may 5: when it's children's day in japan and cinco de mayo in mexico, which make for colourful festivities.

however, with a complete lack of news coverage, yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of the kent state university shooting, when four were killed and nine were injured by national guardsmen during an anti-war protest. there have been many analyses made over the years over this sad act – protestors were fired upon heavily by soldiers that managed to avoid any prosecution.

• opinion from 1995
• deep sociological investigation on where america fell
• the university paper's 1990 reflection
• the 9 survivors remember in 2000
• and kent state's legacy.

of course, very little seems to remembered today, when the crush against a protest happens, even yesterday in kent state. eerie non-lethal yet equally vile strong arm tactics displayed in oakland last month, which the neocon chickenhawks love to dismiss all forms of protest against their ideology, often joking about killing a few protestors themselves, forgetting the horror that took place when the american army killed their own.

the real home of the free doesn't have a file on you, and the irony that the paragon of freedom dismisses canadian liberties as being too much, you know things aren't hunky-dory after all.

now that's one big pile o'mess....

it's sad to think that in the midst of handing out millions, almost billions of dollars to rebuild iraq (haphazardly, might i add), schools in oregon are running low on funding, meaning they're resorting to cancelling the last few weeks of the school year or selling blood plasma for possible revenue.

the public school system in both canada and north america are in their own troubles, which would require its own post (although talk of the increase in homeschooling is worth noting), but much like my previous post, federal tax cuts mean difficulty at the lower levels.

meanwhile, thinking about defence contracts, the boston globe referenced this yesterday, which makes me yearn for a time when leadership and wisdom could be found together:

"We must make sure, in all that we do, that there be no breakdown or cancellation of any of the great social gains which we have made in these past years. We have carried on an offensive on a broad front against social and economic inequalities and abuses which had made our society weak. That offensive should not now be broken down by the pincers movement of those who would use the present needs of physical military defense to destroy it.

...

"Our present emergency and a common sense of decency make it imperative that no new group of war millionaires shall come into being in this nation as a result of the struggles abroad. The American people will not relish the idea of any American citizen growing rich and fat in an emergency of blood and slaughter and human suffering."

president franklin d. roosevelt, in a radio may 1940 address, during the defense buildup prior to u.s. entry into world war ii.

of course, irony arises in what plans the white house has for iraq, promising things currently being repealed in america. i'm going to stop reading the news for a few hours now, so i can regain some semblance of hope.

this is frustrating: remember when the u.s. senate voted against exploring for oil in the arctic national wildlife refuge last month?

well, the u.s. congress has decided otherwise: drilling in the ANWR is okay, setting up a showdown in the two branches of the american government.

what gets my goat is the lack of effort in better conservation:

Opponents of the Alaska oil plan have argued that forcing US auto makers to make smaller cars would be a better way of making the US less dependent on foreign oil.

But the so-called auto fuel economy measure proposal, which requires a 5% reduction in fuel used by vehicles such as pickup trucks and suburban utility vehicles by 2010, was not endorsed by the House.

One of the sponsors of the anti-drilling amendment, US Representative Ed Markey said: "We have no right to jeopardise a pristine wilderness that should be preserved for the next generation."

the government isn't really trying to look long term at all; the quick and easy work of creating jobs via more exploration doesn't solve our dependency issues at all. why can't we make our existing engines more efficient?

i'm happy i don't deal with gasoline-powered vehicles as of late. the bike, the subway, the train and my feet. that's it.

meanwhile, i should really repair the blog. the time functions are goofy and i broke the archive links on the individual pages. man, i do not have the rock right now and otherwise i feel nauseous. i need sleep like i need a haircut and a tax accountant.

various loose points about the attack on iraq, which could properly make one thorough argument, but flies around like loose electrons around a single nucleus.

• the geneva convention is being thrown a lot around as of late, dealing with prisoners of war on both sides, whereby showing one side's prisoners is bad but the other side's can be shown because they surrendered. which is heaping major hypocrisy points in guantanamo bay, where the enemy combatants are treated inhumanely (granted, much better than in most countries, but violations keep getting called). there's a lot of rulebending going on. and it's not the canadian way.
• in no big surprise, american companies look to profit on any rebuilding in iraq, which would be the only growth in the domestic economy since the rest of the us'ian economy is approach record lows. one minor grace is that vice president dick cheney's former company (where he's still on the payroll wink wink) haliburton is being investigated to terror ties in iran.
• the new yorker has a strong article on humility before imperialism, where the possibility of severe regional damage is being played out, some believe according to bin laden's masterplan. george washington placed heavy weight on guarding against the impostures of pretended patriotism, which is why you can't turn a blind eye on those who wave the flag, such as....
• the republicans have been arguing that president bush can't be criticized during wartime because he's the president. naturally, this didn't stop them from harping away when clinton authorized NATO to bomb serbia in 1998, further demonstrating the evidence that the republican party is like the angry coach that argues every possible call the referee makes in a game.

