and believe me, there's a better frankenstein for you to bride
and a better president to look you in the eyes and lie.
we could never decide what to call the cat,
so we called her cat.
and it's time to go, it's time to go away.
- Say Hi To Your Mom
flickr
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
So it seems that Canada will finish these Paralympic Games with a healthy and more-than respectable 70 medals, 27 of which are gold. That's the same number of gold medals as the U.S., who ended the games with 93 medals. It's pretty fucking great that we matched the U.S.'s gold medal haul. Kirby Cote, of my humble little city left the game with 6 medals in total, 5 of them gold.
Fucking rights guys, good job (not like anyone on the team will ever read this, but meh).
Monday, September 27, 2004
So, as directed to by the Globe and Mail, I downloaded FireFox last night, so as to replace IE. I must say, I'm enjoying it. Not that it's a drastic difference, and there are a few sniggling things that I hope they fix/change soon, but a more secure browser is a welcome change. Tabbed browsing is fun too, one browser window, but multiple pages loaded into it, via the tabs. Wonderful feature. You all should get it too, from here.
My favourite bit is the extension I downloaded that allows me to block ads from pages. It's friggin genious.
Mythbusters is a great show.
Anyways, time for some more KotOR.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Well, the drama of last night/this morning is now done.
After pulling out, and plugging back in video cards and monitors for WAY longer than I should have, I managed to get the problem fixed. There's still no logical reason as to why that particular video card started hating this particular monitor, but I guess video cards have feelings too.
Yay, it's Star Wars DVD day!
Anyways, no more to type about, so let's try a haiku.
Cards in computers
Emotionally bereft
The end of us all
Monday, September 20, 2004
So I was watching Lost in Translation on my tv earlier tonight, and I got to thinking how a few of the films shots would make nice backgrounds for my computer. So over I trot to the pc, pop in the dvd and try to remember which program I can use to take screen captures of dvds. After I find the right one, I have to find out how to use it again, since I hardly ever use anything other than Windows Media Player to watch dvds on here. While I'm looking around, I adjust a few harmless properties. Or so I thought.
Thanks to Travis, I'm able to even be on here at all. APPARENTLY, something I did fucked up the settings for my main video card, or some such shit. After I finished in the program's properties menu and clicked on 'okay', my main monitor went black. "Okay," I thought "this'll just take a minute." Flash forward to 3 hours later, and I STILL haven't been able to get this fucking thing sorted out. God damn I'm pissed off.
Monitor A used to be plugged into video card A. That was my main monitor, and my main video card. Monitor B used to be plugged into video card B. This was my secondary monitor.
Now, monitor A does not work in video card A, but only in video card B, and only if video card A is unplugged from the motherboard. Monitor B works in video card A, or video card B. Oh, and the tv-out port on video card A works. So, I ask you, my loyal readers: What the fuck?!.
Yes, I have gone back into the dvd program and reversed the settings that I changed. Yes, I tried System Restore, but apparently there aren't any changes to restore. Yes I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the video cards. It's getting to the point where I'm actually considering reinstalling Windows (which, obviously enough I'd REALLY rather not do, as I've customised a lot of shit that I can't even remember how to do it).
I'm fucking tired, and really pissed off now so I'm going to go to fucking sleep.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
This is one of the BEST blog ideas I've ever seen. Some guy found a memory card from a digital camera in the back of a cab, and he's posting one picture from the card per day on this blog, along with creating an entire storyline for the pictures. Be sure to check it out:
(First click on the Explanation link at the top)
http://ifoundsomeofyourlife.blogspot.com/
CTV aired a documentary on the fence between Israel and some of Palestine titled, odly enough, The Fence. It was one of Alexandre Trudeau's efforts, him claiming the writing and producing credits. In it, he spent a fairly equal amount of time with people on either side of the fence. Prosperous Jewish Israelis safe and secure on their side, living, working, and shopping in a town near Jenin that had been the victim of several suicide bomber attacks prior to the wall going up. Destitute Arab Palestinians in Jenin, living in squallor and without any semblance of laws. In Jenin, there are no police. It's run by the rebels, who I guess maintain their own level of order. Why fight each other when you all hate the same enemy across the border I suppose.
