Bootwhistle

White fire truck?... the thought foggily ran through my frost addled brain. Upon a recent trip to Edmonton (which gets really, really cold during winter) I was out doing errands when the sight of a white fire truck driving by stopped me in my tracks. Of course my first consideration was that I had just confused the whiteness of the truck with all the snow on the ground, but several blinks confirmed that there was indeed a white fire truck driving past me. Aside from briefly imagining that maybe it was the secret stealth fire crew that needed to catch fires unawares ... I really was unsure of what to think of a friggin white fire truck... in the middle of winter in a city covered with over a foot of very white snow!!!

Now the above little story really has no point other than to illustrate the confusion that this world seems to offer. Rational reasons for man made constructs are many but sometimes the practicality of them escapes most people. One can easily imagine over rationalization as being just as dangerous as someone being completely without reason (cough [insert name of disgraced public figure here] cough). The real issue I want to bring up is the balance between the illogically stupid and the intelligently practical... hmm that's a bit too much of a wordy way to put it - how about the balance between imagination and realism? (meh, still not quite right but it'll do) .
Perhaps to put it simply, the difference between how a child and an adult may see things. Children may look at a white fire truck and consider it special, even create a background story with the truck being ridiculed by the other red and yellow trucks... hmm, this sounds oddly racist so let's try something else (well at least I didn't mention the black trucks - I know this is very bad).
Or maybe a quote from ol' Albie Einstein would be more appropriate:

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Now I wouldn't consider everything is a miracle (a flushing toilet is a flushing toilet) but seeing everything as practical and mundane isn't too healthy either. So getting back to the main point - it's all about finding the balance, being able to see the miracles of living and knowing when your watching parlor tricks. Though I would contend with there is usually a third way to live ones life... and that is to be so devoid of consciousness that miracle or not - one doesn't see anything. I'm sure almost everyone has experience it, that zombie like state where one just exists for whatever task has to be done - be it at work, home or someplace inbetween. I guess it could just be referred to as apathy, a state in which one no longer cares about anything but plugs along like a good peon of their society/whatever social structure you believe in.
We often get caught up in our day to day routines that seeing anything beyond it gets to be impossible, so next time your at work/home/space just take a look around you - how you see the world is your own business, just so long as you see it. So if you ever get the chance to see a white fire truck driving through a snow covered landscape... find your own reaction to it, little things like that can make your day a bit more interesting.

Bootwhistle
It's the end of the world as we know it! Though that can really apply to any given moment in time since essentially every passing moment means the end of the known world and a start of a different one.... too much I know, just thought a little philosphical gibberish would be fun.
So anyway, something is fast approaching as evidenced by the increasing frequancy of jolly jingles on the radio and the appearance of related lights, trees, banners, fat guys in suits (no, not a cosplay convention), it's Christmas. Already one can sense that tension in the air... the stores become busier, the people more frantic, the roads more icy... hmm, ok that just because we live in Canada, but my point is that though the Christmas season is supposed to filled with good will toward humanity, consumerism takes an equal if not more important part.
But for all it's faults Christmas is still a great time of year, and as long as some people can find some joy to spread, I think that makes up for all the 'side effects' of the Christmas season. Though for this year I'm going to at least try to get involved in some volunteering effort, since there's only so much one can take before they have to give back... I guess, haven't really taken that much so not sure what the actual limit is, and I think it would be rather fun to find out. - Oh well, maybe after Christmas.

Bootwhistle
As always, time seems to be passing by just a bit too quickly, since the last post Ralph Klein told a very dirty joke about Belinda Stronach, the Democrats gained majority in the house of representatives (though more from inaptitude of the Republicans than any real work on their part) , and someone invented a car that is powered by bat guano... still have to verify that last one. So the topic for today's post will actually be more of a continuation of the previous one. Where I made comment as to the nature of environment in Calgary, seems that I was completely wrong. Calgary isn't alone in this new self serving environment, seems like all of Alberta has been caught up in it. A recent visit to my hometown of Edmonton brought about the realization that maybe Calgary isn't the source for all the pricks in the world as I've previously believed, a lot seems to have changed in just a couple of years. People in general seem more in rush to get ... wherever the hell the have to get to, though one can only hope it really is important (though I have been told hair emergencies do count).