as always, tom tomorrow always follows up a news item, such as the iraqi civilian reaction against the u.s. for not going directly into baghdad with a brilliant observation:

"we took a lot of lessons from 9/11, but it occurs to me that there's one we might have overlooked--when you attack a nation, people tend to rally around their leader, even if they hate him."

ouch.

amidst everything else, a glimmer of hope: the u.s. senate has blocked drilling for oil in alaska.

this means that the arctic national wildlife preserve will maintain its untouched landscape as the trail that caribou use to migrate during the seasons. all support helped.

news like that puts a smile on my face, even though you know the world's hunger for oil never ceases. if only we could keep more of the planet untouched.

i can't tell you what's going to happen next and where in this entire change of regime war lined up, but here's some frontline blogs that are worth a read before, during and after:

kevin sites is a journalist who's reporting from northern iraq.
and raed lives in a very empty baghdad.

meanwhile, tonight is the blog meetup day again, at the trusty old remote lounge. not sure about turnout, or burnout, but it'll be something to do. along with providing the usual amount of goofy photos online.

now are the watching hours.

so, the american house of representatives, in its infinite wisdom and maturity, renamed french fries to freedom fries in all the cafeterias. feedback, thus far, has been rather pointed, since even though the pro-war are frustrated about france's insistence on allowing the proper inspection of iraq's weapon status, this action further alienates the u.s. from its old allies in the name of belligerence.

the french in new york struggle on with all the apparent vitriol aimed at them and their cuisine, which appears to be the most obvious target. elsewhere, reaction is much stronger: restauranteers are dumping merlot and discarding brie as though france were the actual enemy, ignoring equal criticism towards russia, china and germany (the threats of cutting off money for projects is damn petty).

one thing i'd like to see is the end of the france surrenders meme. sure, this google search for french military victories which points to a fake google correction. france has had a strong tradition of bravery in war, but many people now get a quick laugh from suggesting how readily france gives up no matter what the threat is. it's worth remembering that the u.s. didn't join world war II until after france was taken over and britain was slowly being pummelled into rubble. maybe the u.s. is more arrogant than how france is perceived.

oh where is my frenchfreedom-canadian radio now?

jen bit the bullet and she announced her new url, hosted here on the sauna network. which is a good name for whatever i'm helping out with. production skillz magic (although DNS isn't updated yet, so you can view the repeater here).

yeah.

she was complaining before on the blogspot version about being frustrated about losing posts (er, she wrote a series of more detailed problems), so i stepped in, offering free space and hosting. andrew, marko and i aren't making any money off this, but i've always been an advocate of community and voices.

of course, the way i accidentally killed the web server this evening just goes to show you that you get what you pay for. heh, i so don't rock.

meanwhile, in other news, it turns out bush senior's not happy with how junior's destroying the global community. i know senior has been pretty hands off on how dubya's handling things, but time has come for the elder to pass along his foreign experience. hard to believe how different these two bushes are. senior being the timid concensus builder, junior being the incurious belligerent. [update (22.44): thanks to mefi, here's senior's speech, along with the other link i lost today: more americans relying on international news sources for more (ahem) unbiased articles).]

but imagine if they were a band; they'd be junior senior! and they'd move your feet!

no.

when you feel the beat, you go on the make,

just drop on the floor and make your body break!

oh. that's not what you meant by being ready? so are you thinking more like a funny ready? or economically ready?

or how tired we all are already? especially when we see that iraq is appeasing to the superinspector dr. hans blix?

then again, the north koreans are really starting to stir the pot: jet fighters tailing u.s. planes, missiles fired into the sea of japan and now threats to torch new york, chicago and d.c.

so, naturally, this is a perfect time to withdraw u.s. troops from south korea and keep providing north korea with the knowledge on how to handle nuclear technology.

i'm struggling to remember why i'm an optimist again.

let the magic trolley ring. mister rogers passed on earlier today into a place of his own making: heaven, where everyone is equally important and respectful of each other. he left many memories and helped many souls understand our world, helping out during many a dark time. he approached the world with innocence and always shared his world, including covering difficulties such as war and death.

as thoughtful as we was in person, his web site includes ways of explaining his death to children. i have to admit that i'm teary-eyed over his passing, much like i was when mr. dressup and the friendly giant. i wasn't much of a latchkey child, but those three shows were always respectful to kids, never treating them as consumers but people who have questions and deserve much love and respect. i think they helped me learn english and then pass along that knowledge to my parents, who were teaching me finnish at the time.

