¦¦ According to Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker, Donald Rumsfeld and his civilian advisors have been handling the day-to-day aspects of the war on Iraq, much to the chagrin and anger of senior Pentagon war planners. Rumsfeld is denying the charge, saying he bullied no one. With the war seemingly dragging on despite being less than two weeks old, news coverage of this article has already circled the globe. Hersh is a respected investigative journalist, having won the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for exposing the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968. BTW, my mother brought this to my attention. Thanks, Mom! :-)
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¦¦ An interesting take on what might happen in the documentary industry in the wake of both Michael Moore's acceptance speech at the Oscars, and the success financially of Bowling for Columbine. Has the door been opened for a wave of feature-length documentaries?
The reaction to Moore's speech has its contrarians, of course. BTW, for the week ending March 25, 2003, Moore was #7 in the Top 10 Gaining Queries list from Google.
Moore is not losing any momentum. His next film, Farenheit 911, will examine the link between Al Qaeda and Dubya Sr.
¦¦ This article pretty much sums up the insanity regarding the Oscar nominations - old news, perhaps, but it's infuriating to be reminded that Peter Jackson wasn't nominated for Best Director for Lord of the Rings: TTT. (The error in Devin Gordon's article appears when he points out that Jackson had been snubbed for the 2002 nomination for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, as well - he wasn't, he did receive a nomination for that 2001 Oscar.) Also, consider that in 2002, LOTR:TFOTR won Oscars for Best Makeup and Original Score, and LOTR:TTT wasn't nominated in either category for 2003. Eh??? As David Gordon points out in the article, the work is essentially the same. A backlash against TTT? Duh.
| TrackBack (0)¦¦ My admiration for Michael Moore has gone up a notch, after reading a number of entries on his web site. He has an essay, "I'd Like To Thank The Vatican", added on 27 March 03, which offers his view of the Academy Awards. Biased I'm sure, but if he is to be believed, then as viewers, we were hosed when the booing began, and when Gil Cates ordered the orchestra to start playing, and his microphone began receding into the floor. In his words:
Moments later, Diane Lane opened the envelope and announced the winner: "Bowling for Columbine." The entire main floor rose to its feet for a standing ovation. I was immeasurably moved and humbled as I motioned for the other nominees to join my wife (the film's producer) and me up on the stage.
I then said what I had been saying all week at those other awards ceremonies. I guess a few other people had heard me say those things too because before I had finished my first sentence about the fictitious president, a couple of men (some reported it was "stagehands" just to the left of me) near a microphone started some loud yelling. Then a group in the upper balcony joined in. What was so confusing to me, as I continued my remarks, was that I could hear this noise but looking out on the main floor, I didn't see a single person booing. But then the majority in the balcony -- who were in support of my remarks -- started booing the booers.
Why didn't we see shots of the actors applauding him, like Ed Harris, and apparently many others? In an article that appeared in Democrat & Chronicle, he answered charges that by dissing Bush and the Iraq war during his acceptance speech, he wasn't being patriotic:
As for charges that his remarks were unpatriotic, Moore said, “It’s unpatriotic to remain silent when you believe something is wrong. Silence is duplicitous. I want all our soldiers to come home alive.
The American national anthem reminds us that the USA is "the land of the free." At this time, free speech and dissent are under siege in America. Did I expect to read stuff on Moore's site bashing Michael Moore? Of course not, and I realize he's posting words and article links that are favorable to him. I wasn't thrilled with his speech, but I respect his right to make it - others did that night as well, and were not booed. In their own way, Gael García Bernal, Susan Sarandon, Barbara Streisand, Chris Cooper, and Adrien Brody expressed their concern and fears about the war; however, in the process they didn't slam Dubya.
¦¦ Yesterday in Sydney, Australia, there was a huge protest against the war in Iraq. A participant videotaped some of the march, it's mostly raw footage with some short interviews interspersed throughout. (Note: an ad plays before you can watch the video.)
¦¦ The only film nominated in one of the major Oscar categories that I did not see in 2002 was Y Tu Mama Tambien. I hope to rectify that soon. In the meantime, read this fascinating short interview with the director, Alfonso Cuarón, from last Sunday's NYT Magazine. Chances are you won't guess what film he's now directing.
¦¦ On March 25th in Toronto, Paul Cellucci, the US Ambassador to Canada, spanked our national ass and sent us to bed without supper.
