Make of this what you will. This is CNN footage of what appears to be the murder of a wounded Iraqi by some US Marines. It's difficult to know the context of the situation, but the cheering is nonetheless as disturbing as it is pathetic.
12/20/2003
Citizenship Confirmed
Dear James,
Your confirmation of your citizenship is to be found enclosed.
Best wishes
Lars Vilks
state secr
What you should know about your country
Ladonia is a remony, a republican monarchy, with at queen and a president,
who, together with the ministers rules the country in the cabinet. The
president is elected by the people every third year. Ladonia became
independant in 1996 and is situated in the south of Sweden, close to
Denmark. The area is 1 square km. Nobody lives in Ladonia, but around 30.000
people is every year visiting the country.
Anyone can propose a new ministry, proposals are handled by the cabinet. The
ministers are presented on Ladonia home page www.ladonia.com - link
"administration".
The flag of Ladonia is green with a green cross in the same colour. The
national anthem is performed when throwing (gently) a stone into water. The
currency is Oertug (1 OT is about 1 $). Ladonian language has two words:
"waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallll" (can be spelt in many ways) and "ÿp".
The number of citizens is growing rapidly, right now approximately 10 000.
12/19/2003
What Spitzer Saw
photo: NASA/JPL - Caltech
See the latest images of space from the Spitzer telescope.
12/17/2003
Creative Nationalism
I just noticed Jack's link to the Rogue Nation of Capgas. It's funny because just a few weeks ago I decided to become a citizen of Ladonia. A brief history of Ladonia
It's my ambition to create the Ministry of Unimaginable Things.
The artist and arthistorian Lars Vilks had since 1980 had a long fight with the Swedish authorities about the two huge monuments Nimis and Arx. Though uncountable trials had been going on for more than a decade, the authorities were not capable of removing the pieces.
In 1996 the situation seemed to be under control and Vilks took the advantage of what had happened and made contacts with a lot of persons. The victory, at least so far, could be used in a wider scale: The nation of Ladonia was proclaimed among the stones and cliffs on a piece of headland in the south of Sweden. The surface was 1 square km.
It's my ambition to create the Ministry of Unimaginable Things.
Burning the Candle at Both Ends
What is this thing called sleep? this meandering rumour that winds it's way around me but never through me.
I've been working day and night and it feels like Friday but it's only Wednesday and I feel sick and burnt to a crisp.
I've been working day and night and it feels like Friday but it's only Wednesday and I feel sick and burnt to a crisp.
12/16/2003
Sngis
We had a beautiful bountiful bluster of snow come drifting in yesterday evening. It fell through most of today and now there's no denying that the holiday season is here. I swear I never saw so many smiles. Maybe it was just me smiling and getting smiles back, but there was a frolicking feel to the day. The nice thing about my neighbourhood is that it has a town feel to it. I know my neighbours and the baker and the girls at the checkout in the grocery (they are girls nary a woman or boy or man in sight).
At the end of the day I was supposed to drop by the video store, pick out a few choices, call Sophie and confer with her over what to watch this evening. My numeric dyslexia came out when I gave the woman at the cash Sophie's phone number and rearranged the numbers in my head incorrectly four times consecutively. Finaly I asked for the phone book and had to copy Sophie's number down. I've always had this issue with numbers They dance around do-si-do style in my mind so that 1607 becomes 6701 or 0617 or 6710 etc.
After all that they wouldn't let me take the movie out on Sophie's membership even though they spoke with her on the phone confirming it was the correct number. It was then that I realized I was in a chain store and that I had my own membership at another branch. So...
The movie turned out to be the most tepid time vaccuum i've ever had the misfortune to be sucked into. It was a movie in which everyone whispered and mumbled and nothing interesting or meaningful happened and it starred Mel Gibson and it was called Signs.
If you saw this movie and found something positive in your viewing experience feel free to share this with me because it will be a revelation.
