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....

i don't fully agree with eugenics but these parents are making a case...

Favourite Names:

-SARS Bin Laden
-Kal-El
-Orange-jello and Lemon-jello pronounced Or-AHN-gello and Lem-AHN-gello (twins, naturally!)
-Ivan Ho
-Warwock

Allowed/Disallowed names in New Zealand (and here I thought they were progressive...)

*Allowed: Violence; Number 16 Bus Shelter; Midnight Chardonnay; Benson and Hedges (twins)

*Blocked: Yeah Detroit; Stallion; Twisty Poi; Keenan Got Lucy; SexFruit; Fat Boy;
Cinderella Beauty Blossom; Fish and Chips (twins), Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii

I suppose some will make the case that it is just a name and that all differences should be appreciated and uniqueness allowed. But if my name was a FULL SENTENCE, that would just get confusing for  school teachers:

"Now is it First Name: Talula-Does-The, Middle Name: Hula, Family Name: From-Hawaii? Shall we just acronym-you, TDTHFH?"

i don't mean to sound bossy but...

I reward myself for writing 'x' amount of the 'd-word' (dissertation) by writing this blog. * Insert statement of self-pity with utter lack of perspective here*

Please do yourself a favour and open this in full screen. The drummer and I have much in common, above all: a love for LIFE.

Some of my pals could use a little SGF in their lives. As my friend K says, girls shouldn't be reading, He's Just Not That Into You but rather writing, I'm Just That Into Me ©.

CD, this is for you. I see your Phantom of the Opera and raise you one Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Please watch in aggravatingly wide wide screen. 

 Secret Movie Confessions

Sobbin Women

Lonesome Polecat

Nice Words:

There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life - reciprocity.
~Confucius

Yeah, Wacko Jacko, where did that come from? Some English tabloid. I have a heart and I have feelings. I feel that when you do that to me. It's not nice.
~Michael Jackson

Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies.
~Robert Kennedy

i don't do populations above ten million

Woah. So I forgot just how desolate Canada can be. Vancouver, the third most populous city, literally feels like a scene out of 28 Days Later at all hours. A testament to claiming one of the top spots on most sparsely populated nation, I reckon. At least it is a smoother transition coming back to peaceful abandonment as compared to the wonderful shock of wandering up from the London Tube exactly one year ago and up into the arms of some 12-14 million individuals. That was fun with my life on my back and in my sweaty grip. I was all like:

I almost lost it on said subway a number of times. But lo and behold, claustrophobia was conquered on one particularly rainy day at rush hour on the central line (busiest). I do believe I did not have to hold on at all as six Suits were keeping me upright just fine with their bodies' invasive presence. After about ten minutes on there with my face pressed against the steamy window, the train stopped in between stations, leaving the sea of us in darkness...a person had been caught under the tracks they ever so kindly mentioned. Well, I could either have gotten all hot and bothered but really, I was not the one under the tracks so I plugged in the pod and decided to get over it. When I did eventually exit that train, I was so proud of not going hooligan-after-local-team's-loss on Sir Stuck-Up-A-Lot and co. that I no longer bristled whenever a fellow commuter stepped on my foot. They must just be rushing to get home to read a bedtime story to their children, right?
 
There is nothing like walking in complete anonymity in amongst a wall of humanity, bouncing off of one another like agitated atoms, to make one feel small. That smallness can be quite comforting.

i don't know about Portugal and persons who are gerontologically advanced

The following bit was written on a lovely ambulatory sauna (Portugese train) whilst listening to Harlem Shakes. The prospect of the ability to get sun burnt if one so chose was quite exciting and necessitated much knee shaking to this song.



'As we make moves out of the sweltering Algarve region, past Lisboa and up to the arid north, I am struck by the ubiquity of the homes, demeanor and general languor of the place. People of all ages carry themselves with a stately ease, immediately commanding respect and exuding confidence in their simple purpose. Stepping with swagger, bronzey leather-skinned octogenarians weave in and out of rudimentary cobble stone streets bordered by white washed walls that stretch up to red tiled roofs. Perhaps they are on their way to the talho (butcher's) or pasteleria (cafe/bakery) as the concept of a supermarket or supermercado is a bit too offensive for those who relish days past. In fact they have a word for this special brand of nostalgia, saudade, which is reflected in the melancholic art of singing fado. Saudade has been described as a "vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist ... a turning towards the past." (thanks Wiki!). My cultural psychology text also states that Portugal ranks relatively highly on past vs. future orientation.