¦¦ The Book-Film-TV-Video Critiquees are the awards voted on by members of Blogcritics (of which I am one - but didn't vote, this happened before I was invited to join.)
¦¦ Many reviews of the Oscars have been written this week, and my favorite was in Michael Musto's column in The Village Voice. His take on Jennifer Connelly is too good.
¦¦ "Should Celebrity Activists Shut Up for Now?" This piece appeared on Salon.com, and is "reprinted" on Bill Maher's site, featuring interviews with two of my favorite entertainers, Maher, and Janeane Garofalo. (I saw both of them in NYC in November 2002)
¦¦ Did you hear that the Boeing 777 carrying Tony Blair to the USA to meet with Dubya was struck by lightning? A message from God, perhaps?
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¦¦ Two librarians at the Leddy Library, University of Windsor in Ontario, have created a site called "Iraq 2003: Sources of News". The site includes alternative media sources as well as mainstream outlets. The site creators are encouraging feedback. One of the librarians, Lisa Sloniowski, has sent an e-mail to a library-related listserv, describing the page. With her permission, I'm posting it here as well:
"Hello. Myself and a colleague at the University of Windsor's Leddy Library have created a couple of pages of links for people interested in finding information on the situation in Iraq. We've tried to prioritize alternative news media and international outlets. These pages were done as part of preparation for a teach-in to be held at the Leddy library this week, which will investigate mainstream media coverage of the war, and strategies for finding alternative press (specifically anti-war) information.http://www.uwindsor.ca/units/leddy/2002.nsf/HelpSubjectGuidesIraq2003
This page is a work in progress. There are many other sites out there that could be added to the list, but we've tried to list those that jumped to mind most quickly. If anyone has a suggestion on a particularly good site that should be considered -- please send it our way.
Further, if anyone would like to link to our page, or use information from it to build their own library portal for news on Iraq, please feel free. Do let us know how you use it -- as we're curious to see if the site is of value to the librarian community. Also, if there are other similar library projects out there, do let me know, as we'd also like to know if other libraries/librarians are engaging in the conversation on this issue.
thanks!
Lisa
******************
Lisa Sloniowski
Information Literacy Librarian
Leddy Library, University of Windsor
(519) 253-3000, ex. 3857
lisas@uwindsor.ca"
At this point, I can tolerate barely the mainstream media coverage of the Iraq crisis. In fact, I am watching and/or reading very little about the war. It's too depressing. It's good to have alternative sources of coverage.
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¦¦ A word from the Harry Potter series has been accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary. In the books, a Muggle is a person with no magical powers. OED has accepted the word and extended its definition to mean "a person who lacks a particular skill or skills, or who is regarded as inferior in some way." Previous OED definitions of muggle include "a tail representing that of a fish", "a young woman; (spec.) a sweetheart", and "marijuana. Also: a marijuana cigarette; a joint. muggle-head...a marijuana smoker" I wonder which of the previous definitions may have influenced JKR.
| TrackBack (0)¦¦ With encouragement and guidance from Heavy G, I successfully embedded trackback coding into my templates tonight. (I know, it doesn't make much sense to me either). But I'm glad I finally did it. Geoff mentioned an interesting graphical show-and-tell about how trackback works. I think it's finally beginning to make sense. Now the Amazing Trotts, creators of Moveable Type, have written A Beginner's Guide To Trackback.
Now I need to learn how to use it!
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¦¦ The brain functions better with sleep, of which I have not been getting much lately. Today at work the world was spinning too quickly - so much paper pushing. Yeesh.
¦¦ Librarians looking for an interesting sig file can check Lib.Sigs., "Quotations for Librarians' E-mail Signature Files". The latest entry comes from the Oscars, courtesy of Michael Moore: "We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times."
¦¦ Speaking of Michael Moore's Oscar acceptance speech, this evening I watched a video of the IFP Independent Spirit Awards, which were handed out on Saturday night, the day before the Oscars. Moore won an award there as well, and his acceptance speech was essentially the same one he gave at the Academy Awards, but longer and more drawn out, as he didn't face a time constraint, and the attendees, independent filmmakers, writers, actors, etc., were on his side for the most part. The nominees and award winners are listed here.
¦¦ Remember Clonaid and their claims of having created clone babies? Apparently this is a picture of the third one. What, you thought there were only two clone babies? Well, try five.
