Tag: news

a tiny punch to the heart

Reposted from Sean:

The definition of love.

My housemate works at a men’s formal wear shop in downtown Vancouver. Yesterday, a customer by the name of Justin came into her shop with both his mother and girlfriend, wanting to rent a tuxedo. Justin is eight years old, his girlfriend is ten, and Justin decided that he wanted to rent a tuxedo for a party that was being thrown on behalf of his girlfriend, so he tried on some of the finest suits in the shop for the love of his young life, accessorized with his brightest smile.

Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Well, the party is being hosted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. You see, Justin’s girlfriend has a brain tumor which recently started growing at an alarming rate – so quickly, in fact, that she’s not expected to make it past this coming weekend. Justin’s in love with a girl whose life is being measured in minutes, hours if she’s lucky.

Justin got his rental for free.

Your web zen for today

HATEBEAK

The only death metal grindcore band with an avian vocalist.


Their MySpace features such songs as “Beak of Putrefaction”, “God of Empty Nest”, and “Feral Parot” (sic). For the record, the Congo African Grey parrot is named Waldo, and I really can’t stop laughing. For extra points, they’re from Victoria. Power to the locals! Weirdly, here’s a really good interview with them.

found thanks to andrew.
—

Also, as a bonus, an equally fantastic headline: Dog-cloner denies she was Mormon sex kidnapper Joyce McKinney.

next stop: hell (I’m planning to grayhound to Katie’s wedding in September)

CBC: Man stabs and decapitates sleeping passenger aboard Greyhound bus in Manitoba

“Garnet Caton, who was sitting in the seat in front of the victim, said he saw the attacker stab his seatmate, a young man sleeping with his headphones on. Caton said he heard a “blood-curdling scream” and turned around to see the attacker holding a large “Rambo” hunting knife above the victim, “continually stabbing him in the chest area.” “He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times,” said Caton.

CNN: “Everybody got off the bus. Me and a trucker that stopped and the Greyhound driver ran up to the door to maybe see if the guy was still alive or we could help or something like that,” Caton told CNN. “And when we all got up, we saw that the guy was cutting off the guy’s head. … When he saw us, he came back to the front of the bus, told the driver to shut the door. He pressed the button and the door shut, but it didn’t shut in time, and the guy was able to get his knife out and take a swipe at us,” Caton said.”

sixth severed foot found, (still no mention of the (possible) abandoned-car serial killer)

“Six Feet Under”
“Another Footloose”
“British Columbia Case gets stranger by the foot”
“Bizarre Canadian tale now six feet long”
“The Story’s a Foot”

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp They need to catch this person, the sooner the better. I don’t think I can stand it any longer.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Oh heck, see what I did there? THEY’RE GETTING ME TOO.

I’m beginning to understand why everyone loves him

Joss Whedon on the writer’s strike:

My son is almost five. He is just beginning to understand what I do as a concept. If I drove a construction crane he’d have understood it at birth. And he’d probably think I was King of all the Lands in my fine yellow crane. But writing – especially writing a movie or show, where people other than the writer are all saying things that they’re clearly (to an unschooled mind) making up right then – is something to get your head around.

And as work? Well, in the first place, it IS fun. When it’s going well, it’s the most fun I can imagine having. (Tim Minear might dispute that.) And when it’s not going well, it’s often not going well in the company of a bunch of funny, thoughtful people. So how is that work? You got no muscles to show for it (yes, the brain is a muscle, but if you show it to people it’s usually because part of your skull has been torn off and that doesn’t impress the ladies – unless the ladies are ZOMBIES! Where did this paragraph go?) Writing is enjoyable and ephemeral. And it’s hard work.

stress

foundations
  • Amazon creates a gigantic DRM free music store.
  • Radiohead lets fans pick price for new album.