Potentially lending to this overall orientation to a bygone era is the sheer number of older folk out and about. The history-major tells me that during Salazar’s repressive regime, women were seen as mere reproduction machines (important for the purpose of providing more workers) explicating the vast numbers of seniors wherever one looks. Although the origins of this particular demographic boom might be more than questionable, the warm acceptance of an oft-forgotten age-group is refreshing to say the least. We saw a great number of hot-piece pee-paws, what with their straw Panamas and suspenders, no word of a lie.'

!Yay to ageing!

i don't know how clocks work but stick this on your radio

Clockwork Radio's new EP was just released. These Mancunian boys- along with a foreign Middle Eastern addition- showcased their prog rock sound at the Hungry Pigeon Festival back in May.  Youthful exuberance melded with shoe-gazey tactics rendered the crowd helpless to the pull of their synchronous sway. As a testament to the group's diversity, the band effortlessly brought out the big guns and set the crowd alight with tunes like Foxtrot Bravado and Zeppy. 

Whether you're into orchestral emo rock or not, lend an ear and take a gander at their recently released EP and page.  This summer the guys are trekking it across the channel to a little place I like to call Germany for the Taubertal Festival with headliners the Prodigy. Then it is on to Egypt for a tour before bouncing back to good ol' Manc in the fall.

.Clockwork Radio myspace page.

 
The broski and I recently bypassed Berlin for a much too short period of time. The city is 9.5 times the size of Paris so clearly two trips to the kapital are not nearly sufficient. I might just have to move there and become a permanent sight-seer. Anyway, we were lucky enough to catch the first leg of Elephant Stone's European tour. Highlights included lead singer/sitar player Rishi Dihr expounding the oddities of having a German teach an ethnic Indian sitar, watching motionless east Berliners gradually grow a grin from ear to ear with each build-up, plus, of course, the display of ingenuity from the band itself. Did I mention they were Canadian? Quelle Coincidence(s).

.Elephant Stone.

Philosophers / must ultimately find / their true perfection / in knowing all / the follies of mankind / by introspection. 

-Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996) 

i don't know nuttin bout birthin babies

so I have happened upon what could be a most terrible new addition to "things I would rather be doing than data analysis" list: McSweeney's Imagined Monologues.

It is with that in mind that I ask you to read the collection- in my place. 

Have already managed to laugh in my head audibly by myself for a good half hour reading monos like the following.

1. It Was I Who Flipped Over the Risk Board Last Night
By Colin Nissan (6/17/08)

2. Subway Sandwich Artist's Statement
By Jonathan Tucker Bell (2/19/09) 

3. Beowulf, Sitting Next to a 16-Year-Old Kid, Watches Frasier on a Transcontinental Flight
By Russell Hehn (10/28/08) 

But later on- lo and behold- I was sitting at the comp all like...

and then !BAM! significance at the p<0.01 level.

I clapped my hands, shouted out loud and said 'yeah!'  

Standard me, really.

i don't want to, you can't make me...

So I did it. Got two posts in for May. Phewph!

Most poetic thing I said this week without trying to be:

~These streets are graveyards~ 

(Uttered after dodging one of the many chicken bones that litter most Mancunian concrete passages.) 

One time I accidentally kicked a wee bugger and it shattered, spreading purple marrow bits all over my sandal-ed feet. Initial revulsion gave way to smug self-righteousness for my new founded vegan ways. One pat on the back coming right up.

An apt little tie-in.


Anywhoozers, I'm going to be working for the next while so it might be a good idea to check out some actual quality poetical musings via Lauren's, Labour of Lemonade (I did it without asking permission so if you're going to stalk, don't disclose the tip-off).

Good-bye and, go on, do your best Jagger. 

i don't know about the spotty BP spill coverage

oh sure, we all laughed at Environment Guy back in the day. But I'm willing to wager something of value that the BP Oil Spill has many people one more "Big Kill" failure away from trading in the crisp-white collars for some tie-dye and sticking it to The Man.



In honor of all those sticking it to the man: a song that sings/signs out sticking it to oil companies :P



And some Paul to start the weekend off well cool.

I don't know what spring will bring

so... SPWING! The shirts are off, the legs are out as are the Jehovah's Witnesses. Felt honored and pleased to be singled out by two vertically challenged yet amiable followers who started speaking to me in some Chinese dialect. They had ventured into 'ethnic neighbourhoods' in order to save souls and practice their Mandarin, evidently. I listened intently, took their dear pamphlet (thankfully they had one in ENGLISH) and I was even able to slip in a mention of a Jehovah character in my current read: White Teeth. They said they would look it up.

I took about ten steps after I left them contemplating creation and miscegenation to realize: they thought I was Chinese. Fair enough. Have you ever seen a 5'10 and a half Chinese female with light brown hair? Me neither. I suppose it was a good thing I didn't mention I speak Klingon (most amazing acting 1:47) or am starting a heavy metal band. No more hibernation, bring on the spring emergents!

