Reason #2:
Napping!
And not just that, waking up for a nap and thinking:
"Oh shit, I've slept through...ab-so-fucking-lutely nothing. More napping!"
I am building up my endurance to have the sleep schedule I did as a newborn.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Perks of Unemployment
Reason #2:
Napping!
And not just that, waking up for a nap and thinking:
"Oh shit, I've slept through...ab-so-fucking-lutely nothing. More napping!"
I am building up my endurance to have the sleep schedule I did as a newborn.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Perks of Unemployment
Reason #1:I can stay up late and watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Before I couldn't stay awake- now I don't have to worry since I'm not going anywhere.
It's good to laugh, rather than softly crying myself to sleep.
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Attack of the Frizz
I took this picture when I was underwater in the observatory in the Great Barrier Reef. It demonstrates my intense frizz that I had that day. What you can't see is how pale I am from barfing on the boat.I post this today to show you what I have to live with right now.
I don't like being discriminated against because I have intensely frizzy hair that cannot be contained. Or rather can't be contained with any product that costs less than $3/milliliter.
Couple that with the fact that I'm out of a job as of tomorrow due to a lack of funding and I'm very, Very, VERY PISSED OFF AT THE DAMN HAIR PRODUCT INDUSTRY FOR MAKING ME FEEL LIKE SOME SORT OF BIZARRE ANOMALY WITH MY RED, CURLY, INCREDIBLY DRY, FRIZZY AND GRAYING (THANKS, DAD) WHACKED OUT HAIR. HAZEL, THE TRINIDADIAN HAIRDRESSER WON'T EVEN TAKE MY APPOINTMENTS ANYMORE, WHICH REALLY SHOULDN'T MATTER ANYWAY SINCE SHE GROSSLY OVER CHARGED ME ANYWAY FOR A CUT.
I think I may be projecting.
Anyway, I am taking donations of John Freida and Aveda.
Something to Ensure My Fear of Escalators Remains...
I have always had an irrational fear of escalators, but this video is intriguing.
It makes me want to take my tiniest friend and see if this really could work at Masonville Place.
It makes me want to take my tiniest friend and see if this really could work at Masonville Place.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE?!
I stumbled across something deeply disturbing today.
Currently I'm going through my own teensy quarter life crisis. When one goes through these types of 'moments' it is not all that unusual to revert back to the good ole days when you felt comforted and safe. For me that means looking for nostalgia, and I have to cross one of my beloved childhood friends off the list. Strawberry Shortcake.
In the day and age where everything has to be hipper and more exciting more and more people/films/television shows are morphing this is almost an inevitability. Why expend some creative energy and make something new when we can destroy a beloved icon for emotionally unstable adults?
Couple that with the gross sexualized images of children (have we all not shuddered when walking past the Bratz dolls display?) and sacred icons of my eighties childhood are ruined...
I may be over reacting, but I really liked her bloomers.
Needless Machines
I'm a fan of the useless machine- not useless technology, that's different.
And recently I've rekindled my childhood interest in Rube Goldberg machines.
At engineer camp I was awarded the "Most Creative Ideas That Never Work" prize for my Rube Goldberg machine. This just further emphasized that engineering stifles creativity.
And recently I've rekindled my childhood interest in Rube Goldberg machines.
At engineer camp I was awarded the "Most Creative Ideas That Never Work" prize for my Rube Goldberg machine. This just further emphasized that engineering stifles creativity.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Is This What My Dad Is Like At His Office?
Ok, so I'm temporarily obsessed with The Office, the US edition. Partly because of Steve Carrell and partly because I'm oddly drawn to Rainn Wilson's character, Dwight K. Shrute.
I think it's because Dwight reminds me of my dad and what he might be like to work with. Since I've never actually been to my dad's office (the whole security clearance thing is oddly Orwellian), I can only hypothesize that this is what it may be like. However, I only think my dad would be exactly like Dwight K. Shrute if he were not married to my mom and still living with his parents. Luckily my dad is a bit cooler than that. If he wasn't married and living with his elderly parents I do think that people would confuse him for a more portly and bald Dwight.
Enjoy, Annie.