At the end of the day I was supposed to drop by the video store, pick out a few choices, call Sophie and confer with her over what to watch this evening. My numeric dyslexia came out when I gave the woman at the cash Sophie's phone number and rearranged the numbers in my head incorrectly four times consecutively. Finaly I asked for the phone book and had to copy Sophie's number down. I've always had this issue with numbers They dance around do-si-do style in my mind so that 1607 becomes 6701 or 0617 or 6710 etc.
After all that they wouldn't let me take the movie out on Sophie's membership even though they spoke with her on the phone confirming it was the correct number. It was then that I realized I was in a chain store and that I had my own membership at another branch. So...
The movie turned out to be the most tepid time vaccuum i've ever had the misfortune to be sucked into. It was a movie in which everyone whispered and mumbled and nothing interesting or meaningful happened and it starred Mel Gibson and it was called Signs.
If you saw this movie and found something positive in your viewing experience feel free to share this with me because it will be a revelation.
12/14/2003
It's Not "Bad Santa"
photo:ap/us army HO
They captured Saddam Hussein. They took him alive. Now what? This bodes well for Bush no doubt. Weapons of Mass Destruction? What about them?
I doubt that this will end the violence in Iraq. Despite attempts to portray the insurgencey as coming from the old guard and imported terrorists, there is also resistance to the American occupation. It was an invasion after all. People don't like being invaded and occupied. It really doesn't matter what the motivations behind it are it's a matter of principle.
There was an interesting report on this by an African journalist last October, I forget on which network. He showed a world in Iraq that doesn't get reported on in western mainstream media and it was interesting to see how people felt about the US occupation. It wasn't this black and white thing, but there was a persistent fear that if the US didn't let the Iraqi's run their own country that violence would escalate. In other words the violence that occurs daily in Iraq shouldn't be assumed to be pro-Saddam.
12/12/2003
Friday Means Cat Cams and the Human Fly
Here's Norbert's latest endevour: The Maxicatcam
and this drawing I made while on the phone of the Human Fly
and this drawing I made while on the phone of the Human Fly
12/10/2003
The Con Man Returns to Montreal
Back in the year 2000 (sounds funny to say that) my roomate followed up an ad for a job placement service that she found at the Youth Employment Services of Montreal. She suggested that I go with her as I was looking for work too. We were immediately suspicious of the interviewer when she seemed quite uninterested in our portfolios and focused on getting us to sign documents to get on board. The final straw was when she asked us for a $250.00 deposit for their services with a commitment to pay another $250.00 when we got our first job. It felt wrong, but when you are looking for work, especially work in a field in which you are new, you are vulnerable. Neither of us paid a cent and on our way home we couldn't believe that we had almost been conned.
When I got home I typed the name on the business card into a search engine and came up with this site: Harris Black Watch. It turned out he was in the fraud business for sometime.
The night I cam home from Steven's funeral last Feb. one of his friends told me about Steven's last days. He had not been emotionally well and one of the events that had marked his down turn was that he had lost a large sum of money to a fraudulent job-service agency.
What really hurt she said, was that his pride had been damaged. Steven was always very sensitive. He was immensely talented, but he was shy and I suspect not very confident about his talents which were obvious to others. It wasn't this event that broke him. It was an accumulation of things it seems, but this surely didn't help.
Harris Black, who is a convicted sexual assault offender in Quebec, fled Montreal sometime ago. Tonight on CFCF 12 they documented his return to this city. Now he is posing as a pediatrician on internet dating services. A dangerous piece of human filth to be on the look out for.
When I got home I typed the name on the business card into a search engine and came up with this site: Harris Black Watch. It turned out he was in the fraud business for sometime.
The night I cam home from Steven's funeral last Feb. one of his friends told me about Steven's last days. He had not been emotionally well and one of the events that had marked his down turn was that he had lost a large sum of money to a fraudulent job-service agency.