¦¦ Tired of the one-sided tv coverage of the war on Iraq? I'm disgusted with the coverage on CNN today, broadcasting interviews with families of captured US soldiers - what horse pucky! One interviewer asked a father if he'd prefer to have his son released. Well, DUH! Hey, can we get a few more retired generals on board? Cheer up and read You Might Be A Right Wing Republican If ...
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¦¦ I watched the Oscars tonight with friends, something I haven't done for so long I can't remember the last time it happened. I enjoyed watching the awards and exchanging comments along the way. In my predictions, I went 3-8, not a good score. I was thrilled for Adrien Brody, by far the surprise award of the evening. I thought Michael Moore's acceptance speech started well, and ended poorly, but not because of its content. I support him, appreciate his anger towards the injustice in the world, and wish there were more like him out there willing to speak their minds so freely and with conviction. I realize that his words were in character, and were what we were privately expecting to hear. I wish he'd have expressed himself with more grace and dignity, and with respect for the moment. The rant that Dubya didn't win the election because he lost the popular vote in 2000 is such old news by now. Regardless, I'm glad he won.
That said, check out his comments in the press room after he won the award. I admire him for standing by his actions, and he makes a convincing case for saying what he did, which is the defense of free speech in a country where free speech is under seige.
I was disappointed that Eminem decided not to appear. This may be the first time in 75 years that a nominated song was not performed at the Oscars, and then won the award.
As for Martin Scorsese, his award, if ever, will wait for another film in another time. That Gangs of New York didn't receive one award, however, was a bit much - it's a powerful film that at the very least deserved the award for Art Direction.
| TrackBack (0)¦¦ I've spent an hour wrestling with HTML coding for tables, trying to create a 4 column by 9 row table to list my Oscar predictions, deserveds and sentimental favourites. Alas, I am HTML-challenged. So I'll do it the old fashioned way, one line at a time.
I've seen every movie nominated in these eight categories this year excepy Y Tu Mamá También, for Best Original Screenplay. My picks are listed as Will Win (W), Deserves to Win (D), Hope It/She/He Wins (H):
Film: Chicago (W), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (D), Gangs of New York (H)
Actor: Jack Nicholson (W), Daniel Day-Lewis (D), Daniel Day Lewis (H)
Actress: Renée Zellweger (W), Salma Hayek (D), Julianne Moore (H)
S Actor: Chris Cooper (W, D, H)
S Actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones (W), Meryl Streep (D), Catherine Zeta-Jones (H)
Director: Martin Scorsese (W), Rob Marshall (D), Martin Scorsese (H)
Original Screenplay: Gangs of New York (W, D, H)
Adapted Screenplay: Adaptation (W), The Hours (D), The Pianist (H)
Glaring Omissions and Oddities: Denis Quaid in Far From Heaven, Minority Report in many categories, especially Visual Effects, Peter Jackson for Best Director (LOTR:TTT). Can anyone tell me how My Big Fat Greek Wedding received a nomination for Original Screenplay? Wasn't the movie adapted from Nia Vardalos's one-woman play? The most insane nominations in a category: Frida and The Time Machine in Best Makeup! What is up with THAT? Was it that difficult to design a unibrow? Did none of the nominators see Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Hours, Minority Report, or even Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones??? Good grief...
Should be a fun evening, lots of quality movies this year.
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¦¦ Some years ago I asked my mother if she remembered first hearing about the start of WWII in 1939. She was 7 years old at the time, and said she did. She was playing outside, bouncing a ball against a wall, and heard another kid say the war had started. Tonight I was in Safeway buying some groceries, and while standing in line at the checkout, heard a staff member say, "We're at war. Started about 20 minute ago." She then began bagging my groceries for me. I'll probably remember that moment for the rest of my life.
¦¦ The link to Michael Moore's letter to "Governor Bush" is spreading through blogdom like a virus. But it's a virus worth spreading.
¦¦ Of interest to me is the bashing being absorbed by Natalie Maines and The Dixie Chicks, after Maines' comment at a recent concert in London, England: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Shortly after her comment made it to the shores of the USA, The Chicks issued a statement clarifying her earlier comment, and two days later, Maines issued an demeaning apology, most likely with the pressure from and the urging of The Chicks' record company, as fans began steamrolling their CDs and country music stations stopped playing their music.
