Go North young men,,ah..when..where exactly?

So the discussion of the North continues as we wait to see all the research and finally decide who owns the North Pole. The situation though is still complicated. The North pole aside, I find it interesting that Canada must take a use it or lose it attitude. Lose it? Well I have a hard time grasping how this happens but it seems it does. The world when showing sovereignty love placing warships and jets in the forefront of any picture. Oh look, this lovely non-threatening nation has a killing machine on that island..it must belong to them. It almost sounds silly, but I guess borders still exist that are strictly imaginary lines and not real unless you can tell someone to get off your side and back it up. The United States has long taken this stand that Northern Canada’s water ways are in fact international and as such, the Americans have every right to pass through without seeking permission (and has).
So our Prime Minister has finally declared a Northern Strategy. More he has had the government print off a book and makes a web site that has lots of pretty sounding words with good intentions. The reality is that little truly has been done. The Icebreaker John Deifenbaker..where the heck is it? Have they even started building it? What about Northern outposts. The Russians are building a base up North, and the Norwegians are set to go with Jets, but Canada? They sure had lots of time to rush around getting their photo ops and smiling about the future of our largely unguarded Northern Territory. Canada is stretched financially to keep all their commitments and still straddle the line between liberal and conservative ideas of governance. There is money to be saved and money to be spent but I still ask, in this modern world, is diplomacy real or do we really have to send a warship up north to truly call it ours. Obviously even if we did the Americans would still feel no compulsion to notify us they plan to traverse our waterways, nor the Russians, if they plan to plant more seabed flags outlining there loose claim. All for the true north. What is it really? Do we all care because oil and ice-free shipping may come of this now? Apparently. Canada and the U.S. still agree to disagree about Beaufort and several other ideas, but in the end I guess it is true..Canada doesn’t make a stand, they will lose it, and then where will Harper be. Empty handed, failing to live up to his promises again.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/todays-paper/have+Arctic+strategy/1839397/story.html

OOoooo..Mars in 3D ! What could be next ?

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/anaglyph/

Some people (and organizations) love to try things just because it would be cool. Occasionally technological or educational advancements occur out of them. Today I present Mars in 3D !!! Now of course you will have to have a pair of blue/red glasses to really do this, but I know you all probably have a pair stuffed in a kitchen drawer or something. I know I did. If not, well bookmark this site for later and go buy or make a pair for yourself. If you’re into astronomy, this planet is worth the visit.
Now technically speaking, 3D has been with us for some time, but technology is upping their game when it comes to delivering it and James Cameron is definitely banging his drum over the future potential of this, while he has been stumping for his next movie “Avatar”. Sometimes I wonder if technology is moving so fast that people and simple physics is being left behind to catch up later.
Recently the CRTC of Canada has been holding hearings on Internet throttling. Providers who are not able to provide a guaranteed bandwidth because of limited total capacity against the number of people now using it for moving large amounts of data, like the downloading of music and movies just to name a couple. Even if they were to up the capacity, it appears the Internet is reaching a point that too would be sucked up quickly. The reason why I was pondering this was my virtual world of Secondlife. The tech exists to take this virtual world and render it entirely in 3D, and I am sure my computer currently could handle it. I probably would have to wear the polarized or blue/red glasses but the effect would be so cool. No this will not happen, as the capacity of the Internet would prevent it for the moment as well, not all have computers have the latest graphics card. Will tech have to slow down and wait for society to catch up here? Hard to say, but likely not. More likely, they will find other ways to present their really cool stuff, be it movies, or stand alone demonstrations at those tech conventions.

Taking a break from News in Secondlife

.

.

.

So what did I do today. There has been so much news lately that I wanted to comment on that I was so overwhelmed. So instead, I just took a break in my virtual secondlife and got away from it. Breath in....breath out...sigh...

I found today a nice desk I had this strange love for..and I also took a Shining to a hotel I found. I took my tractor for a spin, had a friend drop in for a soda, and even let another friend sit on my Dog Enzo. Well not really my dog, I found him wandering around and fed him and he sorta stayed.

Future is so bright..gotta wear shades

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html?_r=2&hp

Scientist fear machine will one day be smarter than man...

I can't imagine what would motivate them to think that?

Gywnne and my summer reading

Ok..because the paperboy asked..
Here has been my summer reading so far

Team of Rivals. I reread this last week. A Lincoln narrative that’s amazing.

Kingdom of the cults: Friend lent it to me. A non-religious look at various so-called cults by this books definition. Take with grain of salt and do further research. But parts are insightful.

Just about to read “Outcasts United” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041701377.html
And as well I was handed Reading in Bed. Know little of that one.http://bcfreviews.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/reading-in-bed-by-sue-gee/


A great deal of my recent reading has been non-fiction. Rise and fall of great Nations, American budget analysis, cereal boxes, Collapse(again), European History, and some Gwynne Dyer stuff I was sent. He is worth the read though some views may rub you politically wrong. I have actually followed him for years and first saw him lecture back during the first gulf war. Completely Engaging.

. http://www.gwynnedyer.com/

Now today I have done a total cut and paste of an article from Gwynne Dwyer. There are those who dislike him and even some who have protested his words. What I have enjoyed about Gwynne over the years is his pragmatic view on issues. He is not always telling you what it should be but often more how it really is. He speaks often from first hand experience showing great insight into the ongoing mechanism of government, politics and of course war. I would not call him either a liberal or conservative. He clearly though is someone who can slice through bullshit and see clearly to those things that make it all work, even if you hate it.
This article originally done July 10 is a statement on the Climate Change challenges we face not scientifically but politically as the G8 nations attempted to work a palatable deal.