What really hurt she said, was that his pride had been damaged. Steven was always very sensitive. He was immensely talented, but he was shy and I suspect not very confident about his talents which were obvious to others. It wasn't this event that broke him. It was an accumulation of things it seems, but this surely didn't help.
Harris Black, who is a convicted sexual assault offender in Quebec, fled Montreal sometime ago. Tonight on CFCF 12 they documented his return to this city. Now he is posing as a pediatrician on internet dating services. A dangerous piece of human filth to be on the look out for.
Worst Case Scenario
Imagine this: Canadians are tired of the Liberal monopoly of the government. The Canadian Alliance wins enough seats that Stephen Harper (or whoever is party leader at the time) becomes the Prime Minister of Canada. Our friends to the south legitimately elect Mr. Bush into office as President. Can you imagine given the Alliance's policies what a shift towards Bushism this would be for Canada. I shudder to think about it. Certainly we would have gone to war against Iraq in the coalition of shame had this been the case last spring.
Lets go to Legosland!
Anzo is right in so far as "Lego" being a trademark, the word "Legos" however is not trademarked according to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office which has a data-base of international and Canadian trademarks. So you may want to try to trademark Legos.
However a trademark which is a word is still part of language and can be described in terms of it's grammatical usage. Lego is used by the company of the same name as an adjective. Regarding Anzo's comment: Scrabble rules are not the rules of language but of a board game. For instance Ottawa is a noun and cannot be used in Scrabble.
As for Lego as the plural sounding like what the lonely kid would say. Exactly how "Legos" sounds to me. Legos is a colloquial usage I suspect, and really there is nothing right or wrong about it except Legos sounds ridiculous to my ear. Like someone saying "I like when you play musics."
There's nothing like being didactic about trivial matters. If we can't find common ground with our "Legos" and "Lego" what hope have they in the Middle East? I am curious however to hear from others on this matter: Is it Legos, Lego or as the company itself says, Lego bricks where you come from?
By the way Cacoa what is Legoland like and is it true they put you in a Lego jail if you use the word "Legos" there?
However a trademark which is a word is still part of language and can be described in terms of it's grammatical usage. Lego is used by the company of the same name as an adjective. Regarding Anzo's comment: Scrabble rules are not the rules of language but of a board game. For instance Ottawa is a noun and cannot be used in Scrabble.
As for Lego as the plural sounding like what the lonely kid would say. Exactly how "Legos" sounds to me. Legos is a colloquial usage I suspect, and really there is nothing right or wrong about it except Legos sounds ridiculous to my ear. Like someone saying "I like when you play musics."
There's nothing like being didactic about trivial matters. If we can't find common ground with our "Legos" and "Lego" what hope have they in the Middle East? I am curious however to hear from others on this matter: Is it Legos, Lego or as the company itself says, Lego bricks where you come from?
By the way Cacoa what is Legoland like and is it true they put you in a Lego jail if you use the word "Legos" there?
12/09/2003
You may have Legos, but I have Lego.
Well as you may have seen, the Chiseller is a user of the term "Legos". I didn't mean to offend anyone, but I didn't think anyone I was acquainted with would be the victim of this grammatical tragedy. Maybe it's an American thing to say Legos. Is that possible? I never heard a soul say "Legos" until I was as an adult. My best buddy when I was a kid was Danish and he had all these great Lego sets straight from the motherland (Lego is the invention of a Dane). And not once in all those years of building cities to bring tears to the eyes of an architect (of joy, of sorrow, take your pick) was the word "Legos" imagined let alone uttered. You really should add this to the Blog of Shame dear Chiseller (unless it's an American thing then I give up just like the BC government did on the softwood lumber issue).
For anyone who really cares I offer the following link: Lego Homesite
nowhere on this site will you find the word "Legos" or even the word "Lego" used as anything but an adjective so far as I've been able to see. If there's one thing I learned in all those years of linguistics it's this: "Usage trumps all!" It still sounds hmm...hmm... "retarded" to my childhood ear. Sorry. Oh the misery of existence. Will peace ever come to this lonely blue marble.