Some spring-y tunes. Wait for 2:34.

Yeasayer "ONE" By: Radical Friend from ODDBLOOD on Vimeo.

2. The Shaiyans. See Trumpet of Conscience.

3. Hitten Those Dancing Days

 !Luv sun!

i don't know about exported pop

So time for some pop-ish tunes to hurdle the mid-week hump.

Marina & the Diamonds- 'tis a pity she's sold out everywhere (for me, not her).



Alphabeats: some sweet Danes that make branded musicals-type tunes acceptable primarily because they are Danish- so silly!

What is with the Grease throw-back? Could this be similar to Sweden's rockabilly obsession: Raggare? At least now we know from where the recent upcroppings of James Dean-style haircuts propagated.

In other news, if you savour your ability to function without need of being within arm's reach of a toilet, as it were, please refrain from visiting one Paul's Fish n' Chips in South London. On the trip down to watch the Boat Race, one friend had a mammoth case of food posioning after a quick tuck in such that I believe the victim, our roommate and myself will never again look at fish, chips, malt vinegar or newspaper for that matter, without experiencing (original and vicarious) food aversion.
 
But every cloud has its silver lining...she hath conquered the final frontier in becoming vegetarian...seafood.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein

Now Just Got to Keep On ;P

I don't know about Broken Belles

Mike Moore. Love him or leave him, Capitalism: A Love Story was- minus the compulsory dwelling on sob stories- quite the Left-winger's feel-good-flick. It gave endless amounts of ammunition against the 'c-word'. Even if you're a Libertarian, big C-conservative or Calgarian Coulter supporter, one cannot deny that Mr. Moore is a decent opener for Broken Bells.



Back to Coulter- what would I give to be the shill's psychoanalyst? That would be the gift that just keeps on giving.

Off for foodstuffs. If I ate eggs, how I'd prefer them done:


End note: Copycats really need to give credit where credit is due: Karin Dreijer and Roisin Murphy.

Favoured Roisin Tracks:
Movie Star
Dear Miami
You Know Me Better
Overpowered
See her side project: Moloko also.

It would be a service to mankind if the pill were available in slot machines and the cigarette were placed on prescription.  ~Malcolm Potts, MD

i don't know a better bet than a boy band

 So some Mancunian Tune-ians.
A friend of a friend's band- The Jessie Rose Trip.

Poli-Break: Unseat Harper. Please print-off multiple copies, drop from top of spiral staircase and let freedom descend upon the masses one leaflet at a time.

I Feel Better. ooooh Hot Chip. Prefer One Last Stand and Take It In but cannot object to equal opportunity objectification for profit, so long as famed-vegan Moby is involved.

Hot Chip - I Feel Better

Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos

I will admit the last five-ish write-ups have been content light but dissertation season is setting in therefore any occasion to engage in non-academia pretensemia will enthusiastically be taken advantage of.  post-haste.

!Bibi!

i don't know about many words

A salmagundi sampling of tracks. The word 'salmagundi' is courtesy of A Word A Day. I've received such reliable emails from creator Anu Garsh that he and I could have a thing going on in my mind.

Some feral Bowie, David Byrne-esque sounds care of Wolf Gang. 

Back to Back is nice in a deja-heard kind of way.

New MGMT's turn.


Islands gets Michael Cera strung-out.

Please see also "Creeper" the song.

The noble art of losing face / may one day save the human race / and turn into eternal merit / what weaker minds would call disgrace. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

i don't think

Yesterday was International Women's Day.

A google search summary of why we need such a day:

Keeping it positivistic and solution-focused (see what I did there, psychs?), here's a sweet little online spot brought to us by Amy Po and co. But wait, it has since been taken down due to inappropriate comment postings. *miffed exhalation*... It was called Smart Girls at the Party for those who have young girls in their lives- really fantastic.

Instead, Deja Taylor and the way hip hop was and should be. The cuts to the audience are priceless. That's me at 1:27.

!O Mother Earth!

Way to make me look bad, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) re: last post. I've been defending you left, slightly left of center and center and you cite a pop science rag article with some Buddy making dubious predictions in a mobile chat. Mister's magic eight ball conjecture that the Himalayas could melt by 2035 is one of the first major flops for CC and a departure from otherwise sound scientific claims posited by academic journals galore. That is to say, anyone at any time may take a stab at said findings thanks to the public domain that is scholarly research, making it that much more surprising that such a bombastic statement got so far without being challenged. And anyone versed in statistical methods can and probably will tell you that 75% of statistics are mistakes, within a p<.05 error bar, correct? So IPCC, take note at your soon-to-be drawn out wrist slapping and always check your sources.

Blargh, over it. Tomorrow = Memory Tapes and Race Horses for a tidy 8 pounds so all is well.

