Manifesto Multilinko |
|
|
Interesting links and notes on updates to my main website.
![[add RSS feed]](http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fb_pwrd8831.gif) ![[add RSS feed]](http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon32x32.png)
[to search, use Blogger search in top bar] NEW BLOG
HOME ---- 
[contact me] My Blogger Profile View my photo galleries. Listen to my radio station. Currently ReadingThis is an Ottawa blog (Ontario, Canada). Cool blogs: McWetlog wood s lot La Tribu du Verbe Wil Wheaton Darren Barefoot Lectio.ca Blogger profiles in Ottawa Other good sites: Slashdot Wired News Mark Morford's Notes & Errata This page uses Extreme Tracker which is determining your referrer by running some JavaScript. 
The commenting system was Reblogger. |
Saturday, September 15, 2001
I have always admired the quality and depth of the writing in The Atlantic so I was interested to discover this article: The Counterterrorist Myth. Link from underachievers weblog. Una Casa con Vista al Mar. Beautiful film. Complete mastery of light, shadow, and colour. In many ways a very conventional story, but told with wonderful visual storytelling. There are too many movies that don't take advantage of the fact that it's a visual medium, but this was an exception. The colours were so intense, I almost wonder if they used some special process. I was anticipating a standing ovation, but actually the response was less than to Rare Birds last night, which I thought was unfortunate. Rare Birds was good entertainment, but this was a film. The Royal Princess visits Halifax. Photo gallery added. I used Ofoto because Pbase DNS is down. I think the big hosting services have the advantage that they are dedicated to constant availability. Buffy watch: 9 PM - YTV - last season (it says it's the robot Buffy one) 10 PM - Space - the actual movie other fun stuff 7 PM - YTV - Worst Witch 9 PM - Bravo - Anna Russell: The Clown Princess of Comedy Antiques Roadshow watch: 8 PM - PBS-D - Austin, Texas 9 PM - CBC Newsworld - Aberdeen I use the Canoe TV Listings for online (Hfx Daily News TVtimes for offline). I planned to take like 5 pictures on the waterfront but I ended up taking more like 100. Now I am tired. Have to get my energy going momentarily to start the download. Downloading 142 images... ...soon we'll be making another run... come aboard, we're expecting you... What a lot of free time I have eh. Can you tell I'm single and girlfriendless? Have been on my usual Saturday morning routine. Papers at Atlantic News. $4 breakfast at Julienne's. Walk on the waterfront. There's always something going on there. There is a big Princess cruise ship in. There was a huge ship going into the container port. There was a sailboat going by. A duck all alone, vigorously paddling. A float plane taking off. I've been trying for a while to figure a way to take a picture to show the size of the cruise ships we get here, and I think I finally saw the angle today. I'm going back out to take the picture in a moment. Oh yeah, and I'm always amazed by how few people are out on the waterfront, particularly at my end of the boardwalk, even this late in the morning. Of course, there were a few huge tents in their way, presumably from last night's Atlantic Film Gala (almost a regatta gala, eh). You may want to keep an eye on Slashdot's Your Rights Online. You can be sure that recent events will provide an excuse for trampling all over time-honoured (and hard-won) legal and civil rights. I could talk a bit about the ahistorical or perhaps more accurate "selective historical" view that Pat Robertson and Falwell are putting forth, that somehow God has lifted his protection from American soil, to punish [select your hated group of choice]. In particular, they are talking about how this is the greatest American disaster, how America has never been attacked directly since the War of 1812, and other such well, bullshit. One of the things I find surprising about American history is this odd eliding of the Civil War. THAT is easily the most profound disaster in US history, that helped to shape and form the American psyche, and not only that, it is not centuries distant, it almost reaches into modern time, it's only about 150 years in the past. Millions of Americans fighting millions of OTHER AMERICANS, killing and dying. So if you want to talk about a divinely protected society, maybe you want to mention that in your assessment. I only have one other Bible story that I find useful in these times, the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman. Adultery is not a minor sin, it is in the "Big Ten", along with killing. And yet... John.8 [1] Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. [2] And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. [3] And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, [4] They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. [5] Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? [6] This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. [7] So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. [8] And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. [9] And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. [10] When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? [11] She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. [12] Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. When faced with sin then, Jesus does not condemn, he does not stone an adulteress, he says simply, "Go, and sin no more." Ok let me see if I can get this out coherently without forgetting the gist of it. Great art helps us to understand humanity and our experiences of life, both tragic