.
10 July 2009

.

Climate Change: Two Cheers for Two Degrees By Gwynne Dyer This is how the human race does business. What the G8 summit in Italy decided to do about climate change last week was much less than is necessary, but the very best that a realist could have hoped for. Some tens of millions of people will probably die as a result, or some hundreds of millions if we are really unlucky, but there is still time to avoid the worst. And anyway, it can’t be helped: this is the way we do business. An example. President Barack Obama has hired the best people in the business as his clima te advisers. They know exactly how grave the situation is, and so does Obama. Yet when his chief scientific adviser, John Holdren, was asked why the US would not commit to the same target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as the European Union, he replied as follows. "If we had not wasted the last eight years, we could probably achieve that target. But we did waste the last eight years and in consequence, it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to officially embrace a target that is not realistically within reach." Analyse that sentence, and what it says is: We didn’t do what we should have for the past eight years, so we can’t do what we should for the next twelve year s either. Get upset about it if you like, but this is how the system works. Obama cannot ignore the fact that climate change denial is still stronger in the United States than anywhere else, and that much of the US Congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of the fossil fuel industries. He’s going as far as he can, for now. He can’t go any farther even if what he’s doing is not good enough, which it isn’t. All the parts of the system work like that, not just the American parts. The Indian government, for example, cannot ignore the resentment felt by most Indians when their country is asked to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and= 0slow its own development to deal with a problem that India had little role in creating. Almost all the excess greenhouse gas that is in the air now were put there by the old industrialised countries, yet the newly industrialising ones like India will be hurt first and worst by the resulting climate change. Cutting their emissions means slowing their escape from poverty, which the old rich countries were never required to do – and if they refuse, climate change will hurt them even faster and worse. No matter which way they jump, India’s decision-makers will face the anger of the voters. Every country comes to the table with powerful lobbies at home to satisfy, and it’s something of a miracle that the eighteen biggest emitters, countries that together account for 80 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions, all managed to agree that the average global temperature should never be allowed to rise more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1900 level. But there were other important things that they didn’t agree on. The big industrialised countries of the G8 (US, Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada) said they would cut their emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and asked the developing countries to cut their emissions enough to produce 50 percent global cuts by the same date. The developing countries refuse d. But those same rapidly industrialising countries of the G5 (China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa) then called the rich countries’ bluff by demanding that the G8 set an interim target for emissions cuts by 2020. Any leader can make promises for 2050, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be around by then. Promises for 2020, on the other hand, may fall due while you’re still in the game – so the G8 leaders refused. Nevertheless, the idea that all these countries, plus five other big emitters (the European Union, Indonesia, Egypt, South Korea and Australia) would actually agree in mid-2009 on a never-exceed target of +2 degrees C= 0would have been seen as fantasy only eighteen months ago. "It certainly doesn't give you a roadmap on how you should get there but at least they've defined the destination," said Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chair of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. Well, not quite, because even at only 2 degrees C hotter the world would be running out of food (global warming hits food production very badly), and that would lead to waves of refugees, failed states, and savage local wars over the remaining water, especially in the sub-tropical regions. Moreover, the two-degree target gives us only a fifty percent chance of avoiding tipping points that would lead to runaway warming. &nbs p; So we ought to have much more ambitious targets now, and strict penalties for those countries that miss or evade them. Our children’s future really does depend on it. But we can’t have stricter targets yet, because the international political system does not work that fast – and we have no time to re-design it. If we are lucky, some early disasters that don’t kill too many people will frighten the world’s countries into accepting tougher cuts in emissions while there is still time to avoid the worst, but this is the best that we are going to get for now. So two cheers for the two-degree limit.

The President and Google educating America, One word at a time

So the President comes out and talks about healthcare. Did you ever notice how he likes to talk? Well anyways, he likes to let his fellow country men know he is on top of things and the future is bright and if the voters out there could just hang on, everything will come to fruit. Especially the healthcare reform.
But did you see that smarty word he snuck in? America did and while reading or listening to the speech, they went to their computers and googled the word for a definition or explanation. (I know this because Google trends showed a clear volcanic spike in inquries to this word at that specific time) See, its like the old days when Readers Digest would give you special words to improve your vocabulary. Not like the Bush years when words were simple or simply misleading..these words are enlightening. I will try to sneak it into a conversation this up coming week and sit back as all are in awe of my new found word. I am no English major (I once knew one though), but it seems to me, if your voters have to look up your words on google that this could be viewed as helping to educate your fellow citizens. Google and Obama, what a partnership. Just keep on using big words and America will love you.
Oh..and for those who need to know this special word !

Incentivize
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=incentivize
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incentivize

Recently interested in the Sun? Check these out.