I think it's because Dwight reminds me of my dad and what he might be like to work with. Since I've never actually been to my dad's office (the whole security clearance thing is oddly Orwellian), I can only hypothesize that this is what it may be like. However, I only think my dad would be exactly like Dwight K. Shrute if he were not married to my mom and still living with his parents. Luckily my dad is a bit cooler than that. If he wasn't married and living with his elderly parents I do think that people would confuse him for a more portly and bald Dwight.
Enjoy, Annie.
Why Don't I Have Any Brothers???
Ok, so do we all know about this???
In Depth
Aboriginal Canadians
Chemical valley
Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia sounds alarm over toxins
By Mary Ann Colihan, CBC News
Members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia, Ont., think their reserve, which recorded the lowest rate of live male births in the world (two girls born for every boy) and high rates of death, miscarriage and disease, is beyond the saturation point for exposure to pollutants, and the community is making a public plea for action.
The First Nation held a symposium on the issue, funded in part by Health Canada, from March 25 to 27 in Sarnia. Leading scientists and environmental groups from across North America made presentations at the event, which highlighted the First Nation's concerns about the health of the Aamjiwnaang and their neighbours in an area known as "Chemical Valley."
A sign for the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Resource Centre is located across the road from a chemical plant near Sarnia, Ont. (Craig Glover/CP)
Data from Environment Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) — the inventory of pollutants released, disposed of and sent for recycling by facilities across the country — show the reserve is ground zero for Ontario's heaviest load of air pollution. In 2005, 131 million kilograms of pollutants were released from 46 plants in Sarnia's Chemical Valley, the inventory says.
Chemical Valley plants also collectively emitted 16.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2005, according to NPRI figures. This represents 21 per cent of the total for Ontario, and more than the entire greenhouse gas emissions of British Columbia.
More worrisome for the Aamjiwnaang, exposure to toxic pollutants for people in the region is the highest in the province. The report says that 60 per cent of the 5.7 million kilograms of toxic air releases recorded in 2005 were within a five kilometre radius of the reserve. These pollutants are known to cause cancer or are associated with reproductive and developmental disorders among humans.
According to a 2007 report by Ecojustice (formerly the Sierra Legal Defence Fund), Exposing Canada's Chemical Valley: An Investigation of Cumulative Air Pollution Emissions in the Sarnia, Ontario Area, some of the area's chemical, petrochemical and power plants pollute more than others.
"We see the same names over and over on the list of Top Five," says Elaine MacDonald, the senior scientist at Ecojustice, which is Canada's largest non-profit environmental law organization. The companies that lead in emissions of carbon dioxide, volatile organic chemicals, hormone disruptors and heavy metals include Imperial Oil, Nova, Shell, Suncor and Cabot, MacDonald says.
Dean Edwardson, general manager of the Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association, an industry group that represents 22 of the largest chemical and petrochemical companies in Chemical Valley, says the NPRI data has limitations.
"Some of the information that gets reported is estimated and may not be based in reality," says Edwardson. "It is industry's best attempt at getting data and I'm not sure there is a better way, but NPRI is a snapshot."
Nevertheless, when research about the skewed birth ratio was published in peer-reviewed journals in 2005, scientists from around the world started to call. The Aamjiwnaang pushed Health Canada to help fund the symposium on the issue that was held at the end of March.
Symposium
The Aamjiwnaangs' objective was to address the evidence of injury to health from exposures to chemical pollutants. They invited scientists from Canada and the U.S. and environmental activists from contaminated communities across the globe to the symposium to examine the data.
Ron Plain, the aboriginal program co-ordinator for Environmental Defence Canada and a founding member of the Aamjiwnaang environment group, says a mix of racism and poor municipal land use contributed to the reserve shrinking to live in industry's backyard. Another health survey pegged the band's miscarriage and stillborn rate at 39 per cent, he says.