For anyone who really cares I offer the following link: Lego Homesite
nowhere on this site will you find the word "Legos" or even the word "Lego" used as anything but an adjective so far as I've been able to see. If there's one thing I learned in all those years of linguistics it's this: "Usage trumps all!" It still sounds hmm...hmm... "retarded" to my childhood ear. Sorry. Oh the misery of existence. Will peace ever come to this lonely blue marble.
The New Political Landscape
Yesterday Canada's oldest political party , the Progressive Conservatives in effect ceased to be by agreeing to merge with one of Canada's newer political entities, the Canadian Alliance. After a decades worth of governance Jean Chretien has resigned as Liberal party leader, being replaced by former finance minister Paul Martin. The NDP is now lead by former Toronto city counciller Jack Layton.
What this all means for Canada remains to be seen, but it is certainly a different blend of politics than we have had over the past decade. I suspect we shall see the Canadian Alliance moving towards the center in it's social policy as it tries to accomodate a greater diversity of sentiments from coast to coast. Likely they will restyle themselves as less of a rogue party, less of a regional thumbing of the nose to the eastern establishment as they face the realities of what is required to defeat the Liberals.
Paul Martin cannot take his place in the Prime Minister's office for granted and I'm betting that Jean Chretien would secretly like to see him denied just that. Like him or not Chretien's earthiness carried him along way whereas Martin is obviously of the moneyed class. He reeks of big business and all that entails.
Then there is the NDP. Jack Layton is an outspoken and articulate politician. I find him appealing, but the NDP carries a large stigma in Ontario after the Bob Rae years and of course Ontario is important as far as winning seats in the house. Still I'm inclined to think they will do better than under Alexa McDonough who always seemed to come across as the goody two shoes girl with perfect attendance but was never invited to any parties. A sort of Lisa Simpson with no soul.
Personally I will never vote for the party that brought Stockwell Day to the national political stage and I realy don't like Paul Martin. I think it was a huge mistake for the liberals to annoint him the way they did. It hardly felt like a democratic process at all. That leaves me with Layton. Time to do some homework.
What this all means for Canada remains to be seen, but it is certainly a different blend of politics than we have had over the past decade. I suspect we shall see the Canadian Alliance moving towards the center in it's social policy as it tries to accomodate a greater diversity of sentiments from coast to coast. Likely they will restyle themselves as less of a rogue party, less of a regional thumbing of the nose to the eastern establishment as they face the realities of what is required to defeat the Liberals.
Paul Martin cannot take his place in the Prime Minister's office for granted and I'm betting that Jean Chretien would secretly like to see him denied just that. Like him or not Chretien's earthiness carried him along way whereas Martin is obviously of the moneyed class. He reeks of big business and all that entails.
Then there is the NDP. Jack Layton is an outspoken and articulate politician. I find him appealing, but the NDP carries a large stigma in Ontario after the Bob Rae years and of course Ontario is important as far as winning seats in the house. Still I'm inclined to think they will do better than under Alexa McDonough who always seemed to come across as the goody two shoes girl with perfect attendance but was never invited to any parties. A sort of Lisa Simpson with no soul.
Personally I will never vote for the party that brought Stockwell Day to the national political stage and I realy don't like Paul Martin. I think it was a huge mistake for the liberals to annoint him the way they did. It hardly felt like a democratic process at all. That leaves me with Layton. Time to do some homework.
12/08/2003
Lego Grammar Update
Okay while saying Legos is definitely wrong, having given a great amount of thought to the matter I realize that one might argue that Lego, properly used is not even a noun, but an adjective and therefore there is no singular or plural of Lego (excluding the company named Lego itself). Strictly speaking one has Lego sets and Lego pieces, but it is common usage to refer to these pieces and sets as Lego. However when people call it Legos they sound daft. It's like saying " Gee I'm thirsty I'd love a glass of waters". I expect we shall soon find world peace now that this issue has been resolved.