So I can't just pin my observations of people squarely on Calgary (damn, back to the drawing board) seems like it's a universal condition. The hard part now is deciding whether or not the way people act is something new if one just has had the opportunity to recognize it. Meh, that's for people smarter than me to decide, all I know is that the world is full of self righteous pricks, and you can't escape them where ever you go. Wonder how that moon colonization plan is going?

Bootwhistle
Well, seems like a lot in the world is just a keeping on keep'en on... not much I can say that would be worthy of comment especially in current state. Actually have had very little opportunity to read/watch news or any other informative program. So pretty much out of the current loup, so I thought I'd take an opportunity to blog about the current environment in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As a current Calgarian I've come to notice quite a few things about this city... firstly every native Calgarian seems to give this undefinable aura of arrogance and self importance. I'm not sure how they manage it but if you meet anyone in Calgary that isn't horrible self involved they must either be tourists or too new to the city to have picked up any bad habits. Actually that is another thing that boggles my mind concerning Calgary... why on earth would tourists be coming here? Honestly there really isn't anything very relevant to see in Calgary itself, maybe if you went to Banff or Jasper. Anyway I digress (I'm not even sure what that means), Calgary is a city full of people going somewhere... it may not be anywhere important but they have to get there in a hurry and damn any unconcious homeless guy the pass on the way. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Calgary environment.

Bootwhistle
I've been quite busy working two jobs so haven't had much time to do much of anything besides sleep. Finally got some free time and decided to take a look at my blog and see if I had the energy to create a new post... to my surprise I found an entry I couldn't remember writing (see previous post).
Though I think I can piece together what I was trying to blog about - pretty sure at least (and no I'm not currently drunk). Anyway putting aside the effects alchohol has on mind and body, let's all move on to the original idea behind that particular post. Oh and in case anyone gets the wrong idea that was my first night drinking anything stronger than coffee in about 4 months.
So anyway about the service industry, which basically includes servers (waiters/waitresses), bartenders and at the lower end of the spectrum cooks (of which I'm a current member). I honestly believe that the most interesting people are found in the service industry, although my definition of interesting is very wide indeed. Aside from the part timers composed mostly of students, at the core of the service industry are the odd, disgruntled, and just plain insane (in a good way). For in truth no one really wants to be part of an industry that looks after regular idiots day in and day out - believe me normal people are mostly idoits. So our industry tends to attract or 'catch' the people who are a little different, still intelligent and mostly coherent but with their own quirks or circumstances that made them choose a different path than is considered "normal".
This is where my drunken brain was trying to go in the last post, since at that time I went out to drink with said industry people and met serveral characters of note, so of course thought that it was a wonderful meeting such interesting people (though that may have been an effect of the alchohol). Actually have something else more important to post later on, but unfortunately time runs short, and don't feel like editing this post or saving it to do later. (Welcome to the Night Shift)

Greeetings, at the time of this post, I am quite quite drunk, it is only through a perserverance of quality and spell checker that words be formed in recognizable form.
Was thinken for a while what to post but really nothing came to mind. but due to current state of mind alteredness, feel that there are more stuff to said be. For instance the "industry" which referes to the coalition of peoples making up the service industry - which would sinculde servers, bartenders, cooks, ect. I' ve worked on and off in the industry for a few years and it's interesting to note the certain trends or composition of people working in the "industry".
maake more later tired, and only one eye will focus, one last note, I hate you all.

The forgotten...

Been catching up on some old news and came across some extraordinary events in Cuba... hmm, well, maybe not in the same league as Lebanon and Iraq but interesting in it's own right. So anyway, seems that Castro had surgery and decided to turn over his authority to his brother Raul (every time I think of "all hail Raul" I can't help but laugh... but that's beside the point), so seems that this unprecedented event was to be followed by mass uprisings of the Cuban people, democracy flowing through the streets like an off season flood, and apparently a US invasion? The last part seemed particularly ridiculous, I mean it's not as if Cuba has any oil or anything, and I doubt that Bush is a cigar smoker (though his predecessor apparently loved them... a lot).
In the end, nothing really happened - Castro had surgery, recovered and if the news I read was semi-accurate, people just went about their daily lives. ... but I still can't get over the fact that people were actually expecting a US invasion to take advantage of Castro's surgery - maybe after having US attention for so long Cuba is getting a bit jealous of Iraq... okay, that last sentence was stupid enough to be insulting so best to ignore it (I could have deleted it, but really who has time delete things nowadays).
Anyway from what I gather, Cuba isn't doing too badly in comparison to other Latin American countries, it does seem that inspite of being under a dictatorship Cuba is stable and progressive in education and medical needs. However, one has to wonder what will happen once Castro's reign ends? Will Cuba fall into chaos akin to what happened to Yugoslavia once Tito died?
Ah well, one can only ponder so many crises at once, and I think at least for now Iraq and Lebanon have the unfortunate honor of taking centre stage.