It was a fairly enlightening tv show, and honestly I have no idea which side is right. Israel constructed the wall to protect its settlements from suicide bomber after suicide bomber, and it has found much success. However, the Israel is the manufacturer of suicide bombers. By imposing their will on the Arabs, killing families, and bulldozing arbitrarily-decided illegal settlements, they've created a class of Palestinian Arabs who now have nothing to live for, and nothing to lose. That being said, violence is hardly ever the right answer to violence. I watched as, while Alexandre was living with a family in the Palestinian city of Jenin, he awoke to the funeral of a man killed during an incursion into the city by the Israeli army.
While the documentary was indeed informative, Alexandre seems to have a bit of an overblown opinion of himself, which comes through during his sometimes over-the-top narration. While sometimes insightful, it more often comes across as corny, or contrived.
I don't presume to know the answer to the Palestinian question, but if Jewish Isaelis got a soverign state, why not Arab Palestinians? Oh right, the U. S. was basically the motivating force behind the creation of Israel, and they U.S. sides with Israel on pretty much everything. What a farce it is then, when the U.S. attempts to direct both parties with a 'roadmap to peace'.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
This week, two of my fellow bloggers Bryan and James have made reference to the current Canadian Healthcare 'mess'. Check this out, courtesy of a cbc.ca Indepth feature:
The latest figures on what countries spend on health care come from 2002, when Canada spent 9.6 per cent of GDP on health care:
France 9.7%.
Germany 10.9%.
Denmark 8.8%.
Sweden 9.2%
At the high end of the scale is the United States, which spent 14.6 per cent of GDP on health care.
Now granted, Canada has upped its funding of health care the past 2 years (at least), so the 9.6% figure is undoubtedly low. However...
"If you look internationally, and you look at what you're getting for health-care spending, beyond about $600 or $700 US per person per year, there is literally no correlation between life expectancy, infant mortality, and how much you're spending," the University of Saskatchewan's Janice McKinnon said. "So countries that spend $800 to $1,000 Cdn have pretty much the same health care indicators as we do. And we're spending four times as much."
So, obviously something's wrong. Perhaps this is one of those things:
"We're spending more on drugs than we're spending on doctors in this country," D'Cruz said. "Drugs used to be nine per cent of the total spend in 1975 and drugs have now gone up to 16 per cent. Drugs have become the second most important component of health-care spending in this country."
I know, Canada needs a government-run pharmaceutical company! They could call it Pharma Canada.
Anyways, these cbc.ca Indepth features contain an incredible amount of information. Had I a paper to write on the state of health care, I have no doubt I could do it with only one item in the list of works cited: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/index.html
...everyone who says "I believe in individuality and personal expression" looks like an idiot? Just a thought.
Here's another one:
So the U.S. Congress has gone ahead and let a bill banning automatic weapons lapse. What's this mean? It means that Joe Sixpack can now purchase and own an AK-47. Who else can? Mohammad Terrorist (or Joe Terrorist, for that matter). I'm sure this brilliant move by Congress will certainly help in the 'war against terrorism'.
And now for some pages from my 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said calendar:
Sept. 10.
Q: How many trucks do you own?
A: Seventeen.
Q: Seventy?
A: Seventeen.
Q: Seventeen?
A: No, about twelve.
-actual testimony recorded in court transcripts
Aug. 28.
"We have to raise the car-rental tax as high as we can possibly do it...We have to look at opportunities like that just to screw them."
-Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Jim Bradley, explaining his thoughs on how to welcome visitors to the 2003 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City
Aug. 27.
"And it's warm and wet in the city this morning. Let's find out how Isabelle Lange is - warm and wet as well?"
-TV newsman talking to the female weather forecaster
Well, I suppose that's all for now.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Well I'll be damned. We've gone and done it again (and when I say 'we', I mean hockey players). Gone and proved yet again that we are the best damn hockey nation on the face of the earth. Way to go boys, you played a hell of a game.