if there were only more uncyncial and gentle people left. if i could, i would return into the blind trust of childhood, but i remember how scary the world was at the time. i thank fred for his time here on earth and hope we carry on his ideals for whoever follows.

rest in peace, friendly neighbour...

senator robert byrd recently gave a speech mourning the loss of the american ideal in the war against terror that pounced on the lack of debate and planning that's happening in the name of patriotism.

and if bush wanted to sell the war on iraq to his allies, you'd think he'd do a bit more grunt work? not to generalize, but his 9 to 5, monday to friday ethic doesn't give the impression of doing everything he can. undoubtedly, he's working on something when in the western white house in texas, but it doesn't seem the midnight oil is burning at the top.

i might be wrong.
i can accept that.
but i don't like the stakes, so any gallivanting should be kept well hidden if it's happening.

finished reading william gibson's pattern recognition last night, and i was enveloped into its jetset world. find it and read it.

meanwhile, you'll notice that graig broke my 13 consecutive posting streak on our humble review site by looking at the first albums of his two current faves: the hidden cameras and the organ. i may finally get to see the hidden cameras when they open for the trachtenburg family slideshow players at the mercury lounge next week. hopefully the work i was planning for that day goes according to plan so i can see these riotous bands.

rain's let up for now. time for laundry and groceries and maybe other fun. like ....ah, i'll figure something out.

[listening - killing joke: the wait.]

today felt strange, as i realized that the orange level was really starting to everyone anxious. it turns out the subway delays under the east river weren't due to switch problems, but as part of the screening to ensure we were safe. everyone's stocking up on duct tape and plastic sheeting to go along with their existing emergency food kits, hopefully leaving space for actual oxygen to seep through. every siren raises the worry, every building looks pretty flimsy, hope is tethered less to reality. then it turns out the entire scare could be a false alarm.

terrorism does not scare me.
however, the government ain't helping.

are we ready for a depression? according to the 70 year cycle, we're already sliding into a major one like the 1930s, and with the u.s. deficit shot and debt mounted, no interest rate cuts or divident exemptions are going to help.

meanwhile, since france and germany aren't playing with the u.s., the u.s. is looking to place boycotts on their goods?! if that's the case, i'm going total french wine and german beer. oh, and we seemed to have completely forgot about that guy (hey; where'd pakistan go?). and no one's listening to india. or iraq's children. orthe senate.. or....

*sigh*

and i think i found my first white hair, although with my blonde hair, with its multireflecting tendencies, i can't really tell. i mean, it's much lighter than the hair around it, but too much so. and it's technically facial hair, so i'm not sure if it's worth worrying about. then again, when i first saw it, i laughed gleefully, expecting to turn into wayne coyne of the flaming lips.

still, i'm not taking everything that well at once right now. war is not inevitable. don't sell war to me. bust some real bad guys for once.

i just want to keep reading ryan's blog. or write like it. simplicity in a noncynical entity. where soup, spoons and steak dictate the universe.

[listening - the jon spencer blues explosion: chowder.]

i'm not sure how fiscal responsibility was translated, but if i remember my political spectrum charts, a more right-wing government tends to promote less government spending.

gotcha. okay, explain this:

ouch. every republican president has increased the deficit and only one democrat (sorry jimmy) didn't decrease it. clinton brought the us'ians out in 8 years and bush junior brought the us'ians back down in 2. guess that tax cut didn't really help. can i say recession yet?

actually, with the full iraqi war rhetoric on now, hiding picasso paintings and all, it's freakish scary how appropriate tom tomorrow's 1990 cartoons fit our current predicament. that, along with ted rall's savage takes on high spending, war at all costs behaviour, and it's good to see that you're not alone in viewing the world as one bad skipping record.

american state of the union due soon.
you know the the ramifications,
you know the drill when you watch,
but don't expect him to say what he really means.

meanwhile, i have to figure a way at less cheap jokes at dubya's expense.
the man is shrewd, lewd and rude.
watch out.

[listening: fittingly, martin luther king junior's i have a dream.]

no one can orate like the preacher man anymore, but his dream will never die.

even though the banks were closed, i worked today, in a building that took the day off. there was no heating throughout the building, leaving it up to our floor's overworked radiators to struggle to provide the appropriate warmth and failing, allowing us to leave early.

you know, when you see cheap flights like this, it makes you wonder why more time isn't spent in the sky. then again, less fuss with the a m t r a k.