    Chasing shadows across the streets, neon signs beginning to look too timeless to be real, my paragraphs are walking barefoot next to the side of a highway, lost in the sound of a voice it doesn’t quite remember. To compensate, I stay up excruciatingly late learning a contemporary calligraphy designed for my favourite of the things my last boyfriend worked on – an L.A. based Alice in Wonderland music video, its director born in Vienna, that features English couture, shot-for-shot rips-off Czechoslovakian stop-motion art direction and starring a woman appropriating Japanese Harajuku culture, (a reassembling of American/English fashion) – just so I can write a four word letter and mail it to next month. It’s a toss-up, either I need new hobbies or I’m just continuing my life out of habit, going through the motions because they’re so deeply ingrained, doing things because they seem like the sort of thing I would do. Neither option particularly comforts me at three a.m., when I keep myself busy with these preposterous things.

  • Ministry, Killing joke bassist Paul Raven died Oct 21st from a heart attack.
  • Pychic TV’s Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge died Oct 11th from a previously undiagnosed heart condition.

    • people are wearing red today in solidarity, but I can’t see that it helps

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know by now that Myanmar (or Burma) is in the midst of a violent crackdown against peaceful demonstrations by monks and other citizens.

    via neat-o-rama: Because of tight control of information, news from the capital city of Yangoon trickle out too slowly through regular media channels.

    Here’s where the Internet and blogs step in to fill the void. For instance, take a blogger named Ko Htike, whose website has become one of the main outlets of information:

    Armed with a laptop, a blogger named Ko Htike has thrust himself into the middle of the violent crackdown against monks and other peaceful demonstrators in his homeland of Myanmar.

    From more than 5,500 miles away, he’s one of the few people getting much needed information out to the world.

    He runs the blog out of his London apartment, waking up at 3 a.m. every day to review the latest digitally smuggled photos, video and information that’s sent in to him.

    With few Western journalists allowed in Myanmar, Htike’s blog is one of the main information outlets. He said he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said.

    Myanmar’s military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives.

    Links: CNN Article | Ko Htike’s blog [in Burmese and English] | An Overview by bOINGbOING

    jason0x21 says:

    They’ve shut off the Internets and cracked down on the press, but the cell network is presumably still up (at least, it’s not mentioned in the article). What appears to be common in “unwired” countries is a dense, effective cellular network infrastructure. Why? It’s way easier and cheaper to deploy, and makes more sense that wiring your country for POTS (plain old telephone service). I’m guessing that the government can’t afford to shut down the cellular network.

    It’s clear that that’s a big liability, because with the cellular network still up, stuff still gets to the Internet. It packs a punch, and easily bests shitty propaganda.

    it was easy to do


    Originally uploaded by Foxtongue.

    Melting glaciers show climate change speeding up: UN, scientists. “New data released Monday shows that the melting of mountain glaciers worldwide is accelerating, a clear sign that climate change is also picking up, the UN environmental agency and scientists said.”

    Global warming causes species shift. “U.S. scientists say as global warming increases, many plants and animals will begin migrating northward to locations with more suitable temperatures.”

    Where have all the birds gone? “…this year the annual Big Garden Birdwatch has revealed how the predicted devastating impact of global warming on Britain’s bird species is taking effect… early indications appear to confirm the worst fears of bird lovers.”

    Climate change hitting developing countries worst: UN. “Climate change is having an increasing impact around the world, with developing countries the worst hit and least capable of defending themselves, a top UN climate change official said Monday.”

    Rising sea levels doom beaches, geologist warns. “Most of Hawaii’s sandy beaches are eroding, and the rising sea level will only make things worse.”

    146 US levees may fail in flood. “The Army Corps of Engineers has identified 146 levees nationwide that it says pose an unacceptable risk of failing in a major flood.”

    Weather satellite fleet at risk. “Scientists soon will lose access to crucial information that helps them better understand and predict everything from hurricanes and earthquakes to global warming and environmental decay…”


    Originally uploaded by Foxtongue.

    The Great Barrier Reef ‘facing extinction’. “The Great Barrier Reef will become ‘functionally extinct’ within decades at the current rate of global warming, while wilder weather is set to affect property values and drive up insurance bills in many Australian coastal communities.”

    Britain could go back to rationing. “Britain may need to go back to Second World War-style rationing if climate change runs out of control, environment minister Ben Bradshaw has warned.”

    Survey shows 13% of Americans have never heard of global warming.

    Climate change means hunger and thirst for billions: report.

