So I'm writing again and moving now

"Only the best in us talks about the worst in us, because the worst in us lies about its own existence."

So I've been inspired after a fair gap in postings (years here, years there) to further commence the contributions to the blogging noosphere. Being the magpie that I am, this humble operation will skip over to Tumblr in all of its shiny resplendent glory. I recognize Tumblr is not entirely open source or non-profit or the like but it fulfills my immediate purposes. And it's shiny. If you want to see this move to an independently hosted site, donate away. By all means.

Accepting: silver trinkets, bars of gold or off-shore transfers.

xxox,

A

http://youdontknowwhatchadontknow.tumblr.com/

I don't know about that newfangled science thingamajigger

So I am having a real hard time getting into the minds of the majority of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN readers who said yes to keeping science out of politics. Where to begin?

Salon summation:
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2010/10/27/keep_science_out_of_politics/index.html

Is this aligned with the premise of keeping church and state separate? Science is objective fact; it is empirically-based. Religion is belief-based. The two are diametrically opposed (I'm sorry Ben Stein). Sworn allegiance to Blessed Americuh -in sickness and in health- seems to have fogged the minds of even followers of scientific matters. Although, this conjecture is predicated on the assumption that Scientific American readers represent an educated citizenry, which is entirely debatable. But would one not expect more from readers of a scientific publication versus those 58% who do not believe in EVOLUTION or the 34% of Americans who believe in UFOs and WITCHES? Maybe the groups are not mutually exclusive...

And do not think Canada is immune. Hell to the N-O. In fact, researchers and academics have started their own public service site, if you will, eliminating the need to step around the gag order Harper currently imposes on the lot.

Check out Suzuki and co. here:
http://www.publicscience.ca

With all this aversion to evidence perhaps it'd be best to pack up and head to greener pastures, both metaphorical and fiscal. The Dutch pay up to 3000 Euro a month plus health and holiday bonuses for doctoral researchers. Not exactly rolling in it yet a thousand-fold better than the North American sitch of living below the poverty line.

But oh how California calls! I was so looking forward to packing some sophisticated heat whilst sipping a cuppa.

I don't think Hallowe'en is any different-- we wear costumes everyday

Best wishes for this festive time of year.

Happy Hallowe'en videoclip brought to you by Chloe Sevigny.



Although it remains to be seen how one could best Birthdees.

Here is an exquisite Fall centerpiece displaying the only purpose for candy corn.

One thing I like about boxing is that I will not have to deal with the same kind of politics that I had to in skating. In boxing, it is not about your appearance, or how your costume looks, what color it is, or how much it costs.

~
Tonya Harding

You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them - no matter how old or impressive they may be - as if they are children. For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much - we simply grow taller. O, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales.

~

Leo Rosten

 

I don't know "get" Glee so swing low sweet chariot

Forget you, Glee. Roller Boogie it is.

http://kottke.org/10/10/parkour-on-rollerblades

Things just get better in this reel so stick in there. One point though: swine flue is NOT a lie. I got it last Halloween. It was/is v. v. real. I did not like. More livestock than humans on this fine world, living amongst their own muck, so H1N1 should not be surprising in the least. 

Tangent over. I would like to own Mathieu...'s skates.

"Own the streets. Because you do what you want."

You still looking!?!

Guess this means we're soul mates.

I don't know about halloween- how about fancy dress all year?

What will everyone don for this year's for All Hallows' Eve? Popular pieces of late include: inanimate objects, sharp political satire suits (Recession Zombie, etc.), anything Antoine Dodson, and always with the animals represented by appropriately coloured felt ears.

Well, this little boy is dressing up each and everyday just as he so wishes, wearing it with confidence:
Watch: http://advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/10/15/Family_Embraces_Princess_Boy/


Love Princess Boy. You wear those socks right, honey. And amen to breaking out of the confines of gender normative apparel. After all, what is human apparel but a series of giant body socks and disparately coloured coverings?

To be completely fair though, fairy skirts are entirely cumbersome and not so conducive to outdoor play. But you know what they say- a chacun son gout. 

We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters ~ Gloria Steinem

I don't know what took FOX so long

So Fox News might be coming to Canada. Is this surprising? Not really- if you think of the Harper government and that Neo-Con movement emanating from Alberta- bonafied brothers in arms with Tea Party-ites. (See link linking Bush-Harper ideology).

 Digging their own...

 
A blurb about the petition:

Canada: Stop "Fox News North"

Prime Minister Harper is trying to push American-style hate media onto our airwaves, and make us all pay for it. His plan is to create a "Fox News North" to mimic the kind of hate-filled propaganda with which Fox News has poisoned U.S. politics. The channel will be run by Harper’s former top aide and will be funded with money from our cable TV fees!

One man stands in the way of this nightmare -- the Chairman of Canada's Radio and Telecommunications Commission Konrad von Finckenstein. And now, Harper is trying to get him out of his job. Sign the petition below to send a wave of support to von Finckenstein and forward this campaign to everyone -- we'll publish full page ads in Canadian papers when we reach 100,000: 
THE LINK.