[listening: panjabi mc: mundian to bach ke (bhangra meets knight rider. find it).]

it's also time to make one huge change: i uninstalled realplayer or realone or real_____ for the last time.

this has been brewing for a while, thanks in part to their disappearing usability, maddening pop-ups and the way their clumsy interface prevents easy access to what you want to do as it slowly takes over your desktop. this has been brewing ever since their g2 version, when they completely changed their bookmarking system and indicated how backwards incompatible they were with previous versions.

the clincher happened a few days ago, when i realized that their audio and video libraries were horribly out of sync, meaning that files i thought were corrupt were playable through either windows media player or quicktime. today, i scanned through my favourites, found out which ones were still active and had alternatve streaming feeds and yanked it clean out.

it's a sad shame, since the first years on the net, realaudio was the first and only way to hear okay-sounding audio online, especially when dealing with a 14.4k modem and a memory-hogging browser. and it was enthusiastic to search for different radio stations online to hear what they played or what news they reported, putting an aural equivalent to the ubiquity of the net's written word.

that said, some webcasters stopped transmitting, mostly because of the uncertainty of royalty payments. others switched to better emergent technologies, particularly shoutcast through mp3 players. others became fedup with real's production end, which was always expensive, flaky and resource intensive.

me, i plan on hopefully streaming my own set of music out there for all to hear. i want to ensure i have enough time and bandwidth to pump out my mélange of music, prose and insanity, but that will be for the future, when i have cash to spare. or when a simple way exists. radio free gak: to fill the time you'd probably waste anyways.

but for now, i have to look at converting or replacing my .RMs into another format and bid adieu (temporarily, i hope) to triple j, rtr fm and kcrw's rich archives, bid adieu permanently to yle english and curse microsoft and apple for their freakishly ugly apps. and toast a glass to what was "real", but is no longer to me.

for those of you who try to do your blogs in a extreme way, let rickey point out that you never really tried doing 100 posts in a single day like dennis did today/yesterday/i'm sleepy. or, if you did, you probably didn't come across as wickedly hilarious.

one result of my ill state is that really really really bad songs stay trapped in my head, then they fuse to other really really really bad songs making bastardized songs from hell.

take avril lavigne's complicated, except maybe the 5 second excerpt of the horribly crappy cover version by kids bop, and the fuse it with the chorus to fleetwood mac's go your own way and you have pure evil oozing through your brain.

cute as avril is (although she ain't punk, sorry; that's actual pop acumen in her songwriting, so i'm not giving her the dis), it's no accident that there's a virus named after her. and now, i'm scarred with a memory of this inherent vortex of crappiness, which hopefully doesn't mess up with any memories i want to preserve. scientists might otherwise unleash holy hell on the future.

AU VERSO »

i'm not sure what to make of this week. there is no simpler way than showing our continued to cruelty than by catching news involving how dogs get killed.

in jordan, a messenger dog was killed for carrying a marriage proposal. apparently, the girl's brother didn't like this long distance suitor and leashed out his retribution on the cornered dog. the good news is the family acquiesced and a wedding is under way, but c'mon. can't frustration be expressed in another way?

of course, nothing's more frustrating that the news about a police officer shooting a family dog against the family's pleas. the story is highly twisted, but after being pulled over for suspected theft, a family with the father's wallet left on the hood of the car was pulled over and in the midst of the roadside interrogation, one of the dogs jumped out of the car, happily trying to see what was going on. the family had pleaded that the police close the doors so the dogs wouldn't run away, but it was ignored and as the dog ran, the officer shot it point blank in the head. the furor runs deep.

thankfully, good news abounds. daisy, the dog who was set on fire, is now in a foster home, mostly healed from her terrorful experience. the man who threw the gasoline on her and lit her is in the midst of his trial, but you know any punishment can't erase the fact that people can lash out with such venomous hatred.

grrr...

"Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you-alas, it is true of almost every one of us!" -- fyodor dostoevsky, the brothers karamazov.

finnish tradition dictactes that i celebrate christmas on christmas eve, so once it's noon december 24, this is the time of yore to prepare the meal, wash the year off in the sauna, go to church and expect joulupukki to knock on the front door to hand out presents.

so, with that,

merry christmas ja hauskaa joulua!

i'll sleep in christmas day.
and i'll post on boxing day.

so the eggnog carton will be empty until then.
(or until i come up with something to blog about.)

the insanity of american news is made more obvious now that i have cable and newsworld international broadcasts the occasional cbc news programme, including the national. wednesday night included the annual year-end interview with the prime minister. the news on iraq has less warmongering and more analytical questioning (which comes as a relief when compared to the we're already at war attitude the american media's projecting, including the hbo's intense but misfocused live from baghdad), much in the same way that prime minister chretien squirmed through some difficult questions, which is something you probably won't see the media-relunctant dubya.