and joyous. My personal feeling about Shakespeare and on into Greek plays is that they are so vitally important because they remind us that the human experience is not new, not something that just happened last century, that there has been violence, madness, hatred and horror for millenia. Whatever you believe about the Bible, it is certainly great literature, written by people thinking deeply about humanity and its relationships both one man to another and between men and the world. I draw upon it because I am (vaguely) familiar with its stories, and also because some people who claim to believe every word in it is divine, nevertheless pick and chose which sentences to follow. Probably the best series I have ever seen about the Bible was Bill Moyer's Genesis. They took these old, puzzling stories, deep with ancient power and mystery, and a group sat around trying to figure out what meaning they had for us today. These old stories, founding stories of humanity, are full of a rich life, including all aspects of the human condition, that seems to have been whitewashed out of some modern discussions. In modern literature, the most interesting thinking on religious issues I have encountered was in Terry Pratchett's book Small Gods. He tries to work out a philosophy that actually makes sense, a rational philosophy for thinking people. Ok, so on the topics of violence and revenge, I believe in our culture there is a founding story, that of Cain and Abel. I will pull the quotes from the KJV Bible, but here is the story as I think of it: Cain slew Abel. God looked down and saw Abel's blood in the ground, God knew Cain had killed him, with a perfect knowledge far beyond our standard of reasonable doubt. To be glib, God is the ultimate forensic investigator. Yet God, knowing Cain's absolute guilt, still asked him about his deed. And then we come to the most incredible part. Because not only has Cain killed Abel, he has done something even more evil. He has invented murder. Before him, it had not existed. So Cain is not merely a killer, he is the inventor of murder. He has brought it into the world. Surely this deserves the highest punishment that God can mete out. Yet God, seeing and knowing all this, rather than using the "death penalty", instead lets Cain live, and marks him so that others will know of his deed. So we have here in a sense, the ultimate violent crime, the invention of murder itself, and yet God punishes it not with death but with marked exile. Let me see if I can get the relevant Bible passages now Gen.4 [8] And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. [9] And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? [10] And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. [11] And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; [12] When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. [13] And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. [14] Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. [15] And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. [16] And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. Ah yes a part I had forgotten, not only does God NOT kill Cain, but he instructs all of his people that NO ONE shall kill Cain, in fact if they do, God shall punish them sevenfold. So not only does God not punish murder with death, he sets his strongest protection upon the murderer. My radio clicks on to CBC Radio 2 every morning at 7. In bed thinking about the news. First thoughts of the day are that if you target effects rather than causes you will never solve a problem. We don't need billions of dollars spent on a War on Terrorism, we need $billions invested in Preventing the Causes of Terrorism. Friday, September 14, 2001
Ok, ok, paranoid skeptic that I am, I'm convinced, it really is Wil Wheaton's weblog. Michael Moore's thoughts on the recent events. (As seen on Blogdex.) Some diverting entertainment amidst all this week's events. I went to the first of my four days of AFF. The film was Rare Birds (not in IMdb - wow). I enjoyed it. Quite a few funny parts. My fave was "Who, the International Bird Police?" It reminded me of that Scottish movie about the dead guy who won the lottery. The only downside was I'm not sure whether William Hurt was trying to do a Newfoundland accent or not. If he was, he wasn't successful. Anyway I think eccentrically funny probably sums it up. I wonder if it will ever manage to make it to screens outside the festival circuit. It's brutal that Canadian films can't make it onto our own negaplex screens. When I saw this on SanityCheck earlier today, I really wanted to make sure it was for real. One of the important principles of reporting that a lot of television people in particular seem to simply ignore is that you should either report your direct personal experience, or if you're reporting on some other event, get independent confirmation. So I watched the archived feed of the 700 Club from yesterday myself. And I can confirm that it is just as reported. At around 48 minutes into the broadcast, Falwell starts into his rant and Pat Robertson completely agrees with him. Here is a report: Falwell blames gays, liberal groups for terrorist attacks. What an asshole. Him and Pat Robertson too. And this woman too. This article I don't have to verify, because it's the author's very own words that indict her: This Is War