I give props to Maines for having the guts to speak her mind, perhaps unaware of the consequences, but having done so despite that. It's unfortunate that she had to issue an apology that reads like she got a spanking and was sent to her room without dinner for being a bad girl. Oddly enough, on her website (or a website devoted to her, I can't tell), is a different message: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ***Theodore Roosevelt***" Strong words, but words that do not seem to apply to the Bush Administration.
I think I will buy their new album.
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¦¦ Two fish cutters slaughtering live carp in NYC heard one of the fish began speaking in Hebrew about the imminent end of the world. Fact or fiction? You decide.
| TrackBack (0)¦¦ From Blogcritics.org: I will preface this (first) review by noting that it will be quite biased. Jessica Owen is also known as The Artist Formerly Known As Jessica Schoenberg. The review is biased because when Jess lived in Edmonton, I performed alongside her for a couple years (93-94), and played guitar on and arranged most of her first album, Sounds Like A Plan, released on cassette only.
Since that time she has changed her styles many times, (and her stage name once), returning to her roots with her fourth release in 1999, Humanisms. By that I mean a more balanced and primarily acoustic sound, yet one in which she is in full control.
Her new album, Ever-So-Slightly Rearranged, continues a musical journey begun in the early 1990s. On this album, she has abandoned her solo songwriting on six of eleven tunes, sharing these duties with her producer, Andrew Hollander, NYC singer/songwriter Bree Sharp, and Diane Scanlon. This time out, she experiments a wee bit with electronic sounds and drum loops and the like, giving the music an edge it didn't have before. At first I found some of this distracting, but I've grown to like its place on the record over time.
It is difficult to chose one standout cut, but I'll defer to Mr Billboard. It has a great single-note guitar progression that draws the listener close, and explodes with a powerful chorus over which Jessica layers an infectious harmony. As if that's not enough, Jessica plays a short, distorted guitar solo unlike anything I've heard her play before. Jessica and Bree Sharp combine their writing skills on a nifty road tune called American Highway. Guitarist Steve Conte fills the song with tasty licks reminiscent of John Leventhal. Love Song deceives the listener by opening with a gentle acoustic hook on her Stella guitar and then without warning, shifts gears into warp speed and turns the song into a driving mix of electric guitars and fuzz bass.
I like Hollander's production, which allows Jessica's incredible voice and melodies to shine in tandem with some great arrangements. The album is a mix of acoustic and electric, of hearfelt tunes and hard-edged songs. Like I said, it's a biased review - nonetheless, I recommend Jessica Owen's new album for your collection.
¦¦ Recently I was invited to join Blogcritics.org by the editor of the site. While not really fancying myself a critic per se (writing ability helps), I decided to accept, and posted my first review yesterday. One of the editorial requests is to post the reviews on my own site as well, so what you've just read is my first review. (Now, go buy the album!!)
| TrackBack (0)¦¦ The world will get more complicated and frightening this week. One of my colleagues mentioned "war anxiety" today. I'm thinking I'd like to lighten things up a bit, so I'll mention the upcoming film A Mighty Wind, which features the legendary 60s acoustic group, The Folksmen. The first I heard of The Folksmen was in the mid-80s on SNL, when they reunited to sing their Top 70 hit from 1962, "Old Joe's Place." Be in line on April 16th! (BTW, any and all feelings of deja vu re: Spinal Tap, is intended.)
¦¦ The new Steely Dan album, Everything Must Go, the follow-up to their Grammy-winning Two Against Nature, will be in the stores on June 10th.
¦¦ The Beatles Anthology will be released on DVD in a couple weeks. The Beatles' web site is dedicated to this release, but it's a bit frustrating to have to move the cursor around the screen to locate the "hidden" video and info nodes.
¦¦ In other news, McDonald's outlets in three US cities will offer one hour of Wi-Fi to customers that buy a combination meal. Geoff, we'll have to check this out in NYC in June.
¦¦ I guess it can't be all fun all the time. Read this scathing indictment of the US education system, Learning To Be Stupid In The Culture Of Cash. The author laments the absence of awareness and knowledge geography, history, philosophy, and political science among her students. This may sound familiar to Albertans. In the early days of Ralph Klein, our current premier and de facto King, some members of his political party, at a convention in Banff, seriously considered having the philosophy and psychology departments at universities in Alberta closed down, because they didn't generate money or wealth. Dumbing down, anyone?