With the recent solar eclipse, again as happens, people take an interest in our sun. I have been following it for it years. Here is a link to perhaps the best resource on the current science.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, is a project of international collaboration between ESA and NASA to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind.
SOHO was launched on December 2, 1995. The SOHO spacecraft was built in Europe by an industry team led by prime contractor Matra Marconi Space (now EADS Astrium) under overall management by ESA. The twelve instruments on board SOHO were provided by European and American scientists. Nine of the international instrument consortia are led by European Principal Investigators (PI's), three by PI's from the US. Large engineering teams and more than 200 co-investigators from many institutions supported the PI's in the development of the instruments and in the preparation of their operations and data analysis. NASA was responsible for the launch and is now responsible for mission operations. Large radio dishes around the world which form NASA's Deep Space Network are used for data downlink and commanding. Mission control is based at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.



Equally fascinating is the current Radio telescope finds.
http://www.nrao.edu/

Trained Giraffes bring hope to the future

Lillie the trained Giraffe can fetch newspapers, watch the house when you’re away, and now assists Dr. Wallace of the Department of Environmental Initiatives make policy on future legislation. Lillie is part of the current push to not only include animals in deciding Earth’s fate but to stave off their own extinction. By integrating them into our society, world animal rights activists are now recognizing their cause and dream of total equality. Except for domestic cattle, most animals’ eco footprint and their effect on the current global warming is pretty minimal. “We could learn a lot from them,” said Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke. “Already we have several primates stocking shelves and in Peru we are just starting a clothing program where Alpacas are making shirts directly after shedding their fur. Frankly the efficiency of the whole thing is making for staggering cost savings.”
Though this may prove positive in the commercial sector, the government has taken an interest in their ideas on building a sustainable society. “Initially I was a skeptic” former President George W Bush said “ but after we released cockroaches at Guantamo so they could interact with the housed terrorists, the intel we got was amazing”. In all areas the gains have been amazing, but what about housing these animals? Again George spoke with nothing but glowing praise saying “the two Pandas who recently sought asylum from China now perform all my gardening, and live in my guest house. I practically don’t even know they are there”.
Here is to a future where animals and man finally find harmony.

Moon Hoax was not.

Love the good reverends post on the Moon landing.
http://kevinswoodshed.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-small-step.html

----> Here is a fun site for the Moon Hoax. http://www.clavius.org/

read it!!

For more fun and a good afternoon read, check out the museum of Hoaxes.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
In the mean time..lets say we are not all above all this, and even smart people get fooled. For me, more than a few. I think the funniest was my father explaining to me how marshmallows were grown in the Deep South on plantations. Yea..I fell for it.

OOOhhh..plow winds.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090719/Edmonton_Storm_090719/20090719?hub=TopStories


http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Edmonton+cleans+after+fierce+storm/1807083/story.html

So here I am oblivious to what is happening and enjoying an evening at home (Sat. 18th). I sit down and turn on computer as the winds start to hit the house and the lighting starts up. I sign in to my virtual world and within 20 minutes, a power surge knocks me off. The thunder rattled the house and a few strikes came down somewhere in our neighborhood. I had read the weather report but was not prepared for plow winds. For those who don’t know what a plow wind is I cut and pasted a definition off the web.
Plow Wind -- A term used in the Midwestern United States to describe strong, straight-line winds associated with the downdrafts spreading out in advance of squall lines and thunderstorms. Resulting damage is usually confined to narrow zones like that caused by tornadoes; however, the winds are all in one direction (straight-line winds).

We get occasional plow winds up here and though we clocked in at only 106 km/h wind speeds, these are ample to do incredibly damage. Currently we have our on-going annual festival in town. They cleared the park and locked down everything and last I heard, the main stage was damaged and could push the shows they had planned back.
Lucky we were not in the path of this thing and only saw the fringe of it. We never had a full power outage or anything and no damage resulted. Still, given the type of storm this was, it was highly unusual for us to stay home. We love going out and chasing lightning, but with the kids getting older. You know. risking life and limp just doesn’t have the same appeal it once did.

Blue Skies In Secondlife

Blue Skies of Secondlife from Shinigamikayo on Vimeo.

Celebrate summer in Secondlife

Mighty Leviathan from "Thesixtyone.com"

You know the Tunes you stumble on..listen to quietly..and suddenly your hypnotically pulled in. You either hit auto-repeat, or keep returning to it every second or third song. This tune by Vandaveer I found plays almost like a hymn to me and so utterly pulled me in. Now I am glad to share it with you with hopes you hear and feel what I hear and feel when I listen.

Selling Canada's water !? Big $$, Big Mistake.

Hey Gang, Canada’s water is for Sale!

http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Plan+mapped+sell+water/1795059/story.html
The Montreal Economic Institute has a great idea of diverting excess water to the U.S. (St. Lawrence) with the expressed idea of selling it to them to feed their thirst. The danger posed environmentally will obviously be argued back and forth, but for me this would pose an almost catastrophic precedent. Once we allow water to be sold, it could be argued through NAFTA or even the Great lakes Treaty that water is now a commodity. We have already upset the watershed as it is with irrigation greening the deserts of the land to produce food crops, now the idea that we could tap into Canadian water anywhere and sell to zones that never had enough water scares me. Despite Canada’s large water supply, it is hardly an infinite supply and the water that feeds these lakes and rivers is slowly in decline. The glaciers for instance shrink more each year. To sell this water would only increase the stress upon the land in the long run. The United States has an ever expanding population and no matter what measures are taken to improve efficiency of water collection or food production, the growth of population, left uncontrolled, will enviably out strip the resources need to feed her. As the U.S. fights to keep her economy rolling and bring into play universal health care, this aspect of their society, drought, soil erosion, fresh water supplies and food production, will undoubted be thrust upon them to solve when they can least afford it. The futures a bitch sometimes, but as Stewarts of it, we are required to act also as guardians. America, like it or not, will have to learn to live within its means and I for one will not stand by and watch Canada be bought to solve their problem.
Canada’s water is not for sale !