The Aamjiwnaang also want to prove that the negative health effects are not just being felt on the 850-member reserve. Isaac Luginaah, an associate professor of geography at the University of Western Ontario whose studies focus on the environment and health, compared London and Sarnia hospital admissions data from 1996 to 2000. General hospital admissions were 47 per cent to 90 per cent higher for Sarnia residents. The difference in admission rates for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Sarnia were even more extreme — up to 300 per cent greater than in London.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is among those calling for action on the health problems, saying they are urgent and regional in nature. He has criticized Health Canada for trying to exclude the Aamjiwnaang and the local occupational health clinic from ongoing talks about developing a comprehensive health survey for Chemical Valley.
"There is a price to pay and we have to be realistic," Bradley says. "But when we talk about alliance, there should be no one missing in action."
Jim Brophy is the medical director of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers in Sarnia, a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board-funded clinic that provides occupational health services and information. Brophy documented the high instance of asbestos-worker mortality in Sarnia — the highest in Canada — and sees a parallel between the old denials that asbestos made people sick and the reluctance to face the mounting evidence of disease from pollution.
The industry Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association also supports conducting a proper, comprehensive survey of the impact of industrial pollution on the health of residents. It recognizes the area was a hotbed of mesothelioma (cancer from exposure to asbestos), and says the concerns of workers and the public are of great importance.
"We want to see a health study that supports or refutes the link between chemical exposure and health," says Edwardson.
Looking for clues
Dr. Warren Foster, an expert in reproductive health at the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, says Canadian researchers are not sure why the sex ratio of 106 boys to 100 girls in Canada is fairly consistent except in areas such as the Aamjiwnaang community. His research points to what he calls endocrine toxicants. These are endocrine disruptors — chemicals that mimic hormones like estrogen, and that are found in pesticides, organo-chlorides, heavy metals and plastics.
Children from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia, Ont., play basketball behind the Band Office, which is located across the road from a chemical plant. The people of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation have a birth ratio of girls to boys that is two-to-one, a scientific anomaly. (Craig Glover/CP)
Dr. Foster says in-vitro fertilization research at Hamilton's Centre for Reproductive Care at McMaster University raises another possibility.
"Maybe the male embryo develops at a faster rate than does the female embryo and, as a result, may be more sensitive to environmental insult," he says. "Thus we may be losing males before we move into a clinical pregnancy."
Dr. Ted Schettler, a physician with the Science and Environmental Health Network, a U.S. network of environmental groups, notes that children, from fetus onward, are disproportionately susceptible to contaminants. Early exposure for children, even in the womb, can be linked to diseases that show up later in life, and failure to conceive is part of this continuum, he says.
The birth ratio is a clear signal that something is very wrong in Sarnia, he says.
"I think there is an enormous problem with not considering the cumulative nature of the emissions," says Schettler. "Some contaminants released are known carcinogens. When you mix them together in this complex soup that people regularly breathe here, the toxicology of that mixture is far more complicated than if we think about these single chemicals by themselves."
Calls for action
Michael Gilbertson recently completed his PhD thesis, a forensic audit of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a 1972 agreement that commits Canada and the U.S. to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the lakes. The thesis is based on his 34 years with the Canadian federal government, including 16 years with the International Joint Commission, which resolves disputes relating to the use and quality of Canada-U.S. boundary waters. He says we know enough about risk factors and now political activism is more important.
"We have to form a new social movement," Gilbertson says. "We heard the stories from other communities that have been highly exposed. Now we have to organize to bring about political change."
Getting polluters to cut emissions is a challenge. Ecojustice says only 11 per cent of Chemical Valley plants reported to the federal government that they planned to reduce emissions in the 2006 to 2008 period, and 30 per cent of plants that are listed in the NPRI said they would increase emissions.
But SLEA thinks these statistics may not tell the full story. Edwardson says improvements require capital, and companies can be leery of making promises to the government that might not be kept.
"The problem with those numbers is that they are projections," he says. "There may be a reluctance to make improvements if you don't have the money in-house. Companies are always looking to make process improvements here."
Dr. Devra Davis, author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer, spoke at the symposium of communities like Reveilletown and Mossport, La., that were contaminated by chemical industry and where people chose to move away en masse. "We lost the ability to document the nature of the problem," Davis said.
Ron Plain wants the Aamjiwnaang reserve to stay where it is.
"Aamjiwnaang could be a model for the world, where a community and industry can work and live together prosperously," says Plain. "But industry has to take that initiative to begin to implement the best available technologies and lose their excuse that it is not economically viable."