The not so recent events in Lebanon are something I've been avoiding talking/thinking/looking and most relevantly blogging about. One reason being that I doubt any one person could do either side in this conflict justice, when there is more than enough hatred and death to last generations how can one have the arrogance to claim moral superiority?

I know people of both Israeli and Lebanese decent, and all are good people, they're ... well, just normal average people. As expected everyone is disgusted by the violence in the middle east, and again as expected each person rationalizes their side of the conflict. I could try arguing for or against one side, highlight media bias, or even provide a time line of events and cross reference to international events while drawing parallel's to instigations of certain superpowers... but in all honesty it isn't necessary. People with open minds and a little curiousity can easily find most information on their own and if they have any intelligence are already taking any broadcast news as less reliable than anything on the cartoon network (and probably a lot less interesting).

So where does that leave the purpose of this post my opinion on the conflict?
In all likley hood no where... about the only thing I can be definate about is Lebanon needs a strong spiritual leader, their own Ghandi if you will. A movement to non-violent resistance is needed, although realistically all but impossible, since any leader would undoubtly be targeted by both Israel and militant factions in Lebanon. Actually I think the best solution would be to send a 5 year old to the negotiation table and have her explain in the simple and honest terms why they should stop fighting. (well not really but it did seem like a cute idea)

*sigh* I've been trying to keep to a weekly blog schedule but unfortunately work and tv watching have been taking a priority... well that and the fact my computer is still out of comission - actually interesting story...(cue wavy flashback sequence)

It all started a few months ago when I moved from Victoria BC, to Calgary... I decided to ship most of my stuff including my computer via UPS as they had pick up service (actually that involves another story, but another time). So first few packages arrive in Calgary no problem. Then I had to leave town for a while and since UPS doesn't deliver outside buisness hours no one was at home to accept deliveries, thus it happened that UPS decided to ship my computer, monitor, and box filled with financial and personal papers back to Victoria.
So when I got back, had to call the UPS customer service and get the packages returned, also instructed them to HOLD the packages at the shipping centre so I could pick them up instead of always missing the delivery guy (the temptation to use dude was high - MadTV reference). Well guess what UPS did? The packages were held for one day and then shipped back to Victoria again! So called them and asked them to return it... again, and instructed them to hold it and contact me once my boxes arrive... again.
A few days pass and I manage to get my computer, but somehow the monitor and other box got seperated and for some reason being shipped to 'overgoods' which is the UPS lost and found of sorts. Now at this point I think most people would be screaming bloody murder at any UPS employee, but unfortunately for me it isn't very easy to get me angry... so I just thought 'okay, they know where the boxes are, I'll get it in a few days... no worries'. Boy was I wrong... my packages get back to Calgary and then the same $%^ing day UPS sends the packages back to Victoria!!!! After that they tell me the packages are lost... and UPS has a policy against compensation for personal goods shipped... I actually feel sorry for the lady who answered my call to UPS that day, because the damn burst and any and all rage was probably transmitted pretty clearly over the phone line. I think my whole ranting rage went on for a good 45 minutes covering her and then her manager, who didn't do a damn thing either except repeat the UPS policy. She also had the nerve to suggest buying a new monitor when I complained that I couldn't use my computer without the one UPS lost... that probably lengthened my tirade by a good 15 minutes.
Anywhoo, UPS actually found my box containing my financial info... but my moniter is still gone - and that is why it has been hard to update my blog on a weekly basis, thank you and good night. Also boycott UPS as they are an incompetant organization (well at least the Calgary shipping centre is).

Bootwhistle
Oops, took a bit longer than I tought to blog again, oh well.
Recently during the Canada day celebrations in Ottawa, some youths (or yoo'ts) were photographed urinating on a war memorial, one of the pictures made the front page of the Ottawa Citizen. Needless to say veteran groups were outraged by this, and rightly so - then began the complaints about the 'disrepectful youths', 'decaying values' ect. ect. Thus the only apparent solution was to for veteran groups to demand a full time police presance at the memorial... sigh. I wasn't sure whether to be amused or saddened by that, it's funny since law enforcment is highly unlikly to have the budget and manpower to act as full time security guards, and it's sad because a more reasonable and mutually benifical solution would be to simply educate the newer generation about the significance of WWII and the surviving veterans. Why hasn't it occured to anyone that perhaps having more veterans visit schools to tell their stories would be far more effective than posting guards?
Unfortunately it seems that education is often overlooked in favour of more short term and in the end detrimental solutions. Meh, what do I care, it's not like I fought in WWII...