Apollo and 40 years later

My last post was our small world..which fascinates me, but another thing that fascinates me is science. Mostly notable, space and physics. I am a total junkie for the vastness of the universe and infinite possibilities of science and relativity. It may surprise people to know I am not all that big into sci-fi stories and movies since I guess the melodrama of those shows only breeze over topics that interest me. Placing people in futuristic settings is a way to examine the dynamics of people in said environment, but I still prefer the hard-core numbers discussion of the very science behind things.
Well July 16th is the 40th birthday of the Apollo 11 landing and there will be a rebroadcast of the event. http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002016/ and I will be listening. Two things in my life influenced my interest in space, one being the moon landing. My father went and took a picture of the TV showing the event that day while the rest of us were glued to the screen. I was a mere 5 years old, and really, what could I honestly remember? Well perhaps not a lot surrounding the event itself, but in the back of my head I do remember the importance of the day and the excitement filling my father. My father was also a total space nut, so he kept the family up-to-date on the emerging sciences of the day. He bought my older brother a large model of the Saturn Rocket that stood three feet tall!
The other event that glued me to this world was a weekend winter field trip in grade four. On the first night, it was cold (-10 c.) but manageable. My school principal was along for the trip and he brought a telescope with him. It was the first time I ever got to look through one. He showed us on that cloudless night various stars, and than the most amazing thing happened. He pointed out a satellite passing overhead. I was hooked forever and have been a satellite watcher ever since.
So that being that, I suggest space buffs to tune in with this added bonus for twitterers…communications will take place in real time on three channels on twitter. Way Cool!

From Soweto to Canada to Georgia and all points between: Shini waves to the world.

From Soweto to Canada to Georgia and all points between: Shini waves to the world.
I made a post once about Soweto to make a point. That things were happening in this world that were unknown to most of my friends in North America but were as important to these people as anything I could ever come up with about my local issues. The Internet truly has made the world smaller. Small town news to big national coverage, we can read and see everything happening in almost real time. I spend my time on the social network of Secondlife and speak in real time with people from around the world. Mostly it is harmless fun, but at times it becomes a free flowing exchange of ideas. Our individual cultures bring unique views to the table well worth considering. Since making that earlier post, many from Soweto have visited my site and I feel honored. If you are from outside North America, please leave a comment and let me know you’re out there. I really mean it when I say I would love to hear from you. And for those who have not read a local newsline from another country, here is the Soweto link I current use.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/

United States (US)

Canada (CA)

Japan (JP)

United Kingdom (GB)

Australia (AU)

Netherlands (NL)

South Africa (ZA)

India (IN)

Germany (DE)

Saudi Arabia (SA)

France (FR)

Philippines (PH)

Sweden (SE)

Turkey (TR)

United Arab Emirates (AE)

Portugal (PT)

Indonesia (ID)

Ireland (IE)

Czech Republic (CZ)

Italy (IT)

Poland (PL)

Ukraine (UA)

Mexico (MX)

Norway (NO)

Romania (RO)

Uganda (UG)

Russian Federation (RU)

Pakistan (PK)

Egypt (EG)

Belgium (BE)

Estonia (EE)

Hungary (HU)

Denmark (DK)

Austria (AT)

Greenland (GL)

Lebanon (LB)

Peru (PE)

Singapore (SG)

French Polynesia (PF)

Brazil (BR)

Argentina (AR)

Chile (CL)

Brunei Darussalam (BN)

Thailand (TH)

Spain (ES)

Croatia (HR)

Israel (IL)

Kuwait (KW)

Vietnam (VN)

Algeria (DZ)

Switzerland (CH)


Here is a list of countries that have visited me in the last two months. The internet sure makes the world smaller.

Bright and Shini :The Originals

Today I celebrate on my Page the contributions of the little people who have big ideas. I don’t mean building a better mousetrap, or creating a new kitchen cleaner that makes my whites whiter. I the means those original ideas that make these people rich but make us all stammer saying “why didn’t we think of it?” My Bright and Shini People this month are the True Originals who took that idea from the back of the room, joking with your barroom buddies into a phenomenon. These individuals made money or found fame from what outsiders might consider to be less than real work. Held up only by an idea
1 The Red paper Clip: Traded his way to a house http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/
2 Million Dollar Web Page: Fortune one pixel at a time http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
3 The Pet Rock: So pointless, Americans had to have one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock
4 DoodleArt: Who said doodling would lead to nothing? http://www.doodleart.ca/
5 JenniCam: The first in a revolution of live images http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Ringley

These 5 are not the only ones out there, but purely the ones that probably grabbed my attention far more than others. We have had people selling their foreheads for advertising, selling their virginity and even selling blank books. It is also true the things like the Rubik’s Cube was it self a cultural event. Still, I am looking a something more primitive in nature. Something that grabbed my imagination and certainly of many people was the idea that you could tap into a vein with but one original idea and very low to no capital and run with it. The idea itself is silly, simple or pointless but at the end of the day you’re famous or rich. The next best things almost to the lottery, another form of get rich quick, but the house is stacked against you. Now because of the low start up on these and others, there is no shortage of imitators. Those who would wish to capitalize on the original idea. The original still holds up though, years after others have faded to dust in our memory.