I was lucky enough that the third period coincided (more or less) with my supper break at work. I think going back from my break 15 minutes late is more than excusable, considering the reason. The fact that the Finns brought forth a really, really good game on their part makes the victory even sweeter, though not as sweet as had we vanquished the U.S. in the final game. They were one hell of a fast team, with some downright amazing puck handling skills.
Brodeur, as he always is, was stellar. Injured hand and all. In the 5 games he played of the series, he let in 5 goals. He simply is the best goaltender in the world. In his last 10 major international tournament games (2002 Olympics, and 2004 World Cup) He is 9-0-1. Wow.
How about that DDT line (Doan, Draper, and Thornton)? In the prior game, those boys (our checking line) held Jagr to 0 points. Then, against the Finns they held the speedy Saku Koivu to a whopping 0 points. They even managed themselves to get 4 points in each of the last two games.
I have a feeling this game might be the last we'll see of Mario playing hockey, especially if there's a lockout this NHL season. He had one hell of a series, and is just an amazing player to watch. He doesn't have the best skills, or the fastest skates anymore, but my god is he ever a smart player. The smartest player in the game by far. We really saw a lot of him in this last game, which really is a good thing.
I heard some conflicting reports regarding Canada's 6-0 record in the tournament. First I heard that it was the first time in the history of the Canada Cup, or the World Cup (same thing, really). Then I heard that it hadn't been done since 1991. But I think that guy was just confused with the name change.
God damn it's always so awesome watching Canada win a major hockey tournament.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
With news excerpts from cbc.ca:
"Four U.S. soldiers were lightly wounded after their Bradley fighting vehicle came under attack. It was unclear whether the Bradley was bombed or struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.
After the soldiers escaped, a crowd gathered around the burning vehicle, while a television crew videotaped the scene for the Arabic satellite channel Al-Arabiy.
A U.S. Army Apache helicopter fired a missile on the Bradley, killing 13 people. Al-Arabiya said the reporter died moments after the strike.
The U.S. miitary said the attack was carried out to destroy the vehicle so that no one could get a hold of its technology or weapons.
Among those killed in the missile strike was Mazen al-Tumeizi, a 28-year-old Palestinian reporter from the West Bank."
Now, that's tragic news for sure...but it begs one of three questions. First, just how close was this reporter standing? or, How massive was this missle that the U.S. used? or finally, Did the U.S. miss the actual target by a few feet?
Either way, the reporter is not without blame, as s/he (damn foreign names) was obviously too close to the action, and wasn't aware that it's standard U.S. procedure (which actually makes sense) to destroy any wreckage. As the article said, this was to prevent anyone from getting their hands on the weapons on the vehicle, or its technology.
Second topic is but a personal pet peeve. Shaving. Yes, I abhor it. Not for any particular reason... I mean, it takes under 10 minutes, and my electric razor is much more than decent. I'd dislike it even more if I didn't have the electric razor, and I had to do the whole shaving cream and bladed razor thing. Thank goodness for that anyways...I'll never go back. I guess it's just cuz I'm lazy. Maybe one year I'll grow a zz-top beard.
Third, but most important topic... Canada came out ahead of the Czechs last night. I've only got one word to express my feelings of that game "PHEW!".
Like most everyone else, I don't give a second thought to the events of Sept. 11, 2001 on most days. Today ordinarily wouldn't be any different, even if it is the 3rd anniversary of the event. Were it not for an outstanding documentary I'm currently watching on A&E.
No news footage, no 'reactions' from politicians. Just footage filmed by people on the street. Of the towers, but more strikingly, of people on the streets during, and after the crashes and collapses. First of the uncensored reactions of the people who filmed the planes hitting the buildings, the people jumping out of the buildings, and the buildings collapsing. Then, the police and fire response. Then, of the people lined up around the block waiting to donate blood.
It gets me thinking of what the situation would be like were someone to crash a jetliner into the CN tower, or one of the large financial towers in Toronto. I have no doubt that the people of that city would react in the exact same way as the New Yorkers (minus the people I've seen saying "Someone's gonna pay!"). When my thoughts turn to the federal government's reaction, I can't help but doubt the speed and assertiveness of it. The Canadian government hasn't endeared itself to me in terms of quick and decisive action in the past, but I suppose it's impossible to speculate on what might happen were the (prior to 2001) unthinkable act of this sort to occur.
