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Let's all sing along now ... Auld Lang Syne .

I'm no longer going to allow Israel to play the holocaust card. Time and again, Israelis, Jews, and those not want to be accused of being holocaust deniers, have held their tongue, while Israel plays the bully in Palestine. I'm sure if the world turned a blindeye, Israel would wipe the Palestinians off the face of the planet. The latest violence that has erupted in the Palestine is yet another example of Israel showing just how far they can go, thumb their nose at the world, because the Americans will always be there to back them up. That's go to end. If the world accepts this violence from Israel, we accept it from every other military force in the world. This level of offensive action against the Palestinians -- because let's face it, it's definitely not just targeting Hamas -- is totally uncalled for; and it's the type of violence that is seen from every two-bit dictatorship around the world. Israel can claim they're a first world democracy, but ...

More depressing news from the climate change front -- as if we needed more -- and I guess we'd better get used to it, cause I don't expect anymore good news in my lifetime. In a follow up survey to the 2007 results by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- results which the Bush Administration did their best to poo-poo all over -- the US Geological Survey has released a report that says things will probably get bad a lot faster than the earlier prediction. Specifically, the Arctic is losing ice a lot faster than expected , causing a faster rise in sea levels, to the tune of four feet by 2100 -- although the report doesn't expect the Atlantic Ocean circulation system will shut down in this century. For the US, the continued desertification of the Southwest [PDF] will probably occur faster -- leading to droughts, possible food shortages and definitely conflict within the good ole USA as scapegoats are sought out. Those who still think t...

Another nail in the coffin comes from Vector -- if the MPAA and RIAA want to take a look at Christmas-future, this is a site they should drop by. Vector -- verified torrents -- gives you the straight goods by filtering out fake torrents -- mostly uploaded by the MPAA and RIAA to mess with your pilfering the content of their sponsors. Anyway, enjoy the site. It will be brought down shortly.

Before I read the book, I had seen the documentary based on it -- twice -- and it was every bit as effective -- disturbing, really -- on second viewing. The book, being read a couple of years after seeing the documentary, was chilling. I'm writing about the Corporation by Joel Bakan -- a book that many will regard as being anti-business, anti-globalization -- but I don't see it that way. The book is hardly anti-business. It's hardly anti-anything. It's actually a book that calls on us to exercise the epitomizes of our civil society: democracy, and social responsibility. Both of these however, run directly against the interests of a monster of our own creation: the corporation. Take some of these corporate misdeeds and ask yourself why it happened. Enron 's collapse. Monsanto 's terminator seeds. Blackwater 's creation of a mercenary army. Halliburton 's bilking of the US public funds. How did it come to be that people, working for a business...

Finally gotten around to changing the blog template (see design credit in the footer) -- and did it in 2008, as planned! Sort of. Not sure if I'm going to keep this template. I'm not sure about the blue against the black.

I'm not sure what to do with this one . Old Afghan warlords being bribed with viagra to cooperate with US troops. Isn't that like selling the sexual services of (probably) young Afghan women (probably girls) to get a leg up on the war on terrorism?

Is the general population that fucking stupid? Edmunds.com is reporting that with dropping gas prices (and huge incentives to move inventory), people are again turning to gas guzzling SUVs and trucks. Expectation is that hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles will drop in sales in December. Consumers really do not think . Even monkeys are smarter for crying out loud! I'm not even thinking about the continued demise of the environment -- I'm just thinking about the economic disaster we're currently in. You'd think people would want to save money on gas. But in just one month of lower gas prices, they've shifted their purchasing practices. It's like they're unable to think -- to plan -- to forecast. It's all about instant gratification. So yes, the general population is that fucking stupid. Which just begs for smart leadership and government regulation to ensure we have a future, because you can't rely on the public.

It's my favourite new hat -- out with the Goofy, in with the Pook Toque . Got it for Christmas this morning, and haven't really taken it off. I'll be going to bed shortly, and I'm still debating whether to take it off or not. My wife has a preference, I'm sure, but she was the one who also purchased it for me. What will I do with the pair of socks on my head?

