Service is an easy and effective way for a network operator of any sort...to generate significant additional revenue from traffic generated by your users over your network. More specifically, when an end-user types an invalid URL in the address bar of his browser—either a keyword such as "books" or a mistype such as "www.amazoooo,cm"—Paxfire can return a standard search results page that will generate revenue for the network operator when an end-user clicks on a paid link.
Great, so we pay Rogers if we make an error..
Some of our customers literally generate millions of dollars a year using the Paxfire Look-up Service. The amount of money you generate will depend largely on the volume of search traffic is transported across your network and the general profile of that traffic.
But but, what if we don't want it?
Generally speaking, users like the relevant results which come from Yahoo!, a respected search provider. What feedback you do receive typically will come from a small group of highly technical users. Even that feedback tends to fall away after just a few weeks—as they get used to the new behavior.
More likely it dies away when users realize their ISP has no intention of changing this new unethical behavior.
So sit tight, and wait for the storm of hatred to die down. Again.
It always does.
Read more here.
The Paxfire Look-up Service is an easy and effective way for a network operator of any sort...to generate significant additional revenue from traffic generated by your users over your network. More specifically, when an end-user types an invalid URL in the address bar of his browser—either a keyword such as "books" or a mistype such as "www.amazoooo,cm"—Paxfire can return a standard search results page that will generate revenue for the network operator when an end-user clicks on a paid link.
Great, so we pay Rogers if we make an error..
Some of our customers literally generate millions of dollars a year using the Paxfire Look-up Service. The amount of money you generate will depend largely on the volume of search traffic is transported across your network and the general profile of that traffic.
But but, what if we don't want it?
Generally speaking, users like the relevant results which come from Yahoo!, a respected search provider. What feedback you do receive typically will come from a small group of highly technical users. Even that feedback tends to fall away after just a few weeks—as they get used to the new behavior.
More likely it dies away when users realize their ISP has no intention of changing this new unethical behavior.
So sit tight, and wait for the storm of hatred to die down. Again.
It always does.
Read more here.
Riddle of Lusitania sinking may finally be solved
It is the best known shipwreck lying on the Irish seabed, but it is only today that the owner of the Lusitania will finally begin the first extensive visual documentation of the luxury liner that sank 93 years ago.
Gregg Bemis, who bought the remains of the vessel for £1,000 from former partners in a diving business in 1968, has been granted an imaging licence by the Department of the Environment. This allows him to photograph and film the entire structure, and should allow him to produce the first high-resolution pictures of the historic vessel.
Read more here.
Gregg Bemis, who bought the remains of the vessel for £1,000 from former partners in a diving business in 1968, has been granted an imaging licence by the Department of the Environment. This allows him to photograph and film the entire structure, and should allow him to produce the first high-resolution pictures of the historic vessel.
Read more here.
Rogers and DNS redirecting
The CRTC doesn't cover this.
The CCTS doesn't cover this.
Who in Canada does one talk to to fight this clearly unethical business practice?
The CCTS doesn't cover this.
Who in Canada does one talk to to fight this clearly unethical business practice?
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Rogers and DNS redirecting
My call to Rogers to lodge an official complaint finally got through (as this time I didn't say what the call was about) in 5 minutes instead of two hours.
You can opt out "temporarily" but if you delete cookies you're right back in again. Opting out this way still leaves broken the ability to type single words, APPLE or CNN for example (actually I should state here I speak only about Safari on a Mac. Your experience may vary)...
So this opt out is nothing of the sort, thanks for lying Rogers. It still redirects but to a bogus IE 404 page. They do treat us like idiots, don't they?
Seems you can "permanently" opt out of the DNS redirect, but you have to make changes to your set up, yourself.
Nice no? Rogers forces this shit on us, then expects us to do the work necessary to stop them.
I pay Rogers for access to the net. They provide that service. End of story. I do not want them intruding their marketing into my web experience, something they are clearly trying to do (Rogers is known for aggressive marketing here in Toronto. Cold calls and door to door sales pitches abound. My mailbox groans from the weight of their flyers).
Corporate arrogance of the highest order.
I feel for corporate marketers. They have succeeded in turning our urban landscapes into ad covered nightmares, the net with its sites devoid of advertising (look around folks) must drive them crazy.
You can opt out "temporarily" but if you delete cookies you're right back in again. Opting out this way still leaves broken the ability to type single words, APPLE or CNN for example (actually I should state here I speak only about Safari on a Mac. Your experience may vary)...
So this opt out is nothing of the sort, thanks for lying Rogers. It still redirects but to a bogus IE 404 page. They do treat us like idiots, don't they?
Seems you can "permanently" opt out of the DNS redirect, but you have to make changes to your set up, yourself.
Nice no? Rogers forces this shit on us, then expects us to do the work necessary to stop them.
I pay Rogers for access to the net. They provide that service. End of story. I do not want them intruding their marketing into my web experience, something they are clearly trying to do (Rogers is known for aggressive marketing here in Toronto. Cold calls and door to door sales pitches abound. My mailbox groans from the weight of their flyers).
Corporate arrogance of the highest order.
I feel for corporate marketers. They have succeeded in turning our urban landscapes into ad covered nightmares, the net with its sites devoid of advertising (look around folks) must drive them crazy.
Annex shootings, are you stunned or what?
No need to panic, Random is the new Gangland.
From The Star:
Shootings stun Annex residents
..."You don't put gunshots and this neighbourhood in the same context,"
Normal human reaction you would think? Well not to theToronto National Post:
In the Annex, residents shrug off gunplay
Less than 12 hours after the latest spurt of random gun violence in Toronto, life had returned to normal this morning along a trendy strip of the Annex and residents expressed resignation that this seems to be the new normal in the city.
Normal to any average psychopath I guess, not to me.
There was quite a bit of blood everywhere,” said Ms. Mitchell, who lives and works in the Annex. “I know it sounds strange, but I’m not worried at all about it. We’re really not that kind of neighbourhood. It was just a random incident. It can happen anywhere.”
Her colleague Lauren Ellis was equally circumspect. “It’s just Toronto,” she said.
I guess if this is the type of airheads you interview, then yes shootings are not really an issue...are they? No need to do much about it, is there..I mean it's just random...
Read The Star here.
Read The National Post here.
From The Star:
Shootings stun Annex residents
..."You don't put gunshots and this neighbourhood in the same context,"
Normal human reaction you would think? Well not to the
In the Annex, residents shrug off gunplay
Less than 12 hours after the latest spurt of random gun violence in Toronto, life had returned to normal this morning along a trendy strip of the Annex and residents expressed resignation that this seems to be the new normal in the city.
Normal to any average psychopath I guess, not to me.
There was quite a bit of blood everywhere,” said Ms. Mitchell, who lives and works in the Annex. “I know it sounds strange, but I’m not worried at all about it. We’re really not that kind of neighbourhood. It was just a random incident. It can happen anywhere.”
Her colleague Lauren Ellis was equally circumspect. “It’s just Toronto,” she said.
