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1,800 years before the Swiss made their army knife, Roman soldiers were apparently equipped with this little all-purpose gadget, that didn't nothing really good, but was adequate with everything. Well, I'm not sure if all Roman soldiers were using the little gadget, but someone had one. The Roman Army Knife came with retractable spike, spatula, small tooth-pick, spoon and fork. So there you go. The Romans did it first. in reference to: The Roman Army Knife: Or how the ingenuity of the Swiss was beaten by 1,800 years | Mail Online ( view on Google Sidewiki )

As a Canadian, I cannot understand why there are so many Americans opposed to changing the nature of their health care system -- especially since it is expensive compared to what the rest of the developed world spends, and doesn't deliver the same quality of service to most -- unlike their developed world's counterparts. I can't understand why Americans defend the very insurance companies that gouge them on premiums, deny their claims and cancel policies. I was having a similar conversation with my youngest recently, regarding unions and their self-interest. She pointed out something that hadn't occurred to me before -- that people in general, do not like it when others make decisions for them. That is the trouble that regulators -- and politicians -- run into on a regular basis. They try to enact legislation to protect their constituents, but regularly run into vehement opposition. It's like the union members that have been given everything they wanted without

As much as I admire Google, they can be friggin' scary. Just take a gander at these little tidbits. While not the biggest, the Google Web Server today runs 13% of all active websites. Google has 40 data centres scattered around the world, all of them custom built to their specifications, running lots of custom-built tools -- including the Google File System, the number crunching MapReduce and the replication tool, Spanner. All of this on their own custom built hardware that is said to use a special Intel chip, and leveraging their own custom built routers. Heck, Google is also connecting their data centres across the world via its own underwater cables. Awesome power, eh? Microsoft is up to the same tricks as well, building out data centres, etc., and they have their own secrets too. The big secret with Google? Much of the aforementioned is proprietary. It's not available to anyone, other than Google, and pretty much amounts to a private internet. When Google's net

OK, I think it's stupid to ban wearing pajamas at Tesco. I also think it's stupid to wear pajamas when you go shopping. But that's me. I never have the urge to pop in for a pack of smokes. So I can't relate. in reference to: "She said she had been "popping in for a pack of fags," but if she had been doing a full shop "then we obviously would have gone in clothed". "But we only wanted fags and they still refused us to go in for a pack of cigarettes," she added." - BBC News - Tesco ban on shoppers in pyjamas ( view on Google Sidewiki )

They seem to be everywhere these days, and it's friggin' scary. It's scary that at this point in humanity's progress, we're encountering a concerted effort to take us back to the dark days when irrationality was the norm. More and more, irrational minds are making it to institutions of higher education -- which is a failure of our education system. The fact that irrational people are, 1) not being taught how to think rationally; and 2) making it into institutions of high education, is alarming. If they're not learning how to think rationally in school, then they are not being educated -- and if they are making it to post-secondary, then secondary schools are failures -- because these idiots should be failed there, and not allowed to continue any further. There is a bare minimum that is required to be able to continue. Why are they being allowed to squeak by? in reference to: "A 21-year-old medical student and member of the Islamic Society, who did not

Yes, we suck. The latest Environmental Performance Index has been released by Yale & Columbia. It ranks us 46 out of 163 countries, on 25 performance indicators. We're running middle of the pack on score, sandwiched by the likes of Mexico, Ireland, Romania, Netherlands, Fiji and the Maldives. The US is not too far behind us. Where did we really hurt? Believe it or not, air pollution's impact on the ecosystem (not human impact), was our worst score. We love pumping out sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ozone. Next, as anyone on the coastal areas of Canada will tell you, our fisheries has been decimated. We're guilty of trawling and dredging just a little too much. And the final area where we score bad, was climate change. We continue to emit way too much greenhouse gas per capita -- and CO2 for electricity generation. Topping the list, you'll find four standouts -- Iceland, #1, followed by Switzerland, Costa Rica and Sweden. A