Lego is the Plural of Lego
This is very important to set straight. Lego is the plural of Lego. There is no such thing as Legos. You pick up the Lego all of it. I suppose it's because of the holiday season, but in the past week I've heard or read reference to "Legos" umpteen times. In the name of all that is good in this world it's so important that everyone gets that right.
12/07/2003
Of Threats and Pointing Fingers
This past week a Canadian citizen, Abdurahman Khadr, who was interned for two years in Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay Cuba by the US government, returned to Canada. There are a number of questions that remain unanswered. Khadr admitted to having trained in an al-Qaeda affiliated camp while in Afghanistan, but qualified this by saying it was a common experience among Afghani's in the war-torn country and had nothing to with anti-Americanism.
The other part to his story, is that his lawyer Rocco Galati stepped down from representing Kadhr in his case against the Canadian government for what he claims was negligence in helping him return to Canada. Galati recieved death threats last week which he is taking seriously and most disturbingly of all is claiming that he believes that the source of the threats is American or Canadian security agents. How he knows this he won't say. I don't know what to make of this. Is it grandstanding on his part? Is he jumping making assumptions that reflect his own "paranoid" narrative about the security agenda and how things have changed since Sept. 11th? or is this a correct statement based on experience and knowledge that he is not sharing?
The thing that I find most puzzling about the Galati withdrawl from the Khadr case is that he says he genuinely fears for his life to the point of following the threat makers instructions to step-down, but isn't afraid to point the finger even if it's an ambiguous pointing.
The other part to his story, is that his lawyer Rocco Galati stepped down from representing Kadhr in his case against the Canadian government for what he claims was negligence in helping him return to Canada. Galati recieved death threats last week which he is taking seriously and most disturbingly of all is claiming that he believes that the source of the threats is American or Canadian security agents. How he knows this he won't say. I don't know what to make of this. Is it grandstanding on his part? Is he jumping making assumptions that reflect his own "paranoid" narrative about the security agenda and how things have changed since Sept. 11th? or is this a correct statement based on experience and knowledge that he is not sharing?
The thing that I find most puzzling about the Galati withdrawl from the Khadr case is that he says he genuinely fears for his life to the point of following the threat makers instructions to step-down, but isn't afraid to point the finger even if it's an ambiguous pointing.
Mind Reader
This from the NYTimes from an article on the new "Get Tough" American policy in Iraq:
Nothing like the mind of an American captain of an occupying army.
"You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face."
Nothing like the mind of an American captain of an occupying army.
Word Warrior
In the tradition of the Mighty Korak I took an on-line IQ test with their results stating the following:
Type is a Word Warrior.
How nice. Then they try to sell me an extensive report. Oh but I'm too clever for that the fools. Anyway my numeric score was 135, so like a hundred other people with the same score I had the same idea to type "IQ 135" into google and join the 135er's.
Type is a Word Warrior.
This means you have exceptional verbal skills. You can easily make sense of complex issues and take an unusually creative approach to solving problems. Your strengths also make you a visionary. Even without trying you're able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas.
How nice. Then they try to sell me an extensive report. Oh but I'm too clever for that the fools. Anyway my numeric score was 135, so like a hundred other people with the same score I had the same idea to type "IQ 135" into google and join the 135er's.
12/06/2003
Snow is Falling
Sophie came over and we sat at the computers working on the Mama-africa website. I didn't go to sleep until 11:00 a.m. this morning so I was almost hallucinating, but the kicker was when she left and I opened the front door to see the world covered in wonderful snow. I didn't notice a flake fall outside the window to my office while we toiled.
Looks nice.
Looks nice.
Christmas is Pagan
Here's an interesting take on Christmas celebrations. Maybe they're even right, but everyone knows that Santa Claus is the baby Jesus' father.