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¦¦ The Edmonton Journal published a feature on blogging in the Friday 14 March 2003 edition. Written by Mairi MacLean, the two pieces feature comments from a number of locals, including Geoff, Robert (in Lethbridge), Jen, myself, and a mention of Kelly's site as well. Given the small amount of coverage available in a newspaper, I thought Mairi did a good job introducing blogging to the EJ readers. My only quibble: the URLs for the websites mentioned were not included in the print or online(!) versions of the articles.
¦¦ In the world of You-Gotta-Be-Sh*tting-Me, a woman in Germany began emerging from a 6-year coma when her parents took her Regensburg to listen to a Bryan Adams concert. My favorite take on the story left me in tears from laughing. Previously Bryan Adams was known only for Waking Up The Neighbours, not comatose fans. Meanwhile, in Kenya, sadly, three people died trying to retrieve a mobile phone that fell into an open-pit latrine.
¦¦ It's unfortunate that you need to subscribe to read stories from the NYTimes Magazine online. The March 9 issue features three fascinating articles on: face transplant surgery, "smart-mobbing" the antiwar movement, and a disturbing piece on Mel Gibson and his father, orthodox Catholic theologian Hutton Gibson. Discussed is The Passion, Mel Gibson's upcoming movie on the last 12 hours of the life of Christ, with the actors speaking in Latin and Aramic only. There will be no subtitles. "Gibson has has said that he hopes to depict Christ's ordeal using 'filmic storytelling techniques' that will make the understanding of the dialogue uncessary." (NYTimes, 9 March 02, p53) The publication of the article has infuriated the younger Gibson. What is disturbing about the article in the NYTimes Magazine are some of Hutton Gibson's beliefs such as: the Sept 11 jets were not flown by Al-Qaeda operatives but were remote-controlled, and that the Holocaust never happened.
¦¦ Why are there not enough hours in the day to do what you want to do?
¦¦ Forthcoming project: to record in a notepad every song that appears in my head in one day from wakeup in the morning to going to sleep at night the same day.
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¦¦ Today was a busy day at work: I attended three meetings and worked a shift in public service. Somewhere in there I was able to fit in lunch. After my final meeting, I headed for a quick workout, and then to dinner at the home of my friend and colleague, Kathryn, who is an amazing chef: Nova Scotia haddock, asparagus, sapphron rice, delicious salad, apple cranberry crisp. This was, you see, a bribe to entice me to join her at the Edmonton International Film Festival gala screening of Marion Bridge, the first feature film by director Wiebke von Carolsfeld. The film stars one of my favorite actresses, BC native Molly Parker, whose films include The Center of the World, Sunshine, Men With Brooms, and one of my favorite films of 2002, Max. During the drive down, I mentioned that the gala screenings at the festival usually feature the director and an actor or two from the film, and I jokingly suggested that maybe Molly Parker would appear. When we arrived, I learned that in fact she was there! My smile grew very wide!
Marion Bridge film tells the story of three sisters in Cape Breton, who are facing their mother's impending death and the need to exorcise some of their own inner demons and past secrets. Molly plays Agnes, who returns from Toronto to be with her sisters and mother, and decides to stay for an extended period of time. Agnes is dealing with past drug and alcohol addiction, and her return is met with her sisters' scepticism. Rebecca Jenkins plays the oldest sister, Theresa, apparently divorced/separated from her ex-husband/partner, but who cannot leave her past life with him alone. The youngest sister, Louise, played by Stacy Smith, seems to be not much more than a bump on a log - endlessly watching her shows on television and otherwise doing much of nothing, trying to numb out the world.
The screenplay, by Daniel MacIvor, never feels forced - there is genuine pain shared by the sisters, and slowly we learn details about their past lives, some of them very unpleasant. Yet the film has gentle moments of humour, almost to give the audience a time out from the intensity of the story.
I enjoyed the movie, and afterwards, Molly and Weibke did a Q&A with the audience, hosted by Brian Johnson of Maclean's. I found the courage to ask Molly a question about her acting choices, and Weibke a question about how she cast the movie. Afterwards, there was a reception in the lobby of the Horowitz Theatre, and Molly was there, talking to some of the moviegoers. I couldn't resist, and made my way over to where she was, eventually talking to her briefly, and having my picture taken standing next to her! I can report that she is incredibly warm and graceful, a delight to talk to, and very gracious to have allowed me to have a picture taken with her. She gave me permission to post it on the site, which I will do sometime soon (the picture was taken by someone else at the screening who I know from volunteering at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival - talk about good luck!)