I guess if this is the type of airheads you interview, then yes shootings are not really an issue...are they? No need to do much about it, is there..I mean it's just random...
Read The Star here.
Read The National Post here.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Apple in Beijing
The line up outside the Apple store, opened today in Beijing.
Yes, we are all individuals.
Rogers is redirecting URLs
Try this, if you are on Rogers.
Just type the word of the URL you want, for example APPLE
That method has worked for years, no?
Not anymore, now you are redirected to a Rogers/Yahoo search page, against your will.
Rogers Supported Search Results is a service designed to enhance your web surfing experience by eliminating many of the error pages you encounter as you surf.
What is actually does is force you to a Rogers branded page (shock!), bristling in ads. I for one did not ask for this enhancement.
No software was installed on your computer for this service to work.
There was still an intrusion by them in redirecting me. Rogers must be stopped, they are out of control.
A call to Rogers to inquire into this practice went unanswered on hold (with music designed to annoy) for over an hour...an hour and a half...
As the two hour mark approaches, it is clear that either
A) they are so overwhelmed with, um..inquiries about this issue, or
B) They have no intention of answering..
gee, I wonder
Read more here.
Just type the word of the URL you want, for example APPLE
That method has worked for years, no?
Not anymore, now you are redirected to a Rogers/Yahoo search page, against your will.
Rogers Supported Search Results is a service designed to enhance your web surfing experience by eliminating many of the error pages you encounter as you surf.
What is actually does is force you to a Rogers branded page (shock!), bristling in ads. I for one did not ask for this enhancement.
No software was installed on your computer for this service to work.
There was still an intrusion by them in redirecting me. Rogers must be stopped, they are out of control.
A call to Rogers to inquire into this practice went unanswered on hold (with music designed to annoy) for over an hour...an hour and a half...
As the two hour mark approaches, it is clear that either
A) they are so overwhelmed with, um..inquiries about this issue, or
B) They have no intention of answering..
gee, I wonder
Read more here.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Outlander
Beowulf from Space meets the Vikings, but unfortunately he brought Grendel with him.
Fortunately John Hurt is there, incase we missed the Alien..umm..reference.
Barney Rubble Needs Three Heads?
This is more probably taken out of context, and not an example of something slipping by the censors.
Then again...
Nagasaki
Wired is running a series of images about the atomic bomb.
One of them is the picture above "The exact moment of detonation at Nagasaki is captured in this remarkable photograph. Notice the three people in the foreground, as yet unaware that anything has happened. "
I've never seen this picture before....my first feeling is it is a fake.
Read more here.
Proud to be an Idiot
Bush and McCain, proud to be not very smart.
Since when did this become a good thing?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
NASA to workers: Go boldly (in cup) for science
The No. 1 need right now for some of the builders of the nation's next spaceship: Lots of No. 1.
Space program contractor Hamilton Sundstrand is seeking urine from workers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as part of its work on the new Orion space capsule that would eventually take astronauts to the moon, according to an internal memo posted on the Web site Nasawatch.com.
The need is voluminous: 30 liters a day, which translates into nearly 8 gallons. Even on weekends.
Read more here.
Space program contractor Hamilton Sundstrand is seeking urine from workers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as part of its work on the new Orion space capsule that would eventually take astronauts to the moon, according to an internal memo posted on the Web site Nasawatch.com.
The need is voluminous: 30 liters a day, which translates into nearly 8 gallons. Even on weekends.
Read more here.
McCartney's free Quebec concert ruffles sovereigntist
Quebec sovereigntists, never the brightest of lights, have a new cause celebre..
Help, help, I'm being repressed!
Several prominent Quebec artists and sovereigntists are complaining about Paul McCartney's highly anticipated concert this coming weekend, accusing the former Beatle of "Canadianizing" the city's 400th birthday celebration.
A group of politicians and artists, including Parti Québécois culture critic Pierre Curzi and actress Pol Pelletier have lent their name to an open letter that denounces McCartney's free July 20 concert on Quebec City's Plains of Abraham.
The open letter's original author – artist Luc Archambault – writes that McCartney's appearance misrepresents the spirit of 400th anniversary celebrations, which is to commemorate the fight for the survival of the French language in North America.
The concert reflects a general "Canadianization" of the 400th anniversary celebrations, Archambault concludes.
"Canadianization" means here having the nerve to do or say anything in English.
Sovereigntists, touchy but they do provide hours of amusement...as long as you don't live in Quebec.
Read more here.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!
Several prominent Quebec artists and sovereigntists are complaining about Paul McCartney's highly anticipated concert this coming weekend, accusing the former Beatle of "Canadianizing" the city's 400th birthday celebration.
A group of politicians and artists, including Parti Québécois culture critic Pierre Curzi and actress Pol Pelletier have lent their name to an open letter that denounces McCartney's free July 20 concert on Quebec City's Plains of Abraham.
The open letter's original author – artist Luc Archambault – writes that McCartney's appearance misrepresents the spirit of 400th anniversary celebrations, which is to commemorate the fight for the survival of the French language in North America.
The concert reflects a general "Canadianization" of the 400th anniversary celebrations, Archambault concludes.
"Canadianization" means here having the nerve to do or say anything in English.
Sovereigntists, touchy but they do provide hours of amusement...as long as you don't live in Quebec.
Read more here.
Cavemen and their relatives in the same village after 3,000 years
The good news for two villagers in the Söse valley of Germany yesterday was that they have discovered their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents — give or take a generation or two.
The bad news is that their long-lost ancestors may have grilled and eaten other members of their clan.
Read more here.
The bad news is that their long-lost ancestors may have grilled and eaten other members of their clan.
Read more here.
Montreal police ordered to pay $60,000
Like that will ever happen.
Gemma Raeburn's black friends no longer willingly help her clean out her garage after a couple of recruits were mistaken by police for robbers.
"I had to get a couple of white friends to do it," the Dollard des Ormeaux woman said, only half-joking.
Six white police officers roared up to Raeburn's home on a Saturday morning in November 2004, and accused her, Peter Charles and Frederick Peters - all black - of robbing the place.
"It was so, so humiliating," Raeburn, 57, recalled yesterday. "We're the only black family that lives on this street.
"I had to go to all my neighbours and tell them that it wasn't a drug bust."...
...Last year, the Police Ethics Committee found that during the November 2004 incident, Constable Roger Carbonneau insulted and scared Raeburn when he told her that "bullets don't see colour" after she asked him whether the officers would have come as quick if it were white people cleaning out the garage.
He might not have intended the remark to be racist, the committee said, but it was an indirect reference to Raeburn's skin colour and unacceptable coming from an officer with 18 years' experience.
Constable Isabelle Nault overstepped the bounds of proper police behaviour even more severely when in the heat of an argument with 60-year-old Peters, she told him: "If you don't like it here, why are you here? Why don't you go back to your country?"
Nault's statements were offensive and inappropriate, the committee said.
It's good to see that the present police are keeping alive traditions Montreal police have had for decades.
