it feels as though lately, i've had a number of rather serious posts, so i thought i'd throw some stuff in here that while it is rather un-serious, is still very blog like.

my day today has been rather odd. first my building forgot how to make hot water, so i ended up doing all of my laundry in lukewarm suds, then pavel called to tell me that the anime party got cancelled on account of a burnt out projector bulb :-(

spinning my wheels with nothing to do, and with 2lbs of ground cow in the fridge, i decided to invite my neighbour over for some tasty burgers. she needs to write up her resume, and doesn't own a computer, so i'm offering mine. ...had to boot into windows though and now i feel dirty... but we had a nice night, stayed up talking about relationships mostly (been doing a lot of that lately it would seem) and she's coming back later this week to finish up her work. it's nice to have cool people in your building, especially ones who like to eat.

i have to wonder though: why do people talk to me about their relationships? and why is it that i seem to actually have useful advice to offer? it's not like i have a good record of successful relationships, so wtf?

anyway, this post is getting long and is more random than i'd like, so i'm going to bed. but first, i must call noreen. she compared me to a virgo this afternoon and that just can't go unanswered...

• did you know that they DID find weapons of mass destruction in iraq?
• how 'bout that saddam hussein was directly involved in 9/11?
• or that Canada sent troops into vietnam?

no? good. 'cause none of that is true.

...but anne coulter thinks so. so does bill o'reilly. how can these people be so delusional? it has to be on purpose -- they're too prominent to claim plain ignorance. but there she was, ARGUING with the CANADIAN reporter claiming that we, as a nation sent soldiers into vietnam. ...and people believe this halfwit at face value. o'reilly actually just plain makes stuff up to support his mock-arguments... it's just nuts and it's coming here in the form of fox "news" on digital cable. if you watch, please keep the above in mind. these people are morons.

where's this all coming from? cbc's fifth estate did a show tonight called sticks and stones and it shows again friday, january 28th, at 1:00am & 4:00am and sunday, january 30th, 3:00am & 7:00pm

it's about freakin' time.

i was reading the star yesterday over a tasty zupa burger when i came across bush's hubristic world view. it's opinion, but definitely worth the read. here's an excerpt:

In his inauguration speech last week, Bush told the world what he intends to do during his last term. Essentially, he intends to make the world like the U.S. Or, more exactly, like Bush's version of the U.S. After all, outside critics, while applauding his use of the word "freedom" and its synonym "liberty" 41 times in a brief speech, might wonder how much freedom and liberty there is to the unknowns incarcerated without trial in Guantanamo, or was to the prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail, or to the Americans shorn of civil liberties by Bush's Patriot Act.

richard gwyn, the toronto star

another article was featured on the daily show with jon stewart and has details about u.s. plans to bomb the hell out of wait for it... iran now:

George W. Bush's re-election was not his only victory last fall. The President and his national-security advisers have consolidated control over the military and intelligence communities' strategic analyses and covert operations to a degree unmatched since the rise of the post-Second World War national-security state. Bush has an aggressive and ambitious agenda for using that control—against the mullahs in Iran and against targets in the ongoing war on terrorism—during his second term. The C.I.A. will continue to be downgraded, and the agency will increasingly serve, as one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon put it, as "facilitators" of policy emanating from President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. This process is well under way

seymour m. hersh, the new yorker

the last one i thought i'd share here is an interesting take on stephen harper's tactics when it comes to the "traditional" definition of marraige:

As such, the ad campaign's statement that Harper believes in traditional marriage is nothing more than a statement of his belief. Although the campaign is undoubtedly intended to convince many ethnic voters that the Conservatives will protect traditional marriage, they will do nothing of the sort, because Harper has refused to endorse either of the two options that could protect the definition.

editorial, the vancouver sun

i got this from my buddy colin @work today and thought i would share:

"for a while anyways" or so the email i got today said:

tuesday january 25th
@cafe deux soliels (2096 commercial dr)

• shane koyczan
• cr avery
• mark berube
• and graham clark

doors @8, show @9
$5 - 7

don't ask me what's the deal with "cr avery" that's just what the email said. obviously given my current locale, i won't be attending, but for those in the neighbourhood, i very much reccomend it. this guy rox.

i got this in my mailbox from someone today:

Canadian Pensioners From the hard copy of the Toronto Star, 18 April 2004.

I found it interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can also get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00. This compares very well to a single pensioner who after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 to 50 years can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees! Lets send this to all Canadians, so we can all be pissed off and maybe we can get the refugees cut back to $1,012 00 and the pensioners up to $2,470.00 and enjoy some of the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 years.

i spotted it as inflammatory propaganda almost immediately, so i did some digging and sure enough, found this page. here's an excerpt:

Today's rather sad and twisted tale began last March when the Star published a feature about plans to settle hundreds of African refugees in smaller Canadian cities.