Creepy...
In Depth
Aboriginal Canadians
Chemical valley
Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia sounds alarm over toxins
By Mary Ann Colihan, CBC News
Members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia, Ont., think their reserve, which recorded the lowest rate of live male births in the world (two girls born for every boy) and high rates of death, miscarriage and disease, is beyond the saturation point for exposure to pollutants, and the community is making a public plea for action.
The First Nation held a symposium on the issue, funded in part by Health Canada, from March 25 to 27 in Sarnia. Leading scientists and environmental groups from across North America made presentations at the event, which highlighted the First Nation's concerns about the health of the Aamjiwnaang and their neighbours in an area known as "Chemical Valley."
A sign for the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Resource Centre is located across the road from a chemical plant near Sarnia, Ont. (Craig Glover/CP)
Data from Environment Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) — the inventory of pollutants released, disposed of and sent for recycling by facilities across the country — show the reserve is ground zero for Ontario's heaviest load of air pollution. In 2005, 131 million kilograms of pollutants were released from 46 plants in Sarnia's Chemical Valley, the inventory says.
Chemical Valley plants also collectively emitted 16.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2005, according to NPRI figures. This represents 21 per cent of the total for Ontario, and more than the entire greenhouse gas emissions of British Columbia.
More worrisome for the Aamjiwnaang, exposure to toxic pollutants for people in the region is the highest in the province. The report says that 60 per cent of the 5.7 million kilograms of toxic air releases recorded in 2005 were within a five kilometre radius of the reserve. These pollutants are known to cause cancer or are associated with reproductive and developmental disorders among humans.
According to a 2007 report by Ecojustice (formerly the Sierra Legal Defence Fund), Exposing Canada's Chemical Valley: An Investigation of Cumulative Air Pollution Emissions in the Sarnia, Ontario Area, some of the area's chemical, petrochemical and power plants pollute more than others.
"We see the same names over and over on the list of Top Five," says Elaine MacDonald, the senior scientist at Ecojustice, which is Canada's largest non-profit environmental law organization. The companies that lead in emissions of carbon dioxide, volatile organic chemicals, hormone disruptors and heavy metals include Imperial Oil, Nova, Shell, Suncor and Cabot, MacDonald says.
Dean Edwardson, general manager of the Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association, an industry group that represents 22 of the largest chemical and petrochemical companies in Chemical Valley, says the NPRI data has limitations.
"Some of the information that gets reported is estimated and may not be based in reality," says Edwardson. "It is industry's best attempt at getting data and I'm not sure there is a better way, but NPRI is a snapshot."
Nevertheless, when research about the skewed birth ratio was published in peer-reviewed journals in 2005, scientists from around the world started to call. The Aamjiwnaang pushed Health Canada to help fund the symposium on the issue that was held at the end of March.
Symposium
The Aamjiwnaangs' objective was to address the evidence of injury to health from exposures to chemical pollutants. They invited scientists from Canada and the U.S. and environmental activists from contaminated communities across the globe to the symposium to examine the data.
Ron Plain, the aboriginal program co-ordinator for Environmental Defence Canada and a founding member of the Aamjiwnaang environment group, says a mix of racism and poor municipal land use contributed to the reserve shrinking to live in industry's backyard. Another health survey pegged the band's miscarriage and stillborn rate at 39 per cent, he says.
The Aamjiwnaang also want to prove that the negative health effects are not just being felt on the 850-member reserve. Isaac Luginaah, an associate professor of geography at the University of Western Ontario whose studies focus on the environment and health, compared London and Sarnia hospital admissions data from 1996 to 2000. General hospital admissions were 47 per cent to 90 per cent higher for Sarnia residents. The difference in admission rates for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Sarnia were even more extreme — up to 300 per cent greater than in London.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is among those calling for action on the health problems, saying they are urgent and regional in nature. He has criticized Health Canada for trying to exclude the Aamjiwnaang and the local occupational health clinic from ongoing talks about developing a comprehensive health survey for Chemical Valley.
"There is a price to pay and we have to be realistic," Bradley says. "But when we talk about alliance, there should be no one missing in action."