Read more here.
Gemma Raeburn's black friends no longer willingly help her clean out her garage after a couple of recruits were mistaken by police for robbers.
"I had to get a couple of white friends to do it," the Dollard des Ormeaux woman said, only half-joking.
Six white police officers roared up to Raeburn's home on a Saturday morning in November 2004, and accused her, Peter Charles and Frederick Peters - all black - of robbing the place.
"It was so, so humiliating," Raeburn, 57, recalled yesterday. "We're the only black family that lives on this street.
"I had to go to all my neighbours and tell them that it wasn't a drug bust."...
...Last year, the Police Ethics Committee found that during the November 2004 incident, Constable Roger Carbonneau insulted and scared Raeburn when he told her that "bullets don't see colour" after she asked him whether the officers would have come as quick if it were white people cleaning out the garage.
He might not have intended the remark to be racist, the committee said, but it was an indirect reference to Raeburn's skin colour and unacceptable coming from an officer with 18 years' experience.
Constable Isabelle Nault overstepped the bounds of proper police behaviour even more severely when in the heat of an argument with 60-year-old Peters, she told him: "If you don't like it here, why are you here? Why don't you go back to your country?"
Nault's statements were offensive and inappropriate, the committee said.
It's good to see that the present police are keeping alive traditions Montreal police have had for decades.
Read more here.
Viacom 'backs off' YouTube demand
Some sanity prevails.
Viacom has "backed off" from demands to divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched a video on YouTube, the website has claimed.
Google had been ordered to provide personal details of millions of YouTube users to help Viacom prepare its case on alleged copyright infringement.
Google, owners of YouTube, will now hand over the database but without data that could identify users.
Read more here.
Viacom has "backed off" from demands to divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched a video on YouTube, the website has claimed.
Google had been ordered to provide personal details of millions of YouTube users to help Viacom prepare its case on alleged copyright infringement.
Google, owners of YouTube, will now hand over the database but without data that could identify users.
Read more here.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Canada to deport U.S. war deserter
Our government hits another new low. Disgusting.
Again, good readers around the world, Madam Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court of Canada and our present government do not represent what Canada has always stood for.
They are a disgrace, lackies of the U.S.
U.S. army deserter Robin Long is slated to be deported back to his army base in Fort Knox, Ky., Tuesday, which would make him the first resister to the U.S. war effort in Iraq to be sent out of Canada.
Madam Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court of Canada cleared the way for the deportation late Monday, dismissing a last-ditch attempt to delay the process while the 25-year-old pursued further appeals.
“I was just shocked at some things in [the] ruling,” Bob Ages, a spokesman for an informal group called Vancouver War Resisters Support Campaign, told reporters outside the courtroom. “It just flies in the face of everything that we and every Canadian know about the reality of what is going on.”
Read more here.
Again, good readers around the world, Madam Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court of Canada and our present government do not represent what Canada has always stood for.
They are a disgrace, lackies of the U.S.
U.S. army deserter Robin Long is slated to be deported back to his army base in Fort Knox, Ky., Tuesday, which would make him the first resister to the U.S. war effort in Iraq to be sent out of Canada.
Madam Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court of Canada cleared the way for the deportation late Monday, dismissing a last-ditch attempt to delay the process while the 25-year-old pursued further appeals.
“I was just shocked at some things in [the] ruling,” Bob Ages, a spokesman for an informal group called Vancouver War Resisters Support Campaign, told reporters outside the courtroom. “It just flies in the face of everything that we and every Canadian know about the reality of what is going on.”
Read more here.
Horse racecourse in ancient Olympia discovered after 1600 years
The site of the ancient hippodrome course in Olympia, where the emperor Nero competed for Olympian laurels, has been discovered. The hippodrome was discovered in Olympia by a research team that included Professor Norbert Müller (a sports historian from Mainz), Dr Christian Wacker (a sports archaeologist from Cologne) and PD Dr Reinhard Senff (chief excavator of the German Archaeological Institute - DAI. "This discovery is an archaeological sensation," commented Norbert Müller of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The research project extended over several weeks before being completed in the middle of May 2008.
Read more here.
Read more here.
If we'd won the Olympic bid . . .
Ha!
If Toronto had won the Olympic bid, they'd have bulldozed entire neighbourhoods in a blinding rush to prove to the planet that "we're world class" at last.
Toronto is the sports car driving 45 year old of cities, desperately wanting to fit in to the "world class" set, like New York.
Part of the reason Toronto is not world class is that it can't get its act together enough to tackle the issues this article laments (unless the world is watching of course), but it sure can build condos...
Image is everything.
If the world were coming to Toronto this summer, we wouldn't be closing swimming pools our residents use and need for lack of a few million dollars in the school board budget. We'd be building new ones, a legacy of the Olympics.
If the world were coming to Toronto, this week's city council debate on tearing down part of the Gardiner Expressway would have been over. Ditto the headaches from the construction.
If the world were coming, Union Station would have been retrofitted already, the ridiculously narrow TTC platforms replaced with a modern facility fit for the region's most important transit hub. The rapid transit link from Union Station to Pearson airport would have completed its test runs, not stalled on the planning board.
If . . . if . . . if only . . .
Read more here.
If Toronto had won the Olympic bid, they'd have bulldozed entire neighbourhoods in a blinding rush to prove to the planet that "we're world class" at last.
Toronto is the sports car driving 45 year old of cities, desperately wanting to fit in to the "world class" set, like New York.
Part of the reason Toronto is not world class is that it can't get its act together enough to tackle the issues this article laments (unless the world is watching of course), but it sure can build condos...
Image is everything.
If the world were coming to Toronto this summer, we wouldn't be closing swimming pools our residents use and need for lack of a few million dollars in the school board budget. We'd be building new ones, a legacy of the Olympics.
If the world were coming to Toronto, this week's city council debate on tearing down part of the Gardiner Expressway would have been over. Ditto the headaches from the construction.
If the world were coming, Union Station would have been retrofitted already, the ridiculously narrow TTC platforms replaced with a modern facility fit for the region's most important transit hub. The rapid transit link from Union Station to Pearson airport would have completed its test runs, not stalled on the planning board.
If . . . if . . . if only . . .
Read more here.
Big Brother Obama: Defending Liberty by Ending Liberty
...In effect, then, the FISA immunity provision legitimizes and enshrines "I was only following orders" not merely as a defense, but as a positive principle of action. So who will be next to receive such immunity in a "compromise"? How about those behind Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay?
This bill also enshrines the principle that the president somehow has the power and authority to give citizens or corporations "orders" at all — legal or illegal. When and how did Americans get duped into believing that any president or any administration official can "order" them to do anything? To be blunt, anyone who accepts the principle that the president has the authority to issue orders to citizens has necessarily rejected some of the most basic principles upon which America was founded...
Read more here.
Monday, July 14, 2008
We've Been Having It!
This little gem is from South Africa.
My jaw will eventually come back from the floor...
Donovan
It's Hippyrama here at Lord of the Universe.
Donovan on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1968.