Merry Christmas Toronto! And the rest of the world ... regardless of your religious affiliation. I'm not Christian, but I'm in a Christian family ... sort of ... and Christmas is an occasion we mark with friends and family. Christmas for me isn't about celebrating Big J's birthday -- because let's face it -- it's not his birthday -- it's a creation of the church, and nothing more, which coincidentally, co-opted a number of pagan celebrations. Go figure -- the church -- political. Christmas is a time however, for a little introspection -- a time to take a deep breath, regard past misdeeds with a sigh, and make promises to build an improved future in the coming year. Goodwill to everyone, and all that sort of stuff, which the world could always use a little bit more of. Which is precisely what Habitat for Humanity is all about this Christmas , for the Mpianas -- a family that fled the Congo in 2002 to find refuge in Toronto. The Mpianas were recently...

Oh, will we never learn? Apparently, the US military wants to arm Afghan tribes so them can take on the Taliban in areas of the country, where few dare to send troops. WTF? Haven't we learned anything from our past excursions in the developing countries? Arming people who are your friends today to fight a proxy war will only end in disaster. It has never ended good. The Taliban was armed by the US to fight the Russians -- look how that turned out? Saddam Hussein was armed by the US to fight Iran -- and that created another mess. Look at what's happening with Israel -- armed to the teeth, it seems less interested in peace as it routinely encroach on Palestinian lands. Sigh. At least Canada isn't going along with this one.

In an act of desperation, Tim DeCristopher chose civil disobedience to disrupt the bidding process that saw 149,000 acres of public land leased off to oil companies in Utah. The lease of the land to oil companies, to allow drilling, has been contested by many who wish to preserve the pristine land, located near Arches National Park, the White River, the greater Desolation Canyon region, Labyrinth Canyon, the benches east of Canyonlands National Park, Nine Mile Canyon, the Book Cliffs and the Deep Creek Mountains. It is one of the final sell-off by the dying Bush administration. DeCristopher showed at the auction, registered as a bidder, and started bidding -- and winning -- with no intention of purchasing or paying for the auctions he won. Way to go dude! You're a hero!

Yar har, fiddle di dee, Being a pirate is alright with me! Do what you want '‘cause a pirate is free, You are a pirate! Arr yarr, ahoy and avast, dinky-dink-dink-a-dinkadefast! Hang the black flag At the end of the mast! You are a pirate!

By a vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States) and no abstentions, the Committee also approved a resolution on the right to food, by which the Assembly would “consider it intolerable” that more than 6 million children still died every year from hunger-related illness before their fifth birthday, and that the number of undernourished people had grown to about 923 million worldwide, at the same time that the planet could produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, or twice the world’s present population. And there you have it folks. It's quite simple. The United States has voted to starve the world -- including people in the US -- in its participation on the UN Human Rights Council's Working Group on the Right to Development. By the terms of the text, the Assembly would express concern that, in many countries, girls were twice as likely as boys to die from malnutrition and childhood diseases and that twice as many women as men were estimated to suffer from malnut...

The problem of landmines in Africa is horrifying in its numbers, as it is deadly effects. The numbers are astounding. There are probably close to 45 million landmines scattered across the continent, left over from various conflicts – much of the mines having been manufactured, sold or given to various pet projects by the developed world to fight their proxy wars. To make Africa a safer place, heavy investment is needed and lots of time. Traditionally, dogs have been used to sniff out mines so they can be properly disposed of. But dogs take a long time to train, are costly to maintain and there are only so many dogs that can be handled. Enter a new and unique solution to this problem: rats. Not just any rats however – HeroRATS ! HeroRATS is project by APOPO , that train rats to sniff out landmines (as well as certain diseases and as to aid search and rescue workers). Other ways of detecting landmines are expensive and rely on foreign expertise for development, maintenance and e...

OK, it's not an outright ban, but nevertheless, it's a start. Way to go Toronto ! Banning bottled water sales from municipal premises. It's a start, and hopefully, it is only the start. I for one would love to see a tax, akin to the tax on cigarettes, be placed on bottled water sales to discourage their sales. The proceeds from the tax collected could be used for city waste management. People are just way too lazy, and if they are lazy, make them pay!