Bootwhistle
Hockey... wow, after last year's strike my appreciation of the game had reached an all time low. Yet for some reason as soon as the Edmonton Oilers (hometown team) started winning in the playoffs, I have to... NEED to... watch or at least listen to their games. Actually just finished watching game 5, which the Oil managed to win on a short handed overtime goal... what a great game.

This got me thinking about the weird euphoria that takes over people whenever their team is winning, while sometimes I think it's just an excuse to get drunk and party (like people need an excuse) but being a bit optimistic I think it's a way of bringing people together who have nothing else in common but cheering for the same team. Sure there may be some people who take it to excess, for example the Whyte avenue riots, but overall it's just a way of celebrating one's city.

That said, I have a bit of a problem with the 'bandwagon' thing... where people who just start liking a team and buying official merchandise because it's the fashionable thing to do. It really annoyed me when I was in Calgary for the Flames playoff run, not just people jumping on the bandwagon, but the belief that rapid consumerism was required to prove ones team loyalty. People were selling (and buying) tons of Flame crap, knockoff Flame crap and just plain stupid Flame crap. There is just a fine line between ardent fandom and for lack of a better term - fucking nuts. I guess what really bugs me is how spending money is just tied into everything... to support your team you have to buy loads of crap, to lead a good life you have to buy loads of crap, ect. ect. Oh well, can't do much about it I suppose, meh, as long as the team is doing well and everyone is happy, guess it doesn't really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Still it would be nice to see a good ol hunger strike to support a team, or maybe playoff penances... where people would give up alcohol for duration of teams playoff run - that would be true fandom.

I feel a migrane coming on... that's pretty much how I felt when a few days ago it was announced that the Ontario police along with CSIS (Canada's own intelligence agency - yes it's true Canada has its own clandestine government agency... although)


FUCK SHIT DAMN and other expletives... I had just finished editing and fact checking a nice lengthy editorial style rant regarding the terrorist arrests when this site ate my work and just left the above paragraph... needless to say I'm more pissed than ever and currently and 2 am too tired to care about finishing this rant... so in a shortened form of my once inspired work:

Terrorist arrests may become a rallying point for the PC government to push forth their agenda. Plus watch for more similarities in talking points in Canada and US, and some other stuff but I'm sick of typing so in conclusion... terrorist suspects bad, but government and media will take advantage and blow things out of proportion to serve own needs. Good night and watch out for terrorists under the bed.

This is a topic I've wanted to really explore for a while but always lacked time to properly research. So I've decided to present a relatively unresearched and probably inaccurate opinionated rant instead, hurrah for laziness! Getting back to the main topic of ... The Telus Strike errr lockout. Although it is officially over it would be interesting to see if one can untangle the Gordian knot of events that led up to it (if you want to sound smart just throw in a few Greek references)

The employee discontent was brewing for a long time, most likely starting when Alberta Government Telephone (AGT) was privatized into the TELUS incarnation. As usual with privitazation there were massive layoffs and restructuring, it may have been necessary but certainly layoffs don't ever endear employees to the management. The newest Telus merger saw them joining forces with the privatized BCTel, well the next major event was the Telus merger with the mobile phone company Clearnet... one may recall that Clearnet ads were the one featuring animals (I think it was Geckos... or something) as well as the now recongizable white background - well for Canadians at least. Now Clearnet inspite of its creative and well received advertising was a company that never made any money... really, so of course during the merger Clearnet managers where given promotions to make use of their wonderful talent (is there a sarcastic emoticon?). Now armed with catchy commercials and 'superior' management... err, wait wait, have to back up to the merger with BCTel:

BCTel and Telus each had different unions, BCTel had the Telephone Workers Union (TWU) and Telus was represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Of course one company can't have two unions... otherwise there'd be massive carnage and fighting, think white collar gang turf war. Concluding that organized deathmatches were a bad idea, they turned to the wimp's way out and held a vote to decide on a union - so workers had to choose between TWU and IBEW. Unfortunately the vote was pretty much stacked to begin with as BCTel had the greater number of workers and thus TWU was pretty much guaranteed to win - which they did. Now TWU is pretty much a BC union, consisting mostly of BCTel employees, whereas the IBEW is an international union with a greater resources and experience. It should also be noted that BC itself is a fairly union friendly province, compared to Alberta... so TWU may not have been used to dealing with a harder line against them.