link from Kill Your TV - life during wartime (in DC). I believe the above three people have a belief system which is as perverse and as distant from Christianity as the twisted beliefs of some terrorists are distant from Islam. Now I don't know much about the truth about this next topic, I have seen people on TV accuse and deny back and forth on it, so it's up to you to think about it: Osama Bin Laden: How the U.S. Helped Midwife a Terrorist. Finally, ok look, I'm no expert on religion. I have my own theories. I believe it is up to people to do good and stop evil, not to depend on divine intervention for reward or punishment. All I know is, one of the most powerful and difficult pronouncements of Jesus Christ was Love Your Enemies. I don't recall him saying anything about carpet-bombing them. From Bible, King James version: Matt.5 [7] Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. [8] Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. [9] Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. [10] Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. [12] Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. [21] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: [22] But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. [43] Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. [44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; [45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? [47] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? [48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Luke.6 [27] But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, [28] Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. [29] And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. [30] Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. [31] And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. [32] For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. [33] And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. [34] And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. [35] But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. [36] Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. [37] Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: [38] Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Wired News titled this article The Call Is Out for IT Experts but I think "New York Needs Geeks and Gear" would have been more apt. This is really cool - I love finding new ideas - the concept is to incorporate wind turbines right into buildings, thus letting them generate some of their own power. Wind-powered building design revealed. Added to my enviropage - Articles: Global. As seen on Slashdot /. We must always cherish and exercise our democratic rights. Just a final reminder that this is the last day to contribute to the Canadian Copyright Review Process. To quote directly from their website: Canadians are invited to provide their comments by September 15, 2001. I had thought about writing at some length about democratic rights here, but you're all smart people. Just remember that there is always a trade-off. We can have a highly secure society, but to do so would require unprecedented restrictions on privacy and freedom, as well as much higher police presence everywhere. My personal opinion is that in the heat of the moment, we should not surrender hard-earned rights and freedoms. If we combat terrorism by using modern technology's capability for unprecedented levels of individual surveillance and tracking, we may have given up much more than we gain in security. CBC Radio reports that many Atlantic Film Festival screenings have been cancelled because they are unable to get films and people into Halifax. I can only suggest to check the website at http://www.atlanticfilm.com/ - it currently has a popup window listing cancelled screenings. I was looking to see if Frog Hollow Books has a website (can't find one). When I was in Park Lane yesterday I noticed they have moved into their new space there, after being across the street in Spring Garden Place (or whatever it's called) for years. The whole back end of the main Park Lane floor has changed in fact. Anyway I ran across this Google cache of a Herald article from June 29: McCourt, Rankin to speak in Halifax. Here are a couple relevant paragraphs:
I had assumed Dal was bringing both of these authors; I didn't realize the role Frog Hollow played. Are there normally so many sirens dopplering up and down the streets and so many aircraft thundering overhead in Halifax? Now every time I hear either I think of the tragic events in New York (and the rest of the United States). Thursday, September 13, 2001
The Prime Minister has declared that tomorrow will be a National Day of Mourning. There is also video from CBC of Chrétien's announcement (RealVideo format). I'm not entirely clear on the timing, I have heard conflicting reports. It definitely starts at 12:00 Eastern (1 PM Atlantic). At noon Eastern or maybe 12:20 Eastern (13:20 Atlantic) there is a three minute silence. They have asked all Canadians across the country to observe this moment of silence. There will be live coverage on CBC Radio and Television. Some links from Slashdot: NASA Images of World Trade Center Fire Plume from Space WTC Terrorism Experience from someone who was in WTC tower 1 when the attack happened Although Blockbuster didn't have the phone kit I wanted (they told me where to get it), I did pick up a new releases guide. I haven't seen these yet, but they're supposed to be good: Memento (released September 4) The Tailor of Panama (released September 11) In particular Memento is supposed to be one of the best movies of the year. Sometimes this technology pisses me off. I finally calmed down enough to write about my new cellphone, hit "Post and Publish" and it was actually "Don't Post and Delete". Poof. No post. Anyway it's an Audiovox 8100 Pay and Talk kit from Telus Mobility via Advantage Wireless. I had written a lot more about it but I'm