Happiness runs.
Classical Gas
The "Classical Gas Video," as it has come to be known, started out as a student film in 1963 entitled "God is Dog Spelled Backwards." The film was created by UCLA film student, Dan McLaughlin, who used Beethoven's 5th Symphony as the original soundtrack...
...After seeing the film in early 1968, Mason Williams, writer for the Smothers Brothers and composer of Classical Gas, approached McLaughlin about replacing the music with his (Williams') composition, a successful Top 40 record at the time. The revamped music video was shown on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, first during the summer of 1968 and several times more throughout the year. The video has since passed into legend (some call it one of the very first music videos), while Classical Gas, due in part to the impact of the video, became one of the largest selling instrumental recordings of all time...
...The actual video has not been seen since 1968 and, for a multitude of reasons, may never again see the light of day. I have re-created it using the original student film as a guide, re-editing it to Classical Gas. Give or take a few frames, it is nearly identical to the actual video that aired on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour 40 years ago.
A Yonge & Bloor window worth saving
Who cares about some window? How thoughtless of you, there are rich people waiting for this condo project.
Why our own little Veronika Belovich is there every day, sledge hammer in hand, helping..."It's a trashy corner *SMASH*. I'm helping to make it fabulous!" *SMASH* *SMASH*
When is any window not worth looking through and what view, in the city, is not better framed?
Allow me a digression.
There are the early signs of construction at the corner of Yonge and Bloor Sts. We will soon have a new tall tower, part of Toronto's ongoing facelift.
Facelift might not be the right word.
We have been pierced – the metal shards that squat on the old stones of the Royal Ontario Museum are like your granny with a tongue stud and an eyebrow ring.
We have been botoxed – that bland block of banality on the southeast corner of Bay and Dundas Sts. is the face of the city frozen in a grim commercial grin.
We will, I suppose, get used to it. This is how it has always been around here. No one has the guts or the power to stop a lousy project...
Read more here.
Eric Spillman and iPhone buyers
"This is journalism to you?"
Yes folks, this is the caliber of "reporter" we have in the modern media. Is it any wonder we're so well informed?
Eric Spillman, so called reporter for KTLA, really needed to get his ass kicked. He got off way too lightly.
At least we can now all enjoy his professionalism, although he does come across as the kid in high school that would beat you up for lunch money.
Ps - did you note it is the in-studio producer egging this guy on to heights of greater stupidity?
Obama and the New Yorker
In what looks like an attempt to turn the cover of the New Yorker into the product of a high school art class (the "artwork" has an amateurish feel to it and is mediocre beyond belief)...They blew it on this one, an attempt at satire that comes across as anything but.
Believe me, I know about failed satire.
Who knows if they'll get this in Dubuque, but they sure aren't going to like it in Chicago: This week's New Yorker cover features an image of Michelle and Barack Obama that combines every smeary right-wing stereotype imaginable: An image of Obama in a turban and robes fist-bumping his be-afro'd wife, dressed in the military fatigues of a revolutionary and packing a machine gun and some serious ammo. Oh yes, this quaint little scene takes place in the Oval Office, under a picture of Osama bin Laden above a roaring fireplace, in which burns an American flag. All that's missing is a token sprig of arugula.
The illustration, by Barry Blitt,is called "The Politics of Fear" and, according to the NYer press release, "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign." Uh-huh. What's that they say about repeating a rumor?
Yup, some very dumb people behind this one..well done, you idiots of the highest order.
Read more here.
Verse for classmate gets Dalit boy death
Sounds like the teacher, the so called "upper caste girl's family" and the police are sick fucks.
A 16-year-old Dalit boy died after he was thrashed in front of other students by an upper caste teacher in a rural higher secondary school of this Himachal district for writing a verse in appreciation of an upper caste girl.
Surjit Singh was beaten up on Tuesday by a teacher in the Nangal Kalan Government High school in public, said the Dalit sarpanch of the village Gyan Kaur. His two classmates said, "When the teacher came to know about the Surjit's love poem, he caned him till he almost dropped dead."
That was not the end of his ordeal; he was again beaten up by the family members of the girl the next day, Wednesday. Surjit was later found semi-conscious and taken to the hospital but succumbed to injuries.
Local leaders have sought an inquiry into the incident as the police appear to be siding with the upper caste girl's family and the teacher.
Read more here.
A 16-year-old Dalit boy died after he was thrashed in front of other students by an upper caste teacher in a rural higher secondary school of this Himachal district for writing a verse in appreciation of an upper caste girl.
Surjit Singh was beaten up on Tuesday by a teacher in the Nangal Kalan Government High school in public, said the Dalit sarpanch of the village Gyan Kaur. His two classmates said, "When the teacher came to know about the Surjit's love poem, he caned him till he almost dropped dead."
That was not the end of his ordeal; he was again beaten up by the family members of the girl the next day, Wednesday. Surjit was later found semi-conscious and taken to the hospital but succumbed to injuries.
Local leaders have sought an inquiry into the incident as the police appear to be siding with the upper caste girl's family and the teacher.
Read more here.
Church Cancels Teen Gun Giveaway
Some Americans are unbelievably out of it, aren't they?An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference.
Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event's organizers was unable to attend.
The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event. The church expected hundreds of teenagers from as far away as Canada.
“We have 21 hours of preaching and teaching throughout the week,” Ross said.
Read more here.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
'Kung Fu Panda' Hits A Sore Spot in China
This article starts out about "Kung Fu Panda" but quickly become a thinly veiled attack on the Chinese education system and ideology.
Why a Quintessentially Chinese Movie Was Made in Hollywood?
You know you're in trouble right here, as they call the film "quintessentially Chinese"...
The blockbuster success of an American animated movie that's set in ancient China, highlights Chinese culture, mythology and architecture and stars a kung fu fighting panda has filmmakers and ordinary Chinese wondering: Why wasn't this hit made . . . in China?
Read more here.
Sgt Pepper drum fetches £541,000
The drum skin used on the cover of The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album has sold for £541,250 ($1.07m) at auction in London - almost four times the estimate.
Read more here.
Read more here.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Anonymous in Toronto
Members of Anonymous protesting today outside the main Scientology headquarters in Toronto.
They should be protesting the building itself, surely one of Toronto's ugliest.
Famed Roman statue 'not ancient'
A statue symbolising the mythical origins and power of Rome, long thought to have been made around 500BC, has been found to date from the 1200s.
The statue depicts a she-wolf suckling Remus and his twin brother Romulus - who is said to have founded Rome.
The statue of the wolf was carbon-dated last year, but the test results have only now been made public.
The figures of Romulus and Remus have already been shown to be 15th Century additions to the statue.
Read more here.
Jupiter's Little Red Spot Gone?
Jupiter’s cloudtop “surface” is a lively place that has kept telescopic observers busy for centuries. The planet’s dark belts and light-hued zones change their appearance and sprout new features frequently. In the past, keen-eyed Jupiter observers eyeballed the comings and goings of new features, but these days much of the monitoring is done with high-quality CCD images obtained by amateur astronomers.One newly discovered feature is the little red spot (LRS), which was first identified by John Rogers, British Astronomical Association’s Jupiter Section director...