huzzah: highspeed internet at home. so, obviously, my karmic balance has to be re-addressed because now, my cd burner won't burn. it can read, but it can't recognize any blank cd's. updated drivers, scsi checks, headcleaners ...nothing. bad block in block 2 or something.

grrrrr.

i should probably dig out jayme's computer with hopefully working burner, but time might throw me, so all ye expecting a new mix should anticipate for january instead.

meanwhile, outside of being distracted by the digicable (hbo 3 showed the sopranos finale last night and tonight, it's adult swim), i should try to make a trek somewhere today as it's sunny and warm and the transit still goes.

meanwhile, is dubya the new nixon? i doubt it, since i figure nixon would be a whole lot scarier with today's surveillance devices. still, there are technical difficulties abound with the current administration, although i can't really call it han solo shoots first syndrome anymore since now, at least according to the special edition, greedo shoots first now.

whatever, it's not good.
it's also not good that there's no devoted open debate online on who shot first: han or greedo? i'll work on that.

one thing about the onion is their interviews, where you can get some odd quotes you wouldn't read otherwise:

I think it would have been real uncomfortable had she come on a day when I was masturbating to her image on the book cover.

--nicolas cage talking about the filming of adaptation with the onion.

or this:

And he gets really quiet, and then he says, "Margaret Thatcher has eaten my sperm." I was just stunned. It must have been the look on my face, but he got this little smile, and he goes, "At least five times."

--chuck palahniuk about fan response to fight club.

i guess that ruins the myth of the male orgasm...

interviews and the usual satirical news stories aside, for me, the best thing about the onion are the local entertainment listings, which indicate things past the upcoming week, which beats the okay new york press and the impenetrable village voice (although their movie theatre lookup online works brilliantly).

canada's #1 news item as of late has been about one of prime minister chretien's aides calling george w. bush a moron, which is making almost zero news down here (here's abc's article, but the general concensus stateside is rather muted. of course, making no news is the fact that this same aide has called the prime minister a moron too, which could argued either way (myself: arrogant and occasionally visionless, but definitely the lesser of all evils).

for some of us, though, it doesn't really come across as news, which may be the non-issue. political leaders have to show a precarious balance between not being seen as too intellectual (thus coming across as out-of-touch or pretentious) and not being seen as too underqualified. then again, stupidity experts agree that president bush may be a moron, which could account for quite a bit.

however, moronic is an appropriate word for both the cia's freedom fighters' manual used to promote insurrection in 1980s nicaragua by being lazy. outright stupid is the verbiage reserved for the fbi's black panther colouring book used to discredit the african american militant group of the 1960s. [update: these are two examples of what's called black propaganda, which uses bogus material in order to stir the masses into action.]

then again, maybe i'm not so smart either.
but i do smell pancakes.

do you number your posts?
[don't.]

so, the fischerspooner was a noergoer for me, and tonight, along with dj shadow performing live at the roseland ballroom and the monthly nyc meetup, i might have to miss all that fun as i'm looking at apartments since even though the hotel is nice, paying for it in 11 days isn't.

meanwhile, look at this adoring message i received last night:

"You are an idiot. Al Gore could be President, and he would have baked cookies for the Taliban and Saddam.

Stop complaining, get a life, and support your country(this is your country isn't it?)Take the DICK out of your ass, and walk upright like a man.(you are a man aren't you?)If you a woman then just shut the hell up."

god, when a compelling argument is put that way, how could i hold my adamantly liberal european-canadian viewpoint on individual rights and societal responsilibity?? if a three party system throws away your votes, why not just have a one party system instead?

oh wait: that's not democracy.

remember: you may have to play in your own sandbox, where you can kick your own sandstorm. the internet is big enough for everyone's damn opinions.

shut the fuck up donny.
and pacify yourself elsewhere.

meanwhile, let's bring on a washington post interview with al gore about his life after the 2000 election debacle 'cuz i can can can. there within, you can glean the popular vote getter's aptitude.

in the commonwealth, it's remembrance day.
in the united states of america, it's veterans day.

the poppy was found growing on the graves of those who fought and died in world war i in france; something about the recently turned over soil along with a few other factors. little pins resembling the poppy are worn in canada and other nations as a symbol to ensure we don't forget about those who fought in the wars before now and those who currently fight, in the hopes that no war is fought in the future.

in flanders field.

the next few days, i might be more scattershot than usual as my brother's in for the weekend, so stare at amazement at some aerial kite photography and dream of floating on high.

or else you can watch these singing swedish horses and wonder if you remember what test patterns sound like.

well, he's supposed to be here anyways.
when he finally finds his way here.
where here is, thanks to the work of the dislocatinator!

yeah.
have a good weekend, kids.

the aftermath of the republican victory in the 2002 midterm election brings to mind the haunting possibility that bush's cynicism further destroys the perception of the united states of america as the land of optimism, which articulates my fears with the bungling white house administration.