Virtual Obama

So Obama will be streaming. How long before we see other politcal types enter the virtual world, perhaps directly as avatars, for open house forums or constinuancy offices, in order to further reach out to the people the represent.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/10/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5151594.shtml

My New Virtual Home

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Ok....

So I live in a Coal Mine.

Jill was kind enough to let me move in so I am not complaining

Acid attacks in Bangledesh

All to common in traditional backward male dominated cultures that the rights of women are often ignored. Written into their religon, laws or simply a cultural practice, women all over become victims for not becoming blind subveriant breeding stock. In the more modern industrialised countries, maybe there are not as many extreme cases, but don't be fooled to beleive this still does not ever happen to some degree. Bangledesh officials recognize the problem and slowly they are fighting their way in to ultimately stop it. Culture be damned. You have men who are mentally twisted and insecure....this crap is so beyond my ablity to grasp and comprehend in its enormity. This is far beyond international action..culturally this is a failed land in terms or morality and ethics. It is not like we have not seen this before or in other countries but like all things diplomatic, we are forced to wag are finger but in the end fail to follow up or deal with in a truly constructive manner. Saddly we must lead by example again, and pray an internal cultural revolution happens. That or have a women's mercenary group hunt down these perps and cut their freaken wienies off!

God prepares to open a car plant

I find these type of signs inherently funny. Not to knock the good news of a autoplant coming to town, but I guess it means that God really loves America. The holy family is now selling cars now via KIA, which makes me wonder..what? GM not good enough for our holy father? Soon we'll be seeing Budha Burgers on every corner and Muhammad will open a chain of hardware stores. That later one will obviously upset the Taliban who have struggled to get Muhammad to open a franchise in Pakistan and Afganistan. It sure opens up a lot of great commercial oppertunities doesn't it? Sale sale sale..don't pay a cent till the rapture, no money down, just your soul.

It's diplo speak for tough love Newt

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/07/200971023542914638.html

Newt's love reveals itself. Sometimes we have to hurt those we wish to help. A little distruptive distruction for the greater good. Oh heck Newt..lets just drop a lethal Bio Germ right on in there. Mix things up real good. The surviving half of the population of Iran will naturally come to embrace our tough love approach.

Obama's wandering eye

A picture is worth a thousand words so goes the saying. In news and definitely in cheeky blogs pictures can be used to cast a bad light on virtually anyone. I have done it and so have friends. We use them to cast our own opinion on someone we may dislike or simply not agree with. For a blogger they can be a great source of material but we do not pretend to be a legit news site but rather one of humor or activism. The Drudge report is not a legit news site as we know and is not held accopuntable for his words. A simple headline becomes his editorial comment and than provides a handy link to the story that is totally off his site. Rememeber when nose picking pictures were all the rage. Now we have the wardrobe malfunction, wandering eyes, and facial expressions of horror or disgust, as if this image is a factor in deciding a persons charachter, let alone a national policy. Like our trade realtions internationally, so is news. It is globally interconnected and one persons joke becomes serious news to another. Yes, I looked and dismissed it as dumb. A moment in time caught that means nothing, but Drudge decided to use it as his head line with an obvious mocking attempt and news sites around the world have picked it up as "Real News". Drudge definitely has some watchers whether you like him or not, but I still place more weight on proper information sites as they attempt(I mean attempt only) to provide an unbias view of the world. A Cross section of material makes up my reading from liberal to conservative to find a way to bring myself a balanced view of events. I feel I am able to discern for myself and hope the public can about what is real and what is lips flapping for sensationaism. Not withstanding "Fox News Bias", most news organizations on TV and print do try. Trouble is many do take it too serious and actually form opinions on the unsupported crap out there. Recently I read about the rise in online fraud and was surprised to see the old con game half known as the "Prisoner of Spain" still catching about 10 Canadians a month. Are they stupid? Gulliable? People still exist that beleive everything that is fed to them regardless of source. The majority of us thank God still try to discern for ourselves the reliablity of any given peice of information and what it means to us. Saddly the majority actually fall for this information manipulation without ever knowing it. Reading trusted sites we catch ourselves beleiving the unbeleivable. Buying into things we would never consider noramlly. Whole industries have been born to manipulate you through news, political soundbites and most noteably through commercial selling tactics. Fear and hate mongering is one of Americas greatest tools to affect change and you may be surprised at its success. At the end of day, what you see and hear should always be given a pause to consider. Think about what it really means to you and why you should even care.