More likely than any plane hijacking would be a bomb, or a dirty-bomb, offloaded in a shipping container. The news told me last night that the Canadian government has spent $8 billion on security et al. since 2001. Shiny new bomb detecting equipment for the country's ports, more staff, among other things. Of course, thousands upon thousands of shipping containers come into the country each day without anyone so much as coming within hundreds of feet of them.
Canada may not seem like a likely target, however we did contribute to the war in Afghanistan. What I imagine would be more likely is that Canada to be used as an entry-way into the U.S..
Anyway, something that I came across in the newspaper today. The headline: "Anti-U.S. feelings run high". The content: Essentially examples of how empathetic feelings of Canadians as a whole have cooled towards our neighbours to the south. There's one example of a woman in Halifax who, after Sept. 11th, affixed a sticker of the American flag to her car window. She mentions how she was mocked by a fellow Haligonian accosted and mocked her for displaying that flag. Contributing to the cooling of our feelings apparently are "anger, suspicion and open scorn of the U.S.", which "goes beyond the traditional rivalry and moral superiority that was common before 2001." and today includes the invasion and occupation of Iraq, along with "a host of other perceived American outrages".
The article gives more examples, such as the team of 12-year old hockey players from Massachusetts who were lucky enough to take a trip to Montreal for a peewee hockey tournament. Their bus, painted in American colours, was enough to attract anti-Iraq War demostraters, who hounded them out of the city. Now, I was against the invasion of Iraq, but that's just ridiculous. Montrealers seem especially bad for that, just think back to the chourus of 'boos' that welcomed the U.S. national anthem anytime it was played prior to a sporting event.
Another example is related by a New York Times correspondant living in Toronto, who outside his home witnessed two children on the street holding up placards reading "Honk if you hate President Bush". I'm not sure how much can be read from that, I mean kids will be kids. But it is unusual for children to have any political motivation, be it Canadian or American.
Also included in the article is a comparison of surveys done regarding the opinion of Canadians of the U.S. and how they've changed. One month after Sept. 11th, 78% of Canadians surveyed had a 'favourable' opinion of the U.S., and 14% had an 'unfavourable' opinion. The same survey done in 2003 had a response of 62% having a 'favourable' opinion, and 36% confirmed negative views of the country. Apparently Atlantic Canada is most likely to provide positive responses, while Quebec (big surprise) are the most hostile responders.
Another survey shows Canada's opinion of the U.S. election, and makes not of the fact that only 15% of Canadians want Bush re-elected.
As for Canada marking the anniversary in any way today, check this out "Jedwab [an organiser of an anniversary service at Montreal's Notre Dame cathedral in 2002] says he couldn't even entice 100 people into Notre Dame for a similar service today. Prime Minister Paul Martin isn't scheduled to attend any public anniversary events today, but will simply treat this Sunday as any other Sunday." Contrast that to the slew of events broadcast on U.S. tv channels today.
I really don't think that the lack of reponse from the Canadian citizens in general is a result of our negative feelings towards the U.S., merely that it's not our event to remember. Sure, plenty of Canadian citizens lost loved-ones in the attack, and I'm sure that they're having their own memorial services. But as a whole, as I said, it's not ours.
Now I've written more than enough, as this is the longest post ever on my blog. I'll leave you with a quote scrawled on the ground at Union Station in New York. The event is a whole crowd of people arguing about the U.S. response, which pretty much broke down to (mostly) immigrants arguing with (mostly) white Americans about how the country should bomb the attackers, or how they shouldn't. I gotta say, it pretty much reinforced my view of the 'typical' aggressive American. But fuck, enough rambling.
"The American flag propogates violence"
While, those pesky Finns have gone done and eliminated the defending World Cup of Hockey champions, the good ol' US of A.
That's too bad.
What?
Huh?
Eh?
Too bad?!