Rush Limbaugh has finally come out and admit he has no talent and a life that is horseshit, but he doesn't have the courage to do something about it and put the rest of us out of his misery. The Onion has out done itself! in reference to: "I don't enjoy that stuff. I don't enjoy anything. I don't even want to be here. The sadness and regret I feel every waking hour of my life is absolutely unbearable. I am a miserable pig and I do not want to exist. The irony is that, even if I did die, the hell I would surely be sent to could not possibly be any worse than the bottomless pool of excrement I already paddle around in like some demented, shit-covered walrus. In fact, every time I hear my voice coming through the headphones I nearly gag, and I think, "What the fuck am I doing?" Why would I say that Michael J. Fox is faking his Parkinson's symptoms? Why would I find it funny to play a song called "Barack the Magic Negro"? Why would I tell people

Bruce Schneier makes a point that you may not want to hear. By giving up our freedoms to fight terrorists, child pornographers and other malcontents, we, the people, have handed the perfect weapon to those who want to eavesdrop on every electronic communication we make. Schneier places the blame not on China, for being able to hack Gmail, but on the western governments, led by the United States, that have passed laws that require technology companies to provide law enforcement officials a backdoor into our email accounts and phone lines. It is no secret that the telecoms in the US corporate with the US government to allow the surveillance of telephone calls across their lines and airwaves -- but what may not be widely known, is that the same is required of Internet services companies. Your email account is not secret from a curious law enforcement official. Ever wonder what else isn't totally secure? If there's a backdoor built to allow anyone access to your private inform

It's the Asians -- specifically, China and Japan, that drive the demand -- and the Africans are mixed about wanting to fulfill the demand. Mostly, it's the poachers -- but now, it's Tanzania and Zambia, who are looking to create a legitimate market for elephant tusks. A legitimate market drives demand, and also allows illegal tusks to easily slip through the cracks. The elephant population in Africa has been decimated. Chad has a few hundred left. Senegal and Liberia has fewer than 10 each. Sierra Leone lost their last elephants in November. Elephants are currently on the endangered species list -- for a reason. Other African countries oppose any legitimate sale of ivory -- and are asking the world for help. It would say something if the governments of China and Japan stepped up and voiced support for biodiversity and an endangered animal. Of course, I'm not holding my breath. in reference to: Save the elephant: ivory trading is set to resume - Nature, Environm

Criticism is easy, but offering solutions hard. The US is planning to put about 20,000 troops into operation to get Haiti back up, and France, Nicaragua and Venezuela are upset. No surprises there. Medecins Sans Frontieres want the US to deliver medicine first, and soldiers second -- or presumably, never. What's wrong with these people? Absolutely nothing, if you understand that they are motivated by self-interest. The US is likewise motivated by self-interest. What the US gets out this? Less illegal Haitian immigrations. Some goodwill after making a mess of Iraq. Haiti is in the US' backyard, so it feels (has) an obligation to respond. But who cares about the self-interest. What are the Haitians getting out of this? Stability, hopefully. Hopefully the US troops won't go off half-cocked and start murdering civilians. Soldiers on the ground will hopefully prevent the chaos from descending to savagery. Without stability, there will be no medicines delivered, no

It was a religious movie. It was about fate. It was a King James bible, written in braille. Oh, sorry, I should warn you. If you haven't seen the movie, I'm about to ruin it for you. But don't take that the wrong way. I actually was entertained by the movie. I just can help pissing all over it however, because a big part of it was silly, and the other big part of it was silly, too. What was left of the movie, was entertaining. So I advise you to check your brain at the door. The premise of the movie: 30 years ago, the world was lit up in a nuclear war -- or at least, America had nuclear weapons rain down on it. Most people died. Quite a few were blinded. Those that left, fended for themselves. In other words, they reduced themselves to savagery. Enter Eli. He's blind. But you won't find this out until the very last minute of the movie. I just ruined it for you. (My pleasure, no need to thank me.) A voice (that's god for the uninitiated) tells hi

After Google made their announcement to lift their censorship in China, regular Chinese folks from Beijing started arriving at Google.cn HQ, and leaving flowers behind. Apparently, local security guards didn't take too kindly to the act, and that led to an Internet meme and phrase "illegal flower tribute" being censored in China. Yes, this has now gotten stupid. in reference to: "subsequent visitors were arriving only to discover that the flowers donated by previous visitors had been promptly removed by the alleged "security guards", and one security guard from the neighbourhood was reported saying that, in order to deposit flowers people would need to apply for permits at the related departments; otherwise without approved permits, they would be conducting an "illegal flower tribute"." - Illegal flower tribute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( view on Google Sidewiki )