Yes, you, gullible -- mostly white people, but also a whole lot of immigrant Indian people -- stop being gullible, Deepak Chopra is actually full of shit. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but he's been feeding you shit in his books, lectures, audio and other media releases. If you need anymore evidence that the man is full of shit, just check out his recent verbal diarrhea on CNN, regarding the acts of terrorism in Mumbai. OK, after getting over the shock that Larry King is still alive, any reasonably intelligent person must be asking themselves, since when has Chopra become an expert on terrorism or geopolitics? Maybe you need to be a transcendental bullshitter to be on the seance that is the Larry King show. Or maybe they were just looking for any brown guy to keep the idiot box going, and Chopra the media whore just happened to be scratching on the door after the murder started. (I did notice that it took CNN some time before they could actually find some Indians...

Here is a story of consumerism taken to its most horrible end -- the taking of a life. It's a retail tradition in the US to have massive sales after Thanksgiving, in preparation for Christmas -- the holiday where to consume is to be holy. Americans, having eaten their fill this Thanksgiving, with an economy in a tailspin, took their smoking credit cards to stores to see if they would still work. At a local Wal-Mart in Long Island , NY, shoppers went nuts at the 5AM store opening. Chanting "push the doors in," they crashed into the store, tearing the doors off its hinges, and stampeded store employees. Most employees got out of the way of the crowd in a hurry, by jumping onto vending machines -- no such luck for Jdimytai Damour, was knocked down and crushed by the mob. When the shoppers were then told that a store employee had died in the melee, they refused to lease, since they were in the line for a long time. "I look at these people's faces and I keep thi...

I finished Terry Pratchett 's The Nation last night -- weeks after my wife had finished it, but not long after I had flipped it open on the bus, on the way to work one morning. Pratchett's books tend to be devoured in my house -- my wife, my daughters and me, where the addiction first got started. My wife and I picked up the Nation at Waterstone's on Sauchiehall Street, in Glasgow, when we were on holidays in Scotland. I think we got it before its North American release. We usually have to wait until after Christmas to read a new Pratchett book, since it's usually bought as a Christmas present for someone. Not this time around, however. The Nation is a departure of sorts for Pratchett. It's not a Discworld novel. It's set in a new world, very much like our own, but slightly askew. I'm not sure if the novel was intended for young readers, as it featured young protagonists -- but Pratchett doesn't do well writing for a young audience. If he...

The Indians have landed on the Moon. Yesterday, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) separated from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft for a dusty splash down. Immediately after landing, the MIP righted itself, and started to dance. See more images of this historic event for India at the ISRO site .

Astronomers have taken the first ever direct photos of planets outside of our solar system . Three planets orbiting the star HR 8799, have been photographed in the infrared. And another, photographed by Hubble, orbits Fomalhaut. The planets are all larger than Jupiter. These planets are gas giants, but it can't be far off before direct photos are taken of smaller terrestrial planets. And won't that be cool?! We know we're not the only solar system. How long more before we find out that we're not alone?

Here's a new one for you -- the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre -- tracking the impact of over 4,000 companies operating in over 180 countries around the world. Allegations of corporate misconduct get a little light, with the organization confronting businesses and seeking responses. As expected, a lot of the issues deals with first world corporate giants and their colonial adventures in far off lands. But, there are still issues right on our doorstep, and the BHRRC is there too. The site acts as a clearinghouse for social responsibility news, and is worth the bookmark for those passionate about justice.

Yet another little girl has been murdered. Horribly murdered. Thirteen year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow , of Kismayo, Somalia, was raped by three men. She was convicted of adultery by the Islamic Courts in Kismayo, and was stoned to death by dozens of men in a stadium packed with about 1,000 spectators. If the UN doesn't do something in Somalia, Ethiopia should just permanently occupy the country and open hunting season on the murderous Islamic Court.

OK ... I don't know what it is. But you can waste time there too.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) recently presented a report, Environmental Crime - a Threat to Our Future , to a UN meeting on trans-border organized crime. According to the report, environmental crime generates billions in profits for criminals annually. Environmental crime includes the illegal trading of wildlife, smuggling of toxic substances and hazardous waste, illegal fishing, illegal logging and trade in stolen timber. The fact that there are those willing to steal and destroy the environment for profit, doesn't surprise me. How often do you hear of legitimate businesses that take advantage of public trust and harm the environment? Be it the dumping of toxic waste, including banned substances in their products or lobbying governments to reign in regulators -- well respected corporate giants already do it -- although those that break the law are thankfully few. I'm not suggesting that the criminals in the EIA report are no different from legitimate bus...