(don't like the registration? copy the link and try the new york times bypasser page or try this direct link which might/might not work)

meanwhile, this is my call, my plea, my request to you, the faithful readers.

i took a photo of one of the whiteboards here in the office and the lighting effects looked amazing. so i want to scribble up one of my favourite quotes, but i can't recall the author.

so, i need to know who wrote:

i float like a fœtus in suspended disbelief.

it was in a freeform verse from my grade 11 english class about flying in a passenger plane. any assistance you may offer would be greatly appreciated. i've tried searching with all the variant spellings (i float like a fetus in suspended disbelief or i float like a foetus in suspended disbelief) but i've been stumped for years. author, full poem, information, whatever. if you know anything that can help, comment away.

okay you american electorate. time to cast your votes and every one counts. georgia's gone all computery and florida, well, florida's running into problems with their voting machines (again). here in new york, i've walked by two voting areas, found the electioneering just outside the posted signs and the people stoked for action. it's strangely exciting since you know that the senate is a swing state, so get out there. this finnish-canadian freak is telling you to change your world.

meanwhile, i stopped by jayme's last night to help haul her old computer box and a few other articles as she prepares for a 3 month haunt back in texas. i finally hooked my computer up, meaning that my humble hotel room is turning into a lab, although i should swipe some network cables at work to fully interconnect everything. it's scary to look at computer files that you haven't seen in two months and realize that there wasn't that much to miss. even my mp3 collection looks kinda sad, although it's possible that everything's scattered in different directories. however, there's gold in there somewhere, and i have to find my fonts and old graphics pile.

and i'm with ewan macgregor: irvine welsh's porno isn't that bad of a sequel to that darkly comic trainspotting. i'll review it on das dirty monkey once i'm through.

as you can see, in honour of all saints day (with no direct affiliation with the former girl popgroup), we've scrubbed that hallowe'en black off the stylesheets and put back up the whiteness, although since i didn't back up the stylesheet beforehand, it's now "tweaked" (lynx users: you aren't missing much). the categories have been lowercased and some other little modifications abound.

meanwhile, the days when you think the onion cannot be more prescient, metafilter brings news that albanian and russian observers are being sent over to america to monitor the 2002 senatorial elections, bringing a quick lesson of humility to the country that advocates democracy quite vocally. hopefully this will end any possible hanging chad debates and maybe give an accurate idea of what the american electorate wants this time. or at least bring some light humour to the table.

with all the insanity still going on in the world, it helps to humanize one part of what's been going on to understand the full gravity of the situation.

following up on the bali bombings, one of the metafilterers (mefi'ers) had been posting updates on the status of his friend who happened to be caught in the blast at the sari club and was airlifted to a hospital in australia.

early this morning, rick gleason died as a result of his injuries.
may he rest in peace.

i thought i'd be doing better, but no. i talked about bali and helsinki before but i'm not through.

the death toll from the kuta beach attack has increased to 150, with 178 injured. the club which one of the two car bombs attacked was a non-indigenous place, meaning that only foreigners were there. australia's organizing flights for everyone who wants to leave, which is a substantial majority. bali and indonesia could go into further economic trouble.

i'm not exactly sure why the vantaa mall and the kuta beach attacks strike me quite hard. the freaky sniper attacks throughout virginia, maryland and d.c. show the rarely seen random killing spree that thankfully aren't as often as i would expect, and the volume of death from the senegalese ferry boat sinking is of greater catastrophe, with about 10 times the fatalities. i guess it feels like an attack on me and my ideals and experiences. i've always loved living in finland and my "discovery" of bali was heavenly. i sympathize with those backpackers and those mallshoppers because they're living a lifestyle i like and when anything attacks what i like or identify with, it hits me. i've been in both places. i've never had to worry about anything when i've been in either spot. now, it just feels like two less safe places in an increasingly insecure world.

today should have been liberating for me. my bike arrived from toronto and i had brought it in to be assembled, and with the laptop here, i managed to listen to radiosonic for the first time since i've been down here and a much needed escape from the monotony of the radio i can pick up here in nyc. i walked in the incessant drizzle, leftover from the tropical depression kyle as it heads back out into the open sea, enjoying a simple pass through midtown as everyone scrambled in the rain.