    Indonesia may lose 2000 islands to climate change. “Indonesia could lose about 2,000 islands by 2030 due to climate change, the country’s environment minister said on Monday.”

    Future flood of ‘climate refugees’ ahead? “Global climate change could pose serious challenges for police in B.C. — from public disorder during natural disasters to climate refugees fleeing flooded countries, according to an internal RCMP report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.”

    Africa must prepare for climate change. “Africa must be prepared for more droughts, floods and cyclones because of climate change caused by industrial pollution, which has already damaged rural economies on the continent, experts said on Tuesday.”

    Zimbabwe: quality water supplies fast deteriorating.

    Water meters introduced in face of global warming. “All Londoners face using compulsory water meters after the Government gave the go-ahead to tough plans to deal with the consequences of climate change.”

    Queensland to drink waste water. “Mr Beattie said that falling water levels had left his state administration with no option but to introduce recycled water in south-eastern Queensland, starting from next year. ‘We’re not getting rain; we’ve got no choice,’ he told ABC radio. ‘These are ugly decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There’s no choice. It’s liquid gold, it’s a matter of life and death,’ he said.”

    Water crisis plan sinks in red tape. “A strategy to save billions of litres of water has become so mired in bureaucracy that the State Government has approved only 15 per cent of the plans to slash usage that it demanded from Sydney’s biggest guzzlers – industry, councils and its own agencies. Almost a year after most of the plans were supposed to be delivered, only six of the 37 government sites have even lodged their proposals.”

    Chairman: Bush officials misled public on global warming. “The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government’s response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly “to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming.””

    remember Network? “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

    Olbermann received a package of white powder the other day. He ended up spending 10 hours in a sealed hospital room while they ran an analysis on the powder, (which turned out to be soap flakes), then he was told not to talk about it. So he talked about it. I’m on his team because he’s on ours.

    let me just photoshop you into my schedule


    Originally uploaded by y0nderboy.

    Thanks to Warren, I’ve been in the number ten slot on BlogPulse, (an automated blog trend discovery system), for two days in a row now and I’m listed as the 34th most popular blog.

    If I were the sort of person to use exclamation points, that would be a few of them right there.

    I’m doing civil war themed pin-up photography with Spider Robinson’s photographer before the garden party today. I’m not sure how that sentence came into reality, but I blame living on Commercial Drive. He’s making me breakfast, then we’re going to figure out how to fake vintage lingerie.

    Montreal team announces advance in HIV research.

    Oliver and I have found ourselves a month together held in our hands like sticky string, (fun, wonderful, but what the hell is it?). We’re still being late to everything because of the trouble we have dragging our bodies from one another. I should have left the house already, but the chance at internet is too good to pass up. My evening house, my fairy-tale, it has a computer but no connection. I am cut off when the sun sets. I am directionless, trapped in warmth and white sheets, unable to find purchase in the ether. My fingers tap away on count-tops and tables, asking for information, trying to morse code the air itself. Late at night, I look down into my unemployment and try to wonder what’s going to happen.

    I never heard back from the people who asked me to be their company blogger, Telus didn’t hire me, though the interview seemed almost perfunctory, but I have extra work again on Monday, a paid focus group on Tuesday evening, and a freelance odd-job coming from RipTown Media. The longest I’ve been without gainful employment, but somehow I’m keeping it all together. The utility companies are going to threaten me again soon, but I’m hoping that I can cover that by taking Robin out and about the town for a little Social Therapy.

    To the people who bought mp3’s off me. Yes, they are coming, and I am most dreadfully sorry it has been taking this long. My microphone died, leaving me with little equipment options. I have been using my mother’s home-studio, but it’s all the way across town, which can be literally hours away by bus, and I’ve been scrabbling so much that I haven’t had a day to devote. (Some of the work has been finished, but I thought it would only be fair that everyone have to wait together. Think ‘according to the principles of Mercerism.’). I’m planning on going over to her house early Wednesday and not leaving until everything is finished or the busses stop running, whichever comes first.

    Apple said it will pay $100 million for a license to use Creative’s patented technology in its iPod music player, settling all legal disputes between the two companies.