Compassion is a Great gift

You here that bellowing voice…….. FIGHT !
.
Crash, slash….power up**
.
Than stillness….one figure still holding up the body of the other combatant.
Than the voice
.
FINISH HIM !
.
Sometimes when I read about the world issues, how often does extreme views come into play, or to a greater degree, Religious extreme views. It has always been very perplexing to me why some need to not just believe in a way of life but also insist on forcing their views and standards upon others. Failure to do so results in your branding as evil and anti-God. Groups’ mount and whole populations are radically taking up into feverish movements as they prepare for the fight on national and international morality.
This is not God’s way or plan in my mind. The radical right Christians and now recent fundamental Muslims have perverted the message. History has already shown religion being used as the tool to mobilize a population for horrible slaughters in the past and sadly it will be the same in the future. This is not what I believe was ever the purpose. Religion should not be about exclusivity. Our way or the highway in a manner of speaking. In my world God brings me comfort, taught me compassion, brings me to a point where I can forgive almost anything. I have always believed the almighty was big enough to fight his own battles and if he needs me, he can always give me a ring. Till than, I try never to judge others. This is not my place. For instance my stand on marriage. Let gays marry, as honestly it has no bearing on me directly. By not letting them marry we are actually hurting a portion of the population. It’s a population that refuses to extend them the rights they themselves take for granted. Their definition is really what they are fighting. The word marriage belongs to us and God and gays can’t have it. How moronic. However the moral meaning of marriage within my marriage is defined solely by my spouse and I and we practice within our home are values, as we seem them. No different than my neighbor does or I suppose anyone in the Middle East. That I suppose is the biggest point of contention. When others don’t practice ethical compassion but use it as a tool for brutality to suppress a people in both a blind power game and shortsighted interpretation of their gospel.

Belief in God is neither a weakness nor a side definition of stupid. What actions you take in God’s name can be. Forgiveness and compassion define my world. If God wanted we could all be placed in an arena like Mortal combat and told to fight, but no, that was not God’s doing, that was the people who did, and used God as their justification. Why God’ allows this to happen or in general, allow unhappiness, well I could read his words, but really, I accept things are what they are and embrace the idea that the people themselves must effect change. That means my moral code dictates I must help people, not make things worse, through serious blind greed, materialism, or mindless ideology. I have been placed here to be a force of compassion. Even when I fail, or make mistakes, the journey is greater mission and more important than any given step. We may believe in many things, but in my mind, the evolution of the human spirit could be said to be one of man’s greatest pursuits. Live by example in a manner that shows this, and do onto others as you would expect others to do onto you.
Oh sure..I can be opinionated but I do mean well. Love you all.J

G8 is more fun when Stephen lets hair down

During the G8 meeting the controversial Billionaire Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi makes a not so obvious play for Obama. The United States President brush it off saying “I am not into Italian Guys” but offered up Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as perhaps being interested. PM Harper, worried he could be dubbed sloppy seconds quickly donated a generous and worthy gift for a youth centre in a Earth quake torn zone.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/harper-announces-donation-in-italy/article1210266/
Shini’s foreign affairs advice : Its ok to love your world G8-leaders, just don’t Love your world G-8 Leaders.

ok I collect things, but not really on purpose

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Are you into collectables? I am not. Not on purpose that is. I have never bought or acquired anything with the intention on building a collection or starting one. Still within my family a few collections seem to have happened. My younger brother is more in tune to it now since he had a nostalgic run a few years back and acquired as many G.I. Joes and their equipment in a fond remembrance to his childhood. I simply find and buy things I like, and some of those grew into large collections. I remember the first piece of art I bought. I was 17 but it was something I had to have. A limited edition Print by Seerey-Lester. I actually tried to look it up on the web today to see if I could show you a picture but failed. It is a painting of a wolf standing on an artic tundra scene with rugged mountain like landscape rising in the background. It just looks so cold. My parents were naturally shocked when I brought it home, since most kids that age are spending money on food, electronics, clothes, and music. My brother declared oh great..as he declared to all about how I was now gonna haul in nothing but wildlife art forever more and be stuck in a theme. As it turned out nothing could be further from the truth. Over the years I have bought statues, aboriginal prints, Inuit stones carvings, train pictures, landscapes, people and abstract pictures. Originals and limited editions too. I was all over the map. It showed the eclectic nature of my tastes that I have always had, and that in it self, largely became the collection. Oh I did buy one more wildlife painting by Robert Bateman..(Actually it was bought for me.). I have always had a connection to art, and I think I have an eye for it, but beauty will always be to the beholder.
Like my tastes, try to guess some of my other accidental collection. Accidental because they were not purchased with the intent to be a collection. I won’t make you guess. I own roughly 5000+ comic books and I stopped collecting those around 1986. My kids love them and read them all the time. At the time I actually completed several series. The general worth of them are pretty stupid high but I was not into it for the money. When the kids are old enough I plan to give them all to them. The may be able to use them for money for a car or buy a condo or something.
Odd books. This is a collection semi on purpose but largely accidental. Currently I have them stored safely in my Mother’s library out of harms way. Most are curious but not worth anything. Like my World War 2 pre-war picture book, showing in simple steps how to beat up Adolf Hitler if you met him in the field of battle. It was actually a training book for soldiers that I can’t imagine a single soldier took seriously. My coup which I fluked out on was a first Run autographed George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman” from 1903. I was offered $3500 for several years ago but turned it down and just stored it. I got it from my great Uncle when I was very young. I think 13. I was at his farmhouse in Rose Town Saskatchewan reading his books in the basement. He liked my interest in his books and said I could have any book in his library if I promised to care for it. I choose the Shaw book. I was surprised that he had to talk to my great aunt about it, but he came back and gave it to me. When he passed away 20 years later I was suppose to get his collection. What was sent to me was collectively a worthless book of the month moldy heap from the ‘60’s. His collection had been stripped and I got the crap. Complain? Not a chance. I got the crown jewel and I cared for it as promised. Hee!
Most of what I guess I collect happens to have been worth very little or worthless when I got it and I took good care of it. Since I am not in this to profit, I have no intention of selling any of my stuff, but to slowly pass things down to my children as time moves along. I have stored so many hidden gems now. I cherish them especially when they are connected to people I love that have since passed on.
Oh and the off beat pics above…lol..I collect bags too, not sure why. Accidental really.