Read more here.
Friday, July 11, 2008
iPhone Fools
As I feared, the "must have" crowd are giving Rogers what they what.
You Fools!!
Yup, this is the face of a dupe (aka Jordon Brown, a high school student. Google him, he wants you to)
You had a chance here to change cell phone prices in Canada..but nooooooo.
Read more here.
Modestly nude marble love goddess found
Macedonian archaeologists say they have discovered a well-preserved statue of the goddess of love in the ruins of an ancient Roman city near Skopje.
Archaeologist Marina Oncevska said Thursday that the 5.6-foot-tall marble Venus is a masterpiece of ancient art executed in the late classical Greek tradition.
Read more here.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Depicting a 10,000-year-old landscape
Armed with a map depicting a 10,000-year-old landscape submerged beneath the North Sea and fresh evidence from nearby sites, archaeologists are realizing that early humans were more territorial than was previously thought.
Read more here.
Iran needs Photoshop lessons
Not that Iranian missile tests are serious shit and all, but...
As news spread across the world of Iran’s provocative missile tests, so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison. Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point that had not emerged before the photo appeared on the front pages of The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.
Read more here.
Crackdown on crack
You can't make this shit up.
Flint residents now have to watch their butts because Police Chief David Dicks is on the lookout.
Dicks, who took over the department last month on an interim basis, announced that his officers would start arresting people wearing saggy pants that expose skivvies, boxer shorts or bare bottoms.
"Some people call it a fad," Dicks told the Free Press this week while patrolling the streets of Flint. "But I believe it's a national nuisance. It is indecent and thus it is indecent exposure, which has been on the books for years."
On June 27, the chief issued a departmental memorandum telling officers: "This immoral self expression goes beyond freedom of expression."
The crime, he says, is disorderly conduct or indecent exposure, both misdemeanors punishable by 93 days to a year in jail and/or fines up to $500.
See more here.
Hail to the Chief, Imperator
Now that the President of the United States is above the law, or at least can have the laws rewritten to cover any wrongdoings, it's time for a new look.
It took 30 years, but mission accomplished.
Apple comes to China
Apple is opening a new store in Beijing, their first in China, on July 19th.
The new chinese site can be seen here.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Rogers claims iPhone data plan price drop
Shell game my friends.
Rogers is moving things around, flash here, flash there...and voila!
Nothing is different.
Seems even the top end package goes *up* in price.
But you won't find that trumpeted in the press release.
Read the Rogers Press Release here.
Rogers tries to placate users with new iPhone data promotion
Read more here.
Rogers is moving things around, flash here, flash there...and voila!
Nothing is different.
Seems even the top end package goes *up* in price.
But you won't find that trumpeted in the press release.
Read the Rogers Press Release here.
Rogers tries to placate users with new iPhone data promotion
Read more here.
Senate approves surveillance bill
The ridiculous words such as "cowardly" and "bowing to demands" keep being used by the media and those involved.
This helps hide the fact that on one here is "bowing" to anything. The U.S. government has wanted this power for years.
Now they have it.
The people of course can't be told that openly...so...
Bowing to President Bush's demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.
Read more here.
A great crime has been committed in the U.S. today..
Feel safer?
This helps hide the fact that on one here is "bowing" to anything. The U.S. government has wanted this power for years.
Now they have it.
The people of course can't be told that openly...so...
Bowing to President Bush's demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.
Read more here.
A great crime has been committed in the U.S. today..
Feel safer?
Was Jesus' Resurrection a Sequel?
Jesus II. Bigger Badder
A 3-ft.-high tablet romantically dubbed "Gabriel's Revelation" could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian Resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus' followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified.
Read more here.
A 3-ft.-high tablet romantically dubbed "Gabriel's Revelation" could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian Resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus' followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified.
Read more here.
Pastor John Hagee
Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost on Vimeo.
Lawyers representing far-right Pastor John Hagee are having videos critical of the good pastor removed from Youtube, in an effort to keep the truth from us?
Fuck that shit.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Ringo Starr is a copyright criminal!
From last night's interview with Larry King:
KING: Do you still listen to the Beatles?
STARR: Yes, of course I do, some great tracks. My iPod is on shuffle. I have Beatle tracks in it.
There you are ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Starr's blatant disregard for the rights of corporations and record companies.
Lock the damn hippie up and throw away the key.
Read more here.
Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messages
You know, here in Canada our "providers" just don't give a fuck anymore what we think of them.
Cellphone users with Bell and Telus are going to have to fork over a little more to receive incoming text messages under new pricing plans slated to roll out in August.
Under the new plans, customers will be charged 15 cents to receive incoming text messages, including uninvited spam messages. Previously, customers without text plans were only charged for outgoing messages...
"The user has much less control over the messages they receive so it's a terrible customer experience to be charged for such a thing...A 14-year-old kid gets 30 Happy Birthday messages and gets saddled with the bill, for example."
Woohoo, there's gold in them there suckers.
Read more here.
Cellphone users with Bell and Telus are going to have to fork over a little more to receive incoming text messages under new pricing plans slated to roll out in August.
Under the new plans, customers will be charged 15 cents to receive incoming text messages, including uninvited spam messages. Previously, customers without text plans were only charged for outgoing messages...
"The user has much less control over the messages they receive so it's a terrible customer experience to be charged for such a thing...A 14-year-old kid gets 30 Happy Birthday messages and gets saddled with the bill, for example."
Woohoo, there's gold in them there suckers.
Read more here.
Apple to Rogers on iPhone: you're on your own
The story is somewhat untrue, as the decision to sell the iPhone only at Rogers locations had been made long before this (trust me on this one).Apple is covering its ass here, making it seem like this is a slap to Rogers. Nonsense, they are just distancing themselves from the PR nightmare Rogers finds itself in.
Apple Inc. will not be selling the hotly awaited iPhone in its six Canadian stores when it is released this Friday, leaving Rogers Communications Inc. and its Fido subsidiary to sell the device on their own.
"The iPhone 3G will be available in Canada from Rogers and Fido," said Simon Atkins, spokesperson for Apple. He declined to elaborate.
Read more here.
Viacom vs. You
The mass slapping of any corporation is a delight to behold.
The narrator is correct, they count on the public doing nothing (hello Rogers).
Movies and the military
Army officials are eager to work with filmmakers making serious movies about Iraq -- the kind of pictures that have the power to shape the public's view of the war and its warriors.If your "view" of the Iraq war needs be "shaped" by a military backed movie...you are simple clay indeed.
Burned by portrayals of Vietnam, the Pentagon focuses on a new era of filmmakers. 'It's important to tell the full story,' says Army Lt. Col. J. Todd Breasseale, who is deployed to Wilshire Boulevard.