not going to write the whole damn thing again. I am SO angry. I was walking down Barrington to go pick up my pay as you go starter pack at the Delta Barrington Mall. There were two women in Muslim dress (robes and head scarves) standing at the side of the sidewalk, maybe waiting for a friend or the bus or something. As I'm walking toward them, coming in the other direction this fat white man with garbage bags slung over his shoulder sees them, and starts speaking loudly to them, stops in front of them. He's saying stuff like "I hope you're not associatiated with those criminals in New York" MY GOD How much of a fvcking stupid asshole could you possibly be. I just continued walking (I was almost upon them) and as I walked between him and the women I held up my hand in his direction and said "Don't be an idiot". I wasn't sure what to do, I didn't want to be patronizing and stop - I'm sure they can defend themselves. I was hoping they would still be there when I got back so that I could tell them that most people don't think that way and that the guy was just an idiot, but I guess they got the bus or whatever and they were gone. I had heard on the radio/television about similar stupid incidents yesterday. Sometimes I almost lose hope for humanity. I'm sure devout Muslims were killed as they went about their daily work in the Pentagon, or in the WTC, or as firefighters and police. Everyone suffers from this. No religion counsels hatred and violence. I can't believe there are still people SO fvcking stupid that they will yell at strangers on the street just because of the way they are dressed, because of their race or religion. Jesus Christ help us all. I'm thinking through the recent events. Some of it fits very much into some recent evolution in my thinking over the past few years, and some has challenged some ideas that I had. I have some relatives who moved a while ago to the United States, and I think that was really the start of a process that changed my smug Canadian anti-American attitude. They fit well into the community, everyone was very welcoming, the school was actually at a more advanced academic level than the one they had had here. I started to realize that if you are a middle-class American, your life is not much different from a middle-class Canadian, other than perhaps being more materialistic. It's really on the extremes, in poverty and in great wealth, that the greatest differences are seen. Canada has this perception of the US as a violent place, but a lot of that violence takes place in impoverished ghettos full of despair - it's as if the Americans were to base their perception of Canada on the tragedy that is our aboriginal reserves. Because of my relatives, I had the chance to visit Chicago. We stayed in downtown Chicago and again this was part of changing my perceptions. Here in Canada we tend to think of American cities as dangerous, dirty, scary places. But downtown Chicago was amazing, clean, huge, incredible architecture, massive museums like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History (which has an entrance building that is an incredible vast space)... and the people were very nice, polite - not at all resembling our stereotype of the loud, rude American. It was then that I really started to think about Halifax and Nova Scotia, and our relationship to the United States. Before Confederation, we were very proud, independant, successful. The Americans were viewed as our close partners. Particularly Halifax had a close connection with Boston, and many people would go down to Boston to work. Americans were viewed (I think, it was of course a long time ago) more as just another friendly group to trade with - sure they had some different ideas and laws, but so did we. It was really with Confederation that all our attention turned to Upper Canada, and Halifax gradually seemed to turn into just a gateway to central Canada, a stopover on the way to the "real action". Our attitudes towards the Americans turned negative, they were stereotyped, just like any other cultural, racial or religious group, as having all sorts of undesirable characteristics, attitudes and behaviors. I was thinking about this, thinking about where we sit on the continent - here we are in Halifax, considered by others or even considering ourselves as a "poor backwater", while just down the coast, there's Boston and New York, two of the richest, most successful and most important cities in the world. That was one of the reasons I took a Christmas vacation in New York last year. It seemed incredible that here was the leading city in the world, just a few hours flight away from Halifax. And in New York, just like in Chicago, I found safety, nice people, and incredible architecture and museums. That's also why I have already planned (starting months ago) to go to Boston this Christmas - the tickets and everything was all arranged weeks ago. It seems incredible that Halifax, with a deep harbor unmatched by any in the world, and close to Iceland and Europe, still hasn't yet seemed to think of itself as central, a city that could succeed just as well as Boston or even New York. I'm looking forward to my trip. I really think Halifax and Nova Scotia and the Atlantic provinces should start to look more to our southern neighbours, and think of ourself as just part of an incredibly successful eastern coastline, rather than poor cousins at the edge of Upper Canada. Anti-Americanism is just a form of racism, and is just as stupid. Also, on that topic, I plead with everyone, for the love of God, no religion counsels violence and hatred. Turn to our Muslim friends with compassion and loving kindness, not with