Jim Brophy is the medical director of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers in Sarnia, a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board-funded clinic that provides occupational health services and information. Brophy documented the high instance of asbestos-worker mortality in Sarnia — the highest in Canada — and sees a parallel between the old denials that asbestos made people sick and the reluctance to face the mounting evidence of disease from pollution.
The industry Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association also supports conducting a proper, comprehensive survey of the impact of industrial pollution on the health of residents. It recognizes the area was a hotbed of mesothelioma (cancer from exposure to asbestos), and says the concerns of workers and the public are of great importance.
"We want to see a health study that supports or refutes the link between chemical exposure and health," says Edwardson.
Looking for clues
Dr. Warren Foster, an expert in reproductive health at the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, says Canadian researchers are not sure why the sex ratio of 106 boys to 100 girls in Canada is fairly consistent except in areas such as the Aamjiwnaang community. His research points to what he calls endocrine toxicants. These are endocrine disruptors — chemicals that mimic hormones like estrogen, and that are found in pesticides, organo-chlorides, heavy metals and plastics.
Children from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia, Ont., play basketball behind the Band Office, which is located across the road from a chemical plant. The people of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation have a birth ratio of girls to boys that is two-to-one, a scientific anomaly. (Craig Glover/CP)
Dr. Foster says in-vitro fertilization research at Hamilton's Centre for Reproductive Care at McMaster University raises another possibility.
"Maybe the male embryo develops at a faster rate than does the female embryo and, as a result, may be more sensitive to environmental insult," he says. "Thus we may be losing males before we move into a clinical pregnancy."
Dr. Ted Schettler, a physician with the Science and Environmental Health Network, a U.S. network of environmental groups, notes that children, from fetus onward, are disproportionately susceptible to contaminants. Early exposure for children, even in the womb, can be linked to diseases that show up later in life, and failure to conceive is part of this continuum, he says.
The birth ratio is a clear signal that something is very wrong in Sarnia, he says.
"I think there is an enormous problem with not considering the cumulative nature of the emissions," says Schettler. "Some contaminants released are known carcinogens. When you mix them together in this complex soup that people regularly breathe here, the toxicology of that mixture is far more complicated than if we think about these single chemicals by themselves."
Calls for action
Michael Gilbertson recently completed his PhD thesis, a forensic audit of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a 1972 agreement that commits Canada and the U.S. to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the lakes. The thesis is based on his 34 years with the Canadian federal government, including 16 years with the International Joint Commission, which resolves disputes relating to the use and quality of Canada-U.S. boundary waters. He says we know enough about risk factors and now political activism is more important.
"We have to form a new social movement," Gilbertson says. "We heard the stories from other communities that have been highly exposed. Now we have to organize to bring about political change."
Getting polluters to cut emissions is a challenge. Ecojustice says only 11 per cent of Chemical Valley plants reported to the federal government that they planned to reduce emissions in the 2006 to 2008 period, and 30 per cent of plants that are listed in the NPRI said they would increase emissions.
But SLEA thinks these statistics may not tell the full story. Edwardson says improvements require capital, and companies can be leery of making promises to the government that might not be kept.
"The problem with those numbers is that they are projections," he says. "There may be a reluctance to make improvements if you don't have the money in-house. Companies are always looking to make process improvements here."
Dr. Devra Davis, author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer, spoke at the symposium of communities like Reveilletown and Mossport, La., that were contaminated by chemical industry and where people chose to move away en masse. "We lost the ability to document the nature of the problem," Davis said.
Ron Plain wants the Aamjiwnaang reserve to stay where it is.
"Aamjiwnaang could be a model for the world, where a community and industry can work and live together prosperously," says Plain. "But industry has to take that initiative to begin to implement the best available technologies and lose their excuse that it is not economically viable."
Creepy...
Friday, June 06, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Goodbye.
Hello.
I'm never coming back to Canada.
Nope, like it too much here, already.
Nice knowing you.
I'm never coming back to Canada.
Nope, like it too much here, already.
Nice knowing you.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Soundtrack to my Life
Enjoy.