12/03/2003
Baby It's Cold Outside
Did you see the new Burning Ring of Fire page? I'm going to add a Sideburn Two page soon. I have to say I really love my "Home? I Have no Home." discs. Nice work there Korak and Jack.
The temperature has dropped to below zero and I'm feeling it more than I thought I would. The cold doesn't usually bother me but this year it was relatively warm and then BOOM! Winter fell on us like a block of ice. Speaking of which I was talking to a guy the other day who is going ice climbing this weekend. Ice climbing? That sounds crazy. They use little picks and things, but you know ice has at least two things going against so far as a climbing surface: It cracks and it's slippery. I'll stick to prefabricated grips bolted securely to the wall thanks.
So to summarize: It's cold and dark and winter is here to stay for sometime and some people are climbing ice.
The temperature has dropped to below zero and I'm feeling it more than I thought I would. The cold doesn't usually bother me but this year it was relatively warm and then BOOM! Winter fell on us like a block of ice. Speaking of which I was talking to a guy the other day who is going ice climbing this weekend. Ice climbing? That sounds crazy. They use little picks and things, but you know ice has at least two things going against so far as a climbing surface: It cracks and it's slippery. I'll stick to prefabricated grips bolted securely to the wall thanks.
So to summarize: It's cold and dark and winter is here to stay for sometime and some people are climbing ice.
12/02/2003
Mysterious Disease Identified
Sophie found out that her mysterious symptoms are a result of a rare incidence of the child-hood disease commonly known as Roseola. This is a relief if only to know that is not life threatening and will take it's course, even if that is a couple of months.
The Firebird and the Explorer.
Yet another security compromise in IE explorer 6.0 has been pointed out. There is as of yet no fix. As an alternative I highly recommend Mozilla's free browser Firebird. It has a built in feature that blocks pop-ups as well as a Google search field integrated into the tool bar among other features.
12/01/2003
The First Snow Fell
There's changes all about some better than others. Sophie will be moving to Boston in the new year to join a microbiology lab at Harvard. Sophie has developed a mysterious malady. The test results should be back sometime this week and I pray it is nothing out of hand. Working in an environment where handling deadly viruses is a part of the daily routine has got to be stressful at times.
Alefia and Norbert wil be moving to my side of town soon. It's not really far when you live here is it?
I discovered last week that Chester's owner has co-edited a collection of short fiction. The book launch was last Saturday evening, and I wanted to go, I should have gone but our first snow of the season fell and the winds were roaring and it was so nice to stay home and read the paper. I just wasn't in the mood.
The woman upstairs hasn't been paying her rent for sometime now. She recieved an eviction notice this week. Nobody in the building will be sad to see her gone. She has no respect for anyone who lives here. Even the people in the residence next door have complained about her yelling and noise in general. Not to mention the shady characters that drop in at any given hour.
I think Frederique is planning on moving out in the new year as well. A man called in reply to her inquiry about a loft yesterday.
Alefia and Norbert wil be moving to my side of town soon. It's not really far when you live here is it?
I discovered last week that Chester's owner has co-edited a collection of short fiction. The book launch was last Saturday evening, and I wanted to go, I should have gone but our first snow of the season fell and the winds were roaring and it was so nice to stay home and read the paper. I just wasn't in the mood.
The woman upstairs hasn't been paying her rent for sometime now. She recieved an eviction notice this week. Nobody in the building will be sad to see her gone. She has no respect for anyone who lives here. Even the people in the residence next door have complained about her yelling and noise in general. Not to mention the shady characters that drop in at any given hour.
I think Frederique is planning on moving out in the new year as well. A man called in reply to her inquiry about a loft yesterday.
11/29/2003
A New Glob and Wail:
If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the viaducts of your dream
Where immobile steel rims crack
And the ditch in the back roads stop
Could you find me?
Would you kiss-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again