After the first season of Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols was itching to move on to her dream of Broadway and singing -- until she had a fateful run-in with Dr. King. And the rest, is history. in reference to: "And at this his face totally changed, and he said "What are you talking about?!" and so I told him I would be leaving the show, because; and that was as far as he let me go, and he said, "STOP! You cannot! You cannot leave this show! Do you not understand what you are doing?! You are the first non-stereotypical role in television! Of intelligence, and of a woman and a woman of color?! That you are playing a role that is not about your color! That this role could be played by anyone? This is not a black role. This is not a female role! A blue eyed blond or a pointed ear green person could take this role!" And I am looking at him and looking at him and buzzing, and he said, "Nichelle, for the first time, not only our little children and people can look on

This shit disgusts me, makes me angry and reminds me why we send soldiers to die in Afghanistan -- and why every member of al-Shabab should be castrated -- to start with. Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was 13-years-old, and she cried for mercy. This was after she was raped by three men, tried under Sharia law by al-Shabab in Somalia, and had her sentence for adultery handed down. They took her to a football stadium, put her in a hole up to her neck, and with an audience of over 1,000 to watch, 50 men threw stones at her. When she stopped moving, nurses went to check her pulse. She was still alive. So they put her back in the hole, and continued the stoning. She died in that hole back in October 2008. Fuck your Sharia! If you're Muslim and I offend you, then fuck you too. You should be offended by the rape and murder of Aisha. It should make your blood boil. Not because your religion was used to justify this atrocity -- but because a little girl was raped and murdered. You sho

Again, the courts disregarded the big picture -- and the big picture is we don't know for certain that there will be a problem, but we need to make a decision now, just in case. It's called the precautionary principle. The potential danger is sufficient to require action now -- it's just not worth the risk of doing nothing. What the hell is wrong with Illinois? Change would impact using the waterways for trade. in reference to: "U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan told the court that Michigan failed to show likely irreparable harm, that the state cannot prevail on the merits of its theory and Michigan cannot justify the mandatory relief it demands." - Michigan request denied in Great Lakes carp case | Reuters ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Google continues to generate news. This time, it's European publishers and regulators looking to corral its business practices. Some of the accusations are ... well ... to put it politely, stupid. The Germans are upset because Google generates more ad revenue than them -- and suggest that Google is manipulating its search results to make more money. Italians are upset that they want to opt out of Google News, but still want high ranking in Google Search. Belgians want Google News to stop linking to them, as they see no value. As I see it, Google is making a lot of money by directing people to what it thinks are relevant search results, news and placing ads to entice people to click. Other than search, how is that different from any other website that provides external links? Am I missing something? in reference to: Google Encounters Antitrust Complaint From German Publishers - NYTimes.com ( view on Google Sidewiki )

I can't believe Gaiman is a Scientologist -- or at least a reformed one -- if there is such a thing. It's a fact that I'm now, not going to forget, but will forgive, and try not to think about. Read a lengthy article on the man, published in the New Yorker, five days from now (link below). He's still one of my favourite authors. in reference to: "I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. . . . I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman." - Neil Gaiman's fantasies : The New Yorker ( view on Google Sidewiki )

With Google.cn lifting censorship of searches, some Chinese netizens have been going crazy with the searches while the going is good. They know it won't last, and they're enjoying the last days of Google.cn. The Financial Times article (linked below) looks at the issue with some broader context, and asks if the placating approach western businesses and countries have taken with China, has been the right one. Are we doing the average Chinese citizens any favours by playing by the Chinese government's rules? And what happens in the long run when China doesn't actually liberalize? Interesting points to speculate on. in reference to: ""I've been doing all sorts of crazy searches, really distracting myself from my work," says one. "I've done Tiananmen Square, the love affairs of national leaders, the corruption of leaders' children. Everything. "Another internet user says the buzz of illicit abandon is reminiscent of the mood in Tiana