but i can't escape this mourning. i try reading other sites online, but i keep an eye on the updated news, counting more bodies and wondering where the peace is. they can give the nobel peace prize to a former u.s. president whilst the current one should be awarded a frivolous war prize for a war that, although somewhat justifiable, seems to be a distraction from much bigger problems, like the actual guilty parties who attacked the world trade centre and a domestic economy that suffered because of it but now suffers from neglect.

who is driving the fucking bus?
i'm turning up the music now.

update: the bali death count is now 171.
there are going to quite a few canangs left around bali as an offering.

normally, i don't put much weight in online polls (mostly because i want to create my own), but when you see cnn's online poll results, you feel both relieved that you're not the only one who feels this way and frustrated that the leadership isn't listening:

Which poses a bigger threat at this time? Iraq: 40% al Qaeda: 60% (total: 62,252 votes at the time of writing.)

this indicates that the u.s. government (and britain, although with tony blair starting to feel the heat, i think the wrong "regime" is getting changed) is acting irresponsibly by going after the wrong target (along with ignoring various domestic issues that are increasing in stature). al gore is aware of this but up until recently, everyone else was either quiet or pro-iraq without proof.

now comes word that dubya is crying daddy, by having the removal of saddam hussein presented as an act of revenge against the attempted (and thwarted) assassination of george bush senior. suddenly, it's not an act of striking against a country with possible weapons of mass destruction, but it's now a grudgematch, like sharon and arafat in israel and palestine.

then again, dubya won't get fooled again, no matter state he's in again.

i think i'm screwed come tax time.

not based on past or present performance, but based on the fact that all the forms i have filled or i am in the midst of filling out are driving me totally loony. the basic conundrum i'm running into is that i need an american bank account, which requires a permanent current residence. however, in order to get a "place to live", i need american funds from a preferrably stable holder, say, a bank. freaking catch-22.

so, today, i receive a form from a possible amnesty (an american bank partnered with my canadian bank), but it turns out i need to fill out another form that's asking for who the beneficial owner whether he/she is a grantor trust, a complex trust, an international organization or a disregarded entity. sure i see individual listed down, but i'm baffled on what i'm actually filling out anymore. i see the number 30%, but i don't know if it that's the final deduction or just the start. that with the other 2 IRS forms (W-4? W-2? W-something? W5! W-HATUSAY!) that speak in garbled words with instructions that make the entire form more confusing, i think i should just surrender to an audit now just to save pride. confess now, pay never!

(yeah, that'll work.)

meanwhile, i guess i have to figure out my canadian taxes at some point too. man this is going to be a royal mess.

swiped off zeebah's blog; she might find out:

i am a mix taper!

You're really enthusiastic about the music that you like. You attempt to discover your new favourite band every week. You continually try to get your friends into the music you like, which annoys the fuck out of them, but you don't know it. At least you're not arrogant about it.

How indie are you? test by ridethefader

to those who know me, know me well or have played the home version, this comes as a complete non-surprise. however, a true surprise that regrettably shows the age of my generation is that high schoolers can't recognize a cassette tape anymore. iPods are cool for school, sure, but there's something about the sequencing required for the mixed tape, the odd organics involved and the (for now) ready availability of a tape deck in the car. soon it will be 8-track time, but there's something to cherish and behold about the A side versus B side feel. captain obvious on the former with the subtle creepers on the latter.

the guy who cuts my hair recently spent four days in the bahamas, and the highlight of his trip was a simple boat ride. with a little snorkeling. whilst the boat operators lowered a piece of raw meat 10 metres down. for 8 sharks to eat. i'm not sure how compelled the sharks would be to sample the wares upstairs, but that sounds plenty freaky to me.

at least the sharks were treated right. cnn aired footage of the al-qaeda testing poisonous gases on dogs with horrific results. based on the poor dogs' deaths, it looks to a nerve gas, like the gas that struck the tokyo subway system in 1995. this shows that osama bin laden likely does have chemical weaponry, further proof alongside the montreal terrorist's confession.

of course, dogs escaping their carriers and chewing on airplane wires is dangerous, but man, what responsibility do we have on this planet? how can science justify murder?

then again, after another sweet meat meal, how is eating meat not murder? of course, that's not how to say happy birthday to the markoman, so, um, when in doubt, question everything, question packing, dread the future and damn the past.

minor quibble, since i'm not going to disparage these fine public institutions which offer both brilliant ambience and fine stout.

but.

when you name your irish pub after a worthy name or event, please try to go out of your way to perhaps do something to coincide with their special day.