The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently wrapped up its 10-day World Conservation Congress in Spain, with high hopes for the future. High hopes, because IUCN believes the tide is turning in trying to save the world by conserving biodiversity. Hope came from the commitment of stakeholders to protect Sumatra -- the world's sixth largest island and a garden of Eden for biodiversity. Since 1985 for instance, Sumatra has lost 48% of its forests, and there is still danger as deforestation continues to increase production of palm oil and acacia. Still, there is much work to do when the blinders of short-term economic gain are being rigorously protected. Japan and Norway for instance, continue to refuse to heed the calls for conservation to allow whale populations to recover. An IUCN study assessed the 5,487 mammal species on Earth and found that at least 1,141 are threatened with extinction. Another IUCN report shows that 35% of the world's birds, 52% of ...

A new report from the Earth Policy Institute is extolling the potential of the emerging new energy economy in the United States -- potential is my refrain -- I'm a little cynical of sustaining the investment without an enforcing regulatory environment to make sure the playing field is level and the commitment is unwavering. My cynicism isn't unfounded. The dangers of climate change has been apparent to those who wanted to know, for years -- decades even. The majority still don't view it as a problem that needs near term action. What is driving the shift in energy investment is the constraint on access to fossil fuels. If that changes, expect businesses and consumers to take the easy way out. I don't for a minute believe that the shift currently happening is wholly out of shared concern with the green movement.

Ah shit! You stupid Canadians! You did it again!

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the races to mix." -- Leon Bazile, Trial Judge, Jan. 6, 1959, Virginia, USA. Not so long ago, people went around telling others who they were allowed to love. The culmination of love between two people, marriage, was forbidden in certain circumstances, and enforced by law. Today, sadly, not much has changed. There are still people going around telling others who they are allowed to love, and who they're not. In some places, they are supported by the law. In some places, it can lead to death. We're an unjust society when we allow such laws to remain -- and when we allow some to dictate who others can live with and love. This is why I support same sex marriages. [Source: reddit ]

Thanksgiving history isn't lost on me -- it is a harvest festival that has been celebrated in North America for hundreds of years, but the cynic in me can't help but think of the North American aboriginals that got there thanks the hard way at the hands of the European settlers. Wonder how they view Thanksgiving. Anyway, I'm not about to start another tirade on political and social injustices. For my wife, it's a tradition that brings back memories of family -- and so this year, I decided to take on the task of bringing some tradition to the table for supper. I've never roasted a turkey before, and since we're only a family of four, my wife asked that I do something smaller. So I got a chicken. Something smaller. I've never roasted one of those before either, so I called on my friend, Google, and found the instructions at Canadian Living to create a classic roast turkey -- which I applied to my chicken -- with some slight modifications, as I'm n...

Al Jazeera is reporting that the pirates holding the MV Faina, a Ukranian ship carrying weapons, are demanding a ransom for the ship's release in order to clean up the coast of Somalia that has been a dumping ground for toxic waste, including nuclear material, by European and Asian vessels. The pirates allegation was confirmed by the UN envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah . So, two problems. The pirates are no more than opportunists at best -- at worst, terrorists -- who are using piracy to cash-in on international trade to bolster their status at home -- funding power and religious struggles. They should be treated as such. They don't have noble goals. Selfishness and profit are their motives. The environmental disaster that is being made off the coast of Somalia -- and I've got to wonder about elsewhere in Africa -- needs to stop. Not only has colonialism -- past, present and future, in its varied forms -- destroyed the people, but it's also taking their ...

The fact that there are Christians left in Iran is surprising. I would have thought them all gone by now. Either by immigration, as refugees to Christian or agnostic nations -- or by death. Apparently there are still Christians, however. And leaving by death has become acceptable to Iranians -- and by their tolerance, acceptable also to the European Union and the United Nations. Being killed by religious reasons is nothing new. New in Iran however, is death for apostasy . It is now the law in that country -- convert and you will meet your new god very quickly. The killing over religion is registering less and less at an emotional level with me now. I could start the rant right now about religious teachings of tolerance and the irony of killing non-believers. Or the devolution of a once great society in the Middle East since they lost their god -- the hypothetical Allah would be none too happy his Imams today -- and Mohammad has left the house. But why bother. Maybe if we le...