Pirates are thieves. There's nothing really nice about what they do. That being said however, the Somali pirates may offer a few benefits that should be reflected on in this imperfect world. To start with, the Somali piracy problem may be a bit overblown. If 22,000 ships passed safely by Somali pirates last year, and only hundreds were taken for ransom -- recorded hijackings put the number at 42, last year -- resulting in about a $100m loss due to ransoms -- then is it really a big problem requiring the world's navies to try and manage? To increase patrols would cost a lot more money. Economically, it might be just as effective to pay higher insurance premiums and take the risk. The pirates themselves make it a dangerous place for ships to be -- especially closer to coast. There is already evidence that ships have used the waters off Somalia to dump toxic waste -- including nuclear material. Illegal fishing off Somalia's coast has also been a problem. Somalia, a fa

I just came back from seeing Avatar for the third time -- and while the visual spectacle was still there, I paid a lot more attention to the dialogue this time. A lot of the critics who panned the film, panned it for the 2-dimensional story. I will have to humbly disagree with those critics. The story, unfortunately, is just as 3D as the visual spectacle itself. The story of Avatar is the story of colonialism. Through our history, colonial powers have swept onto unprepared lands and savaged their people and environment. Today that practice continues, only this time it is mostly corporations and not just government funded mayhem that is descending on the unsuspecting. When a people is destroyed, their culture and history taken away, they are left with nothing. We shouldn't be surprised at the state Africa in which finds itself in today -- and why the tribes in North America have not recovered. It wasn't uncommon for instance for the Beothuk (the people) to be hunted for

If this report is true, whoever orchestrated this attack -- industrial espionage or just hunting for information about political dissidents -- has caused a huge embarrassment for the Chinese government. While the Chinese government continues to tell the world to stay out of its internal affairs, it has gone to pains to engage the world as an equal to the US. While the US spies -- even on its friends -- it's usually not industrial espionage -- or it's good enough to hide its trail well. Whoever did this got caught, and that can't bode well for his head. I expect if there's any mea culpa from China, it will come from a scapegoat, who will shortly lose their head after an expedient trial. in reference to: "If the report's findings are correct, it suggests that the government of China has been engaged for months in a massive campaign of industrial espionage against US companies." - Researchers identify command servers behind Google attack ( view on Google

reddit wants to help in Haiti. As of this posting, they've raised $92,033.94USD. Cool! And Pat Robertson didn't help!

For a view of what the recession looks like, the Daily Mail takes a look at shipping coming from Asia. Specifically, off the coast of Malaysia, where about 500 ships are moored, with nowhere to go, and apparently, with no cargo. It's all doom and gloom in the shipping industry apparently, with Maersk reporting it's first half-year loss in its 105-year-history, last year, and expectations that it will remain over capacity for the next couple of years. I've updated the article's satellite photo of Singapore's harbour, The latest China PMI shows December to be up from November, to 56.1 -- indicating that manufacturing is again taking off in China. Capacity isn't going towards the domestic consumer goods market however, as a lot of China's stimulus went to infrastructure spending. Will there be trickle down domestic consumer spending? Is some of that manufacturing capacity going to send goods to North America and Europe? Do we have any money to spend? Ret

Yesterday, Freedom House (FH) released it's annual edition of Freedom in the World . And, for the fourth year in a row, freedom around the world suffered another decline. FH recorded declines in 40 countries -- and in 3 of those, their citizens lost electoral freedoms. The assault on freedom came in many forms, with freedom of expression and association being the dominant areas of loss, in addition to violent repression by governments, prison sentences for dissidents, attacks on human rights activists, and, terrorism and insurgence disrupting the general population. Other trends noted by report: Russia, China, Vietnam and Iran, cracking down on frontline human rights defenders; Philippines, Russia, Pakistan, Mexico, Somalia, China, Iran and Azerbaijan, attacking journalists and new media; Guinea, Honduras, Niger and Madagascar, experiencing coups, overthrowing legitimate governments, or extending the rule of existing rulers; and, As if things weren't bad enough, from Afri

Google is now in the process of reviewing its China operations, and will be discussing with Chinese authorities the how they can remove all filters from their searches and still operate within the law. This all came to head, after Google has been censoring itself for years, after a concerted effort from hackers from China to gain access to Gmail accounts that belong to human rights activists. Google didn't say, but by implication, I'm assuming it was Chinese human rights activists. I've never been too comfortable with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft censoring themselves to operate in China. When I was there recently, I ran a little experiment myself -- nothing that would get me in trouble -- but I used Bing and Google to search in different cities. Amazingly, Google allowed me to find, more or less, some questionable content -- whereas Bing just told me that the search term was restricted and didn't give any results. This move by Google, if taken to its logical end, is