That's right, too bad. Who cares about a Canada vs. Finland final? Not me, really. Sure, I guess they'll pose a good challange to our boys (once they clear the Czechs out of the way tonight) but where's the Canada/Finland rivalry?
"Our winters are colder than yours!"
...that's the only thing I could think of. Anyways it'll be a good game I'm sure, even if it won't be two rivals.
Jennie's first painting. I couldn't even fathom doing something like this. Yay for being unartistic!
Sunday, September 05, 2004
The shoes are a bit more visible here. They have hot-pink laces.
A side-by-side. day 1 on the left, day 7 (the last day) on the right. Yes, the day 7 half is darker, but fuck it. I'm tired of taking pictures of my teeth.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
I'm a bit dissapointed by the contrast, but there are a pair of shoes hanging from that wire.
Friday, September 03, 2004
I was bored this afternoon so I went through some stuff on my computer, and found this. Did I write this? Is this yours Bryan?
Now, I'm sure that there have been days that have found you sitting alone, contemplating life. Did you ever think, during one of those sessions, how closely a cinnamon bun parallels life? I mean, there are times in your life that will be hot and sticky, and other times that will be hard and cold. Think about it. Cinnamon buns, in their infinite wisdom, beautifully illustrate each of these points. Alright, so maybe that's a lame-ass comparison. So what? Sue me. No, please don't really, I'm broke and could never afford a trial, so let's settle out of court. I bet you want to know where this is going, don't you? Well, I'd like to know too. I think I'll just talk about stuff that bugs me, or something like that. Firstly, what pisses me off pretty much more than anything, is drivers that don't use their signal lights. How hard is it to push up or down on a bloody lever before you turn?! People who drive slowly in the left lane of a multiple lane road bother me as well. Don't you people know that the RIGHT lane is for slower moving traffic?! I suppose I could go on ranting about the university, but like that's not been done enough times. I don't really have anything relevant to say about the university now that I think about it. Perhaps I should then find another medium to express my thoughts, maybe landscape painting.
The Daily Show really is a daily wonderful look at US politics, especially during this RNC time. You simply HAVE to click HERE, RIGHT HERE and click on 'Launch' to watch Zell Miller's speech. Enjoy his insane tirade against Kerry, and keep in mind that he (like Kerry) is a Democrat.... it's nice how party lines are so defined. "My family is more important than my party." So umm... why doesn't he change parties? Seems like he wants to play for both sides here.
They later showed a clip on The Daily Show where he was interviewed by some guy, got all pissed off and then made a comment that he wishes that people still challenged people to draws, intimating I suppose that he wishes he could shoot the interviewer. I can't fine that clip as of yet, but as soon as I do you better believe I'll link it.
Perhaps I'll check The Daily Show's website.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
For the past week I have been looking forward to the Sept. long weekend, with the anticipation of going to something called the Morden Corn and Apple Festival. It's held in a place called Morden (strange eh?) which is a smallish town in SW Manitoba. Right, sounds pretty lame, but there's free corn-on-the-cob and apple cider. I had planned on renting a sweet car and taking a drive down there with some people.
However, fate being as it is, the goddamn festival was LAST weekend. Fucking newspaper not having any information on it, and me assuming it was on the long weekend, which would make sense. So now I need to come up with a new day-road trip to take.
That sucks ass.
I'm really tired.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Something that I thought up while seeing an interview with Wayne Newton on MMM. I guess that's what Nicholas Brendon (Xander, from Buffy) has to look forward too. The resemblence is a bit too close.
Well, after fighting with Hello for 15 minutes (it didn't fucking want to upload my picture), it finally sucked it up and posted it. Blogger really is a piece of shit sometimes. I sat on Travis' blog page for 5+ minutes waiting for it to load the Comments section.
I think these Whitestrips have uncovered a cavity I didn't know I had before. Strange.
So Canada beat the US today in their inaugural match of the World Cup of Hockey tournament today. I must say, I really liked their replica vintage 1920s Winnipeg Falcon's jerseys.
See a picture of the original here. Stupid internet not having a good picture the new replica version (which, in all fairnesss is exactly the same as that picture linked up there).