With the TWU in place, the workers needed a new contract... which ended up being negotiated for over four years. Was either side to blame? Who can really say, it basically comes down to a he said, she said type of argument. Personally both sides were responsible for making the whole strike last so long. The Telus management for adopting a hardline against their employees and the union that really screwed up. Telus's original deal before the lockout was rejected by the union, which led to the lockout. Then after months of picketing and increasing hostilities another deal was worked out which was basically the same as the original, but everyone was tired of the whole affair so it was endorsed. However when it was voted on many union members didn't vote or decided to cast protest 'no' votes... probably figured it would pass anyway. As with many optimistic ideas, it turned sour when the proposal was rejected, leaving workers enduring a lockout they didn't want and TWU scrambling. TWU organized another vote and creatively selected people for the mail out votes, ensuring it would pass.

So basically a really big noisy battle to get back to the place they originally started... add to that the Telus strikers who decided to resort to vandalism (those caught were of course fired) as if that somehow made Telus more willing to negotiate - I mean seriously terrorist tactics isn't just flying planes into buildings, using violence and destruction as a negotiation tool is terrorism plain and simple. This whole mess brought a lot of the worst in people, which to me is the real tragedy of the whole thing.

Bootwhistle
//UPDATE..
The Pirate bay is already back up and seemingly as good as new. Whether the MPAA/RIAA endorsed raid had any long term effects only time will tell (though somehow I doubt it)

Greetings all... or one, as the case may be.

This is the start of a new initiative to blog at least once a week by Friday, honestly haven't really been looking forward to blogging, not for lack of things to rant about but rather the incredulous number of irritating/stupid/intriguing events around the world and under the door mat. So it was pretty hard to keep focused and decide on any one thing to rant about, fortunately recent events have provided the necessary combination of anger/amusement/stupidity/(I love slashes). Therefore I present the latest rant regarding:

Internet Piracy, and the jolly fellows at the RIAA

Firstly, I should confess to being an internet pirate - movies, music, books, programs, they all have a special place on my hard drive. Whether or not I'm pure evil because of that is a topic for another rant, today I'm just going to take a look at recent events in the file sharing community. Recently a cornerstone of the bittorrent community The Pirate bay (TPB) was raided by Swedish police, who proceeded to seize servers and computers although according to the people at TPB the police weren't really sure if there was a crime or not - one of those pre-emptive strike dealies I suppose.

To give a bit of a back story, the pirate bay is a site that archives torrent files, it isn't the real file but it allows users to download various files through a third party program like bitcomet, Azerus, bittornado ect. They are kind of like a blueprint of a file, the site also served as a 'tracker' which following the previous analogy tells one where to get the parts for the blueprint by directing traffic to people who already have parts that others need. So the actual copyrighted material is on peoples hard drives, torrents sites just provide the maps on how to get them. That's where the Swedish copyright law (and North American law for that matter) is a bit vague, so the fellows at TPB could operate with relative impunity... though not without friction from the Recording Industry Artists of America(RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) who sent a few cease and desist letters of varying threat levels. In response TPB replied with insulting, sarcastic and hilarious letters which where even posted on their site. The arrogance showed by TPB probably incensed the RIAA which has a history of using scare tactics to combat internet piracy.

After shutting down the grand daddy of file sharing Napster, the RIAA went after Kazaa by targeting users of the service (Kazaa itself is another interesting story, but no time for that now). The highly publicised lawsuits against a wide variety of people for storing copyrighted music was interesting not so much that a company decided to sue people but that they were able to get access to private information without a warrant. They tried the same thing in Canada but by law the service providers contacted the people who were targeted first before they gave any information to the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) so of course the scare tactic failed and got little if any media coverage (though that may be just because it was in Canada).