Rat Fucking at Fox
Like most working journalists, whenever I type seven letters — Fox News — a series of alarms begins to whoop in my head: Danger. Warning. Much mayhem ahead.
Once the public relations apparatus at Fox News is engaged, there will be the calls to my editors, keening (and sometimes threatening) e-mail messages, and my requests for interviews will quickly turn into depositions about my intent or who else I am talking to.
Read more here.
Once the public relations apparatus at Fox News is engaged, there will be the calls to my editors, keening (and sometimes threatening) e-mail messages, and my requests for interviews will quickly turn into depositions about my intent or who else I am talking to.
Read more here.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Swedes Massively Protest Wiretap Law
Western governments are trying this power grab everywhere.
Glad to see someone, somewhere is trying to fight back.
In June the Swedish parliament passed a controversial surveillance law that gives authorities a mandate to read all email and listen in on all phone calls without warrant or court order. In response to the law, The Pirate Party organized rallies, bloggers and journalists turned into activists, and even Google decided to relocate their servers.
Read more here.
Glad to see someone, somewhere is trying to fight back.
In June the Swedish parliament passed a controversial surveillance law that gives authorities a mandate to read all email and listen in on all phone calls without warrant or court order. In response to the law, The Pirate Party organized rallies, bloggers and journalists turned into activists, and even Google decided to relocate their servers.
Read more here.
Daniel Ellsberg
What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Tuesday, July 8th from Tim Ferriss on Vimeo.
The American government is about to commit (yet again) a great crime against their own people.
And no one is really stopping it.
...the brazenness of the lying (and that's what it is) to justify this bill -- that's notable here.
It's notable because the political establishment is not only about to pass a patently corrupt bill, but worse, are spouting -- on a very bipartisan basis -- completely deceitful claims to obscure what they're really doing...
Read more here.
Apple-Rogers falling out: A story too good to be true?
Daniel Smith, a Canadian sales and marketing consultant with an eclectic blog called Smithereens, posted on Saturday what he called “a very plausible rumour” about the launch at of Apple’s iPhone 3G on the Rogers Communications network.
The gist of the post — entitled “Apple Flips Rogers the Bird” — was that Apple and Rogers, Canada’s largest mobile carrier, have had a falling out over the negative publicity generated by Rogers’ pricing plans for the new iPhone that goes on sale Friday morning.
Read more here.
The gist of the post — entitled “Apple Flips Rogers the Bird” — was that Apple and Rogers, Canada’s largest mobile carrier, have had a falling out over the negative publicity generated by Rogers’ pricing plans for the new iPhone that goes on sale Friday morning.
Read more here.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Bush: Olympic boycott would insult Chinese
 |
| Hey, ya'll know I'm clueless. Why should now be any different? |
But he knows something we don't. Little things like human rights don't really matter to the people and circles he moves in. I mean, Bush just recently joined their ranks, becoming a world class (albeit small scale) torturer.
And also, it's bad to insult your loan shark...
No, we have to remember that human rights only really matter to people like you and I, because if governments take anyone's rights away it will be yours and mine (and the U.S. government is having a field day doing just that right now).
The leaders? Their rights are safe, always have been.
But we have to keep quiet and not kick up a fuss, right? It's all for our own good, isn't it?
Isn't it?
U.S. President George W. Bush has defended his decision to attend next month's Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, saying that to do otherwise "would be an affront to the Chinese people."
Speaking to reporters Sunday ahead of the start of this week's summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Japan, Bush said he did not need to boycott the ceremony to show his position on religious freedom and human rights in China.
He said if he failed to attend the Games it would "make it more difficult to be able to speak more frankly with the Chinese leadership."
Read more here.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
One answer: Don't buy the iPhone
Exactly. The first buyers, the "I can afford it so what's the problem" folks are the ones Rogers is counting on.
The fact is that we do not have to own iPhones.
If Rogers has been keeping up with the cries of outrage on our site and on many others, they must be learning a major lesson in consumer revolt.
But if they refuse to budge — perhaps because they know a lot of people simply cannot live without an iPhone — the company will have to listen if you do something else:
Don't buy the iPhone. Do what you, as sensible Canadians, will do when confronted by prices you can't stand: Leave the iPhone on the shelf.
No message gets through to corporations as quickly and efficiently as a crash in sales.
Read more here.
The fact is that we do not have to own iPhones.
If Rogers has been keeping up with the cries of outrage on our site and on many others, they must be learning a major lesson in consumer revolt.
But if they refuse to budge — perhaps because they know a lot of people simply cannot live without an iPhone — the company will have to listen if you do something else:
Don't buy the iPhone. Do what you, as sensible Canadians, will do when confronted by prices you can't stand: Leave the iPhone on the shelf.
No message gets through to corporations as quickly and efficiently as a crash in sales.
Read more here.
US teacher is suspended for letting pupils read bestseller
An Indiana teacher who used a much lauded bestseller, The Freedom Writers Diary, to try to inspire under-performing high-school students has been suspended from her job without pay for 18 months.
The effective book ban by the school authorities in Perry Township has outraged teachers and education reformers.
The Writers Diary, a series of true stories written by inner-city teenagers, was put together by a teacher, Erin Gruwell, and has been celebrated as a model for transforming young lives. It was made into a film with Hilary Swank last year.
Read more here.
The effective book ban by the school authorities in Perry Township has outraged teachers and education reformers.
The Writers Diary, a series of true stories written by inner-city teenagers, was put together by a teacher, Erin Gruwell, and has been celebrated as a model for transforming young lives. It was made into a film with Hilary Swank last year.
Read more here.
Archie comics
Archie comes for you when you're roughly 10 years old, when romance is a far-off rumbling. It's a hazy time. Teachers cease to exist the moment they leave the school building. Other adults are incomprehensible beings who hide in offices all day, performing secret tasks. At night Mom or Dad will slam a bedroom door, and you have no idea why. History is a rumor, science a series of magic tricks. Pets die. Grandparents too. Movies are filled with jokes and references just beyond your mental grasp. The choices at the iTunes store are bewildering. The president's father was also once the president, apparently. You like garish colors.Read more here.
Der Führer is beside himself
A man has been arrested after tearing the head off a wax figure of Adolf Hitler at a newly opened branch of Madame Tussauds in Berlin.
The 41-year-old man was held after attacking the waxwork, only hours after the attraction opened on Saturday.
The inclusion of Hitler in the exhibition has aroused controversy in a country where Nazi symbols are banned.
But the exhibition's organiser said it could hardly depict German history without portraying Hitler.
Read more here.
9/11 third tower mystery 'solved'
I was sitting in a bar that day, along with many other shell shocked people, watching as this third building came down.
The reaction was "oh no, another has just come down"..but it does seem a little strange, doesn't it?
The final mystery of 9/11 will soon be solved, according to US experts investigating the collapse of the third tower at the World Trade Center.
The 47-storey third tower, known as Tower Seven, collapsed seven hours after the twin towers.
Investigators are expected to say ordinary fires on several different floors caused the collapse.
Conspiracy theorists have argued that the third tower was brought down in a controlled demolition
Read more here.