Will this succeed? For what it is worth, I signed but with certain misgivings. Will the petition ignite the fury of the 'discriminated' bunch? Will people decry the act as blocking freedom of speech/expression (although such cries are typically enlisted by bunches of whiny bigots (see: Dr. Laura, the Westboro Baptist Church and their rivals in insensitivity, the Dove World Outreach Center (yes, real name)).

Nonetheless, freedom of speech is not absolute, as Haroon Sidiiqui affirms in his editorial regarding the recent Islamophobic article in MacLean's. "Except for the U.S., virtually every Western democracy has laws against hate," notes Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress. "Our anti-hate laws are probably the most underused." 

Bottom line, however, is that as a signer I am left grappling with what is surely a most troublesome ramification: Could I have signed away a Canadian-O'Reilly-esque remix opportunity?

I don't know why the delayed reaction

So the dissertation is complete. It still has not hit me. I'm certain this will change in time for the long weekend or it better as the remaining bits of summer need to be absorbed asap. Lots of lost hours of sunshine and generally laziness to cram in.

 Just hanging. No deadlines.

But mainly will be singing last days disco inside....

Still, am wondering how long this will last; in applying for the next round of schooling, it has come to my attention that by the time all is said and done .... someone will be THIRTY. YEARS. OLD.

If you've been contemplating such contingency plans as freezing your gametes or the logistics of forming a solid nest egg from selling your own (egg) ...  do not fret!

Here's an article (thanks KW) that affirms us twenty-somethings will turn out alright. Skip to the last paragraph if you want immediate assurance :)

i don't know the relative size of earth

 Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.
  - Christopher Morley

So my brain is morphing into oblivion on this final writing stretch but it shall be conquered yet!

Consequently- as I assume my ramblings would be more ramblicious than usual- I'm just posting PARADIGM-SHIFTING gifs

Obviously, I've just discovered the wonderment that is the Graphics Interchange Format.

Enjoy!

The enormity of it all

Testing your previous limits of cuteness...

And for athletic intensity...

Plus conceptions of ten year old romantic love.

That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
  - Paul Valery

I think the (G20) Riot Cops would have been a lot more effective if instead of doing THIS:


They followed this Swedish Cop:

Who could resist NOT joining in with the fine fellow?

The above video is stupendous for a number of reasons. Mainly, performance art (sorry to burst the aura- he's not actually enforcing anything except fun) is plentiful in certain parts of Sweden; though I only went to Uppsala, Gothenburg and Stockholm for a week- so speculation on my part.

One particular memory I have is of walking through the main square by the Stadsteater and seeing an Iranian elections protest on one side, in the center of the square about a 100 people sprawled on the ground completely still and in another section, two people crawling acrobatically on the pavement. The whole time, no one really paid any attention to the demonstrations and barely cast a second glance. Only tourists took video/photos. Perhaps this is an extension of the basic trend towards extreme privacy, whereby no one impedes on another to the point of appearing selectively mute. The gaze is kept perpetually below eye contact level for fear of "intrusion of privacy" and often famed individuals say this is the one place in the world they can walk without being imposed upon.

In Understanding Global Cultures, Gannon says that while Sweden is extremely collectivistic, they organize in this manner in order to attain even greater individuality. Personal growth/development is of utmost importance and it is simply deemed most efficient to attain necessary tools via collective action. One example of this is the way citizens will willingly hand over vast cuts of their paycheck for vital services that will serve them in the most efficient and effective means available.

One law states that if someone driving splashes another and inconveniences them (e.g., the suit was wet and needed to be dry cleaned) and takes down the license plate then they can present that to a small claims court and be reimbursed!

I tell you, if they made that happen here I'd carry a legal notepad with me everywhere because some drivers just seem to completely forget what it is like using your own body for locomotion. 

Sometimes that stuff just hits you from out of nowhere. Better to be prepared.

i don't know if this is breaking free

It appears as if there will be a succession of burka-and-its-derivations bans. This is a historically/culturally/religiously/politically charged issue that begs the question: what kind of precedent will be set? I believe that the following talk- from a philosophical stand point- effectively moves discussion beyond the paralysis of moral relativistic non-accountability.

I really do not know. What do you think?

 SAM HARRIS TED TALK

Some researchers are analyzing various cultures in search of a Universal Moral Grammar. This same technique was used to discover an underlying universal linguistic grammar. Will this settle the score on what is 'right' and 'wrong'?


Lykke Li & Robyn @ Way Out West (fantastic summer festival in Gotenburg).


In somewhat related non-news, I love ROBYN. This Swedish songstress embodies strength, class, brains and perspective (she is also a UNICEF ambasssador). Her songs run the gamut from Konichiwa Bitches! to the spot-on Euro-beats banger With Every Heartbeat to honest ballads like the following terribly truthful Hang With Me. And all of this is done with the utmost integrity and most stylish front teeth ever.



She not like some of dem' others....