John Derbyshire is a dumb-ass. I say this without know much about the man, other than what I've read on his Wikipedia entry -- and photographs I've found of him online. In his case, I'm more than willing to skip my usual refrain of withholding judgment, and just judging the book by its cover. The man is a dumb-ass. All you need for evidence is to look at his October 7th post on the National Review, Will Obama Kill Science? Actually, just being in the National Review's stable is enough to make him a dumb-ass, but his latest words are even more notable for their elevation of his stature to dumb-ass-ness. In the post in question, Derbyshire promotes the idea that Obama will quash research into the life sciences, because he's afraid that science will find out that blacks are an inferior race. Oh, he didn't come out right and use those words, but his meaning is quite clear. Read his post.

Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan apparently rushes off to a dark corner to masturbate his diseased dogma when he sees the two eyes of women -- feeling guilty for sinning, he's lashing out against women. He is suggesting that women should now hide one eye . The stupidity has to stop. The veil has nothing to do with the Muslim religion, and lots to do with shriveled little men who crave power.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds, from about 4km above the surface of the planet -- the snow is vapourizing before it hits the ground, however. Still, ain't that cool news? Phoenix also found evidence from soil experiments of past interaction between liquid water and minerals. It should be noted that Phoenix was developed with some funding and work by the Canadian Space Agency ... which just goes to figure ... it had to take a Canadian team to find snow falling on Mars.

I missed FLOW , when it was showing at one of the documentary film festivals in Toronto this summer -- I still want to see it, although it will be preaching to the converted. I just recently came across this review on CNN , echoing the dire warning of the world running out of clean water. The planet may be mostly water, but most of it can't be consumed by humans. We can't drink the water in the oceans -- and the limited quantities that are in our lakes and rivers are being poisoned. We shit and dump toxic pollutants in the same glass that we drink from -- how stupid is that? Recently, to Canada's shame, the Harper government voted to reject a UN resolution that would declare water as being a fundamental human right -- a UN motion, which would have no teeth, would nonetheless enshrined in the International community the notion that clean water should be held sacred. Canada, with its abundance of fresh, clean water, probably has little to worry about -- but in places li...

Umm ... the chrome-ier browser ? Currently in beta release ... get yours before all the bugs are fixed! Actually, if history is any indication, expect Chrome to stay in beta forever. It's the Google way.

Apparently, terrorists are dumber than US Homeland Security policy makers -- I say this, because you've got to be dumber for the smarter person to catch you. So terrorists smarter than Homeland Security policy makers have the potential of ... well, getting away with murder. Apparently, to avoid being caught by the US Homeland Security's "no fly list," all you have to do is change your name .

GIMPS has found two new Mersenne prime numbers. The world remains unchanged. The world of mathematicians on the other hand -- there's a quiet party going on.

CNET has unfortunate coverage on work secretly being conducted by the UN to bring the gauntlet down on Internet anonymity. The work is supported by both China and the United States. Of course, the UN is pursuing this course of action with some noble intentions -- to secure computer networks from hackers; to find criminals who use the internet for nefarious purposes. But the UN is made up of nations who have stated intent of criminalizing free speech and squelching opposition to totalitarian rule. As much as the proposed traceback tools would be used to save the world, they would also be used to bring it to its knees. Care to hazard a guess on which purpose the tools to lift the veil on anonymity would be most used on? You guessed it. Truth and justice are about to be fucked.

Canadians have learned from the US experience of the last eight years, on what a right-wing government can do. It brought America to its knees -- and Canadians took notice, and in turn, shifted their values to the left. The recent assertion from Stephen Harper that Canadian values are shifting to the right couldn't be any more out of touch with reality. In Harper's fantasy world, where Canada is remade in the image of his Master GW, it may seem that way -- but Canadians have seen much right-wing policies enacted in America, and are not ready for their share. Our values that are simply incompatible with the right, and conservatism -- both economic and social conservatism. Canadians care about each other, not just their own self interests. Canadians care about the world they live in, and the world they are building for future generations. Canadians respect our diversity. Canadians value economic prosperity, but know that it is not a gift for the lucky few, but for all Ca...

Tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, missiles, remotely piloted aircraft and warships. These weapons of modern warfare, are being transferred in unprecedented numbers to countries around the world -- including those in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and yes, even Canada -- from the good ole USA. The New York Times is reporting that year to date, the Bush Administration has agreed to sell $32 billion in weapons -- compared to $12 billion in 2005. Commercial sales in services and equipment to support the DoD weapons sales is an additional $96 billion, year to date. Of course, the US isn't alone in exporting sophisticated weapons to unstable nations. Russia provides stiff competition, and the EU and a host of smaller nations sell less sophisticated and small arms. The arms trade remains quite the viable business, and was there before globalization was a buzz word. You don't need to be a cynic to see why having the US and Russia exchanging nasty words is...

John Cole responds to the Dan Drezner's interview of Sarah Palin the other day. To summarize: And Sarah Palin is the distilled essence of wingnut. She has it all. She is dishonest. She is a religious nut. She is incurious. She is anti-science. She is inexperienced. She abuses her authority. She hides behind executive privilege. She is a big spender. She works from the gut and places a greater value on instinct than knowledge. This is depressing. Depressing because Americans have a real choice, and it is in Obama, unlike the lack of choice Canadians have in the upcoming election. Americans are not only electing a president of the United States, they are also electing the most powerful world leader. The choice Americans make will in large part influence the policies of Canada, and politics around the globe. What's disturbing right now, is that Sarah Palin is new. She's the fresh face, and the American general public likes a new celebrity. That's what politics hav...

The vacation is now over, and we're sitting having coffee at Glasgow's BAA, waiting for our flight back to Toronto. It's been a hectic two weeks, and I'm definitely looking forward to being back home. Two weeks ago we landed in Glasgow, and took a taxi to hire a car. The adventure started then. My wife fell and sprained her ankle, but the Scot blood must have been all fired up, cause she soldiered on. We drove from Glasgow to Stirling to Perth to Aberdeen to Forres to Thurso to Kirkwall (via a ferry) to Ullapool to Stornaway (via a ferry) to Inverness before ending in Glasgow, right where we started. For the two weeks, we were in a constant state of awe. Scotland is a beautiful country, rich in horrible history , and we couldn't miss it. Every step was another beautiful photo-op or something historical. After all of that, and having not seen quite enough or taken enough pictures (over 4,500, totaling 9GB of JPEGs), I would like to go home. Go home to our ...

The previous week Saturday, I landed in Scotland, and went to pick up the Vauxhall I had reserved at Enterprise. The car I was supposed to get was still out -- now extended. They wanted to give me a luxury Mercedes for more money. They wanted to give me a mini-van. I didn't want those. I wanted something shorter, than I could fit into small places. After an hour wait, they offered me the Chevrolet Captiva . An SUV. So I'm driving around in an SUV. Heated seats; AUX input for the MP3 player; and automatic everything, including the wiper that starts when it detects rain, and speeds up and slows down on its own accord. I'm putting up with it.

9-year old Jericho Scott is too fast for the Youth Baseball League of New Haven . The kid pitches at 40 mph, and at his last game, when he took the mound, the other team packed up and left, forfeiting the game, because he's too fast. So fast in fact, that the league has banned him from playing. Yup, you got it. He excels in pitching, so he's no longer allowed to play baseball. WTF?!? Anyway, it doesn't matter. The kid is now famous. He's got his own Wikipedia entry .

I take it you already know, Of tough and bough and cough and dough. Others may stumble, but not you, On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through. Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps. Beware of heard, a dreadful word, That looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead - it’s said like bed, not bead, For goodness’ sake, don’t call it ‘deed’! Watch out for meat and great and threat, (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt). A moth is not a moth in mother, Nor both in bother, broth in brother. And here is not a match for there, Nor dear and fear for bear and pear. And then there’s dose and rose and lose – Just look them up – and goose and choose. And cork and work and card and ward, And font and front and word and sword. And do and go and thwart and cart – Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start! A dreadful language? Why man alive! I’d mastered it when I was five. Bloody hell -- the English language is hard !

There's something really fucked up in the world, when an 8-year-old can be married off. Married off to a man in his fifties. Married off by her father. Where in the world does this fucked up sort of thing happen? In the Arab world, where a strict Wahabi version of Sunni Islam rules .