It was a simple story: Canada and the United Nations were flying asylum-seekers from a Somali refugee camp to new lives in centres such as Hamilton.

As immigration/diversity reporter Nicholas Keung wrote, immigration officials hope to encourage (but not force) refugees to make new lives outside the magnet cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

"We hope by relocating them all together and resettling them as a whole to the same community, we can create a positive environment to help them integrate into the Canadian society successfully," an immigration official explained.

Fine and dandy. But halfway through the 1,500-word article, unforeseen trouble was lurking.

In paragraph 16, the story said single refugees are eligible for $1,890 from Ottawa as a "start-up allowance, along with a $580 monthly social assistance, depending on how soon the person is able to find employment."

In addition, they get "a night lamp, a table, a chair and a single bed from the government," the story said.

In painful hindsight, those details could have been clearer.

Actually, the $1,890 "start-up allowance" - including a $580 monthly social assistance cheque from Ottawa - was a one-time payment for basic household needs such as furnishings, pots and linens. The furniture is used.

In quick order, two things happened after the article ran.

First, a reader sent a nasty e-mail to the reporter. Among other things, it said charity begins at home and Canada should not "roll out the welcome mat" for refugees.

The e-mailer assumed - erroneously - that the refugees would collect $2,470 a month. They'd be better off than Canadian pensioners.

More worrisome, the polemicist sent his rant to 100 recipients, some of whom likely spread the word to wider audiences.

Ah, the wonders of the Internet!

ladies and gentlemen, this is why you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. and PLEASE CHECK YOUR FACTS BEFORE BLINDLY FORWARDING.

this has been a public service announcement.

angry over the events in my previous post, i thought i'd check out the ndp site hoping to find something more inspiring... and i found it. the ndp have a plan for sustainability within a generation. i encourage you to read it. for all the complaining that people do about lack of real leadership, i ask that you open your eyes and see what's right in front of you.

our goverment has decided that the kyoto protocol isn't important enough to keep it's promise when it comes to our own greenhouse gas emissions. and why should it? with the apathy found everywhere, and the general public ignorance on the subject, i bet they figure they can get away with anything at this stage.

thanks a lot martin. you and your party talk big, but you continue to prove that you really just want to win. at least the conservatives admitted they wanted to knife the whole thing, you just don't have the courage (or is it just the interest?) to stick to your promises.

edit: i just sent this to john efford, minister of natural resources and the guy who's responsible for this post:

To: "John Efford" <Efford.J@parl.gc.ca>
Subject: Please don't knife Kyoto

I saw on CBC tonight that the Liberal party is considering reducing greenhouse gas emission restrictions, thereby breaking your promise to comply with the Kyoto accord. I have to tell you, that while I'm not surprised, I really wish I could be. Please reconsider this terrible course of action as I can guarantee you it will result in the following:

1. Other nations, looking to us as an example will feel free to make their own changes to this crucial agreement.
2. Canada will lose it's already shaky standing as a leader in environmental policy.
3. The people of this country will come to know your party as the one that will say anything to get elected, then promptly forget everything it promised when things appear inconvenient.

This agreement is more important to the world than it is to the environment. We, as a whole world have to be able to sit down and agree on a simple set of rules if we're ever going to find our way out of this environmental nightmare. ...And you can't do that if international leaders are changing the rules when they feel like it.

Please reconsider.

Daniel Quinn
Toronto Centre, Ontario

• 

microsoft is going head to head with Google in an attempt to kill our long time best friend when we're looking for information. the likely strategy is to build a sub-standard search engine and integrate it into windows so the lemmings of the world will just use that and just stop with any others.

now if this weren't microsoft, i'd be on their side. gods know, this is a free system, and the company with the best technology should win -- but that's just it. microsoft doesn't play by those rules, they play to kill the competition, and in so doing make my life harder. so i'm doing what i can to put a wrench in their plans:

a search engine's backbone is based on it's spider results. if microsoft's spiders read your site, it gets indexed on their servers and this affects the rankings of all their other sites. the algorithms they use for this are designed to increase the quality of search results, so depriving them of it will contribute to making their search engine less useful.

so i block them. any connection to my server from a microsoft ip is stopped at the network level. that way, even if they follow a link to my site from elsewhere, they won't see my site and won't be able to index it. for those curious, here are the ips:

• 207.31.251.140
• 207.46.98.0/24
• 65.54.188.0/24
• 81.2.209.64

i'm watching their spiders trying to get through my firewall as i write this. the bastards are relentless... it's kinda entertaining

now you might say that google's just another big corporation, and you'd be right. but if you think about it, google has never done anything to screw you. in fact, it's gone out of its way to make your life good and to be useful. microsoft however has done very much the opposite. i offer my geeky readers the above ips so that they might do the same.