intolerance. The other effects were in my thoughts about cellphones and airplanes. I could never see any point to cellphones, but they seem to have been incredibly useful during this crisis, so I think I will get one. Also, I have always been very anti-car, and I always felt very safe in airplanes, I would think about the thousands of car deaths every year and the (until now) very few airplane crashes, the statistics said that you were 30x more likely to get hurt in your car on the way to the airport than in the plane itself. I would think about the extreme and seemly excessive security and safety precautions they take for planes, so much greater than the considerations for cars. The training and checks needed for a plane to get off the ground. I even resented the intrusive security checks, I thought they were foolish. A few (until now) airplanes had been hijacked unsuccessfully like 50 years ago, and yet every day millions of people had to go through security scanners. Who would ever hijack a plane between Halifax and Ottawa, I thought. If you wanted to hijack something, why not a bus, train or boat, where there are just as many people and NO security. I didn't have the evil twist of imagination to realize that a plane can be a flying bomb, thank God. Premier Hamm was talking on tv the other day as he was donating blood, his thoughts were just as mine were, remembering the help that Boston sent immediately to Halifax after the Halifax Explosion (an act of kindness which Nova Scotia remembers every year by sending Boston a huge Christmas tree). The east coast of the United States are our close neighbours, close in geography and even, although we sometimes haven't liked to admit it, in culture as well. I hope this event will bring many people to stop their knee-jerk anti-Americanism, and to start looking at the eastern United States with new eyes. So for cell phones, I think I'm going to try Telus Mobility Pay and Talk. The website says I can get a phone kit from my local Blockbuster. If anyone knows any pros/cons to this service, please let me know. I know nothing about phones, cellular or otherwise. As I've said, I use the phone like 5 minutes a month normally. Wednesday, September 12, 2001
In one of those astonishing pieces of convergence that you could never get away with in fiction, Sister Wendy's American series episode tonight is from the New York Metropolitan Museum of art, and the two first pieces she chooses are a shattered Egyptian head of a queen, which she sees themes of violence and perfection in, and even more strikingly, Islamic art is her second topic, she deeply admires the beautiful forms of a prayer alcove from Iran and a page from the Koran.
It's +28.8° in my apartment, augh. It doesn't help that my primary computer interface is a 17" CRT which is on all day and probably pours out a gigajoule of heat every hour. To my delight, Alison Howard of CBC Radio Two's Take Five has informed me
I requested "Oor Hamlet" also known as The Three Minute Hamlet Oh bugger, I just looked in more detail at the radio schedule page, and it looks like instead of Oor Hamlet, by Adam McNaughton I'm getting Our Hamlet, by Alastair MacDonald from LIDC/LIDL 6020 which I'm guessing is a completely different piece of music. UPDATE (2001-09-13): The extremely helpful Alison Howard informs me that the information on the CBC website is incorrect, and the title of the piece being played is going to be "Oor Hamlet", so it is almost certainly the right song
Does anyone know anything about cell phone plans in Halifax? The only one I saw was the MTT Mobility iMove student plan for $25. Can you get a pay-as-you-go plan? (I normally use my telephone like once a month.) There was a persistent mouse in my parents cottage - my mom tried releasing it in the field but it (or one of its friends) came back - 1001 uses for duct tape: she finally killed it by hitting it with The Jumbo Duct Tape Book Atlantic provinces shelter thousands:
I had heard 9000 for Halifax, 30k is an incredible number. I was wondering all day yesterday about the air traffic control perspective of the planes that crashed, and why they weren't able to detect and stop them. This Washington Post report is the first information I've seen. It ends with
Link from Kill Your TV - life during wartime (in DC). Argh. Posts not getting posted. Posts vanishing. Anyway brief complaint - presumably load on water system this morning caused "cold water brown" to reach my apartment level - found myself standing in a muddy puddle in the shower instead of a clear pool - plus now that my clothes came out of the wash filthy I know for sure that washing in that water makes me much dirtier than I started out - kind of ironic I guess, my clothes and my body each day at most get slightly sweaty, not much dirty at all, but my desire to have them completely clean actually has made my clothes and body MUCH dirtier. Very annoying. I know there are people around the world who struggle and die each day from lack of access to clean water, my saga is miniscule by comparison, but still annoying nevertheless. On CBC television, the head of the Canadian Blood Services recommended that if you want to donate blood, call their central number at 1-888-2-DONATE to schedule an appointment in the next few days at your local blood centre. Use Canada Helps if you want to make an online donation to the Canadian Red Cross. Minor memo to RedCross.ca - get rid of the Java, it slows everything down. Blogger has a search page that lists people who blogged about the WTC attack. It starts to approach one of the things I was hoping for the Internet (tragic though the circumstances are) which is that we get to hear the real voices of people, unfiltered by media. Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Again, irrelevant compared to what's going on today, but I decided to wash my clothes while watching the TV coverage, and apparently the laundry room is in "cold water brown" mode, so my clothes, which had been only mildly sweaty, are now COMPLETELY filthy. :( :( It's odd because the cold water is clear up here a few floors above, in my apartment. I'm not sure what to do, I have wet filthy clothes now, I don't know if I should dry them or risk washing them again. I updated my Digital Photography page with additional information on possibilities for online photo galleries - specifically, on using dedicated photo sharing services and using raw web space with your own gallery creation application. I know this is irrelevant considering the events today, but anyway, here's the scoop on GG:
OH MY GOD. I just turned on the TV to check the market before going out and there has been a HUGE presumably terrorist attack on the United States. They apparently hijacked planes. They crashed at least two planed into the World Trade Centre. One of the two WTC towers has collapsed. They have also attacked the Pentagon, probably with another plane. It's unbelievable. This is easily the hugest terrorist attack on the United States in history. Monday, September 10, 2001
Man I'm never going to get anything done Monday nights. New Buffy at 8. Old Buffy at 9. Old Spiderman on Teletoon at 10. Why is the sky always purple in old Spiderman? What were the colour people on anyway? I like Gilmore Girls, mostly because they say clever things much faster than you would ever actually be able to think them up in real life. But in TV Guide for GG time/day it says only "Global: To Be Announced" :( But I guess it's not supposed to return until October 9, so there's still time left to figure it out. I think I saw something about Saturday? I remember when I was a kid, new episodes of TV shows started in September, and they had a new episode every week until the summer. Now the TV shows are all starting in October/November, they do a few episodes, go into repeats, do a few more, repeat some more... argh. I wish I had the money to get an ATI AIW so I could just set it up to automatically record shows I like and not have to manually figure all the new schedule out. Buffy mania starts on Space tonight. Episode 1 Season 1 @ 9 PM. Subsequent episodes every weeknight at 9. Also regular weekly Buffy on ASN @ 8 PM tonight (currently in repeats - first show of LAST season). Ok, you'll have to cut me some slack here. I'm a part-time student. I'm only on campus like twice a week usually. So they changed the locations of my class AGAIN, except now I can't even decipher the cryptic location notations Killam MACME Management 102 Where the heck are these places? I'm wearing my rapidi-t from MEC yet again, as it is the only thing remotely cool in this overwarm weather. Ok, hello, I was ready for fall. Bring on the fall weather. I ordered another rapidi-t from MEC online. I had a moderately productive morning except for attempting to get AGNS tickets at Sobey's. I stood there for like 20 minutes patiently waiting and no one paid any attention to me so I finally left. The guy at the Customer Service counter where I was was serving some guy who was apparently paying the power bills for like 100 buildings in the South End or something. The register tape was literally two metres long. Jesus, if you have enough money for 100 power bills, ya couldn't find a better way of paying them than standing at Sobey's for an hour? Hello, accountant? telephone banking? automatic debit? computer banking? Fvck. So anyway I'm getting my ticks at the Metro Centre or the actual AGNS. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia proudly presents Impressionist Masterworks from the National Gallery of Canada: Cézanne, Sisley, Pissarro, Degas, Gauguin, Monet, Boudin, Renoir and van Gogh. 12 October 2001, to 06 January 2002. Tickets: Before September 15 (same deadline as Canadian Copyright Reform comments) Members and Students $5 After September 15 Members and Students $7 Tickets are on sale at the Halifax Metro Centre Box office in Halifax. Participating Sobeys outlets in HRM will also be selling adult and student tickets. AGNS members may purchase their discounted tickets at the Metro Centre by showing their membership card. I just discovered Canadian artist Bruce McCall through an article in Saturday Night. It has a lot of quite large reproductions of his images. The one I liked best was Indoor Golf. Update (2001-09-17): Bruce McCall at James Goodman Gallery. The gallery is back up and I found the correct link to the Bruce McCall exhibit. Sunday, September 09, 2001
I'm listening to Shape of the Land now. "Naomi made a solitary exploration to the North Pole. In 1984, on descent from Mount McKinley, and alone once again, he disappeared into the icy mist of a winter storm." I'm not making this up: The women's marathon winner at the Sydney Olympics has revealed the secretof her success --- she drank the stomach juices of giant, killer hornets that fly 100km a day at up to 25 km/hour. from http://hornet-super-juice.com/ - moving to http://www.vaam-power.com/. As seen in Dave Barry's column, the Daily News titled it Hornet puke key to losing weight. Went to Atlantic News. (Got Linux Journal - cover story is on security.) On the way back I saw a huge spider's web across from the church, the web is like 2 metres square, from a telephone pole to one of those big supporting guywires. I don't know how the spider did it. It was sitting right in the middle of the web waiting, anyway. HOME - |