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For each section below, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. DON'T LIE!!!
a) OPENING CREDITS
"Dreamer" ~ Hilary Duff
b) WAKING UP
"Gratitude" ~ Ani DiFranco
c) FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
"Go Home" ~ Barenaked Ladies
d) FALLING IN LOVE
"Rock Your Socks" ~ Tenacious D
e) FIGHT SONG
“Feeling Groovy" ~ Simon and Garfunkel
f) BREAKING UP
“Headache" ~ Liz Phair
g) PROM
“Building A Mystery" ~ Sarah McLaughlin
h) LIFE
“Soul Shake Down Party" ~ Bob Marley and the Wailers
i) MENTAL BREAKDOWN
“Everyone Says Hi" ~ David Bowie
j) DRIVING
“Can't Blame the Youth" ~ Peter Tosh
k) FLASHBACK
“Like a Virgin" ~ Madonna
l) GETTING BACK TOGETHER
“Outrageous" ~ Britney Spears
m) WEDDING
“Don't Lie" ~ Black Eyed Peas
n) BIRTH OF CHILD
“Baby Seat" ~ Barenaked Ladies
o) FINAL BATTLE
“Shut Up" ~ Black Eyed Peas
p) DEATH SCENE
“Intuition" ~ Feist
q) FUNERAL SONG
“Untold Stories" ~ Sinead O'Connor
r) END CREDITS
“All Good Things" ~ Nelly Furtado
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I Got Chills, And They're Multiplying
I seriously feel like shit.
Gross, gross, gross.
I thought it was the flu, but after waiting for close to two hours at the walk-in clinic, and a 5 minute visit by a doctor (and an awkward bra experience) it turns out that I don't have the flu.
I have bronchitis.
What's bronchitis you ask? I have no clue, but it makes me feel like crap. And I have a horse cough.
Oh, and I don't have sick time. I have to use up lieu time. And work overtime.
Now, annoying people will say things like "You're just getting it out of your system before you go Down Under". To which I nod and smile. Mom.
However, I see the bigger picture. This Thursday I am supposed to be in Windsor to do two presentations to two agencies. Both agencies I have canceled before because of weather. I am not canceling again.
Sigh.
23 DAYS TO GO!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
This Blog is Driving Me Crazy
Ok, I've been trying to upload videos all this week, but I'm having trouble with Blogger :(.
So, you'll have to take my word for it that High School Musical: On Ice was magical.
I was even amazing watching the 20 year old Anne-Marie strain herself to not jump out of her seat and sing along with the mediocre skaters and bad lip syncers.
Lovely.
The kickers was the fact that we could see the big bad Disney machine in full tilt...including Hannah Montana commercials, "Yearbooks" that cost $20 a piece, and $10 cotton candy (you got a free shitty hat with it).
Luckily we were with a couple of kids who; first didn't ask for a thing and second new exactly why they were selling all their over priced crap...to make money.
Round out the day with a quick lunch at McDonalds' and Jessie felt suitably devious.
p.s. I hope that my father and treacherous sisters are having a wonderful trip in the American south. Without me.
p.p.s. Annie, it's extremely sketchy in:
Louisiana: Vampires, debauchery, streets that smell like piss
Tennessee: Birthplace of the KKK, and mass murders (just like last week's)
Alabama: Birthplace of 9-1-1...wonder why they needed that so badly?
Saturday, February 02, 2008
I Want Some M.O.M.!
As I am getting ready for my trip to Oz, I'm trying to figure out what it is that I need to do.
And I've decided that I have to eat a kangaroo. Not a whole kangaroo, but at least a portion.
I hear that the kangaroo is somewhere between beef and venison, and I like both.
This intrigues me. Besides that, eating the kangaroo would be an opportunity to get closer to the culture of the Aboriginals of Australia since it was traditionally a food that they ate (and still do).
Apart from that, farming kangaroo is illegal, so all kangaroo that is eaten is wild. Thus the elimination of genetically modified marsupial.
When it comes to what cut I would like to try, there are many choices, I am reading. I could go with a filet, or perhaps a "kanga banga" (kangaroo sausage).