What a nice ending to the day. Thanks, Molly!
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¦¦ It's lunchtime here at the ol' SciTech Library, and as I munch down my spinach salad, covered with cooked chicken breast, tomato, and shredded mild cheddar cheese, I discovered a story that makes me so proud to have been born and raised in Manitoba. A pizza delivery driver in Selkirk MB, also a single mother, stopped to help a gunshot victim, and was dismissed from her job shortly afterwards. In fact, her boss had driven by and saw her before she'd even left the scene. He stopped and told a policeman that she would be dismissed. The manager noted: "She wasn't dismissed because she was at the shooting scene," he said. "She was away from her job for no good reason" (my highlight).
The story is receiving North American press coverage. The Winnipeg Sun received dozens of e-mails denouncing the restaurants owners and calling for a boycott.
Now that's compassion defined, dontcha think? I hope the residents in Selkirk rally around her, and stop buying pies from Frank's Pizza. Maybe it needs a new slogan: Our Pies Are Delivered Hot, Unless You Get Shot. The story has been picked up internationally, and the manager, Jason Boyd, is getting skewered royally. Read some of the comments on Foodinc.ca. I encourage you to submit comments here as well.
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¦¦ With all due respect to my many dear American friends, occasionally you shake your head in disbelief at what some of them do to get attention, especially in the name of so-called patriotism. Will the "average" American ever learn that there is sentient life outside the 48 contiguous, and, gosh darn it, that it matters too?
¦¦ Another pronouncement from the established media that blogging is now mainstream.
¦¦ Late night musical discovery: Secondsight, from North Carolina.
¦¦ It makes good sense that my friend and colleague Stephen Abram is a member of the Internet Librarian Hall of Fame. My question is: how does one qualify, and who makes decision to induct?
¦¦ It was great to see SNL pay tribute last Saturday to Fred Rogers. Horatio Sanz sat on stage near the end and sang a song in his honour. In the past, SNL skewered him mercilessly, the high water mark being the early 1980's with Eddie Murphy, when he did Mr Robinson's Neighborhood. National Lampoon was in on it as well, satirizing him on one of their first albums. Read a most heartfelt tribute to Rogers from PopMatters.
¦¦ Make your own online kaleidoscope! The Internet justs gets better every day.
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¦¦ At Geoff's suggestion, I've added Blogrolling to manage the weblog links in the right hand column. So far I've added the locals only. I am behind in learning more about CSS, RSS feeds, etc. In time...
¦¦ Curb Your Enthusiasm, already through its third season on HBO, finally made it to Canadian television a few weeks ago. It's hilarious, and I'm hooked. Yes, we still cannot get HBO in Canada. Bloody CRTC, protecting me from that dangerous American culture, and helping Canadian broadcasters produce other stuff of no interest to me in general. My feeling: let the Canadians produce a zillion shows, but don't deny me the right to watch HBO as well.
¦¦ It's late...time for bed.
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¦¦ Each day we look for meaning in what we do, in what happens to us. This weekend reminded me of how important and rewarding it is to have great friends, to laugh and be silly, to meet friends and just talk about whatever, to eat good food, and to care about those less fortunate. A close family member has been struggling for a year to find meaningful employment, and a favorite cousin, dealing with Krohn's disease for years, had another major surgery this past week. I keep them close to my heart, and when I step back for a moment, can easily see how incredibly fortunate I am to be in Edmonton, with great friends and colleagues, a great job, clean air, food in my belly, and warmth in my home when the temperature hits -40C/F, like it did yesterday. No, I'm not going to suggest you hug someone you love, but please permit me this moment to wax eloquent about what's important to me at this time. And if you do hug someone, more power to you! Thank you.
¦¦ We are looking forward to breaking through to the plus side temperatures by Friday, when the mercury is forecast to rise from -23C on Thursday to +13C on Friday. I'll believe it when I feel it.
¦¦ The lead story in our newspaper today decries the impending shortage of doctors and nurses in Alberta, and in Canada. The blame for this in Alberta falls squarely on the shoulders of our provincial government, which cut enrolment in medical schools in the late 80s by 10%, and then, subsequent to the election of Ralph Klein, rolled back and froze the wages of public sector workers, and proceeded to lay off thousands of nurses and teachers, sending them a clear, intractable message that they were not wanted nor needed in Alberta. (The Government would have you believe that they did nothing of the kind, that the bad news was delivered by our hospital boards, but the boards get their funding from the Province...)