The reaction was "oh no, another has just come down"..but it does seem a little strange, doesn't it?
The final mystery of 9/11 will soon be solved, according to US experts investigating the collapse of the third tower at the World Trade Center.
The 47-storey third tower, known as Tower Seven, collapsed seven hours after the twin towers.
Investigators are expected to say ordinary fires on several different floors caused the collapse.
Conspiracy theorists have argued that the third tower was brought down in a controlled demolition
Read more here.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Richard Massingham
'Pedestrian Crossing' dates from 1948 and was one of the many information films produced by Richard Massingham's 'Public Relationship Films' for the 'Central Office of Information'.
Discovered via wfmu.org.
Cave Men Loved to Sing
Another wacky theory about cave painting, because the more you read, the more you realize the "experts" don't have a clue on the subject.
Ancient hunters painted the sections of their cave dwellings where singing, humming and music sounded best, a new study suggests.
Analyzing the famous, ochre-splashed cave walls of France, the most densely painted areas were also those with the best acoustics, the scientists found. Humming into some bends in the wall even produced sounds mimicking the animals painted there.
Read more here.
Ancient hunters painted the sections of their cave dwellings where singing, humming and music sounded best, a new study suggests.
Analyzing the famous, ochre-splashed cave walls of France, the most densely painted areas were also those with the best acoustics, the scientists found. Humming into some bends in the wall even produced sounds mimicking the animals painted there.
Read more here.
It's just Batman
I've commented before on the phenomena of the recent Batman films, and the heights its fans go to in describing what is actually just pretentious crap...
The Dark Knight: An Extraordinary Cinematic Revolution
This is not a review of The Dark Knight. However, considering the film isn't even in theaters yet, it might come as a surprise to hear so much profound praise, but I can't help from sharing my feelings on this absolute masterpiece. In fact, I've decided to move beyond calling it a masterpiece to calling it potentially a cinematic revolution. Not since Lord of the Rings: Return of the King five years ago in December of 2003, did I walk out of the theater so moved, so amazed, and so extraordinarily impacted by the movie I had just watched. Instead of reviewing this film and its many brilliant elements, I must explain why it truly is a flawless masterpiece that the world will experience together on July 18th. Don't necessarily change any of your expectations, but be prepared for an unforgettable theatrical experience.
Read more here.
Corporations 1, Citizen Privacy 0
In another illustration of how corporate rights are more important than citizen's rights.
The personal viewing habits and online identities of millions of YouTube users are to be handed over to an American media giant after a court rejected arguments that such a move amounted to a massive invasion of internet privacy.
Under the terms of a US court judgment, Google, which owns YouTube, must now surrender the details of video-watching histories, IP addresses and usernames, to Viacom, which wants to use the data to prove that the site is hosting thousands of television and other media clips in breach of strict copyright laws.
Last night, Google said it intended to comply with the court order and confirmed the ruling would affect "our global log". At this stage, the company had no plans to appeal against the ruling, a Google spokesman said.
No warning to users, no nothing.
Because face it folks, your rights are as nothing when a corporation is involved.
Read more here.
The personal viewing habits and online identities of millions of YouTube users are to be handed over to an American media giant after a court rejected arguments that such a move amounted to a massive invasion of internet privacy.
Under the terms of a US court judgment, Google, which owns YouTube, must now surrender the details of video-watching histories, IP addresses and usernames, to Viacom, which wants to use the data to prove that the site is hosting thousands of television and other media clips in breach of strict copyright laws.
Last night, Google said it intended to comply with the court order and confirmed the ruling would affect "our global log". At this stage, the company had no plans to appeal against the ruling, a Google spokesman said.
No warning to users, no nothing.
Because face it folks, your rights are as nothing when a corporation is involved.
Read more here.
Morally bankrupt Americans
Seems some conservatives (one Freddy Gray) don't like having little things like torture pointed out.
According to the CIA, only a handful of terror suspects have been waterboarded.
Oh well, it must be ok then.
Only a handful of children were molested by the church..must be ok then too.
Self-inflicted waterboarding is no joke. Participants risk the following side-effects: a severe increase in self-righteousness and self-pity; a tendency to write really boring copy; and heavy fits of moral outrage.
Nope, moral outrage is just not done.
Unless it's over gay marriage...
Read more here.
According to the CIA, only a handful of terror suspects have been waterboarded.
Oh well, it must be ok then.
Only a handful of children were molested by the church..must be ok then too.
Self-inflicted waterboarding is no joke. Participants risk the following side-effects: a severe increase in self-righteousness and self-pity; a tendency to write really boring copy; and heavy fits of moral outrage.
Nope, moral outrage is just not done.
Unless it's over gay marriage...
Read more here.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dies at 83
Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.
His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.
Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.
"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.
Read more here.
His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.
Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.
"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.
Read more here.
Key scenes of Metropolis rediscovered
Last Tuesday Paula Félix-Didier travelled on a secret mission to Berlin in order to meet with three film experts and editors from ZEITmagazin. The museum director from Buenos Aires had something special in her luggage: a copy of a long version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, including scenes believed lost for almost 80 years. After examining the film the three experts are certain: The find from Buenos Aires is a real treasure, a worldwide sensation. Metropolis, the most important silent film in German history, can from this day on be considered to have been rediscovered.
Read more here.
The Epic idiots at American Family Association
American Family Association, American's favorite small minded bigots, are now going after McDonald's.
Why you may ask? Well..
What the boycott of McDonald’s IS NOT about
• This boycott is not about hiring homosexuals [yet].
• It is not about homosexuals eating at McDonald’s [yet].
• It is not about how homosexual employees are treated [yet].
Because those things in 2008 are too extreme, even for the AFA.
No, first things first. Make them second class citizens first, with corporate help of course. If McDonald's is on the AFA's side, then *how* can they be seen as the backwards thinking troglodytes they really are? That done, then we can cover the above points...
What the boycott of McDonald’s IS about
It is about McDonald’s, as a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald’s has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage.
See, such nice folks. Not great thinkers of course ("not neutral" to them means taking a position they don't agree with. "Stand back corporation, and let us fuck over who we please"), but awww, it has "Family" in the name...
Bunnies and flowers.
Why you may ask? Well..
What the boycott of McDonald’s IS NOT about
• This boycott is not about hiring homosexuals [yet].
• It is not about homosexuals eating at McDonald’s [yet].
• It is not about how homosexual employees are treated [yet].
Because those things in 2008 are too extreme, even for the AFA.
No, first things first. Make them second class citizens first, with corporate help of course. If McDonald's is on the AFA's side, then *how* can they be seen as the backwards thinking troglodytes they really are? That done, then we can cover the above points...
What the boycott of McDonald’s IS about
It is about McDonald’s, as a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald’s has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage.
See, such nice folks. Not great thinkers of course ("not neutral" to them means taking a position they don't agree with. "Stand back corporation, and let us fuck over who we please"), but awww, it has "Family" in the name...
Bunnies and flowers.