cases in point: the james joyce in toronto (bloor east of bathurst) does not do a single thing for june 16, otherwise known bloomsday, the day selected to commemorate the day in the life of leopold bloom in the classic novel ulysses. instead, it offers an okay menu, good pintage, a university boho feel and usually a bad music act. i much prefer p.j. o'brien's by church and king. true publican atmosphere, impeccable service and a good lively bloomsday wake.

then there's puck fair in manhattan (lafayette south of houston, although i only know it from the muted crosby back entrance) (pronounce houston like house-tin). this past weekend, it was the true puck fair in killorglin, ireland, where an unusual three days are spent celebrating pagan-style around a goat.

credit goes to the bartendress, who upon being asked if they were doing anything (nowt) (meaning nothing), said that it'd be great if they did, but no one would understand it and there was enough going on already that weekend, with dominican day and the little italy street festival.

oh yeah: puck fair has wicked bangers and mash. the toasties and the oysters are apparently good as well, but i cannae have'em based on my allergies. one of the best places to get guinness as well, although it's a wee bit too chilled for my preference. great place though. i recommend it, though you should watch your wallet.

before my computer is set to crash (i have a handy button here for it: the any key), let's throw down something.

ignoring anything related to a deep linking policy anywhere, let's talk about ned flanders: a modern day christian role model who has inspired many christians or otherwise nice geeks to have a festival in ned's honour, including a band, called ned zeppelin. of course, the first word that pops to mind is re-neducation but then again, i'm also "edumacated" in free association. i blame plastic for pointing me to this, but i blame society for my other problems.

here's a waste of oxygen: nabisco makes these animal crackers that are tasty and very addictive (i've resorted to calling them animal crack), but i've tripped over an ideological issue. does eating animal crackers this encourage carnivorous behaviour?

i realize the basic premise behind animal crackers is that they're fun shaped for kids and they can play with them, make them dance, interact, et cetera, but then, when the fun's done or when the hunger's too strong, into the mouths of babes it goes. and if they're feeling cruel, they can bite the heads and legs off. as well, the animals tend to be very exotic and exciting animals, implying a heavy top-of-the-food-chain riff for humanity (although i'm sure other animals like to eat animal crackers, but my theory train is starting to pile on too many concepts (would you eat a human cracker?)).

of course, i'm not saying that my lifetime of occasional animal cracker snacking has given me an appetite for gorillas or zebras (especially albino pygmy ones that crumble or dissolve in milk), but if you think about it, what does vegetarian animal crackers imply to a child? mapping the idea that eating meat is wrong because it kills animals and mixing it with eating animal-shaped food is okay can provide a breakdown with little thought (of course, then the question arises about how much animal is in animal crackers if there are vegetarian animal crackers, but this train is starting to derail).

this leads to my point: can vegetable-shaped crackers be the solution? sure, eggplants don't normally dance and talk, but neither do bears or giraffes (i think; i've only met a bear once in the wild. zoos don't count), so it's not that much of a leap. besides, look at the raw semantics:

• animal crackers: shaped like animals, not likely to made of animals
• vegetable crackers: not shaped like vegetables, made of vegetables, maybe animals
• vegetarian crackers: not shaped like vegetables (or vegetarians), made of vegetables (not vegetarians)

if animal crackers are shaped like animals, shouldn't vegetable crackers be shaped like vegetables? think of the marketing coup for PETA as children play with asparagus-shaped (maybe even flavoured) crackers, make the corncob dance, have the rutabaga talk with the artichoke ...all the while, encouraging vegetable consumption.

i'm phoning the patent office.
and a pharmacy. i hurt my head thinking.

as indicated today on graig's blog, the spider behind the toilet from the spider behind the toilet is no more. found crushed underneath a bathmat, the star and keeper of graig's affections had been missing for a while prior to the discovery.

we here at eggnog publications (should read: just gak, by himself) offer our deepest condolences and wish that gringo gets a prime location behind god's own toilet to spin his web and enthrall his audience. gak will be offering a potluck of perishable foods in gringo's name to graig, although this is related to another week in new york city too, but names and memories are powerful objects.

please pause for a moment of silence.











rest in peace, little spider.

oi. web design is always often thought of as visual medium, but the content is king, no matter how its presened. so, i offer a link to 30 days to a more accessible weblog, presented by mark pilgrim. covers all the basics, specifically for those of us using these automated script jobbies.

i have a wee bittle of background on this, working my first professional job at softquad back in it SGML prime and HTML infancy, where the late great yuri rubinsky pushed markup as being the way of publishing. but he always looked out for making content meaningful so that the blind were able to be informed.