The Alberta Government, in power for decades, and in power with its current leader since 1993, has become arrogant and uncaring, not that it cared before. To borrow a friend's phrase, they have liquid nitrogen coursing through their collective veins. Consider that Advanced Education is not important enough in this province to warrant its own ministry, but gambling is. Consider that my university, and other post-secondary educational institutions, have been promised a 2% increase in funding for 2003-2004, which doesn't cover inflation, and obviously allows for no growth without budget cutbacks or deficits. Our salaries at the U of Alberta rose 1.5% between 1991 and 2001, when adjusted for inflation.
In 1993, Klein told us, as he rolled back our wages and froze them for three years, that "short term pain for long term gain" was important. It's 9 years later, and nothing has changed.
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¦¦ The Friday Five:
1. What was the last song you heard?
Don't Dream It's Over, but by Sixpence None The Richer (on the radio)
2. What were the last two movies you saw?
Minority Report, The Rookie
3. What were the last three things you purchased?
Rice Krispie square, French bread, Gala apples
4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
Have friends over for an Outer Limits Pizza Party, jam with Peter, have dim sum at New Tan Tan, attend a Pilates class
5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
Geoff, someone in an elevator, Carlos Lange, someone else in Mech Eng, a grad student in mech eng.
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¦¦ So it's come to this: in the USA, you must use caution when wearing a t-shirt that reads: Give Peace A Chance and Peace on Earth. A 60-year old lawyer was arrested in a mall in Albany NY for refusing to remove his t-shirt, featuring the aforemention phrases. His 31-year old son avoided arrest by removing his t-shirt, which read, No War With Iraq and Let Inspections Work. The capper: he bought the t-shirt in a store in the mall. The good news is the mall owner has dropped the charges after protestors entered the mall wearing similar t-shirts, and refused to leave until the charges were dropped; what's insane is that the charges were ever laid in the first place.
Since Sept 11 2001, free speech is America isn't as free as it was once perceived to be. I watched Politically Incorrect the first night it was back on the air after the attacks, and heard Bill Maher suggest that the pilots of those planes were not cowards, but that the American military was, for lobbing missles from hundreds of miles away. He was admonished by Ari Fleischer, in what smacked as censorship from the White House.
The last time I visited NYC, I entered a shop in Times Square that sold souvenir t-shirts. One of the t-shirts read: F*ck You, You F*cking F*ck. I couldn't believe it. I thought, well, can it get any more extreme. That shirt would offend me many times more than a peace t-shirt.
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The temperature in Edmonton at the moment is -33C. The long range forecast for next Friday is +12C. There is hope.
¦¦ This is so annoying. But if you look closely, notice that the template of symbols changes every time. That has to have something to do with how it works. D'oh!
¦¦ For those interested in the Sept 11 building performance information, two good engineering publications exist, one online. The American Society of Civil Engineers has just published The Pentagon Building Performance Report. The report concludes that original design features, modified by recent upgrades, limited the collapse of the building after the airliner crashed into it. Within the report is a blurry picture taken by a security camera that catches the plane, barely a few feet off the ground, if at all, just before it crashes into the first floor of the Pentagon. Some illustrations from the report are available for viewing.
ASCE was also involved in the World Trade Center building performance study , released in the fall of 2002 by FEMA.
¦¦ At first I thought this was bogus. Mike sent a note about leaflets being dropped on Iraq since November 28, 2002. News releases accompany the images. Even weirder: scripts from radio broadcasts into Iraq.
¦¦ The current issue of Science features information on new views of Jupiter. (You need password access to read the article.) MSNBC offers more from the issue, including a set of incredible pictures from Galileo spacecraft (see left hand column.) Hard to believe that only a few years ago, it was thought that Jupiter had only 12 moons - 47 have now been identified. Pity Saturn, with only 30.
¦¦ I started a Stott Pilates class last night. I find it fascinating, and will continue.
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¦¦ Mike notified me about this story on MSNBC: Marketers at Dr Pepper (the soft drink) have decided to use blogs as a new marketing tool, to advertise their new milk-based product, Raging Cow. A blog has already been created that is home to a fictional account of the history of the drink. From the MSNBC site: "Next comes a blog-related twist on viral marketing—recruiting “key influence bloggers” to promote Raging Cow by sharing their enthusiasm, linking to the site and distributing special screensavers, banners and skins." Does anyone else think this might backfire, except among dough-headed teenagers (which means not ALL teenagers, just the dough-headed ones)?