The Uncola
While the search continues for any information regarding 7-Up's The Undeer, we present the original Uncola ad, with Geoffrey Holder.
And then there is this one, where computer graphics, the 50's revival of the 70's and the best drugs money can buy combine happily together.
The Impératif français needs to chill out, si possible
 |
| je me souviens |
The Canadian embassy in Washington is apologizing after it sent out a Canada Day party invitation that showed Samuel de Champlain, founder of Quebec City, holding a plate of poutine.
Jean-Paul Perreault, the president of Impératif français, a group that defends and promotes the French language, called the embassy's behaviour “contemptuous and unacceptable.”
“It's ridiculous, it's a … lack of respect towards the Canadian identity, which proudly includes French-speaking communities,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
Poutine is a popular Quebec dish that consists of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with brown gravy.
“If it was a joke, it was a joke in bad taste which we can't allow as part of the activities of a [Canadian] embassy,” he added.
Read more here.
Wall-E is a copyright criminal
1. WALL-E records audio from his favorite movie, Hello Dolly, putting in onto his own digital recorder (bypassing the macrovision DRM on the tape). A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
2. WALL-E archives the audio, he doesn’t merely time-shift it. He listens repeatedly! A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
3. WALL-E shares his DRM-broken music with his friend, another robot named EVE. A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
My God, lock the little bastard up! Such rampant disregard for the rights of corporations!
Read more here, just don't save it you fucking lowlife.
2. WALL-E archives the audio, he doesn’t merely time-shift it. He listens repeatedly! A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
3. WALL-E shares his DRM-broken music with his friend, another robot named EVE. A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
My God, lock the little bastard up! Such rampant disregard for the rights of corporations!
Read more here, just don't save it you fucking lowlife.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Christopher Hitchens undergoes waterboarding
How does it feel to be “aggressively interrogated”? Christopher Hitchens found out for himself, submitting to a brutal waterboarding session in an effort to understand the human cost of America’s use of harsh tactics at Guantánamo and elsewhere. VF.com has the footage.
See it here.
Fox photoshops NY Times reporters photos
If further proof is needed that America is run by 13 year olds (which would explain "Family Guy"'s success..), here is is:
During a segment in which Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head.
Read more here.
Virgin rapped on broadband speeds
A complaint lodged by BT about the speeds of Virgin Media's broadband service has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The challenge centred on its advertisement Hate to Wait?, which ran in the national media and featured download times for songs and TV shows.
BT argued that Virgin's usage caps meant that downloads during peak times would be slower than advertised.
The ASA has agreed and ordered Virgin to make it clear that speeds will vary.
Read more here.
The challenge centred on its advertisement Hate to Wait?, which ran in the national media and featured download times for songs and TV shows.
BT argued that Virgin's usage caps meant that downloads during peak times would be slower than advertised.
The ASA has agreed and ordered Virgin to make it clear that speeds will vary.
Read more here.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Far Right, Idiots and Wall-E
Two denizens of National Review Greg Pollowitz and Shannen Coffin think Pixar’s latest is a bit of “leftist propaganda about the evils of mankind,” as Coffin puts it.
“It was like a 90-minute lecture on the dangers of over consumption, big corporations, and the destruction of the environment,” Pollowitz writes at Planet Gore, National Review’s global-warming blog.
Read more here.
Rogers blows smoke up our asses over iPhone rates
Actual Rogers response to customer anger over iPhone plans...Try if you can and decode this (via mapleaftwo.com):
The iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the only price plans available to customers, they are the high value plans that allow Rogers customers to use the device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.
That said, Rogers customers have more choices available to them and can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish. For example, they can select from the new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and add a voice plan, or they can choose a combined voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.
Customers are not required to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.
Existing customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs. They will need to check their upgrade eligibility, but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other options outside the iPhone bundle may be available depending on the customer’s individual information.
Confusing?
Now, for the comedy:
...The iPhone bundles were created to provide the best value to our customers.
With respect to Rogers iPhone 3G pricing, we believe that the customer that wants this device wants to fully appreciate all that iPhone 3G has to offer so there’s a wide selection of high value price packages to meet the needs of Canadians. We believe that unlimited plans could end up costing customers more for what they don’t use. Rogers’ iPhone 3G plans will more than accommodate the vast majority of customers.
Best corporate bullshit of the day!
The iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the only price plans available to customers, they are the high value plans that allow Rogers customers to use the device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.
That said, Rogers customers have more choices available to them and can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish. For example, they can select from the new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and add a voice plan, or they can choose a combined voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.
Customers are not required to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.
Existing customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs. They will need to check their upgrade eligibility, but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other options outside the iPhone bundle may be available depending on the customer’s individual information.
Confusing?
Now, for the comedy:
...The iPhone bundles were created to provide the best value to our customers.
With respect to Rogers iPhone 3G pricing, we believe that the customer that wants this device wants to fully appreciate all that iPhone 3G has to offer so there’s a wide selection of high value price packages to meet the needs of Canadians. We believe that unlimited plans could end up costing customers more for what they don’t use. Rogers’ iPhone 3G plans will more than accommodate the vast majority of customers.
Best corporate bullshit of the day!
Leave Robin out of Batman!
More than slightly homophobic tirade about why Robin should never again appear on screen...If I told you a story about a handsome, young, boy gymnast that moved in with an attractive, wealthy, single, older man, what would be the first thing you would assume? Exactly. That’s kind of my point when it comes to Batman and Robin. Their connection always feels forced and slightly homoerotic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just don’t want that in Nolan’s Batman.
Ah, another in a series of arguments against letting young people's writing anywhere near the net...
Read more here.
Long Lost Beatles Interview Airs On BBC
A Beatles interview from the 1960s in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney discussed the way they composed songs together was broadcast on British radio Tuesday after it was found in a film can in a damp garage in south London.
Read more here.
Read more here.
Cute puppy offends British Muslims
Thank God there are crazies in all religions..ok some more than others...
Another delightful reminder of the Middle Ages must have been like.
A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.
Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community...
Best commnet: Has the country gone barking mad?
Read more here.
'We did not seek advice from the force's diversity adviser prior to publishing and distributing the postcards. That was an oversight and we apologise for any offence caused.'
Holy Fuck, and either should you have to.
The epic idiots at American Family Association
American Family Association, American's favorite homophobes, apparently have a filter on their site that changes "gay" to "homosexual".
In a loving, caring way of course.
Sooo...Tyson Gay who set a record in the 100 meter dash this week is now Tyson Homosexual.
Homosexual runs wind-aided 9.68 seconds
Homosexual eases into 100 final
Homosexual breaks Green's US record...
In a loving, caring way of course.
Sooo...Tyson Gay who set a record in the 100 meter dash this week is now Tyson Homosexual.
Homosexual runs wind-aided 9.68 seconds
Homosexual eases into 100 final
Homosexual breaks Green's US record...
Toronto's soul
Billboard for yet another pretentious condo/development. This is the stuff that gets Toronto's little heart beating...
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