These are absolutely hilarious -- and dangerous. Adam has a problem. He talks in his sleep. His wife also has a problem -- she has to listen. But then she decided to turn an insomniac lemon into a web-lemonade. She started jotting down her sleeping husband's murmurings, and posting them on a blog. in reference to: ""Your mum's at the door again. Bury me. Bury me deep." "Yeah, keep looking. It doesn't get any better than this." "Shhhhhhhhh. shhhhhhhhh. I'm telling you: your voice, my ears. A bad combination."" - Sleep Talkin' Man ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Every single one of us has some cotton clothing in our closets. And every year we buy more, despite not needing more clothing. It's a fashion thing. We want the latest, so we splurge on new tees, shirts, skirts and the like. The world produces lots of the stuff, and the trade of raw cotton is estimated to be around $12B USD -- with the largest producers by far, China, India and the US. The cotton business is big business -- think of all of the cotton China & India consumes, to produce gawdy wear for the likes of you and I -- raw cotton may get imported directly into China & India, or woven into cloth somewhere else, before being shipped to the garment factories, where the poor toil for endless hours to produce a "Eco Friendly" tee. So how "eco friendly" is your tee? Probably not very. Cotton is one of the worst commodity crops traded internationally -- if not the worst. To begin with, the cotton fibre is mostly water -- and for the large cotton p

There is something to be said for European history. They way it's written by the Europeans, they're, of course, the heroes. They brought 'much needed' civilization to the world -- but much of that civilization came with murderous savagery. They were barbarous in their treatment of the peoples the encountered. The only ones who were greeted with any respect were those that had enough might to pose a violent threat to them (the Wazirs and Mehsuds come to mind) -- but even those few, were eventually managed so they posed little threat. The colonial legacy remains today, a sickness that besmirches the societies left behind in the wake of Europe's retreat. I haven't read much of Russia's past adventurism, so this was a little introduction for me, and reading it just left me angry. Russia's society has not advanced enough to reflect on, and acknowledge its shameful past -- which is too bad, as that may give it a little pause before it continues that sadi

As this study just published in France reveals, genetically modified (GM) maize may not be good for human consumption. The study looked at three GM maize -- NK 603 , MON 810 and MON 863 -- all of which are approved for feed and human consumption in Canada. NK 603 has been engineered to be tolerant of the herbicide glyphosate -- popularly branded by Monsanto as Roundup. Farmers are encouraged to control weed that compete with their maize crops using Monsanto's Roundup -- but since Roundup would destroy their crops as well, they needed the NK 603 genetically modified maize to be their crop. Monsanto of course, makes their money from selling both the poison that will kill their crops and the crops that have immunity from their own poison. Sweet deal. MON 810 and MON 863 GM maize, have been modified to synthesize two Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins used as insecticides -- commonly known as Dipel and Thuricide. Bt toxins are applied in a liquid spray to maize crops -- and to

One piece of evidence that is used to ascribe people-ness to homo sapiens is that fact that early in our emergence, we produced art. Art is evidence of symbolic thought -- and lack of it, specifically in Neanderthals has always been used to suggest they were mentally inferior to us. Well, guess again. Evidence has been found in last few years, and now in Spain, that gives hard evidence of Neanderthals possessing the ability to produce art -- having the same capabilities as early humans, for symbolism, imagination and creativity. Neanderthals may not have died out because they were stupid after all. Since Neanderthals and Homo sapiens existed at the same time, and most likely interacted as our ancestors emerged from Africa to Europe, there is interesting possibilities for the types of interactions we may have had. Not just exchanges in rituals and art, but there have been suggestions that inter-species breeding may have occurred. It continues to surprise that we gravitate towards the

The Mycocepurus smithii ant species, range from Northern Mexico through South America -- and scientists have found through that range, that there are no makes. Mycocepurus smithii, it seems, have dispensed with the males and the messy business of sexually reproducing. This is remarkable, because while there are ant species that reproduce asexually, the females do have the ability to produce males every now and again, for specific reproduction and probably evolutionary reasons. Just another confirmation for me, that really, the ladies would be able to get along just fine without us guys. in reference to: Ant Has Given Up Sex Completely, Researchers Confirm ( view on Google Sidewiki )