I keep wondering when this shit is going to happen to me -- not just when I travel to the US -- but even here in my own country. I'm just the wrong skin colour -- and being held up by border security agents, whose only qualification for the job seems to be the ability to have a total disconnect with their fellow humans, is now happening to just about anyone, with no regard for good, ole fashion, stereotypes. What's the world coming to when even the invidious public servants don't meet expectations? The world -- our democratic and free loving world -- is going the way of the totalitarian regimes. The enemy is winning, when we grow to accept the story scribed by Emily Feder at AlterNet . Feder describes the thuggery experienced while detained by Homeland Security enforcers at JFK, recently. In the past five years I have worked for human rights and refugee advocacy organizations in Serbia, Russia and Croatia, including the International Rescue Committee and USAID. I have ...

My wife and I were at the local Second Cup this evening, imbibing and completing a crossword puzzle from the Toronto Star -- as is our ritual every Thursday -- our date night. One of the clues we encountered, referenced Eric Clapton's "___ the Sheriff." That one sent me into a spin. Clapton? I was confused. I didn't even know Clapton did the song. I know the song as being written by Bob Marley and performed by him (originally performed on The Wailers' Burnin' ). WTF? The crossword puzzle clearly inferred that the song was a Clapton song -- Clapton did a cover of the song in 1974, a year after it was released by the Wailers. What a pissant that wrote that clue -- stealing the credit from Marley and handing it to Clapton in one fell swoop. So here's to correcting the literary crime. Marley wrote the song. Don't mess with him. Bob is god.

I recently completed my second Charles de Lint novel: Someplace To Be Flying -- first published in 1998. I'm now going to have to find and read every de Lint novel. The man is an amazing writer. De Lint is a contemporary fantasy author, with his stories set in modern, urban settings. Someplace To Be Flying is set in his fictional city of Newford, and it's like every major North American city -- expect, around the corner, in shadows, the places hidden in plain site, magic is happening. In Someplace To Be Flying , that magic comes in the form of the First People -- the animal people -- those that were here before the world began; that saw the coming the humans and the changes they brought in the world. De Lint pays homage to Native American mythology in Someplace To Be Flying . He deftly crafts his prose around mythology that most of us will not be familiar with, but will seem more real than the overused Judeo-Christian mythology. The novel is quite an introspection, co...

Check out Cuil ... yet another search engine claiming it's better than Google.

The headline: Deadly blasts strike Indian city . Will these fucking people ever stop? I don't mean the bomb makers, or those behind them that finance their operations, plan the logistics and pick the targets. I mean the Indians themselves -- the whole lot of them, including the Pakistanis. When extremists go mainstream, it's only due to some level of acceptance in society -- some level of sympathy, support and tolerance. What will follow this latest attack is a counterattack -- and so it will go on -- an eye for an eye, until there's no one left.

I recently finished my first Charles de Lint novel -- The Blue Girl . I'm glad I had picked it up -- sometime ago, and just stashed it in the pile of books I had every intention to read -- eventually, someday. That someday came along recently, and I finished the book way too fast. It was a pleasure to read. Charles de Lint writes fantasy novels, in an urban, contemporary setting, weaving magic into the everyday world you and I wander through without a second thought. The Blue Girl is set in the fictional North American city of Newford, which I place in Canada, since de Lint lives in Ottawa. The protagonists are two 17-year-old high school girls, Maxine and Imogene, who meet for the first time in their final year of high school. Both are outsiders, not fitting into the cool kids crowd -- because they're too smart, and weird. Maxine is the smart one, cloistered by her mother and endures the bullying any nerd would be familiar with. Imogene is the weird one, new to Redd...

The Dyson sphere , a hypothetical structure theorized by Freeman Dyson, would encompass an entire star in order to capture all of its radiant energy. It would make a cool engineering project.

Check out Radiohead's House of Cards video ... fully interactive, on Google.