The RIAA/MPAA's current tactic to stop piracy is to instill a fear of lawsuits (not necessarily the law) into as many people as possible. For example, the RIAA may claim victory in shutting down other torrent sites such as suprnova, but it wasn't because of legal superiority - they just harassed the site creators until they got fed up and quit (a bit of an oversimplification, but essentially how it 'went down').
The fear of lawsuits has become more important than the actual laws themselves, especially when companies have teams of lawyers that can easily confuse and intimidate the average person.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the scare tactics are aimed at people who really don't know much about computers and the internet, so if a group such as TPB were to flagrantly flaunt their piracy it really doesn't look too good. So of course the RIAA and MPAA (in a press release no less)claimed victory (.pdf file) with the police raid, though already TPB site has a message promising to be back up in a one or two days.

*sigh*

So that's basically how it stands, though it should be noted that TPB is also a political group called the Piratbyrån which may have been as much of a reason for the raid. Overall I found the whole thing more funny than anything, as a file sharing pirate the seemingly temporary 'sinking' of TPB doesn't really mean too much. There are tons of other torrent sites, and other methods of file sharing, the only thing that the RIAA is doing seems to be weeding out the computer illiterates, or forcing people to learn more about computers/internet to get files.
Either way their current tactics are not only ineffective but creating a lot of animosity towards them, the RIAA is acting exactly the way they should try to avoid - like an evil money grubbing corporation. It honestly seems like this whole argument is being carried on by a bunch of junior high kids (the most sarcastic and evil children of them all). While TPB was a bit too antagonistic in it's response to the RIAA, the defenders of copyrighted material seem to have the heads well up their asses as well. The mistake they continue to make is seriously underestimating file sharers and the power of the internet, as well as trying to attack privacy and freedom of speech in their attempts and curbing piracy.
I don't mean to say that piracy is protected by freedom of speech and information, but that the only way to ensure internet piracy is elimated is to have complete and totalitarian control of it, and I don't think any organization should have the power to limit, censure and capitalize the information on the net.
That's about it for today, in conclusion the RIAA is within it's rights to fight piracy... just as long as they don't step on the rights of others.

1
I've noticed that there has been a surprising lack of Guinea pigs even though it is included in the meta tags of my blog. So here is a pic of my former Guinea pig, 'Vargoth the Destroyer' yes I know that seems a weird name for pet... you haven't seen him in an angry drunken rage. To be honest Guinea pigs make interesting pets, though to give them a good quality of life takes a bit of effort especially if space is limited. Though they mainly eat, poop, and occasionally 'popcorn' (a kind of twitchy jump followed by oinking), guinea pigs do have a bit of cute charm. They are extremely timid creatures but paradoxically surprisingly curious (or dim witted... though I like to think the former). Even though I like guinea pigs I don't think I'd want one for a pet anytime soon, it's something I've come to understand but one has to truly consider the welfare of any pet you decide to adopt. Too many people get animals for the novelty of it without thinking of the responsiblity that goes along with it. Of course the majority of people are probably responsible pet owners, getting back to specically Guinea pigs - for Star Trek fans (yes I'm a Trekkie) guinea pigs are Tribbles... can breed like crazy but fuzzy cute and make pleasing sounds. Well without going into the history of Guinea pigs, I think that's about it for this post (horribly useless, but fun... that's what I also think about guinea pigs at times).

Bootwhistle
It's been a while, unfortunately my new years resolution to actually put some effort into the blog site hasn't succeded. Oh well, those things aren't that serious anyway (resolutions I mean). Not much happened in the news... well unless you consider Canada getting a new Conservative minority government, the TV show Arrested Development being cancelled and Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face, not really news worthy. Though for some reason I think the last two news items will be more well known than anything that has to do with the Canadian government... well,unless the Prime ministers wife hits somebody with a soapstone carving. *sigh* I miss Chretien (former PM... do a google search).

I'm sure there is actually a lot more interesting stories but seriously who has the time to read all of them when there are video games to play and movies to watch... there aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with the massive amounts of entertainment media that surround a 'wired' person. It reminds me of a quote I read somewhere, something about how 'the corruption of a society can be determined by the amount of money spent on entertainment'. Honestly it does seem to be a bit obscene, with all do respect to actors - do they really need 20 million dollars for one movie? Actually the problem is that these industries make so much money that they can afford to pay people 20 million dollars. (I have a similar opinion about sports but I'll save that for a different rant) Entertainment is so addictive to, and with the internet it's getting worse. Illegal downloading aside, one can find almost any media online a near endless supply of time wasters... at this point I'm tempted to start getting into some of my deeper musings about existance and purpose but I think it's best I call it a night. Anyway here's hoping some of those new years resolutions can be salvaged in some way.