Summer Plans? Of course we have plans.

And here I was whining about the "empty-nest". I totally forgot about us escaping to Calgary some months ago without the kids, so I guess that makes 2 trips away from them in 17 years, not one. So yes, I was sad when son went to work in the South, but now the possiblities are presenting themselves. Kids are old enough to care for pets and hopefully not burn the house down so why not start traveling?
Initially we want to keep things relatively local. This summer will be low key but it does not mean we'll be shut-ins. The intention will be to visit tourist spots we have not seen in a while. Drumhellar's Palentology Museum for instance. At the end of the summer though we are going to fly to Quebec City and spend some time immersed in what could be the most European city North America has. Last time I was there I was 3, so you know I remember alot. We have many dream trips in our minds, and currently we are discussing them. Perhaps with the economic turndown this is the time to take them in. I think the first trip abroad will be Paris. That may happen next year sometime. Eeeeeeeeee... I love my kids but this could be good for us!

Fail

Apparently the writter did not speak English well enough to grasp the meaning. Okies..but surely someone did? Techncian, cameraman, director, actor?

Shini Film and lists

My Chick flick top 10 movies!

1 An Affair to Remember
2 The Notebook
3 Steel Magnolias
4 Beaches
5 You’ve got Mail
6 Breakfast at Tiffanies
7 Muriel’s Wedding
8 Message in a Bottle
9 Pride & Prejudice.
10 Mama Mia (movie and play!)


Shini’s Hidden Gem films worth checking out.

1 Running on Empty
2 Boy in the striped pajamas
3 The Shipping News
4 Murder by Death


Movies I have watched, enjoyed, but likely never want to watch again

1 King Kong
2 Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
3 Driving Miss Daisy
4 Most war films
5 All sci fi films

Movies I can’t help but watch over and over, for good or bad

1 Cool Runnings
2 A Beautiful Mind
3 Sound of Music
4 You’ve got Mail

Favorite movie quotes

1 “but sir, its not all you want to eat but all you can eat” :Monty pythons meaning of Life
2 “I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore Toto” :Wizard of Oz
3 “You ever see a grown man naked Billy? :Airplane
4 “Badges? We don’t need no stink’n badges” Gold of Seirra Moderra
5 “It’s Johnny !” :The Shining


But my totally favorite movie quote is from Shall we Dance.

We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

Profound really..


I use to watch a ton of movies but in the last year or so have completely slowed down. Last movie I saw in the theatre was the final Star wars installment, so goes to show how much of my money they are all getting out of me. I would curl up in blanket and watch a show on my TV till I fell sleep, but these days I find I am doing various things on the computer to entertain myself. The last movie at home I enjoyed was Clint Eastwood's Grand Torino, which I very much enjoyed.

I have contemplated making movies myself using the Secondlife platform but to date I have not bothered with getting the software to do it because of costs. I have the basic software but they do not give a crisp enough view of a scene or have the kind of control you would like to make something semi-professional. One day I suppose.

So ya want Universal Health care?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/06/canadian.health.care.system/index.html

Mitch McConnell R-Kentucky the other day spoke against the Canadian system..ok..gotcha. You found and exploited a bad example. Would his argument though still stand if we decided to flesh out every bad example? Moore’s movie Sicko gave some excellent bad examples but I guess they are largely ignored as “real Issues”.

So now the Health care question is starting to seriously heat up in the United States as debate rages on how it will look; what form it will take. Naturally Americans look north to Canada as their closest example of what is good and bad, and trot that out to defend their arguments, pro and con. On any given day one can always find examples of a system not working. Unfortunately it rarely tells the whole tale. Michael Moore’s film Sicko actually misrepresented Canada’s system as some sort of nirvana while missing some serious benefits and drawbacks. The question though can be more complex than just being a government program versus private. Health can also be a factor of diet, environment, poverty rate, personal resources and even political winds of change. For instance, up here in Canada governments are regularly blamed for lack of nurses, but the nurse situation is actually part of a global shortage and not necessarily a wholly local problem. The United States can not just turn over a leaf and become a Canadian system. It is not politically or financially possible. They must than find their own creative solution, which in the end will still be heavily criticized by its own population. The obvious trick is to get yourself a broadly applicable system of coverage than try to focus on all the cracks in the system and patch them as you go. To completely overhaul over night won’t happen.
You see, Doctors in the U.S. are basically a for profit private business. They charge for their services based on many different factors, often more than not, based on what the market they cater to. Not on what is the true cost of the individual procedures. Insurance likes to think that a set procedure has a fixed rate, like a mechanic in an auto shop has a shop rate but works off something called Book time. So now you have two very powerful groups in the U.S., the Doctors and healthcare providers vs. Insurance companies. Since regulating either of them is possibly a task beyond even politics, Americans may be forced to settle for a system that is overly expensive to the taxpayer. The Canadian people here embrace their system as a right and I have personally felt the great benefits of it, but make no mistake, it is not perfect. I confess I do not know the average cost of having Insurance in the U.S. to cover my health. I hear some of the paper work is complex and some plans cover this but not that. Up here in Canada some procedures as well are not covered but they tend to the elective non-medical issues. Cosmetic medically unnecessary items for instance. Over all though, if I were to have a heart attack, or complex flesh eating disease, I would be in and dealt with immediately. The paper work on my end would actually be minimal and of little concern. And the costs? Who knows? I would never see them. We all get charged for our health care coverage but to date my employer has always picked this cost up, and last time I looked, the majority of companies do this. If I had to personally pay this fee instead of the employer I am sure it would not be extreme. If I were unable to pay this fee due to poverty, again, no problem as the government would have my back. So though it isn’t a perfect system, many aspects of it, especially its simplicity and broad coverage has many Canadians feeling a certain Nationalist pride in respects to it. The concept of simplicity will never be part of the American system no matter what form it takes.
As for wait times in Canada, most of this has been about a system being stretch thin. Not enough nurses and limited resources. Recruitment of foreign workers is an ongoing affair while rising costs in equipment and salaries also continue to push our system to the limits. Politically it is serious hot potato up here to mess with the coverage we receive but inevitably our ability to pay for our system will require us to be more critical to how we deliver our service and what services will be covered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada

Pinkie and the Brain live in my garage

I have a sneaky suspicion that Pinkie & the Brain may be living in my garage. Due to large house cleaning over-kill this winter; our garage became filled with garbage. From furniture to recyclables. During the winter mice locally move in to escape cold and they found refuge trash heap. We finally got around to buying traps last weekend. The market had only these no-bait things, to probably deter people from using poison. I have always had success with Chocolate so have never ever tried poisons. Trap one was ignored. Trap two was tripped, chocolate gone, but no mouse. Reset. I am feeling funky so sprinkle cinnamon on trap one and put Brie cheese on trap two. Trap one disappears!. Serious, we can’t find it now..did mice haul it away? Trap two, Brie cheese gone, trap still there unsprung. ?? Touch trap to see if it works..snap..ouch.. Ok that is working. We have crafty mice ! Trap one gone we pull out traps three and four. Reload all traps! Brie cheese again and chocholate. Trap two is set off, no mouse. Cheese still there. Trap three and four with Chocolate had a pizza box tipped on to them. Both set off and chocolate gone. Evil crafty critters they are mocking me! Reload…trap two, three, and four, and set up trap five and sixty. Like a little minefield of death now. May have to consider another trap type like sawed off shotgun. Developing…………………

Bad pet owners grinding my gears!!

Something that sends me over the deep end are bad pet owners. Pets do not require a great deal of cre but they do require care. I have heard many horror stories surrounding such irresponable owns to make me cringe. Pets are many things from companions to partners performing tasks.Little lives that can suffer from neglect or mis-trained to develope attitudes that can be dangerous. I never beleived I would be so close to such a bad story as I am in now. Recently I took in a Dog.An eight year old Chihuahua. Adorable and well behaved. My motherin law could not take it to where she was moving. I asked, what about the cat? Her cat was abused severly before she got it so when I met it, it was less than friendly. Actually it was downright vicious. She named the cat cuddles, and I nicknamed it Satan. Satan stuck. Nasty animal really but mother loved her.

Well what about the cat? Unable to take the animal and knowing I would not, she released this fat, nasty, de-clawed animal back to nature where all good cats should live. What??!!You released a domestic Cat into the forest of the Britich Columbia wild??!! Form your own opinions..my voice is already horse over verbal tirade. So now I have the dog. Well after a few days I notice the animal was less than energetic, so figured he had a sedate lifestyle, and let him excercise in backyard. He would cough and weeze after but I had hopes he was getting stronger.

Yesterday I walked him and he just stopped and I had to carry him home. How lazy can an animal be I thought. Well last night after letting him out for a pee, he came in and just dropped like he died. He was exhausted and hyper ventalting. Today we took him to a vet and discovered heart murmurs. He was having congentital heart failure which I guess is common in this breed, but my mother could have had this diagnosed years ago? So now I am on the hook for drugs and emergency vet bill, and the Vet tells me the next week was critical as the dog came very close to dieing. Great. While at the vet, we saw a dog with a cob of corn down its throat. It had been there 6 days and the doctor saw him and performed surgury to remove it. We were told the dog was near death. Another Dog owner phoned in to say his dog leaped out of the back of pickup truck while on the highway, should he bring him in? The vet was on edge that day and snapped a little at few due to owner neglect that frustrated him.

We have laws to protect animals but they will never be enough. It is an issue of individual owners and the attention and care they directly give their animals. Wish it was a black and white issue. The extremely animal abuses are but alot of gray area exists in substandard treatment. Still, at the risk of losing friends, family, whatever, I do not stand by and watch suffering and neglect. Too many times now I have intervened, too many fights. I am tired of it but this is one fight I won't drop. My mother in law got one serious ear full and she better send me a cheque to cover vet care or she can say goodbye to her chances of visiting me or my kids again. Extreme..yes damn it..and not backing off. Respect for life is more than watering a houseplant once every two weeks.

Meanwhile in a secret undisclosed location.....

(developing)

Somewhere in the dark of night several women met to discuss plans to over throw the world and corner the pillow market.

Another slideshow..Norah Jones Rocks

What am I from Shinigamikayo on Vimeo.

Another Secondlife Slideshow. Don't get your panties in a knot, it isn't aimed at anyone, I just happen to like the song