Besides that, eating kangaroo would be able to help the rampant population of kangaroos in Australia. There are about 50 million wild kangaroos running around doing what they do...I'm guessing that includes pooping in driveways, hopping, hiding in pouches and boxing.
Keep this in mind- there are over 50 million kangaroos in Australia. And there are only 21 million people. That's practically a plague.
And every part of the kangaroo is used! People drink the fluids (ew, none for me thanks, I want to get the Australian experience, but that's a little extreme), use the fur for rugs (I remember my stuff kangaroo Catherine got me when she first visited), and make purses out of the scrotum. Yes, the boy kangaroo's 'area' is used to make purses. Now, I like bags, but that one is a doozy.
The only thing will be to figure out what it's called on a menu. I've read that they farmers held a contest to see what it should be named, because people tend to think that kangaroos are sweet, cute and fluffy, not tasty. The winner was 'australus'. Other were kangarly, maroo, krou, maleen, kuja, roujoe, rooviande, jurru, ozru, marsu, kangasaurus, marsupan, jumpmeat, and MOM (meat of marsupials).
Hmm...sounds delicious.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Farcebook? Well, I'm still not getting off it...
So, I'm going to lots of classrooms and talking to kids about Facebook/webcams/MSN/etc.
And I'm finding that it's not just the kids who don't know a lot about their Facebook accounts...The Guardian newspaper put the Facebook privacy policy into easier understanding language. Enjoy!
Facebook's privacy policy
Just for fun, try substituting the words 'Big Brother' whenever you read the word 'Facebook'
1 We will advertise at you
"When you use Facebook, you may set up your personal profile, form relationships, send messages, perform searches and queries, form groups, set up events, add applications, and transmit information through various channels. We collect this information so that we can provide you the service and offer personalised features."
2 You can't delete anything
"When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information."
3 Anyone can glance at your intimate confessions
"... we cannot and do not guarantee that user content you post on the site will not be viewed by unauthorised persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the site. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of user content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your user content."
4 Our marketing profile of you will be unbeatable
"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (eg, photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalised experience."
5 Opting out doesn't mean opting out
"Facebook reserves the right to send you notices about your account even if you opt out of all voluntary email notifications."
6 The CIA may look at the stuff when they feel like it
"By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States ... We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies."
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
My Hotels!
Check it out...
This is where I'm going to be staying in Australia (minus the lovely accomodations in the Canberra region).
The hotel on the right is the Four Point Sheraton, Darling Harbour where I'll be spending 4 nights. It's located on the harbour, and if I'm lucky enough I'll get a view of the harbour.
The hotel on the left is the Cairns International Hotel in Cairns where I'll be staying 3 nights. It's in the centre of Cairns, and across the street from a casino.
Sweet!
Flower Power
The below message was sent by Cory Morningstar...very interesting read as I've said before the flower industry is RIPE with chemicals and environmental destruction.
So the next time you think about getting your beloved some roses this Valentine's Day (first think about the validity of such a day), then look into buying locally grown flowers (potted flowers all the way!).
Valentine's Day - Flowers - At What Cost?
What we’re not hearing about in the MSM.
Many fresh cut flowers distributors are getting away with murder. Literally. Environmentalist Joan Root was shot & killed at her farm overlooking Lake Naivasha, in January, 2005. Her mission? Saving her beloved lake from the ecological ravages of Africa's lucrative flower-farming industry.
Lake Naivasha was once considered one of the world's top ten sites for birds and a paradise of clear water, with beautiful papyrus and water lily fringes. A haven for African wildlife and a major source of water for the lakeside's quickly growing population. Now - Lake Naivasha, Kenya's second largest lake, has shrunk to half its original size and its water level has dropped three metres. Vital wetlands, are degraded beyond recognition. Nowhere in the world is water from one lake basin used to supply drinking water to two basins, electricity to a whole country's grid and flowers & vegetables to a whole continent. The rotting tissues of the hippo carcasses reveal the secret to perfect bouquets - DDT and, 40 times more toxic, Dieldrin - pesticides banned in countries whose markets have made Kenya the world’s number on exporter. This is happening not only in Africa, but in developing countries all over the world. The corporations are able to rape the land, destroy the ecosystems and exploit the people. [Payment for ecosystem services is a rapidly developing economic means of restoring biodiversity around the globe. The price added to a rose or a bean would be a fraction of a cent.]