I just finished reading Janna Levin 's How the Universe Got It's Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space . As the book's title alludes, Levin is a believer in a finite universe, with all the implications, even as she declares herself agnostic on the plausibility of free will. Levin supports her assertions of a finite universe, with the machinations of mathematics -- specifically, the branch describing topology . Levin is a theoretical astrophysicist. The actual content dealing with topology and supporting the argument for a finite universe would actually fit into just one chapter of the book's 200-pages -- and it presented nothing revolutionary, nothing new -- at least to my popsci understanding of the topic. Levin wrote for popsci audience. [Speaking of the CMB] This archaeological remnant of the big bang had journeyed from the farthest reaches of the cosmos that we can access and carries information about these earliest times, and so encodes all kinds of...

Whether you're into diseases or not, HealthMap , will probably both be cool and damn scary. HealthMap, a product of the Children's Hospital Informatics Program, scours sources on the internet to find out the latest outbreaks laying waste to humanity, and maps it using Google Maps. The results ... well, let's just say you'll know where you need to avoid visiting. Toronto appears to be pretty safe tonight.

Orangutan populations are in rapid decline on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo according to a just published study. This is leading scientists to warn that we may be at the cusp of the first extinction of a great ape species, our closest genetic cousins. Both Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top palm oil producers, have been aggressively expanding plantations to meet a growing global demand for biofuels -- which continue to destroy orangutan habitat. In addition, orangutans continue to be hunted for food and trade. Unless something is done immediately to turn the tide laying waste to these great apes, some researchers are predicting orangutans could be extinct by 2011.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) just wrapped up its annual meeting in Chile, and nothing has really changed. There are still two factions: those that support the hunting of whales, and want more; and those that oppose. I'm not entirely sure why the whaling industry is so important -- especially for a country like Japan , which has a special permit allowing it to hunt whales for research. The research permit allowed Japan to kill close to 1,000 whales in 2007, with the research meat ending up in the fat bellies of the Japanese. That doesn't even take into account the other whales that the Japanese consume, that were taken illegally from the oceans. The one surprise from the meeting, for me anyway, came from Denmark. The Danes, who we tend to look to with adoration because of their high scores in standard of living, want to increase the whales Greenland is allowed to slaughter for aboriginal subsistence . There's a load of bullshit. Japan shouldn't be ...

One thing the United States doesn't get about guerrilla warfare: It's not over until the guerrillas win. Gary Brecher presents an alternative view of how the conflict in Iraq will end on AlterNet -- not in the US winning, even as it continues to claim the tide is turning in its favour -- but with the forces at work against the Americans in Iraq, eventually triumphing. I'm not sure I buy into the entire argument -- however, it's definitely a possibility given the zeal behind the resistance to American domination. America hasn't won the hearts and minds of Iraqis -- not even of the American people -- it stands little to no chance of winning a protracted war in a foreign land.

Yes, your gas guzzling SUV is not only contributing to the destruction of the environment, it's also putting the world's poor and starving in more jeopardy. According to the Guardian, a secret World Bank report finds that the production of biofuels has contributed up to 75% to recent rise in food prices. The report, completed in April, was not released in order to not cause an embarrassment to George W. Bush, who's championing biofuels to reduce American dependence on foreign oil. Read more here .

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The SOS signal , the international convention for signalling distress, became effective on July 1, 1908. Prior, it was adopted by the German government in 1905. That makes the signal 100-years old, internationally, today. Umm ... happy birthday, SOS ...?

Happy Canada Day, eh! My wife and daughters just came back from raising Canada at the drivers along Steeles Ave. There was much blowing of the horns, waving of the flags and hooting and hollering at drivers to honk!

I was introduced to the Vinyl Cafe a couple of years ago by Kevin, when we were both on the same team. Kevin is a mainframe programmer and a bit of a film and book buff. If I recall correctly, Kevin used to listen to Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe on CBC radio , and one Christmas, was looking for a particular Vinyl Cafe story to read over a Christmas gathering. I helped Kevin out by visiting Amazon.com and peering between the covers to gleam the story. I suspect Kevin's Christmas went a tad better than Dave's in the story -- I'm quite sure Kevin wasn't drunk and didn't take a turkey to a hotel. Stuart McLean has published many of his Vinyl Cafe stories collected in a few volumes over the years. What better way to enjoy the quirky Canadiana that it is his characters -- sort of Bob and Doug, but without the beer and hoser phenom. I had nearly forgotten about the Vinyl Cafe , until my wife and I happened to be in a strip mall in Gander, last fall. We were k...