A significant attitude change is need in Asia, or we're going to end up with a lot less elephants (not to mention whales) in the near future. That attitude change is not going to coming overnight, and it's not going to come from wishful thinking -- it's going to come from education. The elephants are heading to extinction due to the ivory trade. Today's population of 600,000 elephants in Africa is being killed off at a rate of 38,000 annually -- faster than the birthrate. The death sentence needs to be handed out. in reference to: African elephants could be extinct in 15 years - Telegraph ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Fucking Japanese whalers. The fact that the UN body governing whaling continues to let the Japanese harvest whales for "scientific research" every year is appalling. in reference to: "The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s anti-whaling interceptor boat Ady Gil sank in the icy waters off Antarctica today, two days after it was rammed by a 1,000-ton Japanese whaling vessel, a spokeswoman for the militant conservation group said." - Rammed anti-whaling boat Ady Gil sinks off Antarctica | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times ( view on Google Sidewiki ) Thanks to the d in the daj for the YouTube link.

I actually don't want to see my TV in 3D. Not just because I really don't watch TV, but because, who wants to sit around at home, wearing 3D glasses, watching a little Harry Potter fly out of the screen at them. I'm liable to want to slap the annoyance away. The price that TV manufacturers will also demand of early adopters will be atrocious. That for a technology that's not mature, that will be refined, enhanced and will have much more programming available in a decade if it takes off. And who will replace all those Blu-ray discs that just replaced the old DVD ones? No, I'll stick to Avatar in the theatres, thank you very much. in reference to: TV makers bet big on 3D but payoff uncertain | Reuters ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Women already outnumber men in post-secondary education — and soon, they will do so in the workforce — US anyway, and by extension, probably in Canada as well, and a number of the other OECD countries. It is cause for celebration, since this revolution has come about within a very short period of time — and it has been done without too many bodies at the side of the road and has, for the most part been accepted by the other sex. Women's ascension have given our society much to brag about. Millions of women have been given more control over their own lives. And millions of brains have been put to more productive use. Societies that try to resist this trend — most notably the Arab countries, but also Japan and some southern European countries — will pay a heavy price in the form of wasted talent and frustrated citizens. While we brag, however, we shouldn't forget how much work still remains to be done. Women continue to be locked out at the top ranks of most organizations, a

Freescale Semiconductor has demoed a cool and affordable tablet, recently. No manufacturers have been named, but they can't be far behind. Check out the specs below: in reference to: * Size: 200mm by 128mm by 14.9cm and weighing 376 grams; no need for fan or heat sink * Processor: Freescale i.MX515 applications processor provides high performance and low power * ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz * OpenVG & OpenGL/ES graphics cores * HD video decoder hardware * Memory: 512 MB DDR2 * Display: 7-inch (1024 by 600) touch screen * Storage: 4-64 GB internal storage; removable micro SD * Connectivity: 3G modem (option) 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, RF4CE (option) * Ports: USB 2.0 and USB mini (also for charging), audio in/audio out, SIM card * Audio: speaker, microphone * Camera: 3 Megapixel (video recording up to VGA @ 30fps) * Battery: 1900mAh, USB charging * Sensors: the MMA8450Q three-axis accelerometer and an ambient light

Here's the problem with our democracy. It really isn't one. It really isn't one because of you, and you and you -- you that didn't vote -- you that decided that you couldn't find the hour, once every four years, to go down to the local school, community centre or church, and cast your ballot. You, and you and you -- you're at fault for not educating yourself on the platforms of the political parties -- and the issues whose resolution is at stake. You, and you and you, who take your precious gift of a vote, and spurn it every four years. If you don't like to vote, there is a despot somewhere in the world who could use you to trample on. Just saying, get out and vote, eh. in reference to: Direct democracy: The tyranny of the majority | The Economist ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Back on June 16, 2007, I went to some show at 2 in the afternoon. I don't remember what it was. For some reason however, I wrote all over the ticket. I haven't the foggiest why I would have done that. Not a single clue. I'm sure there was a reason when I was doing it -- and it doesn't necessarily relate to the show. Reason is now lost. It was all animal names however. Long-tailed Macaque Sumatran Tigers Red River Hog Mandrill Grey Crowned Crane Cichlids of Lake Malawi Fishes West African Dwarf Crocodile Zebra Olive Baboon South African Ostrich Sable Antelope Giraffe Cougar Cygnet Swans Moose Arctic Wolf Sumatran Tiger (wrote that twice -- must have been a reason, too) Peacock Malayan Tapir There is a point of sharing this with the world, of which only a few people will read. We like to think things are important when we're in the middle of doing them. But if we could look back at what was important sometime later -- in this case, a year and half -- we'