 

!Bye bye Birdies!

i don't trust Putin's taking to skating

so is anyone else having reservations about Sochi 2014? I don't mean to cast prejudgment or be entirely paranoid but how can we be so sure that Putin won't make the entire Western world feel the wrath of his discontent over the Men's Figure skating results?

Hands-down, Johnny Weir trumped the others artistically and remained in sixth so those in the apoplectic Plushenko camp landed on a moot point. That evil Lysacek exuded Darth Vaderness with every flick of his black feathered wrist but the man can jump so begrudgingly we accept his win. Honestly though, fingers-crossed Canada starts schmoozing with the Russian Mafia (Putin included) and reading up on Kremlinology so's not to be on the short end of the stick for those events requiring human measurement.

The hangover is wearing off and revealing a new-found nationalism and (hopefully) a banishment of contagious apathy.  In keeping with jingoism, here's the first installment of a ten-part series investigating Harper's Assault on Democracy.
An illustration: On a recent trans-Atlantic flight I had the pleasure of sitting beside a Victoria-based researcher who was on the advisory panel for Climate Change and talked of how Canadian scientists were being silenced through severe funding cuts and other Draconian measures by the Conservatives. Unequivocally, all evidence points towards anthropogenic climate change yet Canadian researchers were told not to divulge information in the same manner the Bush government muzzled academics.

Now national pride is back- there is the demand to get back to business and back to work, Parliament. Please. Gold-medallists Virtue and Moir got it right when they denied Harper's invitation. RSVP: Not Attending to that sad bitter bitter man's pity party- beseech thee accountability.

Further non-Olympic news: I've discovered my technologicology idol: Gale Beggy.

Gale Beggy iPhone Commercial - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Did she say mace? If there truly was an app for that then I'd trade in my good ol' Motorolster. That and tentacles would be useful for Manc.

i don't think they are the worst EVER.

Only being able to locate video coverage like this for the Vancouver Olympics has left me in the small hands of the miserable UK media coverage.



so the British press are a bunch of whiners....A thousand times yes. The Vancouver Olympics have unloaded more glitches than giant inflatable ice phalluses (phalli?)....A few hundred times sure.
Does this necessitate a full-on culture war, casting blame hastily for a tragic death and comparison of bad vs. badder vs. baddest times past? Not really.

'Vancouver Olympics worst ever,' proclaimed headlines this side of the pond. EVER. Wow, so terrorist attacks and kidnappings, anti-abortion bombers, relocation of entire populations, 5 year imprisonments of 77 and 79 year old grandmothers for peaceful protesting and international media black-outs withstanding, you may be inching closer to some semblance of a reasoned perspective.

The BBC team has more people than Britain has athletes in Vancouver. Me thinks the false-sense of superiority downtrodden defeatist journalists would do best to cover their own athletes or lack of athletes for that matter rather than stymie a justified inquiry into just why it is countries like Norway with a fraction of the population manage to do so well while the Brits might not see even one of their own on the podium. I'm recalling the late 70's advert placing the physical fitness of an octogenarian Nord over their international 40 year old comparisons.
Maybe we should all be walking with poles?

So sounds a call that come London 2012, it is 'all systems go' on the whiny media attack front- a flurry of digital denigration, a blitz of scathing pettiness for banal banter. That not withstanding, Canadians will not be thaaat reactionary. "When we make mistakes, we have to fix them," organizing head John Furlong shrugs. And as my American friend puts, "Don't get bitter, get better."

In honor of said friend's Bday: CHI TOWN get down!

Kelli Welli's (lesser) doppelganger. Rosario was second but she can neither sing nor juke.

i don't know what a billion$ looks like but now i know proportions

so Valentine's is coming up. What to plant on your target:




The Billions of Dollars and Billions of Pounds
so feeding every child in the world for ten years  = global pharmaceutical market for one year.
4 billion spent on erectile dysfunction meds...

Canadians are most giving in response to Haiti's Earthquake!
(From the wonderful Information is Beautiful)

Some music, you say?
The musical literacy level of your average Mancunian must rival the top music town's denizen mean... It's just unfortunate how the best acts- local and international- sell-out instantaneously. Truly though, what else to expect in the city that raised The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order, Stone Roses, The Verve and, yes, Oasis? Of course Take That and The Bee Gees is implied in any statement of musical genius. I did manage to get to some Miike Snow before they sold out. You know an act is good when there's nothing you'd rather be doing than standing in a gym squashed against four scruffy short dudes taking video with their iphones in front of your face.

Yeasayer, Local Natives and possibly Magnetic Fields coming up signals a need for a preemptive strike.  Free fags, booze, Smiths bootlegs, and lensless glasses in the Northern Quarter. Scatter now.