Then again, just by mentioning it on my site, I've added one more link to their product (out in April), so maybe I'm part of the plan.
¦¦ My right eye is healing, after using prescription eye drops for a day.
¦¦ Every so often while maintaining this blog site, I reach a point of minor frustration - I want to clean up the coding, make the site work better in other browsers, etc. I'm working on that now, albeit really, really slowly.
¦¦ There is no end in sight to our frigid temperatures, expected to continue into next week. But there is a lot more hours of sunshine!
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I am behind in my posts, and I apologize. Sometimes other things take over, like work, food, snow, workouts, sore right eyes and left elbows, and the like. I'm working to clean up some of the MT coding on my site, it's a long, drawn out process. It helps to have friends who are patient. I think, also, that many of us are a bit worn out from the weather; it's -24C at the moment here in Edmonton, and will be bitterly cold for the next few days, with the weekend lows checking in around -37C. Enough, already...
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¦¦ Indeed it is. The highlight today was a haircut at 10:00 am. But I digress. Ten years ago, when AAA radio began to take off in North America, I lamented in a letter to the Edmonton Journal that no such station was to be found in these here parts. Around that time, Calgary and Vancouver had AAA stations (Mix 1060, Coast 1040), but both were relegated to the AM band, rather than FM, and they could not build an audience big enough or sell enough advertising to stay solvent. Mix 1060's playlist was so diverse and interesting that one time on a trip from Edmonton to Calgary, I listed every song they played in three hours to get a sense of the range of music, and I was impressed. My letter drew a response from the then-pop music writer, Helen Metella, who agreed. However, she interviewed local rock FM music directors, who insisted such a format would never work in Edmonton.
It's ten years later, and Edmonton still features five faceless, interchangable pop-rock FM stations, populated by idiot djs, with playlists as bland as you can imagine. K-97 likes to play a lot of Supertramp, and 100.3 enjoys hitting us with Zeppelin. Hey, I like LZ, but time and a place, guys, ok?
Well, I should maybe make that 4.5 stations. A few days ago, Mix 96 because 96X, The Hit Music Alternative. I've listened to it for four days, while driving, and can report that the playlist is, well, diverse and interesting. There are problems, of course: the djs still talk to us like we're 10-year olds, and often they will not tell you the name and/or song title of the tune(s) just played. This infuriates me - the Calgary and Vancouver stations always listed the song info after a set of tunes. Regardless, I hope they survive, and do well, if only because they've already been dissed by the sockheads at 100.3 - the radio station that growls at you 300x a day.
¦¦ While searching for info on AAA stations, I came across a web site called EdmontonStories.com. It is set in MT, and is a site to which readers can contribute Edmonton stories. It looks new, and I don't think anyone other than designer has posted yet. Among the links there is one to another Edmonton blog, from Ray vanderWoning, rightfully titled Caustic Sense. This is why. So I look at the bottom page, and read "This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License." I am further intrigued to read about what they are:
"Creative Commons has developed a Web application that helps people dedicate their creative works to the public domain -- or retain their copyright while licensing them as free for certain uses, on certain conditions. Unlike the GNU GPL, Creative Commons licenses are not be designed for software, but rather for other kinds of creative works: websites, scholarship, music, film, photography, literature, courseware, etc. We hope to build upon and complement the work of others who have created public licenses for a variety of creative works."
Watch an animated short about their mission (complete with cheesy roller-rink organ). Creative Commons wants to help us "skip the intermediary", i.e., copyright. CC wants to help you let others make "some use" of your creativity on the internet, without having to jump through legal hoops. If copyright is a red light saying "stop", CC is the green light, saying "c'mon in." Their licences are explained here. CC has its own blog as well.
I think this is a great idea, long overdue. Copyright is important and necessary, but can be stifling and suffocating. CC is an US-based initiative, and I am not sure if it can applies outside that jurisidiction, but their licences are being used by non-Americans.
I also note that the Creative Commons movement is old news, from 2002, and I wasn't surprised to learn that it is chaired by Lawrence Lessig. To those of you already familiar with CC, thanks for your patience.
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