I fully support any campaign to end stupid laws -- especially those that hinders fundamental human rights -- that of free speech. You don't have to like what someone says, but you should fight for their right to say it, regardless of whether you agree with it or not. in reference to: "We believe in the golden rule: that we have a right to be treated justly, and that we have a responsibility to treat other people justly. Blasphemy laws are unjust: they silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilised society, people have a right to to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous." "In this context we now publish a list of 25 blasphemous quotes, which have previously been published by or uttered by or attributed to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Mark Twain, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, James Kirkup, Monty Python, Rev Ian Paisley, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, Bjork, Amanda Donohoe, George Carlin, Pa

They are not cuddly play things -- they are in fact intelligent -- and are second only to humans (some of us, anyway). Evidence for dolphins to be considered persons: neuroanatomy; psychology; behaviour; cultural/social. in reference to: "Marino and Reiss will present their findings at a conference in San Diego, California, next month, concluding that the new evidence about dolphin intelligence makes it morally repugnant to mistreat them. Thomas White, professor of ethics at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, who has written a series of academic studies suggesting dolphins should have rights, will speak at the same conference. “The scientific research . . . suggests that dolphins are ‘non-human persons’ who qualify for moral standing as individuals,” he said." - Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons' - Times Online ( view on Google Sidewiki )

It's one of the few feminist bookstores still around, and being an independent bookstore in the era of the conglomerates, it's finding itself in danger financially. Sales just aren't what they used to be. It seems like what has been afflicting feminism -- namely pop culture in the likes of Britney Spears and her ilk -- is being felt by organizations such as the TWB. This is really too bad, as the bookstore has been one of my favourites in Toronto, although since I left university, the travel to it for no good reason, has kept me away. It's too bad because of the selection it carries is ironically, more than just motivated by profit -- altruism for the cause has been the primary motivator. You'll find more independent publishers at the TWB than anywhere else. The TWB is also a haven for outreach to the feminism community (which I'm afraid doesn't include everyone of the female gender) -- running numerous courses on a variety of topics. I'm sure it

You may have noticed that I've started using Google's Sidewiki in the past few weeks. I started using it more for my own purposes at first. It allows easy posting of blog entries; and allows me to quickly annotate a site I've found, that I may wish to refer to later on. (I'm not a bookmark freak -- there are too many of them, and I can never find what I'm looking for.) I figure I could simply search Sidewiki when I'm looking for something relevant. I wish however, that Google would further integrate Sidewiki with some of its other services. Blogger integration is nice, but only in its infancy. There is no integration with tags for instance, and the editor is basic. I'd also like to see the ability to add or edit html to Sidewiki entries -- that way, rich media or code could be added to posts. Google could also clear up some of the confusion with Notebook. I would like the ability to cross-post certain Sidewiki entries to Notebook -- and integration

When I take the long-term view, I can see both material and social progress. But it's a struggle with pessimism in the near-term -- as globally, material progress is slow and tedious -- and social progress is just stagnant. Maybe because we've achieved so much in such a short period of time -- both materially and socially -- that it's a struggle to make the incremental progress. What served the few well to make the leap in the last few centuries, was the backs of the many -- and along the way, the many rode the tail of progress. Now however, a new mechanism of progress is needed. We can't keep doing it on the backs of the many. They won't let us. We haven't discovered the new way forward yet -- and the tools of the past are simply barbaric and shouldn't be used. What's next? in reference to: "In the rich world the idea of progress has become impoverished. Through complacency and bitter experience, the scope of progress has narrowed. The popul