So – why has no one noticed flowers? No mandatory labeling for the consumer of any kind. One would think a label would be mandatory to inform, at the very minimum, where the flowers are grown. I guess we should not expect a label listing the pesticides that were used as apparently our government doesn’t feel it’s necessary for such a label even on our food, let alone cut flowers. Has the ‘Right to Know’ campaign ever made more sense? It seems that a mandatory labeling system is long overdue. Could we mandate that the amount of water & energy that was used be disclosed? Fair trade? Organic – obviously. Flower miles? I certainly would like to know this information.
I think until we start asking these questions – and demanding answers – nothing is ever going to change. I think flowers have been getting a free ride for a long time. Does any retailer in our city even sell ethically sound, sustainably grown flowers? Isn’t it time we asked? Isn’t it time we demanded nothing less?
This is an issue that has to be brought into the mainstream. To speak openly about such issues to friends, family and retailers is to create a dialogue to influence water policy making at a global level, thus assuring better living standards for people all over the world and more responsible social behaviour towards water issues which ultimately affect each & every one of us. Because there is no such thing as new water.
Thanks - c
http://www.sierraeco.com
Did you know that when you give Sierra Eco flowers, you’re actually giving twice? Every time you give someone Sierra Eco flowers, you are also giving a family a chance to earn a decent living and provide for their children while preserving the environment for future generations. Sierra Eco - quality flowers that respect people and the environment!
http://www.ecoflora.ca/ …Now you can send flowers that are wildcrafted, organically grown, or fairly traded anywhere in the Toronto area.
California: Flower growers facing stiff foreign competition bet on organic
Full story: Ottawa Citizen
Farmers who weathered a wave of cheap imports in the last decade by coaxing their fields to yield hundreds of harder-to-find varieties are increasingly betting on organic flowers, a nascent industry that is taking bloom on the heels of the organic food boom. Many in the industry hope the decision to go organic will eventually be an environmentally friendly but also a financially sound alternative for farmers trying to stay afloat. Though the market for organic flowers is still small - sales totaled $8 million [USD] in 2003, a fraction of the $19.4 billion consumers spent on all flowers nationally - it's growing fast. Consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for products made without chemicals harmful to workers or the environment. Organic flower sales are expected to grow 13 percent annually through 2008, according to the Organic Trade Association.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
APRIL 17TH, 2008 6:40PM
I BOOKED IT!Very, very, VERY exciting!
W00T!
Last week I met with a travel agent and tonight, after finding out the last details, I told her to BOOK IT!
So I leave in April for 3 glorious weeks at the bottom of the world!
So much to see, so much to plan, I'll be spending some time with my family then hooking up with a tour.
And while I'm there I'll get to go to Canberra (the capital and Colin&Cath's home), Adelaide (where all the wine & Colin's fam are), Sydney (Nemo's home), Cairns (the "r" is silent- I know, I need to get fluent in Oz speak), and Brisbane (just the airport, though).
Aussie fact: Australia has the coolest sounding islands. They include: Christmas, Cocos, and Kangaroo.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
They Won
Well, I haven't updated in a while...but here's what I've been doing:
- 8 hours of hockey at the John Labatt Centre
- New Years at my place
- Meeting relatives
- 2 weeks of vacation (sleeping, hanging out, traveling!)
- Bought a new iPod Classic...80GB of storage...10,000 songs capacity
- Playing with my new crock pot
- Checking out Aussie flights and packages
- Thinking about the next job
Now, check out this video of the boys of Ontario enjoying their trophy. More on the hockey games later...
- 8 hours of hockey at the John Labatt Centre
- New Years at my place
- Meeting relatives
- 2 weeks of vacation (sleeping, hanging out, traveling!)
- Bought a new iPod Classic...80GB of storage...10,000 songs capacity
- Playing with my new crock pot
- Checking out Aussie flights and packages
- Thinking about the next job
Now, check out this video of the boys of Ontario enjoying their trophy. More on the hockey games later...
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